Tag Archives: Patrick Kane

No Better Player Than Jonathan Toews

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

So what’s a kid do for an encore?

Wednesday night in Philadelphia, Patrick Kane scored a weak goal in overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final. It turned out to be the final game of the championship round of the NHL’s post-season and Chicago will now get to go home and have a parade.

Kane had a tremendous championship series, but not nearly as good a Stanley Cup playoff as Winnipeg’s own Jonathan Toews.

Toews was absolutely remarkable from the start of the playoffs right up to the last goal in Wednesday’s finale. He finished second in scoring in the post-season with 29 points (the Winnipeg Jets final draft pick, Daniel Briere won the scoring title with three points to Toews one in the final game to finish with 30 points). He was a leader in every respect and after the Hawks celebrated their victory, Toews was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

What a sensational year for Toews. Last fall there were people in the Eastern part of our nation who didn’t think Toews should be on Canada’s Olympic team. Not only did he make the team, he scored a big goal in the gold medal game, led Canada to a magnificent victory and was named the Olympic tournament’s top forward.

Wednesday night, Toews picked up an assist and played nearly 24 minutes (the most of any Blackhawks forward) as he led the Blackhawks to their first Stanley Cup since 1961. He was also the most valuable player at the most important time of the year.

And he’s only 22.

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Counting Down to Hawks-Flyers?

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I understand the Hawks part. For months it’s been clear that the hockey team Dale Tallon built has had the necessary speed, skill and grit to reach the Stanley Cup finals. Must admit, I didn’t think they had the goaltending, but Antti Niemi has proven smarter people than me to be wrong.

Of course, it hasn’t hurt the Hawks that they’ve won a record seven straight road games in the playoffs and now lead the San Jose Sharks 2-0 heading back to Chicago. The Western Conference final could be a lot shorter than anyone would have guessed.

The part that remains confusing for me is the Philadelphia Flyers part. I was at the Flyers-Rangers game, the final game of the regular season, when Philadelphia was lucky to dispose of New York and grab that final available playoff spot (the seventh seed in the East). I had no clue from that Sunday afternoon that Philadelphia would be able to take out both New Jersey and Boston and not only be around for the Eastern Final, but leading 2-0 in the series.

And the two wins have not been flukes. Philly massacred Montreal 6-0 in the opener and then whupped the Habs 3-0 in Game 2. A Montreal team that had been scoring at will during the playoffs had just been shut out in back-to-back games while their “unbeatable” goaltender now had an embarrassing 4.50 GAA in just 120 minutes of Eastern championship series play.

Over in Chicago, Jonathan Toews, the Winnipeg kid who went to UND, has been the clear choice as Conn Smythe Trophy winner this year. He leads the playoffs in scoring and tallied the winner in a 4-2 victory over San Jose on Tuesday night. It’s amazing to think that for most of the lead-up to the 2010 Olympics, the Eastern pundits didn’t think Toews should be on Canada’s Olympic team. After proving he was the best player in that tournament, he’s proving now that he’s the best player in the world. Playing on a line with big Dustin Byfuglien and little Patrick Kane, he’s made the Hawks an offensive force. And this, starting with a guy who claims he doesn’t even worry about scoring goals.

“I don’t even really think about scoring,” he told reporters after his team’s Game 1 victory. “I want to kill penalties and I want to play with as much energy as I can and then create as much as I can in the offensive zone when that’s my role. I’ve gone into these games focused on working hard. A lot of offense has just happened as a result of hard work.”

Two hard-working teams have the upper hand heading into Games 3 of the Eastern and Western championships. One suspects the Sharks are done and if the Habs don’t snap out of it at home on Thursday, the Stanley Cup final could probably start this weekend.

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The Mainstream Media Strikes Again. Mike Judge was Right, it IS an Idiocracy.

Posted on December 5, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 2 Comments

LAKE BUENA VISTA,  Fla. – There was a wonderfully funny Mike Judge movie called Idiocracy released in 2007 starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. It was about an average guy who awakes from a 500-year sleep/coma only to find that the United States had been dumbed-down to such an extent that he was now, clearly, the most intelligent person on the planet.

If our North American mainstream media continues to dumb us all down the way it has in recent years, Idiocracy won’t be a far-fetched cult-comedy. Soon, it will be North America.

Let’s take a look at another week in the wonderful world of mainstream media lies, lunacy and lethargy.

1) Isn’t it great when the media runs a guy out of town? Just ask Winnipeg football fans who allowed their own local mainstream media knuckleheads to run Bomber quarterback Kevin Glenn out of town, only to listen to that listen to that same media mob lament Glenn’s departure when he came back to beat the Bombers in the final game of the 2009 season.

In Kansas City, the local media didn’t like Larry Johnson, didn’t like what he (allegedly) said to them and they certainly didn’t want him around. So they joined forces, created a media mob and convinced everyone in the Chiefs organization that Johnson called them all an offensive name and demanded that the Chiefs release him.

The Chiefs did, of course, bowing to the same local media pressure that has helped make the Winnipeg Blue Bombers a team that has had four coaches and hundreds of players (many of them quarterbacks) in just six years.

So what did Johnson do last Sunday? He rushed for 107 yards for the playoff bound Cincinnati Bengals. If the Chiefs never make the playoffs again, it will be too soon. When the media — people who have never played a down of actual real football — runs your team, you’re finished.

2) The mainstream media in Winnipeg has found a new method to help the board of directors of the football club make a decision to fire head coach Mike Kelly. The latest is to suggest that corporate sponsors will cancel their financial commitments to the club if Kelly is back as head coach next season.

As a person who works seven days a week in the corporate sponsorship field, I can assure the board and the local mainstream media story tellers that no corporate sponsor is leaving the football club because Kelly is or isn’t the head coach.

A sponsor might leave because there is a recession and money is tight. He might leave because he doesn’t feel a sponsorship with the club will give him the advertising bang he requires. He might not even want his brand associated with a dumpy stadium and a football club that hasn’t won a title in 19 years. But there is not one sponsor who, honestly, will pull his support because of the coach.

I’ve asked countess corporate sponsors if they plan to pull their financial support from the football club because Kelly is the head coach and not one has said anything of the sort. I’ve also asked more than one board member which sponsors might be leaving and they have no idea.

So let’s bury another mainstream media myth (lie?). There might be reasons why some corporate sponsors would pull their support from the Winnipeg Football Club, but it is NOT because Mike Kelly is or isn’t the head coach.

3) Why would any sports fan spend a dollar on a newspaper? By the time a newspaper gets a story, it’s not just 24 hours old, it’s often multiple-weeks old.

Friday’s official re-signing of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith by the Chicago Blackhawks was first announced in Winnipeg on 92-CITI-FM 18 days ago — on the same day the pending deals were announced by a couple of Chicago-area sports blogs. The Chicago Tribune had the rumours the next morning.

The pending contract signings were discovered as a response to a Sun Media “report,” out of Ottawa that claimed Toews, Kane and Keith were all on the trade block in Chicago because the Hawks had “salary cap issues.” As usual, that newspaper report turned out to be false.

Thursday at 92-CITI, we had the story on the contracts’ details and Saturday, the stories finally reached the local newspapers after the Hawks officially announced the deals (Toews and Kane each agreed to five-year. $31.5 million deals while Duncan Keith signed a cap-busting 13-year, $72 million contract).

And people actually pay money for old news? A lot of people are dumber than we thought.

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The Mainstream Media Lunacy Just Gets Crazier. At this Rate, we’ll Never Run Out of Things to Write About.

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

MINNEAPOLIS — We have a crisis of intelligence in this world. It seems that the more you read a newspaper, the dumber you get.

It was Thomas Jefferson who said: “As for what is not true, you will always find abundance in the newspapers,” and that has never been more evident than it has been this week.

And hey, it’s only Tuesday.

1) A headline in USA Today on Tuesday read: “NFL Replay: Fourth-Down call Stain on Belichick’s Record.”

Stain? What, are newspaper reporters doing now? Pouring tomato juice on people’s hoodies? A stain? It was a call late in a regular season game that ended up backfiring and costing the Patriots the game. A game. One game. Big effin’ deal. The Pats will still be no worse than 12-4 this season.

Stain? What kind of media-created bull-crap is that? A stain on Belichick’s record was the time he spent in Cleveland screwing up the Browns. Taking a chance on Tom Brady is not a stain. It’s not even a blip.

The Pats are 6-3 and still in first place. All that decision did was guarantee that when the two teams meet again in the AFC Championship game, the TV ratings will be right through the freakin’ roof.

2) The Ottawa Sun just cracks me up. This is the newspaper that either can’t get a trade rumour right or simply makes these rumours up.

I know that suggesting a newspaper makes things up is about the worst thing you can say, but goodness gracious, the trade rumours started in Ottawa would be comical if they weren’t so sad. These guys can’t even get a lie straight.

We’ve spent some time chronicling their errors, but let it go because it just got so silly. This week, however, we just couldn’t resist.

Now, for most of this season, the Ottawa Sun has been reporting – and I use the word reporting lightly – that the Chicago Blackhawks were on the verge of trading either Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane or both. The Sun claimed the Hawks had a cap problem and needed  to move one of their stars. We’ve already called that rumour a crock.

Then, yesterday, word filtered out of Chicago that the Hawks were on the verge of signing both Toews and Kane  to new contracts. At least eight years each according to my source inside the Hawks.

Wow! How can one newspaper be so wrong so often and still sell copies of their newspaper? Are people that stupid? Or are they just looking for a good morning laugh?

3) Newspapers from coast-to-coast, desperate to write about some mundane NHL issue other than the copy to the headline: “The Leafs are Lousy Again,” have had a big month writing about head shots and all the horrible bodychecks being tossed out in the NHL.

NHL general managers are looking at the issue and might come down hard on the league’s headhunters. But there is one thing our newspaper-employed tall foreheads forgot. They forgot to ask an NHL GM who is an expert on the subject.

This week, before I did my radio hit with Eric Nelson on WCCO in Minneapolis, Eric’s guest was Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher. Fletcher said he didn’t much like checks to the head, but he also said the NHL will put the issue into perspective.

“During the course of the season there are about 46,000 bodychecks,” Fletcher pointed out. “In a bad year, 10 are head shots. We want them out of the game, but there isn’t a big panic over this. The numbers suggest there isn’t a problem at all.”

Of course, he’s right and the fearmongers with the truck loads of ink trying to make up stories where none exist are wrong. Again.

4) I just love Canada’s network TV weasels, don’t you?

According to Canadian Press:  “Canada’s largest private broadcaster laid out a scorched earth scenario Monday if it doesn’t get paid for its signals, suggesting more station closings and even yanking signals from cable.”

Wow! “Yanking signals from cable.” That means because nobody watches it now on cable, Canadians would be sure to watch it when the only way they can receive it is with rabbit ears.

“‘We are not going to be here operating conventional TV unless we can make a business of it,’ CTVglobemedia president Ivan Fecan told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.”

That makes sense. But why can’t you make a business of it? Is it because so few people actually watch it that selling overpriced commercial time is now damn near impossible?

I love listening to people like Fecan tell us that he’ll have to dump local television if he doesn’t get money from the cable companies. If Fecan gets money from the cable companies, this is how it will go: First he’ll line his owners pockets, then his pockets and then the pockets of his executive buddies. At that point, he’ll used what’s left over to go out and buy more shows from the United States that we already watch on U.S. stations.

How’s this for a response to that malarkey? Take your stupid signal off cable and let’s replace it with ESPN. I’d love to see ESPN HD on Channel 210 on my Shaw HD service.

I don’t know about most of you, but if CTV pulled the plug tomorrow, I wouldn’t miss it. In fact, just like CBC and its $1 billion per year in taxpayer-funded welfare, can’t say as I watch it now.

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On to the Second Round: We like Chicago in an upset, Pens in a thriller plus the Wings and Bruins.

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

For the longest time, we have believed that the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is the most exciting.

What the hell, there are 16 teams. Of course, it will be exciting.

This year, however, we seem to be a little more enthused about Round 2. After all, in Round 1 this year, it went pretty much as we expected — and when I say “we,” I mean everyone who follows hockey closely.

With the exception of those who always believe (for reasons I still don’t understand) that Detroit will be upset in the first round, most hockey people picked at least six of the opening round series correctly.

For the record, here at rcsportsblog.com (you can follow us on twitter), we went 7-1 in the first round. The only outcome we did not select correctly was, of course, Anaheim’s upset of Jonathan Cheechoo’s San Jose Sharks.

Round 2 will provide us with two spectacular match-ups: Chicago and Vancouver and Pittsburgh and Washington. I can almost guarantee that those two series will double the excitement we saw in any series in Round 1.

So on with the show. Here’s our look at Round 2 of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs…

ROUND TWO

EASTERN CONFERENCE

No. 1 Boston Bruins vs. No. 6 Carolina Hurricanes

The Bruins played wonderfully in taking out the Montreal Canadiens in the opening round in four straight games. Everything about this team, that now has home ice advantage throughout the playoffs as long as it keeps winning, screams “Eastern Division Champion!” Tim Thomas has been sensational in goal, the big defence led by Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman moves the puck quickly and does a solid job of clearing the zone and the forward lines were nearly flawless in Round 1. And while we took Carolina to knock off New Jersey in Round 1, the dream ends here. The Bruins dominated the Hurricanes during the regular season, winning all four meetings by a combined score of 18-6. There is no reason for that to stop. Bruins in five games.

No. 2 Washington Capitals vs. No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins

On the surface, this looks like a great series/ Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin of the Caps against Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby of the Penguins. Big names, big stars, should be exciting. However, the Capitals took three of four from the Penguins during the regular season and Washington’s only loss was the result of a shootout. Pittsburgh beat a tough Flyers team in six games, mainly because Philly’s goaltending was lousy. The Caps have not had lousy goaltending since the day head coach Bruce Boudreau decided to go with Simeon Varlamov. Still, the Caps were lucky to beat a dysfunctional Rangers team. Pittsburgh in seven games.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

No. 2 Detroit Red Wings vs. No. 8 Anaheim Ducks

The Red Wings should waltz through this second round match-up against a team that was very lucky to make the playoffs. Thanks to the fact the San Jose Sharks seldom if ever bring their A game (or raise their level of play) to the playoff dance, the defending Stanley Cup champs get a team with a hot goalie and not much else. This season, the well-balanced, well-disciplined Red Wings went 3-0-1 against Anaheim. As TSN says, “The Red Wings sacrifice individual glory for what is best for the team, which speaks to the professionalism of those inside the organization.” Detroit has the best team in the NHL and while I love the Ducks’ Teemu Selanne and Randy Carlyle, the Red Wings win in four games.

No. 3 Vancouver Canucks vs. No. 4 Chicago Blackhawks

Potentially, this is the best and definitely, the most exciting series of the second round. The teams went 2-2 against each other this season and this series should go right to the wire every single night. Both teams have exciting young players and, frankly, a match-up of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp against the Sedin Twins  and Alex Burrows, is more intriguing to me than the Crosby-Ovechkin dance. Ultimately, this series will come down to goaltending. Is Nikolai Khabibulin as good as Roberto Luongo when it counts? Stay tuned. This will be a dandy. Right now, I like Chicago in seven games. 

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Winnipeggers fill up the Dome and the Excel Energy Centre. Drive home happy.

Posted on December 29, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I was with thousands of Winnipeggers in the Xcel Energy Centre in St. Paul, Minn. on Sunday night and I had a chance to watch one of the best teams in the National Hockey League.

The Chicago Blackhawks, with captain Jonathan Toews of Winnipeg and all-stars Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Brian Campbell, just waxed the outclassed Minnesota Wild 4-1. Dustin Byfuglien from Roseau, via the Brandon Wheat Kings, had two goals and two assists while Toews had two assists as the Hawks dominated the Wild in every possible way to win their franchise-record ninth straight game. 

 

The Hawks are now 20-6-7 on the season and with talent at every position, they clearly have a shot at the Detroit Red Wings and San Jose Sharks in the West.

 

GM Dale Tallon deserves a lot of credit for building this winner.

 

Meanwhile, a Minnesota Wild executive told me on Sunday that he believed both the Phoenix Coyotes and the Nashville Predators are essentially bankrupt and are being carried by the league — that’s all of their expenses, including payroll. You’d have to think that at some point commissioner Gary Bettman is going to have to bury his pride and allow these teams to move to Canada where people actually care about hockey.

 

Meanwhile, as both D&J’s and All Season Tours dropped off thousands of ‘Peggers at the Dome yesterday afternoon, it became clear that folks around these parts are in love with the Vikings. Most of them sat right below me in the auxiliary press box and they all cheered loudly as Ryan Longwell hit the 50-yard field goal to win the game, the NFC North and a spot in the playoffs for the Vikes.

 

It’s also nice to see that after a tough few years, the Winnipeg sports tour companies had a good weekend. Maybe they’ll fare well for the Wild-Red Wings/Vikings-Eagles this coming Saturday and Sunday.

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The 2008 NHL award nominees are in, here are my picks.

Posted on April 30, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

The nominees for all of the NHL’s major awards are now in and while we agree wholeheartedly with most of them, there were a couple we thought were a little weak.

 

Here are the nominees with my picks and why. The awards will be handed out in Toronto on June 12…

 

The Vezina Trophy (Top Goaltender): The nominees are San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov, New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur and the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist.

 

Our pick is Brodeur. He played  in all but five games this season and was brilliant in almost all 77 appearances. Brodeur’s 44 wins were second in the League behind only Nabokov’s 46. His 2.17 goals-against average was fifth best and his .920 save percentage tied him for fourth (among goalies who played in at least 41 games). He was clearly the best goaltender simply because he got a marginal team into the playoffs.

 

The Norris Trophy (Best Defenceman): The nominees are Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom, Calgary’s Dion Phaneuf and Boston’s Zdeno Chara.

 

Our pick is Lidstrom in a landslide. Phaneuf was fine and Chara had his moments, but the second-best defenceman in the league this year was Brian Campbell (Buffalo and San Jose). Lidstrom has won five of the last six Norris Trophies and he  should win easily again this year.

 

The Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year): The nominees are Chicago’s Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom. 

 

Three outstanding nominees, but our pick is Jonathan Toews. He missed 16 games and still led all NHL rookies in goals. He was the Blackhawks alternate captain and emerged as a team leader. He was third overall in rookie scoring and despite his injury, he didn’t tire down the stretch like Backstrom. I love Kane, and he’ll likely win the voting, but Toews was the best rookie in the NHL this season.

 

The Lady Byng Trophy (Skill and sportsmanship): The nominees are Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, Buffalo’s Jason Pominville and Tampa’s Martin St. Louis.

 

No question, Pavel Datsyuk. In fact, Datsyuk isn’t far from being the league’s MVP. He had 96 points, was a plus-41 and played all 82 games. He was the best player on a great Red Wings’ team and although he was a magnificent defensive checker, he picked up only 10 minor penalties all year.

 

The Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward): Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg and New Jersey’s John Madden.

 

Zetterberg was tremendous but my pick is Datsyuk (see above).

 

The Hart Trophy (MVP): The nominees are Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin and Calgary’s Jarome Iginla.

 

Three more outstanding nominees. My vote would go to Ovechkin at the end of the season, but if they counted the playoffs, it would be Malkin. The Pens’ star has been magnificent in the post season and really stepped up during the regular season whenever  Sidney Crosby was hurt (which seemed like a lot), but Ovechkin had 65 goals and 47 assists in all 82 games and that’s impossible to ignore.

 

The Adams Trophy (Coach of the Year): The nominees are Detroit’s Mike Babcock, Washington’s Bruce Boudreau and Montreal’s Guy Carbonneau.

 

Carbonneau will likely win but Nashville’s Barry Trotz was coach of the year.

 

Here’s why… this is my column from the National Post which ran April 7, 2008.

 

Scott Taylor in Winnipeg

 

At the beginning of the 2007-08 season, the Nashville Predators were left for dead.

 

Even if one ignored the off-ice fact that the franchise could be re-located on any given day without notice, one couldn’t ignore the on-ice fact that, at least on paper, the Preds were a bad hockey team.

 

Gone in an off-season housecleaning that made the books look better and the product look dreadful, were No. 1 goalie Tomas Vokoun, No. 1 defenceman Kimmo Timonen, leading scorer Paul Kariya and gifted rent-a-player Peter Forsberg. Two of the team’s most reliable forwards, Scott Hartnell and Scottie Upshall had moved on and No. 2 scorer Steve Sullivan was hurt. And he’s been gone all season. 

 

When they went to training camp in September, head coach Barry Trotz’s best player was 33-year-old Jason Arnott, a guy who hadn‘t been a top line centre since his days in New Jersey a decade ago. J.P. Dumont, a talented underachiever wasn’t bad and Alexander Radulov, a gifted 21-year-old Russian who has been a victim of unrealized potential, was about due. Dan Ellis, Martin Erat, David Legwand, Vernon Fiddler, Dan Hamhuis and Jordin Tootoo were all good players, but they were no-names who could have been up-and-coming country singers for all anybody knew.

 

“Yeah, like who is Dan Ellis?” asked Vancouver Canucks forward Jason Jaffray on Friday. “I’d never heard of him before and I looked in the paper and he had some of the best goalie stats in the league. I had no idea who he was.”

 

Dan Ellis is a 27-year-old from Saskatoon who played at Nebraska-Omaha and was with AHL Iowa last year, but yeah, who knew?

 

Naturally, the anonymous Preds started the season as if they were going to be so bad, they’d be sold to an owner who wanted to re-locate them to Minsk. Or Winnipeg.

 

They won their first two games, then lost six straight. They were 14th in the West (14-16-2), after a five-game losing streak ended on Dec. 22. But Trotz had faith. He had faith that his team wouldn’t quit and he believed, in his heart, that this collection of would-bes, never-weres and has-beens were resilient enough to overcome all the off-ice distractions and play like professionals.

 

“Resilient. That’s our identity,” said Trotz, an old University of Manitoba assistant coach who came out of Dauphin, Man., to become the only head coach the Predators have ever had. “We’re kind of a hockey version of Major League, the old baseball movie with all the misfits and cast-offs. We sat down in December, when we were almost last, and just decided to play as hard as we could and try to fight back into the playoff race.

 

“We didn’t say ‘Let’s go out and win 10 straight,’ we just tried to win two-of-three, pick up a point whenever we could and just tried to chip away. When you lose the guys we had lost and somehow you stay in the playoff hunt, I think resilient is the only way to describe us.”

 

This week, the surprising, No. 8 Nashville Predators will open the 2008 Stanley Cup Western Conference playoffs against the President’s Trophy-winning, No. 1 Detroit Red Wings in what should be a mismatch.

 

But it might not be. In eight meetings this season, the Wings and Preds went 3-3-2 against each other.

 

“It’s just another example of how close the league is today,” Trotz said. “We struggled against St. Louis and I really thought that Chicago was the most talented team in our conference. But Detroit, as outstanding as they were, weren’t that intimidating for us. We matched up well against them.

 

“Of course, we weren’t intimidated by anybody, all year. We’re a lot better than people think.”

 

This season, a veteran coach took a mediocre team in a lousy situation, convinced them to focus on the job at hand and found a way to keep them from thinking about moving locations or missing assignments. Now they’re in the playoffs. 

 

Certainly, Montreal’s Guy Carbonneau and Washington’s Bruce Boudreau have each done a wonderful job this season, but Barry Trotz would also make a pretty deserving coach of the year.

 

National Post

 

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