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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.

jeff skinner 300x225 The NHLs New Breed

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.”

Bobby Ryan 200x300 The NHLs New Breed

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.

Anze Kopitar 1 270x300 The NHLs New Breed

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.

Evander Kane 266x300 The NHLs New Breed

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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It’s The Best Time of the Year. Here Are Our First Round Picks.

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I love Christmas, but this is, without question, the greatest time of the year.

Baseball has started, the NBA post-season starts on the weekend and tomorrow night, the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs begin.

As we do every year, let’s take a look at the first-round matchups and take a long, blurry look into our crystal ball.

2011 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS OPENING ROUND

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Series A: No. 8 New York Rangers (44-33-5) at No. 1 Washington Capitals (48-23-11).

Season Series: Rangers 3-1-0

The Rangers were the best over the regular season in terms of the head-to-head matchup, but the Capitals clearly have more talent and are the better team. Rangers goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, however, could be the wild card in this one. If Lundqvist does what he’s certainly capable of doing, the Rangers could surprise simply because Lundqvist was the reason the Rangers won the season series.

Key player: Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers

Our pick: Washington in six.

Series B: No. 7 Buffalo Sabres (43-29-10) at No. 2 Philadelphia Flyers (47-23-12).

Season Series: Flyers 2-1-1

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… Philly won the series, has more firepower and a better defensive unit. However, Brian Boucher is 21st in save percentage at .916 and 13th in goals against average at 2.42 while Sergei Bobrovsky was 23rd in save percentage at .915 and 25th in goals against average at 2.59. If the Flyers get decent goaltending, they’ll win.

Our pick: Flyers in six.

Key player: Ryan Miller, Sabres

Series C: No. 6 Montreal Canadiens (44-30-8) at No. 3 Boston Bruins (46-25-11).

Season Series: Canadiens 4-2-0

The Habs won the season series, but were blasted 7-0 in Boston on March 24. That was the statement game. Tim Thomas is best goalie in hockey and Boston is bigger and tougher than the Habs. If Carey Price stands on his head, the Canadiens could win a game or two, but Boston is just too deep and too tough.

Key player: Tim Thomas, Bruins

Our pick: Bruins in five

Series D: No. 5 Tampa Bay Lightning (46-25-11) at No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins (49-25-8).

Season Series: Teams split 2-2-0

If there is to be an upset in the opening round, it’s here. The Penguins are still without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and as well as they played down the stretch, which was inspiring, they still aren’t the team that contends for the Cup every year. If the Lightning get any goaltending at all, they can win this series. Vinny Lecavalier has six points in his last four games and is starting to dominate again.

Key Player: Marty St. Louis, Lightning

Our pick: Lightning in six.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Series E: No. 8 Chicago Blackhawks (44-29-9) at No. 1 Vancouver Canucks (54-19-9)

Season Series: Canucks 2-1-1

The Blackhawks were very fortunate to make the playoffs while the Canucks are the best team in the NHL. With Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider, the Canucks have plenty of goaltending and with two Sedins, Kesler and a great supporting cast, the Canucks should have an easy time. Jonathan Toews is great but he couldn’t will a home victory over Detroit in a must-win game to finish the season, he won’t do it against Vancouver.

Key player(s): The Sedin Twins

Our pick: Vancouver in five.

Series F: No. 7 Los Angeles Kings (46-30-6) at No. 2 San Jose Sharks (48-25-9).

Season Series: Sharks 3-1-2

Without Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams, the Kings aren’t the same team that raced to fourth in the West at one point in the season and then went 6-4-0 in their last 10 and lost their last two. If Jonathan Quick stands on his head, the Kings will compete, but they simply don’t have the firepower to beat the talented Sharks.

Key player: Jonathan Quick, Kings

Our pick: Sharks in five.

Series G: No. 6 Phoenix Coyotes (43-26-13) at No. 3 Detroit Red Wings (47-25-10).

Season Series: Coyotes 2-0-2

The Coyotes had a great season against Detroit and they are very well coached. This could be an upset in the making. However, the Red Wings are a team that tends to get bored during the regular season and go on listless stretches. They won’t be listless in the playoffs. Ilya Bryzgalov is the key for Phoenix, although we all must remember, the Coyotes have never advanced past the first round.

Key player: Ilya Bryzgalov, Coyotes

Our pick: Red Wings in five.

Series H: No. 5 Nashville Predators (44-27-11) at No. 4 Anaheim Ducks (47-30-5).

Season Series: Nashville 3-1-0

This will be the best series of the bunch. Both these teams are evenly matched and while Nashville won the season series, you have to give head coach Randy Carlyle and the Ducks credit. They played very well down the stretch and look good heading into the playoffs. The Ducks have a great No. 1 line and they’ve received quite a performance from Teemu Selanne this season. Nashville, meanwhile, has a load of no-names, but is very well coached. The potential here is for a long, tight series.

Key player: Teemu Selanne, Ducks

Our pick: Ducks in seven.

(Check out more at http://www4.fantrax.com)

 

 

 

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Lemieux’s Anger Directed Right Back at His Glass House

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

So Pittsburgh Penguins owner and president, Mario Lemieux, didn’t like the discipline handed out by the NHL to the New York Islanders this past weekend?

Not surprising. Mario has a lot on his plate right now. He has a concussed Sidney Crosby who is likely out of the lineup until mid-March at best and he has Evgeni Malkin out for the rest of the season with a knee injury. With his two best players on the sidelines, Mario has noticed his Pens aren’t very good.  Between the injuries and the circus on Long Island last week, ol’ Mario is angry.

Trouble is, he lives in a glass house.

Now let’s not point the finger solely at Lemieux for his little outburst this week. National Hockey League organizations have been releasing written statements that disagree with a suspension handed out by the NHL’s vice-president of discipline, Colin Campbell, for a lot of years now. However, the statement released Sunday afternoon by Super Mario was nothing, if not blunt.

Responding to the $100,000 fine to the Islanders, the four-game ban to Matt Martin for drilling the Pens Maxime Talbot with a sucker punch that would have made Todd Bertuzzi and Marc Crawford proud, and the nine-game suspension dished out to Trevor Gillies after his hit to the head of Eric Tangradi, Lemieux expressed his “disappointment” with the NHL’s decision.

WE QUOTE: “Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be. But what happened Friday night on Long Island wasn’t hockey. It was a travesty. It was painful to watch the game I love turn into a sideshow like that.
The NHL had a chance to send a clear and strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport. It failed.”

Hmmm. Mario should probably be fined, but he won’t be and give him a little credit, he got his anger off his chest.

Mario’s problem is that the NHL has no desire to clean up the “sideshow.” After the lockout ended in 2005, the league said there would be a “new NHL,” one where the star players could be star players, where they could score goals and where the referees would call hooking, holding and interference exactly as those rules were outlined in the NHL rulebook.

Unfortunately, the stricter officiating lasted about 3/4 of a season and while the NHL maintained that the players had become accustomed to the “new” of interpretations of the rules, the fact was, the officials just went back to the way it was before the lockout. With that, NHL general managers started loading up on goons and now every team has at least one player in its organization who can step in, beat the crap out of its opponents and not worry aboiut missing any ice time because he couldn’t really skate anyway. Today, “the new NHL” is loaded up with the likes of Zenon Konopka, Colton Orr, Derek Boogaard, George Parros, Jared Boll, and on and on and on, guys who can kick the living shit out of another person without so much as a hint of conscience.

Because the NHL wouldn’t call the infractions on the ice, teams had to take the law back into their own hands. And they did so. Now, everybody has a goon and when everybody has a goon, the occasional circus will come to town. As long as the officials refuse to call the rules as they are described in the rulebook, coaches and GMs will make sure they can control the ice themselves.

Which brings us back to Mario. Mario’s problem is that he’s part of the whole mess. His Penguins have a headhunter named Matt Cooke. This is the guy who has, evidently, ended Marc Savard’s career. He’s a 32-year-old enforcer with a reasonable amount of skill who can pass for a legitimate player. However, if the Penguins need someone to end an opponent’s career, Matt Cooke is ready and willing to do whatever it takes. Most recently, Cooke was handed a four-game suspension (on Feb. 9), for hitting Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin from behind. It was a vicious, stupid hit delivered by a vicious, stupid man.

However, it’s Mario’s man and as a result, when Lemieux talks about “sideshows,” he forgets that Cooke is one of the biggest clowns of the bunch.

What Matt Martin did to Max Talbot last Friday is exactly what got Todd Bertuzzi a year-long suspension. Martin should have had the book thrown at him. No doubt about it. Trouble is, what Matt Cooke did to Fedor Tyutin could have left Tyutin attached to tubes for the rest of his life. Too bad Mario forgot about that one in his little rant.

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Habs Victories Mean the NHL Should Add More Playoff Teams and Start the Post-Season in January

Posted on May 13, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It has been quite a run for the Montreal Canadiens.

First, the eighth-seeded Habs took out the No. 1-seeded Washington Capitals and then on Wednesday night, they eliminated the No. 4-seeded and defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Canadiens are living proof of two things: (1) the 82-game regular season means nothing just so long as you’re one of the 16 teams that makes the playoffs and (2) the NHL has absolute parity now and when a team with 88 points takes out a team with 121 points and then a team with 101 points, then a team with 80 points could do the same.

Wednesday night in Pittsburgh – remember, the Habs have won two series against alleged superior talent and they won both series without home-ice advantage – the Habs built a 4-0 lead and held on to win 5-2 as Jaroslav Halak made 37 saves.

The Habs got a couple of points each from Brian Gionta and Mike Cammalleri and held Sidney Crosby pointless for the fourth time in the series as Montreal pulled off what many people believe was a “monumental” upset.

But it wasn’t. Not really. The competitive level of the NHL has never been closer than it is right now and anyone who thinks he or she can predict winners on a regular basis in this loop is delusional. Granted, it’s ultimately about goaltending and clearly Halak was better in this series than Marc-Andre Fleury, but let’s not short change the play of people such as Gionta, Cammelleri, Scott Gomez, Thomas Plekanec and Dominic Moore.

The Habs got great goaltending – yes – but they also outskated and outchecked the Penguins for much of the series and that’s why they’ll move on to play the winner of the Philadelphia-Boston series in the Eastern final.

Listen, Montreal, accomplished what no team has accomplished since the current playoff format was created in 1994: They not only beat the Presidents’ Trophy winner (Washington), but also the defending Stanley Cup champion (Pittsburgh) in back-to-back series as an eighth-seeded team (OK, I know that sounds like, “scored more goals on Tuesday nights against Francophone or Russian goaltenders in cities that end with ‘n’ or ‘h’,” but you get it).

However, what they really did was prove that anybody can beat anybody in the playoffs and that’s why, as my friend Les Jackson of the Dallas Stars has suggested, more teams should be in the post-season than the current 16.

If Philadelphia comes all the way back to beat Boston in the other Eastern semi-final, it means that the Eastern final will involve the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds. It also means that the long, tedious regular season was a complete waste of effort and has no real credibility.

The NHL would be better off (and significantly better off financially) if it played a 40-game regular season and then, in January, put all 30 teams in the playoffs and started off with a bunch of best-of-15 series. There is nothing more boring or meaningless than an NHL regular-season game in October (or, more stupidly expensive, for that matter) while there is nothing more exciting than a Game 7 in May.

The Montreal Canadiens have just proven that all you need to do is change the dates.

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Ready to Call a Vancouver-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup Final

Posted on April 29, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs told us three things: (1) Henrik Sedin IS the most valuable player in the National Hockey League this season, (2) the Pittsburgh Penguins appear ready to defend their Stanley Cup crown and (3) nothing beats a great goaltender.

How ’bout that Jaroslav Halak? He made 53 saves in Game 6 and 41 saves in Game 7 as he led the Montreal Canadiens to the biggest upset of this playoff year. The Habs were down 3-1 in the series when Halak decided to win it himself, stopping 131 of the final 134 shots he faced to give the Canadiens a 4-3 series win over President’s Trophy champion Washington Capitals. So much for Alex Ovechkin in this year’s post-season.

It was the fourth time in eight years, the No. 8-seed had beaten the No. 1-seed in a first-round series, and it means we went 6-2 with our picks in the opening round.

Let’s take a look at the second round:

Western Conference

San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Detroit Red Wings (5)

The Sharks looked good in round one against Colorado and appeared to get rid of the playoff jitters. The aging Wings, who just don’t play very well at home these days, looked great on the road against Phoenix. This will be a great series, but I think it’s the Sharks in a close one.

San Jose Sharks in seven

Chicago Blackhawks (2) vs. Vancouver Canucks (3)

The Canucks finished strong against L.A., scoring 17 goals in the final three games. The Hawks were lucky to get past Nashville. The Canucks gain some revenge from last year.

Vancouver Canucks in six

Eastern Conference

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) versus Montreal Canadiens (8)

In a year of upsets, I don’t see one here. Sidney Crosby is on a mission and the tiny Canadiens will tire, Jaroslav Halak or not.

Pittsburgh Penguins in six

Boston Bruins (6) versus Philadelphia Flyers (7)

Tuukka Rask is a better goaltender than we think and Boston gets Marc Savard back. This one is still a toss up. The Flyers will win if Brian Boucher matches his first round heroics.

Boston Bruins is seven

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Big Week for Pennsylvania Hockey. Canucks Look Like Real Contenders.

Posted on April 26, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Sunday night, the Vancouver Canucks eliminated the Los Angeles Kings in six games in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

That’s not a surprise by any stretch, but the way in which the Canucks eventually woke up and drilled the Kings was quite telling. The Kings took a 2-1 lead in the series after winning 5-3 in Los Angeles in Game 3 and then, it would appear, Vancouver got pissed.

The Canucks went on to win 6-4, 7-2 and 4-2 as Henrik Sedin, who really should be the NHL’s most valuable player this season, had a goal and four assists in the final three games of the series. When a team puts up 17 goals in three games in a Stanley Cup playoff series, that team is really on its game.

Now look, we picked the Canucks to win in six and so did a lot of other generally misguided pundits, but I think we all believed Roberto Luongo’s goaltending would be the difference. That wasn’t the case. In this series, it was the Canucks offence that made the difference and quite frankly, if that keeps up, it will make the Canucks a legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup.

Meanwhile, it was a big week for the two Pennsylvania teams. The Philadelphia Flyers, who were 5-1 against the New Jersey Devils during the regular season, continued to take it to the Devils and ousted favoured New Jersey in five games. We picked Jersey in seven, but we did not believe that Philly would put a blanket on the Devils the way they did. We also didn’t expect goaltender Brian Boucher to be as good he was (1.59 goals against average and a .940 save percentage) and yet he was clearly the pleasant surprise of the series.

It was a little tougher for the Pittsburgh Penguins who needed six games to take out the Ottawa Senators. The Sens were feisty in this one and despite a serious stomach problem, Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson did everything he could to keep the Sens alive. Unfortunately for Ottawa fans, it wasn’t enough against a Sidney Crosby-led Pens team that really looked like the defending Stanley Cup champions when it counted. Crosby finished the six game series with 14 points and appears to be on the way to a Conn Smythe Trophy.

The San Jose Sharks took out Colorado in six games and I’m surprised it went six. The San Jose players finally got rid of the knots in their collective stomach and won a playoff round with ease. It’s about time.

Before the week ends, Boston, Washington, Chicago and, yes I still believe Detroit, should wrap up the remaining four series. That will leave us at 7-1 in the opening round and ready to predict a Vancouver-Pittsburgh Stanley Cup final.

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Our Picks for the Opening Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Posted on April 14, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

You have to love the way the 2010 National Hockey League season turned out. The New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers went to the shootout on the final day to determine the last playoff spot in the East, the Phoenix Coyotes proved that Wayne Gretzky couldn’t coach a dog in from a snowstorm with a pork chop and Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos and Alexander Ovechkin went down to the wire to determine a Rocket Richard Trophy winner (or two).

If the playoffs are half as good as the season that just ended (and you know they will be), they’ll be as good as hockey gets.

Let’s take a look at the first round:

Western Conference

San Jose Sharks (1) vs. Colorado Avalanche (8)

The Sharks never play well in the post-season, but this is a different Sharks team. Colorado was lucky to make the playoffs.

San Jose Sharks in four

Chicago Blackhawks (2) vs. Nashville  Predators (7)

The Hawks are the better team but Barry Trotz is the best coach in hockey. This will be closer than people think because the Hawks goaltending is horrible.

Chicago Blackhawks in seven

Vancouver Canucks (3) vs. Los Angeles Kings (6)

If Roberto Luongo is better than he was last year (remember when he got bombed in Chicago in Game 6?), Vancouver will romp.

The Kings had a great year, but Vancouver is a Cp contender.

Vancouver Canucks in six

Phoenix Coyotes (4) vs. Detroit Red Wings (5)

The Wings are healthy again. Enough said.

Detroit Red Wings in five

Eastern Conference

Washington Capitals (1) versus Montreal Canadiens (8)

The Capitals are simply better. Jaroslav Halak could steal one or two in Montreal.

Washington Capitals in six

New Jersey Devils (2) verus Philadelphia Flyers (7)

Philadelphia owns the Devils. The Flyers were 5-1 in six games against New Jersey. The Devils are a better team with better goaltending, but Philly matches up well against these guys.

New Jersey Devils in seven

Buffalo Sabres (3) versus Boston Bruins (6)

Our first round upset. Neither team has enough scoring, but Ryan Miller won’t be as good in April as he was in February.

Boston Bruins in seven

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) versus Ottawa Senators (5)

Should be a good series, but the Penguins are Stanley Cup champions until the day they aren’t. Pittsburgh has too much offence and a good goaltender.

Pittsburgh Penguins in five

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The Playoffs Are Coming. It’s Manitoba’s Best Year Ever.

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

This was a big week around the National Hockey League.

Jonathan Toews and the Chicago Blackhawks clinched a playoff berth, Travis Zajac continued to have the best year of his career as he leads the New Jersey Devils into the post-season and Barry Trotz, the head coach of the Nashville Predators, keeps the Preds winning even though they don’t have enough personnel or enough star personnel to be as good as they are.

Some notes from a week in the hockey trenches observing the brilliance of the Manitoba kids in the NHL…

1) This is as good a time as any to praise the Finnish Flash, Teemu Selanne. Last Sunday night, Selanne scored his 600th career goal to become only the 18th player in history to reach the 600-goal plateau.

Congratulations to a great guy, a guy who scored his first 147 with the Winnipeg Jets.

2) When he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg-born Alexander Steen appeared to be spinning his wheels, going nowhere fast. Now, as a member of the St. Louis, Steen is having a career year.

Through 60 games, Steen has 21 goals and 21 assists and is a plus-five on a minus team. He’s the Blues third leading scorer and is tied for the team lead in goals even though he’s played 10 and 11 fewer games than the two players ahead of him.

After struggling in Toronto and often being a healthy scratch, he has become a big time offensive player in St. Louis. At 26, he is developing into one of the two or three best players on the Blues.

3) If there was one player who could have played on Canada’s Olympic team and didn’t, it was Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos. Now, as the season winds down and Tampa misses the playoffs, Stamkos, who was a great friend of 92-CITI-FM and the old Cosmo Show, has a chance to show how good he really is.

Heading into the weekend, Stamkos was tied with Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin for the NHL goal-scoring lead with 45. Could Steven Stamkos win the Rocket Richard Trophy? You bet he could.

4) The Calgary Flames, and the red-hot Nigel Dawes of Winnipeg, have an uphill battle to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, but we will know by this coming Sunday whether the Flames have what it takes to reach the post-season.

The Flames started a five-games-in-seven-days stretch with a 4-3 loss at Minnesota on Sunday. They beat the Anaheim Ducks in Calgary on Tuesday night, but lost a big game to the Islanders, 3-2, on Thursday night. They play at Boston on Saturday and at Washington on Sunday and if they don’t win both of them, they’ll be pretty much done.

5) Manitoba’s top young players have had rock solid seasons in 2009-2010.

Winnipeg-born Duncan Keith, a Chicago Blackhawks defenseman, has 13 goals and 52 assists for 65 points, 31st overall in the NHL and second among defensemen. He’s also a plus-18.

New Jersey rightwinger/centre Travis Zajac has 23 goals and 38 assists for 61 points, 34th in scoring in the NHL. He’s also a plus-16.

Winnipeg-born Patrick Sharp (plus-22) of the Blackhawks has 22 goals and 39 assists and is also 34th in NHL scoring.

Winnipeg’s Jonathan Toews, the captain of the Blackhawks, has 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points and is a plus-20. He’s 43rd in scoring.

Winkler’s Dustin Penner has 27 goals and 28 assists and is a plus-5 on a very minus Edmonton Oilers team.

Meanwhile, Alexander Steen of Winnipeg and Eric Fehr of Winkler each have 21 goals while Nigel Dawes of Winnipeg has 13.

This might be Manitoba’s best year ever in the NHL.

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It’s Run-To-The-Playoffs Time in the NHL.

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

ST. PAUL, Minn. – As the Calgary Flames whipped the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Sunday afternoon, the NHL started its run to the playoffs.

Most NHL teams now have 16-18 games left this season. We’re solidly past the three-quarter-pole and there are just five weeks left in this rather odd season.

After a 14-day break for the Olympics, the NHL is loading up on games and there will be some tired superstars once the playoffs roll around. Until then, let’s take a quick look around The League.

1) Monday night (actually Tuesday morning at 12:10 a.m.), I’m Eric Nelson’s guest on the Eric Nelson Show on 8-3-0 WCCO radio in Minneapolis and we taped the segment on Sunday at the Xcel Energy Center.

Eric asked me to set the NHL’s final four. I told him, Chicago and San Jose in the West and Pittsburgh and Washington in the East. He then asked, “Which teams are the darkhorses?” I told him that question was more fun.

In the West, Detroit is finally healthy and they could be scary when it counts if Jimmy Howard can get the job done in goal. I like Vancouver, too, if Roberto Luongo doesn’t choke like a dog as he did last year.

In the East, I like Buffalo and New Jersey because they both have great goaltenders (Ryan Miller and Martin Brodeur). As Brian Burke always said, “We call it the Stanley Cup playoffs because we can’t call it goalie.” He may not have been right about Ian White, Alexei Ponikarovsky or Matt Stajan, but he’s right about that.

2) There was a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s when a Canadian player in the NHL’s Top 10 in scoring was a rarity. A decade ago, the stats were dominated by Europeans.

However, while Euros such as Alex Ovechkin and Henrik Sedin are at the top of the NHL’s scoring stats today, there are now five Canadians and one American in the Top 10. What is even more interesting is that Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby took over the goal-scoring lead on Saturday with his 43rd and 44th and young Steven Stamkos scored his 40th of the year on Saturday. Youth is also being served.

Maybe that Canada-U.S. Olympic final will be a trend, not a fluke.

3) Metis star Rene Bourque hadn’t scored a goal in 15 games until Calgary Flames head coach Brent Sutter put him on a line with Jarome Iginla and Matt Stajan. You’d think it was the return of the Hot Line.

Sunday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., the Bourque-Stajan-Iginla line combined for 10 points as the Flames drilled the Wild 5-2. Iginla had three goals and an assist, Stajan had two assists and Bourque, suddenly playing the best hockey in more than a month, had a goal and three assists.

The Flames have been struggling, but since Sutter created this line, Calgary has won two straight solidified their hold on ninth and are now only one point out of eighth and two points out of seventh.

At this stage of the season, a simple move like a line change can positively alter a team’s fortune. Sutter’s decision to create the Bourque-Stajan-Iginla line might have been the move that gets Calgary into the playoffs.

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Deadline Day Can Tell Us a Lot About the State of the NHL.

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It was trade deadline day in the NHL Wednesday and it was a good day for… the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose. Amazing.

Moves by the Moose’s parent club, the Vancouver Canucks, meant that Vancouver’s AHL affiliate got to add centre Yan Stastny and veteran defenseman Brad Lukowich. That just about summed up the 2010 NHL trade deadline day. It didn’t do much at the NHL level, but quite a lot at the AHL level.

It also meant that the Ottawa Sun’s 300 rumours were all wrong. Or made up.

There were a record 30 trades made on deadline day involving 55 players and 27 draft picks and not one of them could be called a blockbuster. In fact, here was the trade deadline in one, single word: Dull.

Of course, that’s what a salary cap will do.

Because of the cap, instead of taking a big plunge in a search for stars that could lead teams to a Stanley Cup – oh, yeah, and cost a lot of money, too — the buyers made a lot of small deals that didn’t change their cap levels much. That’s why, after making seven small deals and being well under the cap, the Phoenix Coyotes were Wednesday’s big winners.

That didn’t make the other NHL owners happy, but by adding a bit to their own payroll, the Coyotes got considerably better. They acquired Derek Morris from Boston, Wojtek Wolski from Colorado, Mathieu Schneider from Vancouver and Lee Stempniak from Toronto. Sure, when a team the league bought for $140 million is likely going to lose between $50 million and $70 million this year, it would definitely piss off the some of the owners of other NHL teams because they not only have to foot the bill for the losses, but also to improve the club.

Of course, if the Coyotes don’t make the playoffs, they’ll lose the $70 million end, not the $50 million end. With only six weeks left in the season, the players acquired at the deadline won’t really cost that much.

Meanwhile, deadline day was a perfect time to illustrate the wait-until-next-decade attitude of the Toronto Maple Leafs. On Tuesday the Leafs dealt Alexei Ponikarovsky to Pittsburgh for defenseman Martin Skoula and middling prospect Luca Caputi.

The Leafs then sent Skoula to New Jersey for a fifth-round draft pick. In other words, the Leafs sent a big forward who will play on a line with Sidney Crosby – and was probably their best player — to Pittsburgh in exchange for a fifth-round pick and the slow, journeyman Caputi.

Now isn’t that an illustration of the state of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Deadline day was good for something.

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