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Our NHL All-Star Break Award Winners

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Evgeni Malkin

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

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

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

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

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Henrik Lundqvist

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

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

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

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

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Adam Larsson

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

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

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

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Zdeno Chara

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

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

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David Backes

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

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

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

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Teemu

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

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

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

Can I get an Amen?

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Paul MacLean

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

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

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

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

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

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The NHL’s New Breed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Rookie of the Year Jeff Skinner

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

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

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

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

The NHL’s 10 “Next Great Stars.”

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Anaheim's Bobby Ryan

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

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

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

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

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L.A.'s Anze Kopitar

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

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

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

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Winnipeg's Evander Kane

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2011 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS ROUND 2

EASTERN CONFERENCE

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

Season Series: Washington won 4-1-1

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

Key player; Dwayne Roloson, Tampa Bay Lightning.

Our pick: Washington in six.

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

Season Series: Boston won 3-0-1

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

Key player: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins

Our pick: Boston in six.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

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

Season Series: A split 2-2.

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

Key player:  Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Our pick: Vancouver in five.

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

Season Series: Sharks won 3-1-0

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

Key player: Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings.

Our pick: Red Wings in six.

 

 

 

 

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Here Come the Coyotes

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

No, the headline has nothing to do with the Phoenix Coyotes moving to Winnipeg. Even Winnipeggers who absolutely believe that the Coyotes will be moving to Winnipeg are smart enough to know that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who currently operates the team, isn’t going to announce any kind of move until after the playoffs.

And this year, those playoffs could last a long time.

Friday night, the Coyotes went into Vancouver and beat the best team in the NHL on their own rink. In fact, the Coyotes went 4-0 on their recent Western road trip, became the first and only team to win IN Vancouver twice this season, and finished the 2010-11 campaign with a perfect 6-0-0 record in Western Canada. According to the NHL’s communications department, it’s the first time any team has done that since the St. Louis Blues in 2000-01.

Head coach Dave Tippet’s Coyotes will now go back to the desert for a six-game homestand as the fourth-place team in the Western Conference with 89 points — four ahead of fifth-place Los Angeles and just one behind San Jose for the Pacific Division lead.

Considering all this poor, tread-upon franchise has been through this season, the players have completely put the thought of moving to Winnipeg — or Kansas City, Seattle or Las Vegas — out of their minds and concentrated on playing hockey.

And in a way, it’s quite ironic.

In 1995-96, the lame duck Winnipeg Jets made the playoffs despite knowing they were off to Phoenix at the end of the season. They didn’t care where they were going. They just played hockey. This year, the Coyotes, who have been told they could be going back to Winnipeg, will not only make the Stanley Cup playoffs, they might win the Pacific Division and finish as one of the Top 3 seeds in the West.

I wonder what will happen to that franchise — a franchise that isn’t a lame duck franchise yet — if they take a long, successful run through the post-season?

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Devellano Not Convinced the Coyotes are Headed to Winnipeg

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Hockey Night in Tampa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No. He looks downright bored.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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Lousy Goaltending Equals Great Entertainment

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

The Chicago Blackhawks took a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup final Sunday night. Antti Niemi outduelled both Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher.

Unfortunately for the Philadelphia Flyers, coach Peter Laviolette couldn’t put both Leighton and Boucher in the net at the same time.

Laviolette pulled Leighton in the second period after the darling of the Eastern Conference final allowed three goals in the 13 shots he faced. Boucher came in a gave up three goals on 14 shots. If the puck was as big as a football, the Flyers might be ahead in this series.

However, it’s not like Niemi has been the second coming of Glenn Hall. He allowed four goals on 27 shots and most NHL coaches would not be happy with a goalie whose series goals against average is now 3.80. His save percentage is below .900. That’s not good.

Of course, that’s what is going to make the next game or two spectacular. When there is a chance — a good chance — that Game 6 will finish 9-8, you can’t help but get fired up to watch. Fans wanted offence and thanks to three marginal goaltenders — and Flyers defenceman Chris Pronger who was a slick minus-5 on Sunday night — they now have offence.

It’s just too bad for the Flyers that ever since Bernie Parent retired, they haven’t had a chance to win a Cup. No goalie, no championship. This year, however, they get to play against Antti Niemi. Before it’s over, he could cough up ol’ Lord Stanley all by himself.

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Love the Hawks, Wouldn’t Be Hurt With Flyers Upset

Posted on May 28, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

As a Winnipegger, it’s difficult to pick a side in the Stanley Cup final.

After all, if the Hawks win the Cup, the trophy will come to Winnipeg with Chicago captain Jonathan Toews and very likely stay here for a week or two. If the Flyers win the Cup, captain Mike Richards will bring it to Kenora and spend a few days with it in Winnipeg and then Arron Asham will bring it to Portage la Prairie and then I’m sure I’ll run into him — and his little trophy — on the golf course someplace.

When you stop and consider that the captains of the two teams in this year’s final are from Winnipeg (Toews) and Kenora (Richards), you start to get the sense that in the same year Canada won both Olympic hockey gold medals, the game has really, really, really come home.

In fact, if you check the rosters of the Hawks and Flyers, it’s hard not to look at them as Canada’s teams. The Hawks have 15 Canadians while the Flyers have 17 (and that’s just on a list of the regulars). It’s great to cheer for Canadian-based teams at playoff time, nothing wrong with that at all. But if you like to cheer for Canadian hockey players, cheer for the Hawks and Flyers. They have a boat load of ‘em.

And that’s why it’s tough to pick a side. Sure, I’ll go ahead and pick a winner, but I really don’t care who wins. I have no trouble cheering for both of them. And, because I’m 8-6 in series picks this spring, I have nothing to brag about.

The Stanley Cup Final

Chicago Blackhawks (Western Conference Champion) vs. Philadelphia Flyers (Eastern Conference Champion)

Let’s make one thing clear: Both these teams have good players. The Hawks and Flyers didn’t get this far in the NHL’s two-month post-season tournament because they won 12 games by some fluke of nature. Yeah, it’s a great story how the Flyers reached the playoffs because they won a shootout against the Rangers in the final game of the regular season, but at this stage it’s nothing more (or less) than a great story. The Flyers have earned their ticket to the final just as the Hawks have earned theirs. But here’s why I like the Hawks to win: they’re just as tough as the Flyers, they have just as much heart, they skate better, they have more scorers, they have equally qualified special teams (probably a better power play) and a better goaltender. End of argument for me.

Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

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A Battle of Unheralded Goalies Highlights Stanley Cup Final

Posted on May 25, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

Yes, indeed, I plead guilty. This year, all accepted knowledge of the National Hockey League playoffs is out the window. Gone! This year, the Stanley Cup playoffs are still about The Goalie. They’re just not about the “highly-regarded” Goalie.

Let me explain. I believe that the team with the best goaltender will win the Stanley Cup. As Brian Burke once said, “We call it the Stanley Cup playoffs because we can’t call it Goalie.” The two-month tournament that we know as the Stanley Cup playoffs is usually decided by the goaltender who gets red-hot just at the right time. He doesn’t necessarily have to be considered a “great” goalie. Just a hot one.

This year, however, the goaltender issue has been strange. It’s still about the hot goalie. It’s just kind of shocking who the hot goalies are. Roberto Luongo? Bust. Marty Brodeur? Long gone. Evgeni Nabokov? Taken out in four in  the Western Final. Marc-Andre Fleury? Out in the second round.

This year, the fast, skilled Chicago Blackhawks will face the gritty, defensively responsible Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley Cup final. The Hawks goalie is Antti Niemi, a guy who was considered the anchor around the neck of a good hockey team. He was the reason the Hawks weren’t going to win. The Flyers goalie was the journeyman American, Brian Boucher, but he got hurt and now its the Canadian journeyman Michael Leighton, a guy who was originally drafted by the Blackhawks, played most of his career in the AHL and had played only 103 games in 10 NHL seasons when the playoffs started. Huh?

Heading into the final, Leighton — Philly’s No. 2 goaltender — leads all playoff goalies with a 1.45 goals against average and a .948 save percentage (Boucher is third: 2.33, .915). But Leighton has played only eight games in the post season. There is chance he’ll double that number by the time the playoffs end.

Meanwhile, Niemi is No. 2 on the stats sheet. He has a 2.33 goals against average and a .921 save percentage in 16 games.

Yes, the final two teams in the Stanley Cup tournament have the hottest goaltenders. It’s just hard to imagine both of them  will keep up the pace.

But then again, Canada’s Olympic hero Roberto Luongo has been a career playoff bust and Martin Brodeur hasn’t played well in the post-season since 2003.

Remember, it’s not about “great” goalies. It’s about “hot” goalies. It’s just that nobody expected the hot goalies to be Leighton, Niemi and Boucher.

*           *          *

At 3 o’clock this afternoon, the Tampa Bay Lightning are expected to announce Steve Yzerman as the team’s new general manager.

Interesting choice because after the Red Wings re-signed Ken Holland and Jim Nill, Yzerman was No. 3 in Detroit.

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