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Jets Must Get Six Points At Home This Week

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment
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Claude Noel

The Winnipeg Jets will play three straight games at home this week. They must win all three.

They open up Wednesday against a pretty good Dallas Stars team, play a huge four-point game against the Washington Capitals  on Friday night and then finish it up with a game next Sunday, the 18th, against the 13th-place Carolina Hurricanes.

Based on how things look today (Sunday, March 11), the Jets will need to win all three if they expect to be playing after April 7. It’s not an impossible task, especially with that huge seventh-man behind them at MTS Centre, but it will be a test. Dallas is no pushover and Washington is playing better hockey these days.

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Jets lose to Calgary

The problem of course, is that the Jets have just come off a terrible western road swing. They needed a split and they got bupkis. A tough 3-2 loss at Vancouver last Thursday and then a 5-3 loss in Calgary on Friday was hugely disappointing for everyone in Winnipeg, but in fairness, the loss to Calgary did result in one of the great responses to any reporter’s question in hockey history.

After the loss on Friday night, Jets coach Claude Noel was asked how disappointed he was about losing two straight games on the road. (Yes, I know, it’s a dumb question, but it’s asked more often than you might think.)

Noel responded to the Calgary Herald with this gem: “How would you like me to answer that? Do you want me to say medium, large? How would you like me to say that? How disappointed are you? Is there a level there? Is it a 10 out of 10? Would you like to say six out of 10? I mean how disappointed do you need to be?”

Dumb questions deserve dumb answers. The trouble with that answer is that it was absolutely brilliant. How do you feel? How disappointed are you? On a scale of 1-10? Those are questions asked by reporters who really didn’t have any idea what they were watching.

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Jets will need to win without Chris Thorburn.

The fact is, Noel was extremely disappointed. After all, those two road losses put the Jets behind the eight-ball. Heading into Sunday night’s slate of 11 NHL games, the Jets are in ninth place, deadlocked with the Buffalo Sabres at 32-29-8 (72 points). They are two points behind eighth-place Washington (the Caps have a game in hand) and they are now third in the Southeast Division, three points back of first-place Florida, two back of second-place Washington and the Panthers have two games in hand.

If Florida beats Carolina at home on Sunday night and Washington beats Toronto (both teams should win), the Jets will need all three victories this week just to keep pace.

Considering Winnipeg, which is now  11-19-4 on the road this season, will play seven of their last 10 on the road after this three-game homestand, three victories are almost imperative. And they will have to do it without hard-checking Chris Thorburn.

History says the Jets need 92 points to make the playoffs. If they add six points this week, they’ll need 14 out of a possible 20 with seven games on the road down the stretch.

It’s not going to be easy.

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Here is The Jets Road to the Playoffs.

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Scott Taylor| 2 Comments

The Jets don’t need a miracle, they just need five great weeks.

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Ondrej Pavelec

WINNIPEG – In a city that has gone absolutely crazy over the return of the National Hockey League, Winnipeg Jets fans are now of the mind that they might have to purchase playoff tickets.

OK, to be fair, there is a while to go yet. The Jets have 14 games remaining and eight of them are on the road. However, at 32-28-8 after Thursday night’s 3-2 loss in Vancouver, the Jets are solidly in eighth place in the East and have a legitimate shot at playing in late April.

We are now just 14-16 games shy of the 2012 post-season and the contenders and pretenders still haven’t been separated. OK, OK, after the Leafs blew a 2-0 lead in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night and fell 3-2 to the Penguins, it looks like they’re done.

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Randy Carlyle

What started out as a promising week for the Leafs, after that 3-1 victory at Montreal last Saturday, has turned into a nightmare. A 5-4 loss to Boston at home, a 3-2 loss in Pittsburgh and Joffrey Lupul’s separated shoulder has put a damper on the firing of Ron Wilson and the hiring of Randy Carlyle. The Leafs now need a miracle … along with two more front-line defensemen and a No. 1 goaltender.

However, besides the Jets, there are three other teams in the playoff hunt in the East – Washington, Buffalo and Tampa.

Here’s what’s happened this week: With Washington’s win on Thursday night, the Jets and Capitals are tied for eighth-place in points, but Washington has more wins and has played one less game so the Caps have a hold on eighth place. Buffalo is now two points back of the Jets and Capitals while Tampa trails by three.

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Philly shut out Florida 5-0.

Meanwhile, The Jets remain two points back of Florida in the race for first in the Southeast Division, but even though Florida was massacred 5-0 by Philadelphia on Thursday night, the Panthers still have two games in hand.

So what are the chances of any of these teams making the playoffs? Well, let’s go to Vegas.

Oddsmakers in Vegas don’t think about hockey very often, but they do occasionally think about the odds of teams winning the Stanley Cup. The last time those odds were set, here’s what they looked like for the four teams in the race for that final playoff spot in the East: Washington 20/1, Winnipeg was 60/1 (tied with Montreal, Phoenix, Dallas and Toronto), Buffalo was 75/1 and Tampa was 75/1.

I don’t say this very often about my friends in Las Vegas, but that’s a crock.

Not one of these teams should be as high as 20/1. In fact, I would expect Tampa to be 100/1 by now.

However, I’m not going to sit here and suggest the Jets have the best chance. In fact, I’m willing to take a very close look at what the Jets have left this season and concede that unless they figure out a way to start winning on the road, they don’t have a hope.

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Claude Noel

Jets coach Claude Noel, who should be considered in the Adams Trophy voting as coach of the year, said this after the Jets beat Buffalo 3-1 this week: “We have to take this confidence level and take the will that we played with at home and do the job on the road,” Noel said. ” You have to feel pretty good about where our team’s at and if we play with the same passion and energy — we don’t have the fans with us, but we know they’ll be cheering us from here — we’ve got a chance.”

Based on what happened in Vancouver Thursday night (Winnipeg was outshot 45-32), the Jets have big trouble ahead. But in order to get a handle on where all of these teams in the Eastern race will finish, you must look at everyone’s schedule and what they’ve done at home and on the road this season (BTW: It’s expected that any team in the playoffs will have to garner at least 90 points). It will also help you determine which players you should get ready to select in the playoffs.

3. Florida Panthers (31-23-12): The Panthers are first in the Southeast Division and therefore third in the East, but they aren’t guaranteed a spot in the post-season either. They are only two points ahead of Winnipeg and Washington in the Southeast although they have a game in hand with the Caps and two in hand on the Jets. The Panthers have 16 games remaining, eight at home against Carolina, Toronto, Boston, Buffalo, Edmonton, the Islanders, Winnipeg and Carolina again. That’s seven of eight at home against teams below them in the standings. 5/1 to make it.

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Alexander Ovechkin

8. Washington Capitals (33-28-6): I get asked the same question everywhere I go and I have to answer the same way. When someone asks, “What’s wrong with Alex Ovechkin?” my response is always the same, “I have no clue.” Now, to be fair, someone lit a fire under Ovechkin in overtime on Thursday night as the Caps beat Tampa 3-2 on Ovi’s winner. It was his 27th goal of the year in a season in which scoring is down everywhere except in Steven Stamkos’ world. Washington is 7-9-2 since the first of February and yet they’re still eighth (by wins and games played) and they’ll finish the season with only seven of 15 games at home. Considering they are a lousy 11-18-3 on the road, the Caps are no guarantee to make the playoffs. Unless, of course, Alexander the Great decides to do it himself. 15/1 to make it.

9. Winnipeg Jets (32-28-8): After 68 games, the Jets are 21-10-4 at home and 11-18-4 on the road. You can see the difference in this team’s home and road records by looking at goaltender Ondrej Pavelec’s splits. At home, Pavelec is 17-9-3 with three shutouts, a goals against average of 2.25 and a save percentage of .925. On the road, he’s 8-13-4 with one shutout, a goals against average of 3.31 and a save percentage of .899. In Winnipeg, it’s all about goaltending and this goalie (or backup Chris Mason) has to play eight of his final 14 games away from MTS Centre. Interestingly, the Jets play three games at home this coming week and then play seven of their last 10 on the road. 15/1 to make it.

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Ryan Miller

10. Buffalo Sabres (31-29-8): The Sabres made a good run to get back into the race thanks to the brilliance of Ryan Miler, but they play eight of their final 14 on the road. Now, to be fair, the Sabres are a respectable 14-18-1 on the road this season, but it’s obvious that because none of these teams from 8-11 have been .500 on the road this season there is no reason to believe they’ll suddenly get it figured out. The Sabres are 18-5-3 since the first of February, but have lost two of their last three. Any run to the playoffs will start with the goaltender. 25/1 to make it

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Steven Stamkos

11. Tampa Bay Lightning (31-29-7): The Lightning have a very nice schedule to finish the season. After all, starting Saturday night this week, the Lightning play seven straight at home and the Lightning are 20-10-2 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum this season. However, they’d better make some hay during that stretch because they play only two of their final eight at home and finish the season at Montreal, at Toronto and at Winnipeg and the Lightning are a dreadful 11-19-5 on the road this season. That final game on April 7 at the MTS Centre could be for eighth-place in the East. Of course, by then, Steven Stamkos will be chasing down 60 goals so it might have even more drama. 20/1 to make it.

(On Monday, we’ll check out the Western Conference.)

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Did the Right Guy Get the Axe in Toronto?

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
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Leafs coach Carlyle

It was suggested by a couple of savvy members of the Toronto media that former Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson, “lost the room.”

A lot of other savvy insiders agreed with that assessment.

But I have one question: “When you’ve been in one place for 4 ½ years and you’ve never made the playoffs, did you ever HAVE the room?”

Or was the room just too lousy to make the playoffs no matter who was coaching them? Did Ron Wilson do a rotten job as head coach for 4 1/2 years or did general manager Brian Burke do an even lousier job signing decent hockey players?

The Leafs haven’t made the playoffs since the year before the lockout (2003-04). In fact, the Leafs have never been better than third in their division since 2004-05.

So when Wilson was fired last week, nobody even shrugged. Some people thought the general manager should have been sacked, but that comes next. Obviously, when you fire your buddy, somebody gave you the ultimatum, “Fire him or we’ll fire you.”

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Brian Burke

Fortunately, for Brian Burke — to date the most over-rated general manager in the game — he has plenty of buddies. He hired his old coach from Anaheim, the guy who was fired by the Ducks earlier in the year, Randy Carlyle.

Carlyle is a good coach and an interesting man. Hardworking and hardnosed, he played almost 10 seasons with the Winnipeg Jets and then got his start as a head coach with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. He had two stints over a 10-year period with the Moose and spent six full seasons behind the Manitoba bench.

He has a somewhat prickly exterior, but down deep, he’s a pretty exceptional person. We once disagreed over a couple of columns I wrote about the Jets wonky defensive unit in the late 80s, but shortly after a loud discussion, we agreed to raise money together at the Jets Wives Carnival by sitting in a pair of side-by-side dunk tanks, competing for funds. Our compromise was such a success, we did it for half a dozen years.

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Randy Carlyle With the Jets.

He was a very good player, a Norris Trophy winner and first all-star team member in 1981, he anchored the Jets defense through a decade of winning and losing seasons. He hated to lose, always played hard and was played more than 1000 NHL games.

In 1989, he was invited to represent Canada at the World Hockey Championships in Stockholm, but failed a drug test. In Canada, people were shocked. Those who knew Carlyle, knew that donuts, not drugs, were his weakness. One fan sitting in the corner of Winnipeg Arena, stood up one night and yelled, “Hey Carlyle, you have child-bearing hips!”

Amazingly, after recording a positive test on his A sample, Carlyle was cleared when his B sample came back negative. How did that happen? Everyone knows that the B sample is just the A sample spilt in two. It was another classic example of sport’s insane drug-testing witch-hunt gone terribly wrong.

Carlyle was a guy who had only one regret about his hockey career. He came along one generation too soon. He didn’t make the big money that most NHL players in the post-Wayne-Gretzky-to-Los Angeles generation made. Carlyle never got to be a million-dollar hockey player and he certainly should have been.

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Leafs take one of 44 shots at Carey Price.

When he left the game as a player, he never left the game. Carlyle went right into coaching and he’s become pretty good at it. Friday night, his old pal Burke asked him to save the 2011-12 season.

He had 18 games to (a), turn around a team that had just gone 1-9-1 and (b), to get a slumping team back into the playoff race. It was not an easy task, but it wasn’t impossible either. That’s why Burke picked Friday to jettison Wilson. For Carlyle, Game 1 was a good start.

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Mikhail Grabovsky Scores Twice

On Saturday night in Montreal, Mikhail Grabovsky scored a pair of third period goals as the Leafs outshot the last-place Canadiens 44-22 and outscored them 3-1. The Leafs seemed to respond to Carlyle’s leadership – at least for one game.

“I was a little nervous, a little butterflies, but I didn’t make too many mistakes, I thought,” Carlyle told the Canadian Press. “It’s different when you haven’t been behind a bench for three months and it’s a new team, but we got through it. The assistants did a great job.

“It’s obviously a nice way to start. I thought our team put out an effort. It’s impressive when you can go into the other team’s building and hold them to under 25 shots and score two big goals in the third to eke out a win. I asked them to skate and not worry about anything but what our focus was, which was to the game. We stayed with our game plan. We played hard, we got some breaks and our key guys scored some goals.”

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Great coach, but not a lot of time this season.

Carlyle does not have an easy job. The Leafs are only three points out of the final playoff spot in the East (30-28-7) and they do have one game in hand on the eighth-place Winnipeg Jets, a team that has a tough schedule down the stretch (nine of their final 16 games on the road), but the Leafs have to jump over ninth-place Washington, 10th-place — and red-hot — Tampa and 11th-place and suddenly successful Buffalo.

Carlyle’s task is not impossible, but it sure isn’t easy, either.

Then again, when has anything ever been easy for the Leafs?

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Jets Get it Done. Stay in the Hunt with 16 to Play.

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
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Bogo is Back.

The Winnipeg Jets did everything they needed to do on Thursday night.

They got off to a great start, hit the Florida Panthers at every turn, scored two early goals, got the crowd into the game and then exploded in the third to whip the Panthers 7-0 and move back into eighth place in the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

“We managed the game well,” said Jets head coach Claude Noel. “It was a playoff style game. We got some timely goals early. They (Florida) made some changes in the second period and got a lot of shots, but our goaltending was good.  In the third we opened up, but I’m not going to spend a lot of time making an issue out of seven goals. We played well. It was an important game for us.

“The fans got all fired up tonight and that’s always a good thing.”

It was an impressive victory in front of another impressive crowd and the most impressive players were the usual suspects: Evander Kane, Blake Wheeler, Zach Bogosian and Ondrej Pavelec.

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Evander Kane scores the game's first goal.

Kane had two goals and two assists. He has 26 goals this season. Wheeler, the second star, and Kyle Wellwood each had a goal and an assist while Pavelec made 33 saves, 17 in the second period, to get the shutout, his fourth shutout of the season. Bogosian returned to the lineup after missing seven games and played 22 1/2 minutes, had three blocked shots and three hits to go with an assist.

Mark Stuart, by the way, was a very impressive plus-four with four blocked shots in just 13 minutes of action. Of course, he also had a double roughing penalty and a misconduct.

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Ondrej Pavelec gets the shutout.

“Winning is fun,” Pavelec said with a smile after the game. “Brian Little scored a nice goal on a 5-on-1. That’s something I don’t think I’ve ever seen. That’s a big mistake on them. It was like in practice. I’ve seen a 5-on-1 in practice, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in a game. It was a nice goal.

“We knew we didn’t play well against Edmonton (a 5-3 loss on Monday). But we also know that we can’t waste our time letting the highs get too high and the lows get too low. We knew this was a big game for us. We didn’t make mistakes like we did before against Edmonton. This was a big win.”

Indeed.

With the win on Thursday, the 31-27-8 Jets leapfrogged the Washington Capitals and now lead the Caps by one point, although Washington has three games in hand. The Jets are still two points behind Florida in the race for first in the Southeast Division, but the Panthers also have three games in hand.

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Lots of goals and a big win.

Regardless, it was a terrific effort at exactly the right time. The Jets owe the teams they are battling with for the final playoff spot(s) a lot of games. Because of that, losing is no longer an option. The problem the Jets now face is that they play too many games on the road down the stretch. The Jets are 11-17-4 on the road this season (20-10-4 at home). In front of that raucous Winnipeg crowd, the Jets usually play well. On the road, however, they still haven’t figured it out. That must change.

The Jets have the weekend off. They’ll play again Monday night at MTS Centre against the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m. It’s the final game of the eight-game homestand. The Jets are 4-1-2 so far. That’s 10 of a possible 14 points. A win on Monday, and the homestand becomes a rousing success.

However, next week the Jets will head out onto the road for games Thursday in Vancouver and Friday in Calgary. The Jets play nine of their final 16 games on the road.

The real test starts now.

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It’s Sure Hard to Turn the Trade Deadline Snorefest Into a TV Show

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
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Rick Nash Stays in Columbus

WINNIPEG – The Trade Deadline has passed. Now it’s time to pay one final visit to our 30 National Hockey League franchises.

We got most of the deals right, or at least, close to right, although we did not believe the New Jersey Devils would be involved as much as they were, we firmly believed the Columbus Blue Jackets would try to move Rick Nash and we figured the Toronto Maple Leafs would do a lot more to try and acquire the players necessary to get themselves into the playoffs.

None of that happened and that’s why I must admit I felt sympathy for the poor hair-spray heads that spent the day on television trying to make something out of nothing.

And Trade Deadline Day was indeed, about absolutely nothing. In total, there were 15 trades involving 30 players and 11 draft picks but only a handful might be termed “major” (and I use that term lightly) trades:

1. The Vancouver Canucks sent a couple of 2012 draft picks to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for forward Sami Pahlsson.

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Andrei Kostitsyn off to Nashville

2. The Montreal Canadiens sent forward Andrei Kostitsyn to Nashville in exchange for a couple of draft picks in 2013.

3. The Edmonton Oilers sent defenseman Tom Gilbert to Minnesota in exchange for defenseman Nick Schultz.

5. The Boston Bruins acquired forward Brian Rolston and defenseman Mike Mottau from the New York Islanders in exchange for a couple of prospects.

6. The Nashville Predators acquired Paul Gaustad and a fourth-round draft pick from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a first round pock in 2012.

Making an eight-hour TV show out of that has to be painful.

Here’s one final look at the winners and losers on Trade Deadline Day in the NHL:

Anaheim Ducks: GM Bob Murray said he would trade his top players, but as his team played better (they just went 5-1-2 on an eight-game road trip and are 7-1-2 in their last 10 to get back in the playoff hunt), it appeared as if his threats were made to scare the beejeezus out of a group of guys who saw themselves in Winnipeg or Edmonton and didn’t like the thought. The Ducks did nothing of significance and as a result, they were WINNERS.

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Brian Rolston clears waivers and is then dealt to the Bruins

Boston Bruins: Despite the fact Peter Chiarelli didn’t believe there would be much available, he did a marvelous job. He acquired veteran defensemen Mike Mottau (New Jersey) and Greg Zanon (Minnesota) and veteran forward Brian Rolston (New Jersey) and added grit, playmaking ability and experience to an already solid lineup. The Bruins were already a good hockey team. With what they did on deadline day, they were definitely WINNERS.

Buffalo Sabres: The disappointing Sabres dumped Paul Gaustad and got a first round pick from Nashville in 2012. They also picked up forward Cody Hodgson and defenseman Alexander Sulzer from Vancouver in exchange for forward Zack Kassian and defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani. Hodgson and Sulzer will make the Sabres better moving forward. In all, the Sabres were WINNERS.

Calgary Flames: As expected, the Flames did nothing. They believe they have the people who can get them into the playoffs and there was no reason to give up too much. A WASH.

Carolina Hurricanes: Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford wanted to do something but couldn’t pull the trigger. The Canes still have too many veterans with the wrong attitude. LOSERS.

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Hawks get Johnny Oduya from the Jets

Chicago Blackhawks: The Hawks went after a defenseman and got exactly what they wanted. Former Blackhawks assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff sent his former boss, Stan Bowman, Johnny Oduya for a second-round and third-round pick in 2013. The Blackhawks got what they were after – a fast defenseman with the ability to move the puck. WINNERS.

Colorado Avalanche: The Avalanche acquired Steve Downie from Tampa in exchange for Kyle Quincey, but they are pleased with their maturing team and figure they still have a shot at the post-season. A WASH.

Columbus Blue Jackets: The worst team in the NHL traded away Jeff Carter and Antoine Vermette, but it didn’t trade away Rick Nash. The question is, did they do enough to get significantly better? And make no mistake, this team had to get significantly better. Well, there is no question defenseman Jack Johnson will help them, a first round pick in 2013 will eventually help them, two middle of the pack draft picks in 2012 won’t hurt them. A WASH today, but could be a WINNER after 2013.

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Nicklas Grossman sent to Flyers

Dallas Stars: The Stars sent Nicklas Grossman to Philly this past week for a second-round pick in 2012 and a third-round pick in 2013 and acquired journeyman Eric Nystrom from Minnesota for futures. WINNERS.

Detroit Red Wings: GM Ken Holland acquired Kyle Quincey for a first round draft pick (probably 29th or 30th overall). Quincey scored in his first game with Detroit. Holland also dumped defenseman Mike Commodore for a seventh-round pick. A WASH.

Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers dealt Tom Gilbert, who they weren’t happy with, to get Nick Schultz and they’re happy with the deal. A WASH.

Florida Panthers: The Panthers acquired Wojtek Wolski from the Rangers on Saturday for defenseman Mike Vernace and a third-round pick in 2013 and Jerred Smithson from the Predators on Friday for a draft pick. WINNERS.

Los Angeles Kings: The Kings couldn’t get rid of LW Dustin Penner, but they didn’t expect anyone would want him. The Kings did get Jeff Carter, but gave up D Jack Johnson and a first-round pick to get him. LOSERS.

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Wild get Tom Gilbert

Minnesota Wild: The Wild got rid of F Eric Nystrom, D Marek Zidlicky, D Greg Zanon and D Nick Schultz, but acquired D Tom Gilbert, D Steve Kampfer, D Kurtis Foster, F Nick Palmieri, F Stephane Veilleux, a second-round pick in 2012 and a third-round pick in 2013. They didn’t get worse and might have improved. WINNERS

Montreal Canadiens: The Habs traded away Hal Gill, Andrei Kostitsyn and a fifth-round pick and got a second-round pick in 2013, a fifth-round pick in 2013, a second-round pick in 2012, Blake Geoffrion, Robert Slaney. The struggling Canadiens needed to do a lot more than they did at the deadline and have obviously written off 2011-12. Fact is, they didn’t get better. They couldn’t get worse. LOSERS.

Nashville Predators: The Predators acquired Hall Gill and Andrei Kostitsyn and they are a better team heading down the stretch. GM David Poile was happy to wait until the draft to either make a deal with all-star defenseman and soon-to-be unrestricted free agent Ryan Suter, or trade him. WINNERS.

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The Devils get Marek Zidlicky

New Jersey Devils: GM Lou Lamoriello did a lot more than we expected and it all helped make his team better and younger. He acquired Marek Zidlicky from Minnesota and sent Kurtis Foster, Nick Palmieri, Stephane Veilleux and two draft picks to get Zidlicky from Minnesota. The Devils got better. WINNERS.

New York Islanders: The Islanders needed to get better and they did nothing to improve. However, they did send Rolston and Mottau to Boston for prospects so they might get better in 2014. A WASH.

New York Rangers: GM Glen Sather didn’t do much, but he did get big D John Scott from Chicago for a draft pick so he didn’t hurt himself. When you’re in first place and playing well, there is no sense doing anything stupid. WINNERS.

Ottawa Senators: Sens GM Bryan Murray has said he doubted he’d do anything at the deadline and that was smart. Why significantly change a team that has responded well to rookie head coach Paul MacLean? He did pick up prospect goalie Ben Bishop for a second round pick in 2013 and that can’t hurt. WINNERS.

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The Flyers acquired Pavel Kubina

Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers didn’t add any depth up front, but they did acquire defensemen Pavel Kubina and Nicklas Grossman this past week in hopes they can replace the injured Chris Pronger. Both were good moves. WINNERS.

Phoenix Coyotes: The league figures this team can make the playoffs with what it already possesses. Just like Calgary, Phoenix’s trade deadline day was A WASH.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins are a very good team that knows it can’t replace Sidney Crosby. Even if Crosby doesn’t come back, it was always unlikely the Pens would be involved in anything significant on Deadline Day. The fact they did nothing stupid makes them WINNERS.

San Jose Sharks: The Sharks got Dominic Moore from Tampa so they got the “third-line energy guy” they were after. They picked up F Daniel Winnik and F T.J., Gagliardi and a seventh-round pick from Colorado for three prospects. WINNERS.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues liked their team and got a second-round pick for prospect goalie Ben Bishop. A WASH.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Lightning were prepared to deal. They sent Dominic Moore to San Jose, Steve Downie to Colorado and Pavel Kubina to Philly. They also picked up three prospects and a first-round pick in 2012 (probably 29th or 30th from Detroit). A WASH for now, but maybe WINNERS after the season.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Leafs did nothing of significance to a team that needed help. They messed around with a couple of prospects. They did not get better, probably because they had nothing to trade. They are 2-7-1 in their last 10, have fallen out of the playoffs and are heading toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference. LOSERS.

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Former Manitoba Moose Cody Hodgson is out of Vancouver and off to Buffalo

Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks acquired D Sami Pahlsson and D Marc-Andre Gragnani and a couple of prospects. They gave up Cody Hodgson, a couple of prospects and a middle of the pack draft pick. WINNERS.

Washington Capitals: The Caps did nothing to get better and they needed to get better. LOSERS.

Winnipeg Jets: The Jets are in the playoff hunt and they like their mix. However, they traded over-priced and soon-to-be-unrestricted-free-agent D Johnny Oduya for a second and third-round draft pick in 2013 and did nothing to upset the chemistry that has them fighting for first in the Southeast Division. WINNERS.

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Win or Lose, the Winnipeg Jets Always Make it Exciting

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
139843766 slide 300x230 Win or Lose, the Winnipeg Jets Always Make it Exciting

Chris Mason stops T.J. Oshie

THE UPDATE:

WINNIPEG — You have to hand it to the Winnipeg Jets. They find every possible way they can to make it exciting.

Saturday afternoon at MTS Centre, the Jets outshot the St. Louis Blues 41-16 and lost 3-2 in a shootout. Go figure.

Still, it was a thriller. There wasn’t a moment in the game in which a Jets fan didn’t think that something significant might happen. It was just fun to be in the rink.

The Jets have now gone 3-0-2 in the first five games of an eight-game homestand and every game has been tremendous to watch: Winnipeg 4 Boston 2, Winnipeg 5 Colorado 1, Philadelphia 5 Winnipeg 4 (OT), Winnipeg 4 Tampa 3, St. Louis 3 Winnipeg 2 (SO).

Now, granted, a lot of the excitement at MTS Centre has to do with the fact the fans are seldom quiet or sitting down. Thy really have a right to call themselves the loudest fans in the game. Still, a Jets team that scores one night and doesn’t score the next and yet allows the opposition to mirror what they do (in every game except the 5-1 win over Colorado), makes every game the Jets play at the downtown rink a thriller.

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Blake Wheeler -- the best player on the ice.

“I thought today was one of those days where the shot chart was pretty indicative of the way the game was going,” said Blake Wheeler, who scored two goals and was the Jets best player. ” You have to take your hat off to their goalie. He was pretty good today. But that’s the way we have to play down the stretch if we want to win hockey teams. I think everyone feels it was a pretty good effort. We feel we should have one the game.

“We’re disappointed because it was an opportunity for us to get two points, but if we continue to play with that kind of resolve and that kind of effort, we’ll win a lot of games.”

That pretty much summed it up. The Jets were the best team on the ice, but Jarolsav Halak was both lucky and good and the Blues escaped with a victory that left the Jets with a record of 30-26-8 this season.

Winnipeg, the second-place team in the Southeast Division, now has 68 points, the same as first-place Florida, who beat Carolina 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night. The Panthers, however, have four games in hand. The Jets are now eighth in the East, a point ahead of ninth-place Washington, a team that has two games in hand.

139845330 slide 300x216 Win or Lose, the Winnipeg Jets Always Make it Exciting

The Blues Jaroslav Halak Stole One.

Still, the Jets have done exactly what they needed to do in this eight-game homestand. They have yet to play a game without getting a point. With eight of a possible 10 points in the homestand (10 of a possible 12 in their last six games), the Jets have made the noise they needed to make (I said they need at least 13 of 16 to stay in the hunt). They can’t do anything about the schedule and all those games in hand make it difficult down the stretch, but at least they have a chance.

And in the NHL, where only eight teams in each conference make the playoffs (the last playoff team will likely need 90-92 points in the East), all any team can ask for with 18 games left is a chance.

“We needed to get two points but we didn’t, but there was a lot of good things we can take out of this game,” said head coach Claude Noel. “It was a well-played game and a lot of guys brought their A games today. We would have liked to have had two points, but we aren’t disappointed with getting one.”

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Thanks Ilya: Jets Move Into First/Third/Eighth/Second/Ninth In The Southeast/East.

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
Ondrej Pavelec 2 239x300 Thanks Ilya: Jets Move Into First/Third/Eighth/Second/Ninth In The Southeast/East.

Ondrej Pavelec -- brilliant!

At one end of the ice, it was the Ondrej Pavelec Show.

At the other end, it was a clinic — a clinic on what NOT to do if you have dreams of becoming an NHL goaltender.

Thank the lord for Ilya Bryzgalov. That guy couldn’t stop a basketball and because of him, the Winnipeg Jets picked up a point on Tuesday night and stayed on pace with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. They also stayed on par (sort of)  with the Florida Panthers in the race for first in the Southeast Division.

What is it about Philadelphia? Goalie soo there and then otherwise good puck-stoppers suddenly stop being good. Or puck-stoppers, for that matter. In fact, if you’re a goalie wearing Philly orange, chances are you’ve gone to Philadelphia to end your career. There are at least three goalies in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League — Jayson Argue, Matt Krahn and Adam Harris — who could have done a better job on Tuesday night than Bryzgalov. The guy played like a junior B goaltender at best.

However, he played behind a great team that deserved more on Tuesday than to be forced to go to overtime against a club they outshot 55-26.

139468472 slide 300x210 Thanks Ilya: Jets Move Into First/Third/Eighth/Second/Ninth In The Southeast/East.

Evander Kane checks Jaromir Jagr

A goal by Winnipeg’s Evander Kane on a floater that eluded Bryzgalov — kind of like a pop fly ball used to elude iron-gloved Dave Kingman — and drifted into the net gave the Jets a 4-3 lead in the third and forced the Flyers to score the tying goal with 9.1 seconds left in regulation and then score the winner with 43.6 seconds remaining in overtime to win  a game they should have won easily in the first 60 minutes of play.

Meanwhile, despite the overtime loss, the Jets are now 29-26-7, technically tied with Florida in the race for first in the Southeast Division and still technically tied  with the Leafs in the race for eighth in the Eastern Conference (although the official NHL standings won’t show that). Now, in one sense, the Jets are currently ahead of Florida because they have two more wins, but Florida now has four games in hand. Toronto, with the same number of wins as Winnipeg, has two games in hand.

Andrew+Ladd+Carolina+Hurricanes+v+Winnipeg+7e8d yhvtfWl 212x300 Thanks Ilya: Jets Move Into First/Third/Eighth/Second/Ninth In The Southeast/East.

Captain Andrew Ladd scores twice.

Last night, Andrew Ladd scored his 18th and 19th goals of the year while Dustin Byfuglien notched his ninth and Kane scored his 23rd while Pavelec  made 50 saves and was named the game’s first star.

Tim Hiebert of STATS Inc. asked me after the game, “How many goalies do you remember who gave up five goals and were named the game’s first star?” I replied that I couldn’t think of any off the top of my head and Hiebert just said, “me neither, but he deserved to be first star.”

Scary but true.

While Bryzgalov was awful, Pavelec was absolutely magnificent. His third-period save off Jakub Voracek will be replayed all season. But he wasn’t done with that one. Moments later, on the same power-play, he robbed Wayne Simmonds.

In fact, it even got better after that. There was Simmonds again, Jagr twice, Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux, all victims of a remarkable goaltending performance by a guy who was on top of his game. In the end, he simply couldn’t stop all of them.

Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Flyers were a better hockey team than the Winnipeg Jets. But because the Jets have Ondrej Pavelec, the Flyers completely dominated the hockey game but were still lucky to win. Amazing.

In the playoffs, great goaltending can win a team a Stanley Cup. If Ondrej Pavelec can find a way to steal enough games (or points) to get the Jets into the playoffs (and that won’t be easy), there is no telling what he might accomplish.

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Did the Season Change on Friday Night?

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
139210796 slide1 300x209 Did the Season Change on Friday Night?

Blake Wheeler, the Jets best player, scores against the Bruins to give the Jets a 2-1 lead.

Sometimes it’s the small things that make a difference. Then, as it appeared to be on Friday night, it was the largest of things.

That victory was gigantic.

When the Winnipeg Jets saluted their fans after Friday’s 4-2 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, there was a sense that a season might have been changed.

Hard to believe that on Tuesday night, after being beaten by the New York Islanders, that this Jets team would finish the week with a road win and a home victory over one of the finest teams in the NHL.

And yet, now, with seven more games at home before having to head back out on the road, the Jets are suddenly 28-26-6, two points back of eighth-place Toronto in the Eastern Conference and three behind the Southeast Division-leading Florida Panthers.

Now granted, the Panthers have three games in hand and the Leafs have two, but on Tuesday night after the Islanders snuck out of town with that hard-to-believe 3-1 victory, the Jets were seven back of Florida and six behind Toronto and they had a road game in Minnesota and a home game against the defending Cup champs staring them in the face. It was not promising.

But it’s amazing what a couple of wins — in tough situations — can do for a team.

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Evander Kane, the hero in St. Paul.

On Thursday night, Evander Kane was the hero with two goals and an assist in regulation time and then the winning goal in a four-round shootout as tghe Jets edged Minnesota 4-3.

Then, on Friday night, Bryan Little scored a pair of third-period goals and the team’s best player, Blake Wheeler, had a goal and two assists against his former teammates, as the Jets won back-to-back and quietly slipped back into the playoff hunt.

Sure, the Jets were outshot 33-25 (13-5 in the first period) by the Bruins, but goalie Ondrej Pavelec was rock solid and the team was very good for the final 40 minutes. Suddenly, with Colorado, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Edmonton, Florida and Buffalo heading into Winnipeg, the Jets now have a legitimate chance to run the table against teams they have either beaten, or should beat, at home.

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Ondrej Pavelec was rock solid.

If nothing else, a road win and a win over the Bruins should give them enough confidence to attack the next seven games as if they were playoff games.

Because they are. Really. After this homestand, the Jets play nine of their final 15 on the road. And they go to some nasty places — Vancouver, Calgary, Pittsburgh, Washington, Nashville — before finishing up in Raleigh, Tampa, Sunrise and Long Island.

If the Jets can — more realistically — pick up 10 or 11 of 14 possible points during the rest of this homestand, they’ll have a reasonable chance to get to 90 points. And this season looks like one of those rare seasons when a team with 90 points might have a hope.

So far, the Jets have 62 points in 60 games. That’s probably better than anyone expected back in October, especially considering that this same team was 12th in the East last year.

cheveldayoff 6201 Did the Season Change on Friday Night?

Now it's up to Cheveldayoff

Coach Claude Noel has done a fine job but now it’s up to GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, who says he might be a buyer at the trade deadline (he certainly has enough money and enough cap room to play with the big boys, if he wants to), to make his team good enough to compete.

On Thursday and Friday of this week the Jets a lot of good things: they won on the road, they beat the defending Stanley Cup champs, they won the second game on back-to-back nights, they started a small but impressive winning streak and they had their seventh man rise to his/her collective feet and coax two solid periods out of the Jets after a slow start.

The next seven games over the next 17 days could be the best thing Jets fans could have ever wanted. Suddenly, very suddenly, the season has changed dramatically for the better.

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Another Week in Crazy

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It’s not that the sports world gets crazier. It’s just that it stays so crazy all the time.

Here’s a look at another week in the Crazy House….

alice cooper bobblehead Another Week in Crazy

The Bobblehead: Nothing Screams Coyotes Hockey like "Alice Cooper!"

1) This Saturday night, the Phoenix Coyotes will hand out Alice Cooper Bobblehead Dolls. What position does Alice play?

2) Former University of Memphis star Roburt Sallie has allegedly been cut from a professional team in Spain for taking the male penis-enlargement pill “ExtenZe.”

According to the website TUBasket.com, Sallie was released by the Spanish club C.B. Tarragona after admitting to taking ExtenZe, which also happens to increase testosterone.

Yesterday, Sallie was interviewed by Gary Parrish of CBS Sports and said that he took, “sexual potency pills,” not ExtenZE.

“If you really believe Gary that I took ExtenZe to enlarge my penis,” Sallie added. “then you have to be crazy.”

There’s that word again.

3) Trade Centre starts on TSN at 7 a.m. on Feb. 27.

Maybe this year there will be some trade deadline deals before 10 a.m. on deadline day.

Or, maybe that’s just crazy.

Floyd Mayweather Another Week in Crazy

Floyd Mayweather.

4) Perhaps Floyd Mayweather should just try to avoid Twitter.

Monday, the boxing champ tweeted: ”Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise.”

Huh? Yes they do. Every freaking day.

Naturally, Mayweather’s tweet started to garner some pointed media responses, especially from ESPN, so Floyd doubled-down.

“It’s OK for ESPN to give their opinion but I say something and everyone questions Floyd Mayweather,” he tweeted in the third person. “I’m speaking my mind on behalf of other NBA players. They are programmed to be politically correct and will be penalized if they speak up.

Jeremy Lin Another Week in Crazy

Jeremy Lin of the Knicks.

“Other countries get to support/cheer their athletes and everything is fine. As soon as I support Black American athletes, I get criticized.”

Huh? It’s not the support or non-support of African-American athletes that’s at issue here. It’s that race (or nationality) was actually brought into the story of Jeremy Lin in the first place. Lin was born in Los Angeles, raised near San Francisco and went to Harvard. He was undrafted by the NBA, was cut by Golden State and Houston and was about to be released by the Knicks when coach Mike D’Antoni looked at Lin as his last resort at point guard.

Lin embraced the chance and has suddenly become one of the greatest stories in the last decade of the NBA.

That’s Lin-sanity (or “Linderella,” as D’Antoni calls him.”). That’s the story. The story is NOT that he happens to be an Asian-American.

Floyd Mayweather is earning himself a spot in the Crazy Hall of Fame.

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Coach Noel

5) My buddy Fort Rouge Ted feels exactly the way I do about all the Jets fans who want to see head coach Claude Noel fired. I was surprised there was anyone out there at all who wanted to see a guy who had a record above .500 with a team that was 12th in the East last year get shown the door, but obviously there are. In fact, the number seems to be growing every day. It’s amazing. This Jets team isn’t that good and yet Noel has kept them in the playoff hunt. He should be rewarded, not sacked.

It’s crazy, actually.

Here’s Fort Rouge Ted’s note from Tuesday morning:

Scottie,

“As you may know if I think anyone should be fired, I’m the first to let you know, but the last thing Jets fans should be doing is calling for Coach Noel’s head.  I like Noel and he has done better with this team than I expected.  You saw what happened on Saturday when the players wavered from what Noel wants them to do to keep games close.  When they suddenly thought they were the “Flying Frenchman” against the Penguins, they got bombed.  The club needs to give Coach Noel a solid three years and once a couple of scorers can be found, I think they will be on their way.”

Couldn’t have said it better.

And I know Teddy will always tell me when he thinks someone should be pink-slipped because as soon as he’d finished his note, he wrote: “FIRE WILSON YESTERDAY!!!”

Ahhh, Leafs fans. The epitome of crazy.

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The NHL Trade Deadline: Which Team Will Do What?

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment
the rink 300x225 The NHL Trade Deadline: Which Team Will Do What?

Go Leafs Go!

One of the nation’s great sports fans, Fort Rouge Ted, lost it on Saturday night. After his beloved Toronto Maple Leafs were drilled 5-0 by the Montreal Canadiens, Teddy sent out the following missive to the media on Sunday morning:

“The Night of Losers! Mats Sundin, the biggest loser of all. How many Stanley Cup rungs do you have Sundin? None! How many Stanley Cup finals have you played in Sundin? None! 

“Then there is the team. When was the last time the Leafs won the Cup? 1967! When was the last time the Leafs played in a Cup final? 1967! When was the last time the Maple Leafs were in the playoffs? April 2003! What happened last night? A 5-0 drubbing! 

“How many Stanley Cups has Ron Wilson won? None! Nada! Nil! Nothing! Never! Will Ron Wilson ever win a Cup? No! Nada! Nil! Never! Not going to happen.

“Everyone in this sad sack, futile joke of a pathetic facsimile of an NHL team must be fired! From top to bottom!

“Its 45 years and counting.”

I wonder how many other Leafs fans are feeling that eighth-place pinch. With 26 games remaining, the Leafs are just a point ahead of the ninth-place Washington Capitals and only four ahead of the 10th place Winnipeg Jets. Just like my buddy Fort Rouge Ted, there are probably a lot of Leafs fans who would like to see general manager Brian Burke make some moves (assuming that unlike Teddy, they don’t want everyone fired).

We are now two weeks away from the NHL trade deadline and if anything is going to happen this year – remember, not much happened last year – it will start happening this week.

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Our pal Les Binkley

Last week, we were in Tampa sitting with a handful of scouts and player personnel experts, among them Les Binkley, Scotty Bowman and Barry Smith. We discussed with all of them what teams are after and what they might do at the deadline.

We’ve also assembled all the rumors and reports and brought all of our intelligence together to bring you “30 Teams At the Deadline.”

From what we know, deadline day might not be any fun for Teddy and the Leafs fans.

Anaheim Ducks: GM Bob Murray has said for a few months that he’s prepared to trade his top players. In fact, Murray said that every player on his team except Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu were available. Right. Available for what? Murray would be happy to trade the Ducks to Boston in exchange for the Bruins, but Murray’s remarks were really just a psychological ploy to make his good team play like a good team. Sure, the Ducks will trade Bobby Ryan or Ryan Getzlaf, but the team that wants to make the deal will have to part with far too much to acquire them. Although, you might be able to get veteran defenseman Lubomir Vishnovsky or veteran forwards Jason Blake or Nicklas Hagman in exchange for a prospect.

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Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli

Boston Bruins: GM Peter Chiarelli has told the Boston Globe that if there are any “game-changing” players available this year, the price will be too high for anyone to take a chance on. “Too many teams are still in the playoff hunt,” Chairelli said. “The asking price for the players who could help you are very high and I wonder sometimes if the talent pool is starting to thin out. I think we here in Boston and around the league are more interested in re-signing out free agents instead of trading them.” Regardless, Boston could add $16 million in salaries at the deadline so they could still be buyers. If Chiraelli gets the right deal.

Buffalo Sabres: The disappointing Sabres are expected to be sellers at the deadline. In fact, GM Darcy Regier is looking to dump any number of contracts. Defenseman Robin Regehr, centre Paul Gaustad, centre Derek Roy, rightwinger Brad Boyes and leftwinger Jochen Hecht are all on the block. The Sabres are 24-25-6 and eight points out of the final playoff spot in the East. If good things don’t happen in a hurry, expect Buffalo to unload as many veterans as it can.

Iginla1 The NHL Trade Deadline: Which Team Will Do What?

With Iginla, there are always rumors.

Calgary Flames: Veteran defensemen Scott Hannan and Cory Sarich are apparently on the block and at this time of the year Jarome Iginla is always mentioned in fantasy blockbusters. Iginla told the Calgary Sun he now ignores all the trade rumors, as he should. According to Bryn Griffiths of the FAN 960: “I’m not sure if there’s a stomach to trade away any of their younger guys for a one time shot. That’s the danger of being ‘seduced’ by a playoff run at trade deadline time. I can’t see them dealing any of the really big guys, but perhaps they may part with veteran blue liners Hannan or Sarich to a team needing some defensive depth in exchange for more future picks.” I agree with Bryn.

Carolina Hurricanes: Our scouts tell us that Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford is shopping around all of his unrestricted free agents: C Tuomo Ruutu, D Bryan Allen, D Jaroslav Spacek and D Tim Gleason. Rutherford knows he has a team that is big, but brutally slow. He needs to get rid of some veterans and acquire some fresh legs and a new attitude.

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Do the Hawks Really Want Johnny Oduya?

Chicago Blackhawks: No matter whom you speak to, when it comes to the Hawks everyone says the same thing: “The Hawks are looking for a defenseman.” Stan Bowman has allegedly scouted Johnny Oduya, Mark Eaton, Hal Gill, Steve Staios, Jaroslav Spacek and Bryan Allen. There have also been discussions with Dallas about Sheldon Souray, the Wild about Marek Zidlicky and with Nashville about Jonathan Blum. If any of that comes to fruition just say you read it here first. The Hawks have also shown some interest in Buffalo centre Derek Roy, but that seems to be all smoke and no fire.

Colorado Avalanche: The Avalanche will probably be a buyer at the deadline. They are pleased with their maturing team and figure they still have a shot at the post-season. And why not? As of this morning, they were just two points behind Phoenix in the race for eighth in the West. There has been some talk of moving defenseman Shane O’Brien, but I wouldn’t expect much else. This is a team that believes that if it can get Paul Stastny and Ryan O’Reilly going, it can make the playoffs.

Columbus Blue Jackets: This is the worst team in the NHL and they will be sellers. They would love to move Jeff Carter right now and many of our scouts thought it was time to ask Rick Nash to waive his no-trade clause. This is a horrible that obviously would be last, we or without Nash. The Jackets would also like to move Antoine Vermette, the former Senators blue-chipper who has done nothing in Columbus, and veteran R.J. Umberger. Amazingly, there were reports out of Columbus that veteran Vinny Prospal was available, but the Blue Jackets turned around and gave him a new deal with a no-trade clause. Huh?

article 15565 2 300x184 The NHL Trade Deadline: Which Team Will Do What?

Mike Ribeiro

Dallas Stars: The Stars have apparently been shopping Mike Ribeiro, but it seems the asking price is a tad high for most GMs. Ribeiro is playing on a line with Jamie Benn and most scouts agree that if the Stars could make a deal for a proven playmaker, they might have a powerful top line. It’s unlikely the Stars will be buyers at the deadline although some experts believe that if they win five or six games over the next couple of weeks, they could change their minds. A couple of our scouts had heard that Nicklas Grossman is on the block, as well.

Detroit Red Wings: Amazingly, the No. 1 team in the NHL has $24 million in cap space. Ken Holland is a tremendous GM and he can do whatever he feels he needs to do to improve at the deadline. The Wings have made big moves before. There is always a chance, Holland will go after a veteran he feels can fit into the Wings culture and help the team down the stretch.

Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers are no longer interested in unloading the red-hot Sam Gagner, but they would like to deal veterans Ryan Smyth, Ales Hemsky and Andy Sutton. GM Steve Tambellini loves his young players, but it sounds like he’s definitely in the mood to move some veterans.

Florida Panthers: The Panthers are looking for a defenseman to fill the void left by the injury to Ed Jovanovski. There were some rumors that Kris Versteeg might be on the block, but with Florida starting to run away with the Southeast Division title, I doubt that’s going to happen.

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Dustin Penner

Los Angeles Kings: The Kings are going with Jonathan Quick in goal and would be ready to move backup Jonathan Bernier for the right price. The Kings would absolutely love to trade LW Dustin Penner, but who would take a $4.5 million player with five goals?

Minnesota Wild: The Wild are still only four points out of a playoff spot although they have four teams to jump over and they have more than $10 million in cap space available. They’ll be looking to add scoring and they do have a top-notch goaltender to trade (Josh Harding). This is a team that has been without Guillaume Latendresse and Pierre-Marc Bouchard for much of the season and they do need to replace them if they can. They have some cap room and if they can move Harding for a scorer, they will consider it a successful trade deadline fortnight. The Wild have inquired about Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu.

Montreal Canadiens: If the Habs can trade Hal Gill, they will. And as odd as this sounds, don’t be surprised if they try to become “more French.” If a Quebecois player becomes available, they might make a move. That nasty battle they’ve had over interim head coach Randy Cunneyworth’s inability to speak French has hurt the Canadiens brass and they’re ready to deal for maybe P.A. Parenteau or Antoine Vermette. There is some interest in Habs forward Travis Moen and GM Pierre Gauthier would love to unload Scott Gomez. Andrei Kostitsyn and Chris Campoli could also be acquired for the right price.

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Alexander Radulov

Nashville Predators: The Predators have never been big movers at any time – trade deadline or draft time – unless they have unrestricted free agents to move out. They build a contending team and when guys get around to free agency, they seldom even try to pay the big bucks. Ryan Suter is coming up on UFA, and there has been talk the Preds could use one of the game’s best — but soon to be most expensive defensemen –, to get them a Top 6 forward and a gritty defenseman. They also have the rights to gifted Russian forward Alexander Radulov and defenseman Jonathan Blum to use as trade bait. The Predators will be happy to stand pat and wait until the draft to either make a deal with Suter or deal him, but something could happen with GM David Poile over the next two weeks. I wouldn’t expect Suter to go anywhere.

New Jersey Devils: There has been a lot of talk about the Devils desire to move Zach Parise but Lou Lamoriello told two of our scouts that he will not trade Parise and instead would like to re-sign him. As New Jersey stays in the playoff hunt, there is less reason for Lamoriello to do anything at the deadline.

The NHL Trade Deadline: Which Team Will Do What?

Islanders GM Rick Dipietro

New York Islanders: Lots of talk about moving P.A. Parenteau, but GM Rick DiPietro says he’s not in any hurry to make any changes. There have also been rumors swirling around goalie Evgeni Nabokov, but DiPietro says he has no desire to move the veteran goaltender.

New York Rangers: GM Glen Sather is always prepared to make his team better, but right now the Rangers are the best team in the East and there appears to be no reason for Sather to panic. He might think about Ryan Smyth, a classy veteran who always plays hard and if he can acquire a veteran defenseman with no baggage, he might  consider it, but I doubt even Sather would do anything to mess up a very good thing. The Rangers are first in the East and don’t have a lot of room under the cap. Why fool with it?

Ottawa Senators: Sens GM Bryan Murray told the Ottawa Sun: “We’ll see if there’s anything that makes sense, but in all likelihood it’s status quo at the moment, anyway.” There is very little chance the Sens will significantly change a team that has responded well to rookie head coach Paul MacLean.

Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers are like a lot of teams. They would like to add some depth up front and would very much like to find a veteran defenseman to replace Chris Pronger, but they are also realistic enough to know that salary caps and high prices tend to interfere with what you want. There has been talk of Jeff Carter heading back to Philadelphia but the Flyers salary cap situation won’t likely allow that. Philadelphia made a lot of noise in the off-season and if they’re going to make noise again, it will likely be at the draft, not the trade deadline.

136105537 display image 300x290 The NHL Trade Deadline: Which Team Will Do What?

Ray Whitney

Phoenix Coyotes: The Coyotes would love to move Ray Whitney, but he has a restricted no-trade clause. Remember, the league owns the Coyotes and the league wants the team in the post-season (only chance they’ll have to cut their rather significant financial losses). They will do what can be done at the deadline. They made some big moves last year and there is little doubt they’ll do it again if the league feels it will get the Coyotes into the playoffs.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The Penguins have shown some interest in Hal Gill of the Canadiens and Dominic Moore of the Tampa Bay Lightning, but they either can’t cut a deal or neither of those teams really has all that much interest in trading their players. The Penguins are a very good team that knows it can’t replace Sidney Crosby. If Crosby comes back, they won’t be involved in an important trade.

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Antero Niittymaki

San Jose Sharks: The Sharks could move goalie Antero Nittymaki if they can get “a third-line energy guy” according to reports from the West Coast. Sharks GM Doug Wilson told the San Jose Mercury News, “We look every day for ways to improve this hockey team.” Apparently, he’s looking for a scorer because Martin Havlat will be out of the lineup until at least early March. Other than that, don’t expect much from a Sharks team that will likely be the third seed in the West.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues need a No. 1 centre. With Andy McDonald (McDonald returned Sunday night) and Alex Steen out of the lineup, the Blues will make s serious attempt to find a forward who can score. The Blues have lots of cap room but they aren’t likely to trade away a high draft pick. Some scouts have thought that the Blues might be looking for a defenseman, but they have six with Kent Huskins in reserve, although our scouts believe they have an interest in Hal Gill and Winnipeg’s Johnny Oduya. The Jets have been scouting Blues games recently.

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Dominic Moore

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Lightning are apparently prepared to deal. Dominic Moore is said to be on the block and so too is the injured Ryan Malone. Veteran defenseman Pavel Kubina has a limited no-trade clause, but would probably submit a five-team list, if he were asked. Most of our scouts believed the Lightning would be sellers at the deadline. However, all agreed that if they can acquire a legitimate big-time goalie, they’d package up a bunch of players to get him.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Unless something miraculous happens, the Leafs aren’t going to do anything, at least nothing of significance. Burke has told the Toronto media that it’s quiet on the trade front and that’s to be expected in a salary-capped NHL. The Leafs would love to find another scorer, but Burke won’t break up a team that he’s admitted he likes unless he gets an incredible deal – like Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry for a prospect. And that isn’t going to happen. Burke told USA Today, “Prices are inflated and there is only Stanley Cup parade at the end of the season. The trade deadline is a pit of quicksand.”

Cory Schneider fantasy g schneider 3001 The NHL Trade Deadline: Which Team Will Do What?

Cory Schneider

Vancouver Canucks: How much more talk can there be about trading goalie Cory Schneider? And how can there be a dumber thing to do at this stage? The Canucks might want to move their hot young backup, but why do anything until the off-season. The Canucks can make a decision at the draft to trade Schneider or keep the younger goalie and move Roberto Luongo. Our scouts couldn’t believe the Canucks would even consider dealing Schneider now. They think he’ll be a useful goaltender in the playoffs.

Washington Capitals: All the talk is about Mike Knuble. Ever since he was a healthy scratch last Thursday night against Winnipeg, there have been stories about Knuble heading to one place or another and the speculation has included talk of Tampa’s Dominic Moore, Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu and the Islanders P.A. Parenteau. If the Caps want to get any of those three players, they’d better be prepared to trade more than Mike Knuble.

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Trade Dustin Byfuglien? They wouldn't dare.

Winnipeg Jets: The Jets are desperate for a goal scorer and they have plenty of cap room to fool around with. They are also making loads of money (13th in the NHL at $1.24 million per game in revenues) and have some prospects and overpaid veterans to trade. There are some fans who have been screaming for the Jets to trade defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, but I doubt that’s anywhere on the team’s radar. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has said he is going to be patient and develop the talent that he already has, so it remains to be seen if the Jets will be buyers or sellers over the next couple of weeks. If they stay in the playoff hunt, I’ll predict they try to find a top six forward who can score. They might not be successful, but they will make an effort to improve up front. Oh yeah, and the Jets also have seven potential unrestricted free agents on the roster.

(We’ll revisit our list on Trade Deadline Day)

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