Talk Hockey with the coach

Top and worse Teams

2011-01-15T09:50:00.007-05:00

The Road Warriors

It's a well known fact, that to win hockey games, you have to score goals.Espacially when your on the road.Here are the top five teams in goals scored on the road.

Philadelphia 78
Atlanta 73
Vancouver 72
Boston 69
Detroit 68

The five worse teams:
26.Ottawa 50
27.Washington 46
28.Islanders 44
29.Montreal 43
30.New Jersey 37

Its nice to score goals,but also have prevent them also.Here are among the stingyiest teams on the road.
1.Pittsburgh 43
2.Boston 51
3.Montreal 51
4.Vancouver 56
5.Rangers 56

The worse:
26.Carolina 74
27.Edmonton 74
28.Atlanta 78
29.Islanders 78
30.Tampa Bay 93

Its hard enough to score on the road,but it can be as difficult scoring on the powerplay.Here are the top teams that have scored the most powerplay goals on the road.
1.Vancouver 26
2.Atlanta 20
3.Detroit 20
4.Tampa Bay 20
5.San Jose 20

The worse :
26.Nashville 9
27.St-Louis 9
28.Edmonton 8
29.New Jersey 8
30.Florida 6

While on the road, scoring a short handed goal as the home team is on the powerplay, can sometimes rattle them.Here are the top teams in that category.
1.Rangers 6
2.Philadelphia 4
3.Atlanta 4
4.Boston 4
5.Colorado 4

The worse :
26.Florida 1
27.Anaheim 1
28.Montreal 1
29.Tampa Bay 0
30.Buffalo 0

All numbers from NHL.com

That's all for now !

Thank You Pat

2010-11-20T11:54:00.011-05:00

Thank You Pat

For the great memories.If I may,I will speak on the behalf of the fans of the Hull Olympiques.There was never a dull moment in the Robert-Guertin arena.It have may have been destiny,but thirty years before you started coaching junior in Hull at the time,an another legend was being schooled also,I believe he was William Scott ''Scotty'' Bowman.Like him,you ended up coaching the Canadiens.

Pat,not too many people can brag about having the chance to have coached two legendary goaltenders,Roy and Brodeur,both brought you to cup finals.

When looking at your coaching career,Pat,in your first five years behind a bench,you never got less that 85 points.In the first seasons behind the Canadiens,Leafs,Bruins and Devils bench,you averaged 45 wins,and 103 points per season.Three Jack Adams trophy wins.All coaching original six teams,Montreal in 89,Toronto in 93 and Boston in 98.You may have not gotten it in New Jersey,but won a better trophy, The Stanley cup.

Lets take a look at the players you had the pleasure to coach.Larry Robinson,Bob Gainey,Chris Chelios,Guy Carbonneau and Patrick Roy in Montreal.Doug Gilmour,Wendel Clark,Dave Andreychuck,Grant Fuhr in Toronto.You got to coach Joe Thornton, when you where both in your first season in Boston.You had a pretty good line-up in New Jersey when you won the cup.

In all, you had a pretty good career as a bench boss,Pat.You will be missed.I know your looking down and wondering and reading the papers delivered to the pearly gates,and saying to yourself, ''Move on boys and girls.'' We will Pat,but it won't be easy.

Pat,we will look after Line,Jason,Maureen and your grandson,Samuel.

Thank you again,Pat,for the great memories.

After 20 games last year and …

2010-11-14T12:33:00.001-05:00

As most teams will be getting closer to the 20 game mark of the season,I thought it would be idea to look at their record after same amount of games last year.I placed the teams by divisions and by the amount of points they got.So let’s start with the Eastern Conference teams. Teams in red,missed the playoffs.

Eastern Conference

NorthEast Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Buffalo	20	12	6	2	26
Ottawa	20	11	6	3	25
Boston	20	8	8	4	20
Montreal	20	9	11	0	18
Toronto	20	3	11	6	12

Atlantic Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
New Jersey	20	14	5	1	29
Pittsburgh	20	13	7	0	26
Philadelphia	20	12	7	1	25
Rangers	20	11	8	1	23
Islanders	20	7	6	7	21

SouthEast Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Washington	20	12	4	4	28
Atlanta	20	10	7	3	23
Tampa Bay	20	8	5	7	23
Florida	20	9	9	2	20
Carolina	20	3	12	5	11

Western Conference

Central Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Chicago	20	13	5	2	28
Columbus	20	12	6	2	26
Detroit	20	10	6	4	24
Nashville	20	11	8	1	23
Sr-Louis	20	8	8	4	20

Northwest Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
Calgary	20	12	6	2	26
Colorado	20	12	5	3	25
Vancouver	20	10	10	0	20
Edmonton	20	8	10	2	18
Minnesota	20	7	11	2	16

Pacific Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS
San Jose	20	13	4	3	29
Los Angeles	20	11	7	2	24
Dallas	20	9	5	6	24
Phoenix	20	11	9	0	22
Anaheim	20	7	10	3	17

As you can see,even with a good start,Calgary, missed the playoffs. I now its pretty hard to compare one season to an another, as a lot of teams change their personel year to year.Either signing free agents or change coaches.But in the end,its order for one and only reason,win the Stanley Cup.We often mention playoff races,but in reality it’s a marathon.Winning the grand prize in hockey, is the hardest of all major sports.

In January, I will take a look at where the teams where at midpoint in the season in 2009-10.

The Salary cap

I try to stop myself from laughing everytime I read a Gm mention that its hard to make trades under the cap system.Nobody, told you that you had constantly bump against the cap limit every year.Keeping yourself some space in case of possible injuries,slow starts and make shake ups would have been a great idea.You can always go the owner and ask them why they allowed a cap system based on average salary instead of actual salary.Gentlemen,before the lockout, the average payroll per team was about 43.5 million per team,based on actual salary.Today,under the present system,its about 55 million.So much for cost certainty.Don’t expect too much sympathy from the fans in the next CBA negociations.

The Canadiens traded defensemen Ryan O’Byrne to the Colorado Avalanche in return for centerman,Michaël Bournival from Shawinigan of the Quebec major junior league.The Canadiens had them on their list in 2009,but Colorado grabbed in the third round.It’s a good trade for both sides.it also gave Habs Gm Pierre Gauthier some cap space he needed,but also O’Byrne will see more ice time in Colorado than he could of in Montreal.Thank you,Ryan for your services in Montreal,I’m sure you will take what you learned will help your career in Colorado.

Philadelphia Flyers,resigned restricted free agent Jeff Carter to an 11 year,58 million dollar contract,which take effect in 2011-12.With this signing, the Flyers have 57.5 million committed to 18 players.If the cap stays the same next season,Paul Holmgren could be forced to trade a player.

That’s all for now. !

The 50 greatest goals and...

2010-10-27T10:00:00.031-04:00

A famous picture and Goal
If you are not old enough to remember the famous Bobby Orr goal in the 1970 Stanley cup final.You have certainly seen the picture, the video or have been told about it.
For St-Louis Blues fans,its a goal they would like to forget.It was the last time the Blues have reached the cup final.The Blues have reached the semi-final a few times since.In 1986,under Jacques Demers they were beaten by the Calgary Flames.
In 2001,under Joel Quenneville,they were beaten by the Colorado Avalanche.Quenneville has a cup ring with the Colorado team and added an another this past spring as head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.Bleacherreport.com has an article about the 50 greatest goals.They include both regular season and playoffs.
The Montreal Canadiens, a superpower of hockey in the 1970's,had in its ranks,one of the best right wingers in the history of the NHL, Guy Lafleur, who scored his team's most important goal of it's history.I know Don Cherry is going to hate this one.Its late in the third period in game 7 against Boston.Cherry's team had just taken the lead 4-3,in a shell shocked Montreal Forum,a new hope came for the die hard Canadiens supporters,the Bruins get called for too many men on the ice.Well,Scotty Bowman was licking his chops at this one.He put his 5 best players on the ice.Lafleur passes it to Lemaire and he back passes it to Lafleur,blasted it past Bruin goalie, Gilles Gilbert.We all know what happened after that.Enjoy the videos.

If you think some teams are feeling a cap crunch this year,just wait until next season.Since it will be the last year of the CBA,teams will no longer have the cap cushion.In other words,they will not be allowed to go over the limit with bonuses.Example, let's say the cap limit next year is 61 million.You have a 23 player roster that cap hits add up to 59 million,but you have bonuses that come up 4million.Well, your going to have fit the 4 million in bonuses within the 61 million allowable cap space.As payable bonuses will not be able to be tacked on to the following year, like it was last season and this season.Benjamin Benya takes a look at the cap situation for all 30 NHL teams.

Bowman still enjoys the hockey life

William Scott ''Scotty'' Bowman,coached in his last NHL game in Detroit over eight years ago,as his Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup for a third time under his leadership.In the summer of 2008,shortly after seeing the Red Wings beat the young and upcoming Pittsburgh Penguins,he accepted a similar position with an another upcoming young team,the Chicago BlackHawks.The decision to move on to Chicago,was a personal one.Stan Bowman, at the time was as assistant-gm,but also had battled with cancer.A year later,the young Bowman became Gm.A chance to work with his son,who was named after the famous trophy, after Scotty won his first in Montreal,against the organization he had joined.In June,Scotty and Stan Bowman became the first father and son to have their names on the Stanley Cup the same year.

Scotty,just turned 77 in September.You would think he would be home enjoying a quiet life.No,his passion for the game is still there.Bob Verdi,an historian for the Blackhawks has a great piece on the legendary coach.Just when you thought you knew everything you needed to know about him, he has an another for you to learn.

That's all for now !

The home opener and ...

2010-10-15T16:03:00.025-04:00

There was a time when teams that would be part of the home opening of certains teams,they wished they could trade places with someone else.The Montreal Forum was one of those buildings.It wasn't the building itself,they feared,but the team that played there.It was the home of the mighty Montreal Canadiens.The temple of hockey, house of legends.

Who could blame them.Les Canadiens could intimidate you just by taking the warm up.Then they would stare you down during the national anthem.Those were certainly the good old days.Other buildings also that kind of aura,but nothing beat the chilling effect of the grand old building at the corner of Ste-Catherine and Atwater, in the core of Montreal's downtown area.

Today,that is all gone, the newer building,the Bell Center does not have that same effect,neither does the team.The last home opener in the Forum was the beginning of the end of what was once one of the greatest hockey dynasties.On October 17th 1995,then President,Ronald Corey proceeded with a major house cleaning, that would have a domino effect that would last for years,even decades. To this day,the organisation is still trying to recover.

The new building,now known as the Bell Center,formely opened as the Molson Center.It has not been kind to its tenants.For a long time, you couldn't give tickets away.Of course that has changed since the end of the lockout in July 2005.In the five years since the 2004-05 cancelled season, the Canadiens have sold out every season,it most likely will again this year also.Against all odds, Les Glorieux,made it to the Eastern conference finals.The expectations will be high.In the six home openers they have played since the cancelled season, they have a 1-3-2 record.No Harry Sinden, the ghost haven't followed, but then again, you may want to get Bruce Boudreau's opinion on that one. By the way,in 14 home openers in the Molson/Bell Center, the Canadiens have 4 wins,5 losses, 3 tied games and 2 OT losses.

What to do on a rainy day ?

Since it was a boring day here in Canada's national capital,I decided to go thru some stats on the fastest starts since the end of the lockout by the six canadian teams.Fun uh ? It was.Well lets start with Les Canadiens,their best start to a season since the lockout, came in 2008-09,when they went 8-1-1 for 17 points out twenty in the first ten games.This tied the Vancouver Canucks record in the 2005-06 season.The Ottawa Senators had the best of all six canadian teams in the 2007-08 season, when they went 9-1-0 in their first ten games.So much for great starts,Marc Crawford,Guy Carbonneau and John Paddock where all fired later on, following those good starts.

All stats used,are from the good people at hockey reference.

Around the League

There seems to be a new owner coming to town in Glendale,AZ, to buy the Phoenix Coyotes.Chicago businessman Matthew Hulsizer is closing on the deal to purchase the team from the NHL,according to Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press. The purchase price is targeted at about 165 million,25 more than the league paid for it 2009 from bankruptcy court. The league lost 30 million while running the team.

That's all for now !

There back and ...

2010-10-07T08:23:00.025-04:00

The 92nd NHL marathon begins today

The puck will drop in Helinski,Finland in the game between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Minnesota Wild.But we all know the official season starts in North America.This is the sixth season of the Salary cap era.

Besides the Helinski game,eight teams will be in action tonight.Two of the league's oldest franchises will meet in Toronto.The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs will face off at the Air Canada Centre at 7 pm.The game will be broadcasted on the CBC and RDS for the french viewers in Quebec.As always, the expectations will be high for the storied franchise from Montreal,espacially after the surprising playoff run last spring.As for the Toronto team,its an ever lasting building process since the end of the lockout five years ago.After the Montreal-Toronto game,the CBC will head west for the battle of Alberta,between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames.It should be an entertaining evening of hockey.

In the last few days,the experts,pundits and bloggers have made their predictions on the upcoming season.The late great coach of the Montreal Canadiens,Toe Blake, once said that predictions are for gypsies.I will follow that and more go on the lines of a possible scenario for each conference.I believe we really get a better picture of a season in January,which is the season's midpoint.

In the Eastern conference.Last season,the Capitals,Devils,Sabres and Penguins finished in the top four.I think the Penguins,Capitals and Sabres will be there again.So a dog fight could occur for positions four to eight.The teams that will be hunting for the spots are : Boston,Ottawa,Montreal,New Jersey,Philadelphia,Tampa Bay,Rangers and Carolina.It should make for some entertaining hockey.Like last year,we may have to wait til the last weekend of the season to find out who the last team or teams to make the playoffs.

In the Western conference.Last season,San Jose,Vancouver,Chicago and Phoenix finished in the top four.This season,Detroit will take back it's place in the top four and join San Jose,Vancouver and Chicago.I think Los Angeles has a good chance at sewing up fifth place.So contrary to the Eastern conference,only three playoff spots are up for grabs in the West.Phoenix,St-Louis,Nashville,Colorado,Anaheim and Calgary will be fighting for those spots.

As I mentionned earlier,we should have a better idea of the possible playoff pictures once the season hits midpoint.Other than staying healthy, and being consistant ip front, on defense and in goal,is there a formula in making the playoffs ? Yes, having good home and away records.In the eight teams that made it to the playoffs in the West,none of them where below 22 wins at home,while in the East,all but two teams reached that mark.Boston and Montreal had 18 and 20. Out of the eight teams with playoff spots in the East,only four won 21 games and more.Two of the teams below that mark had losing records going in to the first round.Ottawa and Philadelphia.In the West,three teams finished below the 21 win mark,Vancouver had a losing record.

Its was harder to make the playoffs in the West than in the East.Colorado made it with 95 points,while Montreal snuck in with 7 less points at 88.The first seven teams in the West had 100+ points going in to the playoffs to the four from the East.

We should be in for a good end entertaining season,folks.

Around the League

The San Jose Sharks have named Joe Thornton as their captain.DanBoyle will be wearing one of the A's as will former captain, Patrick Marleau.During the regular season,he will be good.His leadership will surely be tested come playoffs.Just like in Washington,the Sharks fans want a cup.The Sharks finally made for the conference finals last spring,but lost in four games to eventual cup champions,Chicago. Can he lead them down the path to glory ? We will find out next spring.

In its season preview show,TSN has predicted that the Detroit Red Wings will win the 2011 Stanley Cup.Here is quote by Bob McKenzie '' Everything old is new again.Zetterberg and Datsyuk are playing together, Franzen and Filppula are healthy, happy, and productive, and maybe it's a last hurrah for Nicklas Lidstrom." His collegue on the panel,Pierre Mcguire agreed with McKenzie. McGuire then added "They're just too much, well coached, rested, and angry with what happened to them last year in the San Jose series."

Coaches on the hot seat was also on TSN's season preview.Darren Drager listed the following : Todd Richards in Minnesota,Marc Crawford in Dallas,Ron Wilson in Toronto,Randy Carlyle in Anaheim,Alain Vigneault in Vancouver and Bruce Boudreau in Washington.I will add, Claude Julien in that group also.

That's all for now,enjoy the season.

Quebec fans send message to NHL and ...

2010-10-03T08:17:00.021-04:00

Quebec fans want their team back

Quebec Nordiques fans by the truck load descended on historical Plaines d'Abraham to drum up support for a return of their team, who had moved to Colorado,following the 1994-95 shorten season.

The message was also clear that the canadian government should put up the money for a new building.It was also a message sent to the NHL brass,that this market must be given back a franchise.With struggling franchises in non traditional markets,the NHL's board of Governors can not overlook a good potential market like the one in Quebec city.According to hockey columnist,Yvon Pedneault,Gary Bettman has given a drop date for the franchise in Phoenix.If no owner is found by December 31st of this year,there is a good chance, the Coyotes will be relocated.No particular alternate market was mentionned,but with the demonstration yesterday in Quebec,it will be hard to pass by.The teams in the canadian market represent 31% of the yearly revenues for the NHL.

The hockey news recently polled NHL players and asked where the NHL put a team via either relocation or expansion.Quebec City got 33 votes,Winnipeg 18 and Las Vegas 12.

Should the league look in to the Islanders cap situation ?

Larry Brooks from the NY post thinks it should.The Islanders have been able to reach the cap floor because of the Yashin and Whitt buyouts,which total in a $6,088,400 cap hit.Brooks wonders why the league is not too worried about this,as they where with the Kovalchuck contract contraversy.

What's in store in the next CBA ?

Pierre Lebrun from ESPN,takes a look at possible points the NHL would like to change in the next round of CBA talks in two years.Lebrun mentions the following points as ones the league and the NHLPA may look over.

• Lower the percentage of the players' share from the revenue pie from the current 57 percent (which would obviously lower the salary cap).

• Explore the magnitude of the payroll range; the current gap is $16 million from the higher to lower limit (this season, it's $59.4 million to $43.4 million).

• Try to scrap salary arbitration, which has long been a thorn in the league's side, especially now in a cap system.

• Adjust the age for unrestricted free agency.

Records since the lockout

Eastern Conference

Team	Rank	GP	W	L	OL	PTS
New Jersey	1	410	240	134	36	516
Buffalo	2	410	230	136	44	504
Ottawa	3	410	223	144	43	489
NY Rangers	4	410	209	146	55	473
Caroline	5	410	215	156	39	469
Montreal	6	410	211	153	46	468
Pittsburgh	7	410	208	153	49	465
Washington	8	410	204	151	55	463
Boston	9	410	197	151	57	451
Philadelphie	10	410	194	165	51	439
Floride	11	410	183	167	60	426
Atlanta	12	410	188	176	46	422
Toronto	13	410	181	172	57	419
Tampa Bay	14	410	176	184	50	402
NY Islanders	15	410	171	191	47	389

Western Conference

Team	Rank	GP	W	L	OL	PTS
Detroit	1	410	257	101	52	566
San Jose	2	410	248	114	48	544
Nashville	3	410	228	143	39	495
Anaheim	4	410	219	139	52	490
Vancouver	5	410	224	146	40	488
Dallas	6	410	221	144	45	487
Calgary	7	410	217	146	47	481
Minnesota	8	410	208	159	43	459
Colorado	9	410	206	167	37	449
Chicago	10	410	195	165	50	440
Phoenix	11	410	193	186	31	417
Los Angeles	12	410	181	183	46	408
Edmonton	13	410	179	188	43	401
St-Louis	14	410	169	180	61	399
Columbus	15	410	175	187	48	398

That's all for now.

The Rocket and ...

2010-09-16T12:45:00.025-04:00

It was 5o years yesterday,September 15th 1960,that Maurice ''Rocket'' Richard shocked the hockey world and announced that he was retiring from hockey after 18 season career with the Montreal Canadiens.

Richard had just turned 39 in August of that year.He claimed that his body had become fragile and that his reflexes weren't the same as they use to be and could no longer continue to play.

During his great career,Richard won the Stanley cup 8 times.He was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in a season and to reach the 500 plateau.He still holds the record for most career goals in the fabulous history of the Montreal Canadiens.One that may never be broken.

Richard passed away May 27th 2000,after a long battle with cancer.

A captain for the Canadiens ?

The biggest subject of conversation last season in Montreal,was captaincy of the Montreal Canadiens.General Manager ,Pierre Gauthier and head coach,Jacques Martin have mentionned that a captain will be known before the drop of the puck on October 7th before their original six meeting with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

A montreal based newspaper,LaPresse,mentionned that the choice had come down to Brian Gionta.Jacques Martin,mentionned on a popular french morning tv show,that is was just speculation.I guess we will have to wait an see.

No Federal $$$ for pro sports

Canadian Prime Minister,Stephen Harper,made it clear while on tour in Quebec city,that no money will be available for pro sports.But did mention,that the Federal government will be willing to help in anyway possible with the building of a new arena.As he put it, Pro sports “first and foremost the responsibility of the private sector”.I agree totally.

Harper,in his statement,was being consistant with himself, as the head of the canadian taxpayers Federation in 2000,when the Chretien government was considering provinding assistance to struggling canadian franchises due to the lower canadian dollar.

Lyle Richardson from spectorshockey.net, mentionned in his wednesday edition of the soapbox,that Pierre-Karl Peladeau of Quebecor,a company that owns newspapers,tv stations and a major cable company,should pay for it himself,since he had the capital put together to buy the Montreal Canadiens and the Bell Centre,before getting outbid by the Molson Family two years ago.It would be a risky project to go in to it alone when your not even guaranteed an NHL franchise.

It will be interesting to see what the outcome of all of this in the months to come.

That's all for now !

An NHL return to Quebec ? and ...

2010-09-09T11:37:00.016-04:00

A new Building for Quebec City ?

On Tuesday,the Quebec provincial government agreed to participate financially in a new modern arena in Quebec city.The provincial government will fork out 45 % of the estimated 400 million it would cost to build.Quebec city mayor,Régis laBeaume,expects the same participation from the canadian government.If you add it up,canadian and Quebec tax payers will be footing the bill for 90% of the cost.Before the canadian government can even think of what pourcentage it's participation will be,it will have to weather a fierce political storm across the country.Why you ask ?Well there is a team in Alberta that would also like a fancy new arena.Rexdall place in Edmonton,needs a facelift,but a new arena would be even better.If you give money to Quebec city's new building,we would like some also Prime Minister Harper.Afterall, it's Alberta that got you the job of Prime Minister,Mr.Harper.The people are right on that one,Prime Minister.

The new proposed arena for Quebec City,is not only to attract the return of an NHL franchise,but also to promote the candidature of that city's winter olympic bid and for concerts during the summer season.Of course an NHL team as the main tenant would make it a better sell.Legendary hockey writer,Red Fisher, says to all that hope a return of an NHL franchise in Quebec city, not so fast.

What taxpayers in the rest of Canada would like to know,what will be the financial participation of the Quebecor group be,other than owning a possible NHL franchise ?

Who will be the first to go ?

Yes I know, the training camps have yet to start,but its still something that can still be asked.Who will be the first coach,General manager or both to get fired ? Of course,nobody likes to see anyone lose his or hers job,but this is the NHL,where everything that is not normally suppose to happen,does.So here are my possible candidates for this season.

Randy Carlyle (Ana),Claude Julien (Boston),Ron Wilson (Tor) and this will surprise you,Bruce Boudreau in Washington.You probably spilled your drink on that one.You must admit,that with two early exits in three playoff appearences will come bite you sooner than later.Also, calling one of your players dumb #$&* on tv will not win you admiration in the dressing room.Mr.Boudreau will be walking on thin ice,if (A) his team has a bad record in the first quarter of the season or (B)Doesn't make it to the cup final.His margin of error is not big.

Why Julien ? One, he is in his fourth season in Boston, and knowing that the life span of coaches in the NHL, he becomes a candidate.Also, remember the meltdown in the series against the Flyers ? Hope you won't come out with the argument that they lost Krejci.Didn't Montreal lose Markov at the beginning of the series against Pittsburgh ? So a possible bad start at the of the season could be the end of Julien in Boston.

Here are the combination package possible candidates.

The Sutter Brothers in Calgary.Barry trotz and David Poile in Nashville,who have been in place since the beginning of the franchise.It could be time for a change of direction.Glen Sather and John Tortorella.If Sather had been in any other city,he would of been fired by now.You have to wonder why the Rangers ownership have put up with the Sather show so long.

Remember,I did mention possible candidates to get the boot.It's not a prediction.

That's all for now.

Potvin,Ottawa and ...

2010-09-07T11:07:00.024-04:00

Hockey legend Denis Potvin,will be joinning the Ottawa Senators broadcast team.Potvin who played his junior hockey in the Ottawa area,is coming back home.He captained the once powerhouse New York Islanders to four Stanley Cups in the early 1980's. He had been a color commentator for the Florida Panthers since their beginning in the league.

Speaking of Ottawa,the 2012 all-star could be held in Scotiabank place,from January 26th to the 29th.NHL commissioner Gary Bettman will be in Ottawa next week for a luncheon,according to aKukla's Korner blogger, he could that visit to make it official.Ottawa is the only canadian NHL city to not host the event.

Cap Issues ?

They are 8 teams that over the 59.4 million cap limit,but since these are off-season cap counts,where teams can be 10 % over the limit until the end of training camp.Some will have to be very creative in order to be cap compliant by the time the NHL season starts on October 7th.We will see some bodies moved for sure.

2009-10 Stats

We are less than two weeks from the beginning of the NHL's training camps,let's look at some numbers from last season.Which team delivered the most bodychecks, and who had the most blocked shots.

On the NHL's website,bodychecks are counted as hits.Seven teams had more two thousand hits last season.Here are the top ten :

	Team	Total: Hits	avg/game
1	DAL	2338	28.5
2	NYR	2330	28.4
3	PIT	2154	26.3
4	CAR	2139	26.1
5	LAK	2122	25.9
6	CBJ	2075	25.3
7	ANA	2050	25
8	DET	1972	24
9	OTT	1939	23.6
10	BOS	1935	23.6

Blocked shots get more attention during the playoffs than during the regular season.Here is the top ten teams in regular season games in 2009-10.

	Team	BkS	avg/game
1	FLA	1403	17.1
2	NYI	1379	16.8
3	MTL	1344	16.4
4	EDM	1305	15.9
5	PHI	1254	15.3
6	COL	1226	15.0
7	TOR	1218	14.9
8	OTT	1193	14.5
9	PIT	1182	14.4
10	CAR	1176	14.3

That's all for now !

Kovalchuck and ...Updated

2010-08-31T13:28:00.021-04:00

We should know Friday, if the NHL has accepted or rejected the latest contract submitted to the league. according to northjersey.com,
''there were indications that the NHL officials did make a decision on Monday and that the verdict would likely be officially communicated to the team on Tuesday''

It's believed that the contract submitted to the league is a $100 million dollar contract with a 15 year duration.The Devils would be on the hook for a 6.67 million cap hit for the lenght of the contract.In the contract that was rejected last month,it was heavily front loaded and had throwaway years,where the salary was above the league's present minimum which raised eyebrows.

according to Nick Kypreos,the contract being reviewed by the league,it will pay Kovalchuck 90 million in the first ten years, and an average of 2.6 million in the following four seasons and 4 million in the final season.

If the league approves the contract,The Devils will have to move some salary to fit him under their cap.They have $56,441,666 in committed salary for the upcoming season.They will need shed at least 5 million by the end of training camp to become cap compliant for the beginning of the season.

Chelios retires

Future hall of fame defenseman,Chris Chelios has officially retired and will take on a front office job with the Detroit Red Wings.Other than his short journey in Atlanta,Chelios spend the majority of his career with three of the original six teams.Montreal,Chicago and Detroit.He was part of the last team legendary Scotty Bowman ever coached to a Stanley cup.

He started his legendary career in the mecca of hockey,Montreal.He joined the Canadiens after the 1984 winter olympics.The Habs had not had a good year and to give the team a boost,newly hired general manager and former member of the big three,Serge Savard, asked his buddy and former teammate,Jacques Lemaire to take over as coach,he did it reluctantly,as Lemaire knew how tough it was in Montreal with the omni present media.Through a team effort the Canadiens got to the conference finals,but lost the series 4-2 to the defending Stanley cup champions,New York Islanders.Two years later, the Canadiens won the 23rd cup of their history under the leadership of two future hall of famers,captain Bob Gainey and Larry Robinson, along with the strong play of rookie goaltender,Patrick Roy.

In the summer of 1990,Serge Savard traded Chelios to Chicago for hometown favorite Denis Savard, no relation to the gm.The bogus excuse given for trading Chelios,was a medical report saying his knees where in bad shape,which we can not true,as he lasted an another twenty years.The true reason he was traded, is that a few years earlier,Chelios got a bit rowdy and did his business in the middle of a Montreal street at 2 am in the morning.That did not sit well with then team President,Ronald Corey.I personally could really care less if had done that,as when he put on that Canadiens jersey,he wore it with pride,to me that is all that really counted.To this very day,I have never bought the bad knees theory.

Thank you, Chris !

2009-03-03T09:57:00.009-05:00

We are less than 30 hours from the 3pm, eastern time deadline limit. All the major sports channels have been gearing for weeks for tomorrow's deadline.The question is : will everyone end up disappointed when the clock ticks at 3 New York ?

Richard Labbé from LaPresse newspaper has spoken to some of the most influential player agents in the league, and tells us not too expect big names to move.Mr. Labbé spoke with Rich Curran, whos stable includes the Staal Brothers,Jeff Carter and Jason Spezza.Curran mentions that '' If teams don't start moving at once, it could be a long day, and a major deception for a lot of people, including those in the media.''

With a lot of teams being restricted by cap space,Curran doesn't see big names being moved.

Don Meehan, an another influential agent, believes the big moves will take place during the summer. In the whispers heard, the cap that was set at 56.7 million this season, could drop to 52 million for next season. I guess that is why big names may not be moved until teams know what the cap will really be in 2009-10.

Sam Carchidi,has an interesting article at philly.com. He looks at the role the pro scouts will have in tomorrow's deadline day. No, they don't sit around eating popcorn in 1000$ suits. Check it out.

Pierre Lebrun gives his daily update on the possible direction the wind is blowing in the rumour mill with minus twenty seven hours til the deadline tomorrow afternoon.

More later folks !

2009-03-01T08:10:00.010-05:00

Well folks, we are 3 days and a day shift from the tradedeadline. Contrary to other years, this year's available rentals is not deep, as a lot of sellers of the past, could become buyers.

According to Pierre Lebrun of HNIC's hotstove, The St-Louis Blues could become buyers in this deadline. The Blues as I write this are 3 points from the eight spot in the west, held by Anaheim. Here is the dinger, the player that the Blues would like to acquire is Chris Pronger. The may just keep Keith Tkachuk.Wouldn't it be ironic if the Blues knocked the Ducks out of the playoffs after trading their star defenseman ? Bob Murray would have a lot of explaining to do.

The Ducks have told UFA defenseman, Scott Niedermeyer that he would not be traded at the deadline.

Be sure to check out the rest of Pierre's article.

Squabbling in Chicago ?

Al Strachan mentionned on HNIC's hotstove last night, that Brian Campbell and his coach, Joel Quenneville are not seeing eye on certain aspects and that if a team came calling, the Hawks would listen. Fat chance. Sam Fels, a Hawks blogger has his say on the situation.

It should be interesting folks.

Rangers Fire Renney and...

2009-02-23T12:44:00.013-05:00

According to Sporting News and TSN, the New York Rangers have pulled the reins of the team from coach Tom Renney. of course this is not very surprising, the team has been struggling for awhile, and the axe was due to fall.

No interim has been named as yet, but TSN's Bob Mckenzie thinks that his collegue on the NHL on TSN, John Tortorella could be a possible interim, but he is still under contract with Tampa Bay, and the Rangers would have to get persmission to put him in place. An another avenue could come within the organization,Jim Schoenfeld could also be put in as an interim.

Glen Sather,Rangers Gm,was questionned on Renney's tenure as coach, but in a Bowmanesque way deflected the question to an an another subject, and answered on Scott Gomez's possible cheap shot on Buffalo goalie, Ryan Millier, I will get to that later on.

Renney, like his three counterparts that started their seasons in Europe, all have been fired. If I'm coaching one of the teams slated to start in Europe next year, I would start to worry now, because it's almost as bad as trying to keep a doggy doodoo made puck frozen, stay that way on a sunny 25 degree celcius day in May. After awhile it starts to smell bad.

Who ever comes in for the Rangers, can he change their fortunes and save the season ? We shall find out come April 12th or before.

Gomez hit on Miller

The question did Scott Gomez run Buffalo's Ryan Miller in a chase for the puck ? Greg Wyshynski (aka Puck Daddy) has the video on his blog. After many viewings,I think he should of gotten a penalty and a suspension, like Montreal's Thomas Plekanec got a few weeks ago.If the league is going to be consistent in it's calls, they should review this and suspend Gomez, intentional or not, send a clear message, play your game, but becareful.

The Montreal Soap Opera

How can one write a blog about hockey and not have his say on the latest happenings in the land of ''Les Glorieux''. Checking different sites, a bombshell was about to explode in Montreal Saturday morning. The so called ''bombshell'' made the 1970 October crisis look like kids play. I'm not playing down the story itself, but the magnitude that the Montreal media made it sound like.Oh whoopy do,a few of the Canadiens players where at the wrong place at the wrong time. As if it has never happened to those so called brillant media guys ? Maybe the organization should start to put tags on them, and see how they feel when someone puts their nose in their personal lives. Not the same when the shoe is on the other foot hey guys ? There only fault, they have more money in their pockets than we did at their age, sounds like jealousy to me boys.

What I find the most interesting in all of this, is that, the ''big bad media'' in Montreal, most of them when they started their careers,it was at a time when the team was winning back to back Stanley cups,they were eating out of Scotty Bowman's hand.They befriended players, such as Lafleur,Shutt,Robinson,Savard,Lapointe,Tremblay, to make sure that their relatives had the best places for the cup parade. Of course they won't admit to it.

I find a bit weird, that when the team is going thru a slump,they find ways to blow the team out of the water, with such childish garbage like we saw. Oh this is the best part, come July 1st, when Bob Gainey is looking to bring in a top UFA, they will be the first to critize him for not being able to.Boys maybe it's time you look at yourselves in the mirror, because if those UFA's don't want to come, it could be that their getting encouraged not too with what their read. Ever thought of that ?

Players playing in the other five canadian markets, at least get the respect of how they conduct themselves off-ice, and are not tracked like prey, if they just happen to act human. You don't see journalist at their door as if it was a police sting, even the cops are more discreet when doing so.

Time for the Montreal media to make a difference between the player and the human wearing a red white and blue jersey. Once done, maybe, and say maybe, it might have a chance to attract a player or players, that want to come win there.

As born Montrealer,I want to see the Canadiens win games and the cup on a regular basis, but until the media stops it's hounding of players and their private lives, we could be awhile until we see the cup in Montreal again.

I feel much better now.

That's all for now Folks.

Who could be in and out and....

2009-02-19T10:40:00.010-05:00

The Countdown is now started to the 2009 NHL tradedeadline, with that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to do an update on both conference possible final standings. It will take at least 93 points in the East to make the playoffs, and 89 + in the West.

Conference Final Standings Projection

Eastern Conference

Rank	Team	Points
1	Boston	124
2	Washington	112
3	New Jersey	109
4	Philadelphia	103
5	Rangers	95*
6	Florida	95**
7	Montreal	95
8	Buffalo	93

9	Carolina	86
10	Pittsburgh	85
11	Ottawa	78
12	Toronto	75
13	Tampa Bay	70
14	Atlanta	66
15	Islanders	58

Western Conference

Rank	Team	Points
1	San Jose	127
2	Detroit **	119
3	Calgary	104
4	Chicago	107
5	Dallas	92*
6	Vancouver	92
7	Columbus	90
8	Edmonton	89

9	Minnesota	88
10	Los Angeles	86
11	Anaheim	85
12	Nashville	81
13	St-Louis	79
14	Colorado	77
15	Phoenix	76

*More Wins

** Goal differential

*More Wins

** Defending Champs

T eams have played two thirds of their schedules, and on average have about 25 games or less to get back in to the hunt or to maintain their ranks in the standings in both conferences.Alot of hockey still to be played until we find out the true standings for this year's playoffs. Folks, time will start to run out for some of them, which could determine who will be buyers and sellers on tradedeadline day. So follow your team's play in the next two weeks, it will give you an idea.

Whacky Trade Rumours

Lyle Richardson, aka Spector, dissects the wacky internet trade rumours.Before we get to them and Lyle's take on. Anyone that follows hockey, espacially since the end of the lock-out, knows it has become harder and harder to make trades,or for some Gm's who made mistakes, they can't bury them anymore, they are stuck with them until the end of the season, where he can buy that player out, a practice of last resort, also depending on the contract and the salary. Three rules of thumb must be applied, one the cap space and two, does it make sense, long term. Three, if you are the Gm on the other end of trade rumour, would you make it ?

Ok,now on two the fun. Kovalev for Satan, no way, it would just exchanging problems, may as well live with Kovalev than create more problems for yourself. I agree with Lyle, Gainey will go down an another road.

Oh we have not forgotten Vinny Lecavalier in of all of this, I'm not saying it won't or could not happen, but it won't at the tradedeadline. I don't believe that The Rangers will be able to pick him at the deadline, even less,in the off season.

As Pierre McGuire would put it, Clemmensen has been a monster for the Devils, he also got a lot of help from his teammates. A black cloud went over the team when Brodeur went down,some even thinking a certain exclusion from the playoffs. This team instead, came together and weathered the storm. It would be a good idea if the Canadiens players use the Devils as an example to get out of their slump.

Clemmensen is going nowhere.

I agree with Lyle on the three way swap between the Penguins, Leafs and Trashers, it won't happen.

That's all for now folks.

Habs Acquire Schneider and...

2009-02-17T06:35:00.016-05:00

Canadiens Gm,Bob Gainey,acquired former Habs defenseman, Mathieu Schneider from the Atlanta Trashers. In return, the Trashers acquire Montreal's 2 round draft choice in 2009 (from Washington) and 3rd round choice in 2010.Atlanta also sent a conditional pick along with Schneider. This deal should not really come as a surprise to anyone,as Gainey has been looking all season for such a veteran defenseman. A lot of critics will say, why Mathieu Schneider ? Why not, he is still capable to help the Canadiens. How much, that remains to be seen, but he can't do any worse than the present defense corps on the powerplay. I think he will be a good addition to the team.It's not like he has never played in Montreal before. I don't think he wanted to leave Montreal, just as Kirk Muller, when both were traded in 1995. Both will be reunited along with Guy Carbonneau, who was captain when Canadiens won the cup sixteen years ago, along with Brisebois, who was up to now the last surviving and still playing member of that team. Schneider will also recognize some familiar faces in the traveling press corps, in Benoit Brunet, who is now a commentator on RDS, along with analyst and coach of the Canadiens in 1993, Jacques Demers.

Mathieu is well aware of the pressures in playing in the fishbowl that is Montreal, and that the team is celebrating it's 100th season. I think Schneider can be a calming force and will be helpful in long run.

Welcome Back Mathieu !

At least one person from the Montreal Press, sees Schneider as a good thing for the Canadiens.

Former RDS comentator, Yvon Pedneault gives his take on the trade.

While Schneider was making his way to Montreal, his former team beat the Kings 7-6 in the shootout.

Therrien Cut loose in Pittsburgh

Not too long after seeing his team get trounced in the third period by the Maple Leafs, Michel Therrien was notified that his term of employment as head coach of the Penguins was going to end. This is not the first time Therrien has been fired. In January 2003, then coach of the Canadiens, he was notified that he no longer had a job, and was replaced by Claude Julien, who suffered the same faith three years later, when Bob Gainey also pulled the plug, and took over for the remainder of the 2005-06 season.

After leading the Young Pens to the Cup finals, Therrien signed a new three year extension, so I doubt that he is too worried about his financial security for the next two years. Guys like Therrien who eat and breath the profession they practice, don't usually sit home and feel sorry for themselves. If Therrien needs comfort, all he has to do, is look at Claude Julien.

I doubt that he stays unemployed for too long. As Stephen Knight puts it, some job will come up sooner than later. As coaches like Andy Murray, Tony Granato and yes even Gretzky, could be on the bubble and dismissed in the off season.

As far as his replacement goes, Dan Bylsma, I doubt that he will be a long term solution. I think the front-runner, even though it has not been mentionned, is Pat Quinn. Quinn impressed a lot of people in his handling of Team Canada in the WJC tournament, and has a pretty good relationship with Pens Owner Mario Lemieux.

Could Therrien's dismissal be the beginning of some shake up trades for the Pens ? Possible, the next two weeks will tell us that.

McGuire's Team Canada Selections

Last night on the NHL on TSN pre-game show, Pierre McGuire released his choices for team Canada in Vancouver next year for the Olympic games. When you look at the composition of the team, you can see that Pierre learned from the old master himself, Scotty Bowman. Good speed, grit, well balanced offensif and defensif minded players.Strong down the middle and on the wings. On defense, a combination of both rushing and stay at home defensemen. In goal, was a no brainer, how can you miss with Marty Brodeur, backed up by Luongo. This will be a good learning experience for Carey Price, hang around a guy that has made his living at winning and collecting Stanley cups, you should learn a thing or two about winning, pressure, but best of all, having fun doing it, when that happens, Brodeur would most likely tell you, the two first will take care of themselves.

Komisarek and …..

2009-02-06T18:00:00.008-05:00

Bob Gainey has been General Manager in Montreal for almost 6 years now, he has not buckled under the media and fan pressure so far, and surely won´t start doing so because Komisarek´s agent would like to hear word from him. I doubt that any NHL General Managers set their agendas to please player agents, Gainey is no different. Why the rush ?

The cap may go down a bit this year, but it´s the next two to three years that Gainey must be beware of, that is why he may have put off talks with his UFA´s so far. As permitted in the CBA, players can negotiate extensions in the last year of their present deals, including players on one year deals, who could do so only after January 1^st.

Don´t worry Habs fans, Gainey wants to see Komisarek in a Bleu, blanc et Rouge sweater as much as you all do.

A little thing you must know

Trades and the cap count,I think it's worthy to go over, as even with almost four years done in the CBA on the subject there is still misconception about it.Ok let's go thru this, it's important.I hope I explain this right and not confuse people. We all know the tradedeadline is the most exciting time of the year for hockey fans, just as christmas is to everyone else, we agree. We all know or have heard the term, balancing the books. Well making a trade is a bit the same. Let's use the example of player that has a chance to move at the deadline. It might not be a good one, but I will use it anyways, Doug Weight of the Islanders. His cap hit was 4,3million at the beginning of the year. Of course, the Islanders have paid a good portion of it since then. So that number in a way is no longer valid. So take his 4,3 million dollar cap hit, and divide by 187 (days in the cap count) it will give you his daily amount, which comes up to 22,995, 65 $ a day. Take that number and multiply by 117, it will give how much he has taken up so far in the Islanders cap count so far. For sake of arguement, it comes up to 2,7 million. So 4,3 million minus 2.7 million, it gives you 1.6 million. That would be the cap space that a team would need to acquire him.

That is the easy part. Now the Islanders, receive in return a player that let's say that has a million dollars in salary owed. So the savings for the Islanders is 600k. True. On the other end the team that acquired him or trying to must have the 600k absorb it. If not, the deal is dead,unless the team that acquired him, had a player eliglible for LTIR, that made same salary as Weight or had the extra cap space to take on the rest. In the end, what I' m saying, is that at the end of the year, the beans have to be well aligned, and make Mr. Bettman happy, if not you will hear about it.

So next time you propose a trade, keep in mind the rule above, and your trade proposal may just make sense. If you have a player with a multi-year contract coming back, make sure your team has the cap space to absorb it.

I hope it was not too complicated. Yes it's what Gm's and their capologist have to keep in mind, when they want to shake things up. It's the reasons why we see so few trades. If the beans don't add up, wait til they do. Remember when Mom use to tell you to save up your good deads for a rainy day, well it's the same.The more good deads you had, the better bargainning power you had for favors, you wanted and needed. Right ?

That's all for now folks !

Hartsburg's Firing and...

2009-02-02T17:43:00.017-05:00

Hartsburg in my opinion should be commended for accepting to come in to an all already messy situation, he gets canned by the guy that created it in the first place. It's simple,when Murray took over as Gm, following the dismissal of former Gm, John Muckler, he handcuffed his successor to a major problem in Ray Emery. A problem that should of been Bryan Murray's first order of business as the new General Manager. Emery would of had a good value on the trade market following the cup run he helped backstop.

Bryan Murray had been in the NHL long enough to know that keeping Emery was bad for business, based on his antics during the cup final and it was time for him to go. Instead Murray sat on his hands and watched the ticking time bomb blow, by then it was too late. Murray cans Paddock, and did not fair much better behind the bench than his former coach. The Sens were swept in four straight games by the Penguins last spring.

Murray depleted his defense corps last summer, when he traded Mezrasos to Tampa Bay, and lost Wade Redden for nothing to free agency. Probably worse of all, Murray may have strapped his team cap wise for years to come, by giving three players long term contracts, that will be hard to get rid of. Spezza, Heatley and Fisher. I have never been a big Bryan Murray fan as a coach, but I will give him credit for his work during the two seasons he was behind the bench. He had a good grasp on the team and it responded, that where he should of stayed. He may have shot himself in the foot by accepting the Gm job.

Don't expect to see him at the draft in June in Montreal, he could be gone either at the end of season or before. Sens owner could find himself with three former coaches and a Gm on the payroll standing in the umemployment line.

Flyers wish to retain Knuble

According to the Fourth period's David Pagnotta, the Flyers would like to keep forward Mike Knuble past the March 4th tradedeadline. But cap issues could make it difficult retaining him in to next season. Pagnotta even goes to suggest that if the Flyers could move Daniel Brière's contract, it would help them with their cap issues, but giving Brière's hefty contract and no mouvement contract, it's easier said than done. Now your a Canadiens fan, your at home,you must be very happy that he chose Philadelphia over Montreal.

Recchi On the move again ?

Not that I am suggesting Bob Gainey would do it, but would a Koivu-Recchi reunion be a good or bad thing for the Canadiens ? I have noted my reservations about the former Canadiens right winger. Is he the same guy that he was when he left Montreal, or has he matured ? It's surely an another option among many that Canadiens Gm, Bob Gainey will be looking at in the next few weeks. His team has been in slump for the last two to three weeks, he will look at all angles on how to help get out of it, espacially with his team going on possibly it's longest road trip of the year.

That's all for now folks !

Struggling Habs and ...

2009-01-31T11:07:00.013-05:00

This is has not been Carey Price's finest moments in his short career as a Montreal Canadien. in the two games he has goaled this week, he has let in 10 goals, worst of all, he has not gotten any support from his teammates, that something that neither Guy Carbonneau or Bob Gainey want to see. It's not mentionned anywhere, if the Gm visited the players locker room, as a reminder to the players, that they have a mandate to fulfill and better get out of vacation mode and fast.

The Hall of Fame and former Canadiens captain, is not one to panic, but surely won't sit back and watch his team slide out of the playoffs. I'm surprised that head coach Guy Carbonneau didn't see this coming. It was pretty obvisious to anyone that follows hockey on a regular basis. Legendary and the late Toe Blake use to have fits when he saw his teams lift their foot from the pedal, when they were controlling the game. Blake use to tell his players that they usually start the next game the way they had finished the previous one. Let's go back two weeks, the Canadiens were dominating the Senators in Ottawa, they had total control of the game, they started to slack off , and bang, The Sens come in score two goals and force the game in to overtime and then a shoutout, which the Habs won by the skin of their teeth. Carbonneau seemed happy with the win, but if he had known that his team was on it's way to a four game losing streak, I doubt that he would as happy. Guys like Blake, Bowman and Carbonneau's former coach, Jacques Lemaire, would of been steaming mad.

Carbonneau did have his players on the ice early the next morning after the loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, with skating at the beginning and at the end, but no results. On Thursday, it was the sequel of the horror show in Tampa, but this time the Florida Cats were hungry, and ate up Price and his teammates 5-1. After the game, the young goaltender blew a fuse, and used some choice words, with cameras rolling. According to Marc-Antoine Godin of La Prese news paper, the Canadiens brass warned him about the excess language, espacially with the press around.

Guy Carbonneau has the task of getting this team back on track for the Super Bowl weekend matinees against the Los Angeles Kings and their all-time rivals and Eastern Conference leaders, the Boston Bruins. Both games start at 2pm, you can see them on the CBC and RDS.

Hossa done in Detroit ?

The Detroit Red Wings signed all-star and Conn Smyth trophy winner, Henrik Zetterberg to a twelve year 73 million dollar contract this week, which indicate that Marian Hossa could end being the odd man out in the motor city, as Gm ken Holland most likely will concentrate on getting Johan Frenzen signed. Given the state of the US economy, Holland will give priority to the players that have been in Detroit the longest, which is not the case for Hossa. The talented winger can do two things, one, take a hometown discount or two, test the UFA market. Of the two, Hossa will go test the market. One that might be pretty thin dollar wise, as teams will most likely chose to sign their RFA's before offer sheets come pourring in and have to match them. Of course, if he can go on the market as a Stanley cup champion that would be great, but I doubt it will bring his value up more. In my opinion, the UFA market in the next two or three years, could be pretty thin money wise for those hoping to cash in like those in the first four years of the CBA. Should be interesting folks.

Are teams in cap trouble ?

This is a good question, as the CBA is a complicated document to understand. The cap accounting is not as difficult as it seems. Of course if you have some knowledge on how accounting works in a major corporation, the cap is kids play to you, but if you don't, then you get lost as many others do. Remember, there is one thing balancing the family budget and that of a multinational corporation.

That being said. Let's look at examples where teams might be seem to be in trouble, and in reality they are not. One thing you must remember, a team can have a player on LTIR, but is not obligated to ask for the exemption right away, as it can be retroactive. You can still bring in a replacement player or more, as long as the salary or salaries do not exceed the one of the player on LTIR.

Now to be eligible for the long term injury exemption, you must prove that a player missed or will miss 10 games or 24 cap days. Now your wondering why the 10 games and the 24 cap days ? It depends on a teams schedule during a certain month. Let's say, and god forbid this would happen, but for argument sake. The Sens Captain, Alfredsson gets injured, he will be out possibly four weeks, which means 28 cap days. The Sens have a light schedule in February, in which they will possibly play at the most 9 games, thru 25 days. Since the 10 game rule does not apply, they can still apply, as he will miss 24 days, and can ask for the exemption right away, or make it retroactive when he gets back, to assure they get the credits at the end of the year and be cap compliant.

So if your a Flyers fan, and look at how much they have in cap space, don't worry, at the end of the year they will be cap compliant and won't penalized for it. Replacement players for those on LTIR, does not affect the cap space. Let's say they had 2 million in cap space before injuries, it does not change. There is many more examples I could give you, but let's stick to the ones I have given you. But it is true, that a team must free up space on the active roster when an injured player comes back, but not necessary cap space. The problem is not always about cap space, it's about the 23 man rule on active roster. Because a player is not in the line-up for a few games, it does not mean he is no longer on the active roster. Unless demoted, or is loaned to an another league, a player's salary continues to count against his teams upper limit.

Enjoy your Weekend of hockey and the Super Bowl. Pittsburgh by ten points.

Rumours, Rumours and more

2009-01-28T18:28:00.005-05:00

Canada's national capital region is living it's second storm of 2009, so is La Belle Province. That usually spells hockey weather, well so to speak. Hockey, espacially NHL, that means the tradedeadline, rumours and of course, let's us not forget the good old salary cap.

In the coming weeks, you will hear, read and write about them. Now I know that you are all smart people, and can fish out a dumb rumour when you hear or read one. When reading or hearing a rumour, look at the possible players involved on both sides, the needs of both teams and of course, cap wise, does it make sense. If you think it sounds good, go see if someone else is talking or writing about it. If you do, then you there is a chance it has legs to stand on and may happen, if not, pass and move on. Ok well let's take a look at what is out there.

There is no direct link between Keith Tkachuk or any team directly or indirectly, but speculation on where his services could be needed or could be a good fit. Boston is mentionned as destination, but do they need him ? Possible. He has never been a real playoff performer. Remember the tradedeadline two years ago ? That was a bust. If I'm a Gm I would think twice about any kind trade involving Tkachuk. Remember Atlanta got shafted two years in a row with either purchasing or a selling a UFA. I'm not saying he would be a bust, just beware.

And no, Lecavalier won't be traded at the deadline.It's a question of the Lightning ownership coming to an agreement to do it or not, for one, and two, cap space to absorb the remaining of this year's contract, and of course the new one that comes in to effect on July 1st. This will give the Lightning brass three and a half months to decide if they pull the trigger or not. Once the playoffs over, we all know what teams will have on their agendas, the draft, oh by the way it's in Montreal this year, how interesting. If your the Lightning brass, you kind cheer the Montreal Canadiens on during the playoffs, and hope that they win the Cup. Why you say ? Well, then they will say, ''why do they do need vinny ? '' Good point, buit on the other hand, if they make an another second round exit, you cant bet your Canadiens jersey that the heat will be on for sure, on both sides. The Canadiens needing Vinny, and for the lightning getting true value if they sit down with George Gillett and Bob Gainey.

It should be an interesting next four weeks, other than in Tampa Bay, or maybe not.

Vinny come home and ...

2009-01-25T10:21:00.009-05:00

The last time Vincent Lecavalier was in Montreal, he dressed in the visitors dressing room in the Bell Centre, this time around he got a chance to dress in the Canadiens dressing room as the Eastern conference is the home team at this year's All-Star Game.

With the rumours about his ''possible'' moving from Tampa Bay, Montreal is one of the cities mentionned in the so called rumour mill. So dressing in the mystical room that is the Canadiens, with all the history, the hall of famers and plus having to read the famous quote from Flanders field that the late former Canadiens coach Dick Irvin sr had painted on the wall in the old Forum '' From failing hands we throw the torch, be it yours to hold it high.'' As if that was not enough, you step on to the ice, and receive a standing ovation by the Montreal faithful and hopeful fans. Pierre McGuire from TSN, mentionned last night, that it's not Bob Gainey that will feel the pressure on making a deal to bring Lecavalier to Montreal, but it would be George Gillett jr that would feel the heat from the fans. As we all know, the Canadiens owner does not hide in his corporate box, he has a seat at ice level among the fans. The question is, would Gillett buckle under the pressure and almost order Bob Gainey to bring Lecavalier to Montreal ?

I doubt it, as he likes the team that Gainey has put on the ice. Don't forget that Gillett had to do some arm twisting to get Bob Gainey to accept the job in the first place, so it would make no sense for him to turn around and ask his General Manager to gut five years of hard work for one player. Sorry Habs fans, it won't happen that way anyways. Be assured that if there is a way to bring him to Montreal, Gainey, Gillett, Boivin and the CBA specialist, Julien Brisebois, will sit down and discuss it. One thing If I'm George Gillett, I'm crossing my fingers that his team makes it at least to the conference final, if ever by any bad luck, the Habs get knocked out in the initial round, you will hear about it around the league. As a Canadiens fan myself, I would like to see Vinny in a Montreal jersey, but not at any cost. So don't hold your breath on seeing Lecavalier in a Bleu, Blanc et Rouge jersey anytime soon.

Bouwmeester and the Panthers

The Florida Panthers Gm, Jacques Martin, has one awesome task on his hands with the Bouwmeester situation and how to handle it. It's pretty clear, that the star defenseman has no intention on wanting to stay on past this season, he would like to test the UFA market this summer. With little more than a month to go before the tradedeadline, and his team at the present moment in a possibility of making the Playoffs, he will hang on to his star player. If Martin is in the same position come the deadline, that's where the decision he makes could be difficult. Bouwmeester's trade value will be sky high, if he trades him, he is telling the fans, I'm tanking the season, and putting his job on the line. If he keeps him, in hopes of trading him at the draft in Montreal in June, he knows he won't get the same return as he would if he moves him at the deadline. Another situation, he keeps him at the deadline, and the Panthers miss the playoffs in the last weekend of the season,the fans will be calling for him to be fired. A real catch 22 situation, damn if you do, and same if you don't. Being an NHL Gm is not as easy it's led on to be. Good luck Jacques, I'm glad I'm not in your shoes.

A little side note of humour, the notorious Mr. Eklund on his site, has Bouwmeester going to the Leafs, and puts it in the (e4) category. Check it out.

I'm hoping and crossing my fingers, that I can make more regular entries to this blog from now until the end of the season.Health and personal reasons have kept me from doing so. I enjoy writing, espacially about hockey, and I have missed that, so please bare with me, as I try to give new life to this blog.

Since it's the Canadiens centenial year, the All-Star game and draft will be held in the city of '' Les Glorieux'' What better time for a little quiz. Not everyone knows about this, let's see if you can get it. Two well known Canadiens Hall of Famers once rode on a ski-doo to get to a game at the Montreal Forum, can you name those Hall of Famers ? A litlle hint, one of them is still in hockey. The answer on my next entry.

Good Luck !

In the Stretch

2009-01-23T17:34:00.002-05:00

It's the All-Star weekend in Montreal, which means that after, this is where teams start getting serious and make that push to make the playoffs. For a lot of teams this is a forgone conclusion, but for others, it's make or break time. The margin of error is alot tighter. Slumps and injuries could become a major factor. So let's look at the teams, and what they have to do from the All-Star break until the end of the season, to have a glimer of a chance in making the playoffs. The table below is pretty simple to understand. I put what the teams have put on board in points so far,and what they need to get to 90 points, which I used as the mesuring stick for both conferences. The last number is the maximum amount of points according to the amount of games left to play. Will your team make it ?

Eastern Conference

Team	Pts	PTS needed	Max Possible
Boston	73	17+	70
Washington	63	27+	68
New Jersey	61	29+	70
Montreal	60	30+	72
Rangers	60	30+	68
Philadelphia	59	31+	72
Buffalo	53	37+	70
Carolina	51	39+	68

Florida	50	40+	72
Pittsburgh	50	40+	68
Toronto	42	48+	70
Tampa Bay	42	48+	70
Ottawa	39	51+	76
Atlanta	39	39+	68
Islanders	31	59+	70

Western Conference

Team	Pts	PTS needed	Max Possible
San Jose	73	17+	74
Detroit	68	22+	72
Calgary	60	30+	72
Chicago	58	32+	74
Phoenix	53	37+	68
Edmonton	51	39+	72
Vancouver	51	39+	68
Anaheim	51	39+	66

Minnesota	49	41+	72
Columbus	49	41+	70
Dallas	47	43+	74
Colorado	47	43+	70
Los Angeles	45	45+	72
Nashville	43	47+	72
ST.Louis	42	48+	72

This is surely the best time of the season. Enjoy the All-Star Weekend

Possible playoff picture

2009-01-11T10:16:00.006-05:00

Happy New Year to all. Sorry for the lack of posting, I had health issues, but everything is fine now.

The majority of the teams have past the mid season point, so time to look in the crystal ball and see which teams will be playing in the playoffs this spring. This is the first installment of projections. I will do another after the All-star game, and an another a few weeks after the tradedeadline, so be sure to stay tune.

Teams in italic are eliminated

Numbers in brackets are wins

Eastern Conference

Boston	129
Washington	109
Philadelphia	107
Montreal	112
New Jersey	102
Rangers	101
Buffalo	92
Carolina	90

*Pittsburgh*	84
*Toronto*	74
*Tampa* *Bay*	68
*Ottawa*	66
*Atlanta*	63
*Florida*	63
*Islanders*	55

Western Conference

San Jose	134
Detroit	126
Calgary	108
Chicago	107
Vancouver	91
Anaheim	90
Colorado	87
Minnesota	86 (40)

*Columbus*	*86(39)*
*Phoenix*	85
*Edmonton*	84
*Nashville*	*82 (38)*
*Dallas*	*82 (35)*
*Los Angeles*	80
*St-Louis*	72

Canadian revenu to pay US salaries and...

2008-12-15T07:35:00.019-05:00

The world wide financial crisis is now affecting Canadian based NHL teams. As we all know, teams in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver all receive their revenues in canadian currency, then most buy american currency to make payroll. Below is what kind of rate exchange we are talking about. That's alot of money.

Team	Payroll in US $	In Canadian $	Difference
Montreal	$53,699,667.00	$67,183,653.38	$13,483,986.38
Ottawa	$59,237,897.00	$74,112,532.94	$14,874,635.94
Toronto	$48,093,333.00	$60,169,568.92	$12,076,235.92
Edmonton	$52,567,381.00	$65,767,050.37	$13,199,669.37
Calgary	$57,700,000.00	$72,188,470.00	$14,488,470.00
Vancouver	$49,379,167.00	$61,778,275.83	$12,399,108.83
Total	$320,677,445.00	$401,199,551.44	$80,522,106.44
Avg/team	$53,446,240.83	$66,866,591.91	$13,420,351.07

This is actual payroll obligations, and not cap money, which based on the average of the contract. The numbers are based on the closing of the markets on Friday.

Dallas Stars have ceased to recognize Sean Avery as a member of the organization, and are ready to eat up the salary that goes with it, according to the Dallas morning news. The Stars can buy out his contract at the end of the season at two thirds, which comes to 10.3 million spread over six years.

Today is suppose to be the day Mats Sundin decides where he will be playing the rest of the season. The Vancouver Canucks seem to be the front-runners, as they have the cap space to do so. The offer they had made him this summer, still stands. Sundin and his agent have stated, that is what not about the money. Sundin met with the Rangers brass on Saturday. The Rangers, Canadiens, Canucks and BlackHawks are on Sundin's shorten list.

Could the Sharks threaten the 1976-77 Habs record? and ...

2008-12-06T11:08:00.006-05:00

It's the eternel debate in hockey,when one era is compared to an another.This situation was brought up in 1995-96,when the Detroit Red Wings, then coached by the legendary Scotty Bowman, who was also behind the Canadiens bench in 1976-77,finished the season with 62 wins, which had broken Bowman's Canadiens record of 60.When Scotty's great Habs team established that mark, there was no overtime or shootout in the regular season, so they were purely obtained in the 60 minute time frame.Now of course,when Scotty's Red Wings beat the record,some of those wins came in overtime, so did they truely beat ? According to the record books, they did. But hockey historians will undoubtly keep the 1976-77 record intact, for one reason, that great season was crowned with a Stanley Cup, which was not obtained by Bowman's Red Wings. So for it to be meaningful in the end for the San Jose Sharks, they will have to win the cup this year.

You also can look at this in different angles. You can compare both the Sharks and the Canadiens team of the time, position by position, and even behind the bench. No doubt the Sharks lose out at all of the above. In goal, Dryden get's it hands down. On the defense, with the big three, all Hall of famers, no contest. Up front, again no contest, of course, what past or present coach can come close to Scotty Bowman ? It's obvisious, it just wouldn't add up for the Sharks in the end.

So Canadiens fans, don't worry,you can be assured that the record will be remembered for a long time.

What to do with Avery ?

Now that NHL commissionner, Gary Bettman, has made a joke of his league once again by giving it's worse ambassador a light sentence, what's next for Sean Avery ? Worse, he may have tied the hands of the Dallas Stars. I can understand in a way the NHLPA, is in obligation to protect of its own, the question is, can this same association vote him out ? It will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks.

Habs five away from win number 3,000

The NHL's most storied franchise is on mark to write an another great page in it's one hundredth year history. When the Montreal Canadiens hit win number 20 of the season, it will also be their 3,000th win since their existence in the NHL. Guy Carbonneau has been part of the history of this team and organization, has he is the last captain to win a cup in Montreal, but now as a coach, he will be the one that will be remembered as being behind the bench for win number 3,000. If you were to ask to Carbonneau, how he would feel about that, he would probably be flattered, but there is one win that he's waiting for and will gladly share with Saku Koivu, the one that brings the cup back to Montreal. Carbonneau being the team player that is, would pause, and thank the likes of Dick Irvin, Toe Blake and Scotty Bowman, and all others that came before and after them for the chance of being the guy that won win number 3,000.

When Guy Carbonneau became the Canadiens coach in 2006, he wanted to create a team and family spirit. So far he has done pretty well, espacially when he saw all of his players joke around after Thursday's trashing of the New York Rangers 6-2.

The greatness of our game

2008-12-03T06:28:00.002-05:00

Long before a lot of us where born, or even our parents. The game of hockey had already been a uniting force in Canada.Thru international competition or just the backward shinny game on a Saturday morning or afternoon. In the end the love of the game conquered us all.

The passion, the desire to win, the thrill of victory, made us all champions. Even to ask the neighbour if we could borrow their aluminum garbage can, to use as the Stanley cup, imitating the great tradition of celebrating a championship with the routine skate around the rink, hoping to hear the cheers of a roaring crowd, after our shorten version of the Stanley cup playoffs.

As we would head to the frozen pound or rink, we had already written our scripts, we were going to be the heroes of our game. Often a game would be interupted by frozen faces and feet, agreements would be made to finish what we had started, or for a revenge game to tie up a series. Once home, and unthawing from the blistering cold, Mom would have a nice bowl of hot soup ready for us to gulp down. As we did this and blew on the soup on our spoon to cool it down, Mom asked us, ‘’ Did you have fun ? ‘’ No matter on how our game went, winning or losing, she wanted to know if we had fun. It’s always easier to answer that question when your winning, than losing, but either way Mom always had a way in saying things to cheer us up or to remind us, that in the afternoon you maybe on the losing end, but always cheered us on, no matter what happened.

My family and I moved to a suburb of Canada’s nations capital, as my Dad took a job with the Federal government. If people thought that the winter of 2007-08 was bad, they must of forgot the winter of 1970-71. March 4^th, 1971, on my Mom’s birthday, gave us one of the worse storms in our history. That same day, the Montreal Canadiens honored one of their most prestigious captains in history, Jean Beliveau, at the Forum. The missing piece of that great Canadiens cup run had not arrived yet, but was about to write one of the most important pages in that legendary team’s history. Just as Lyle, Ken Dryden had became my idol, and that’s when I really started to love the game of hockey. In my first year in organized hockey, I wanted to play goal, wasn’t very good, but tried. I guess it may have been because my team was called the Leafs, and got burnt for 9 goals in my first and only time as a goalie. But it never ended my love and passion for the game.

In the fall and winter of 1971-72, I had open heart surgery at the Montreal Children’s hospital, which was about a crawl away from the legendary Forum. My uncle came to see me, brought me a poster of Ken Dryden, a nurse who happened to date one of the Canadiens players at the time, I can’t remember who, arranged to get the legendary goaltender to come visit the ward I was in. Now can you imagine, a 9 year old, getting a visit from Ken Dryden. My eyes where as big as a quarter, Dryden took out a marker from his suit, and autographed the poster I had on the wall in my room. I will always remember that, just as I will remember the kind nurse that set the whole thing up. Where ever you are, thank you so very much.

The passion is still there, our memories, of those games where we were the heroes, the aluminum garbage can that served as an alternate Stanley cup, the heroes we worshiped, the game we still enjoy. But nothing will ever beat Mom’s warm soup and caring on those cold afternoons having fun.

That’s the greatness of our game.

Blake should shut up and play and …

2008-11-15T07:35:00.005-05:00

Jason Blake should stop whinning and play. Toronto Maple Leafs head coach,Ron Wilson, is very strong on team concept, and right now, he does think that Blake is pulling his weight, or buying in to the system.

Wilson will not let Blake become a distraction to the team. The worse thing Blake can do is put himself before the team. One it brings down any value he could have on the trade market, which I doubt there is any. The only person at this point that can help Blake, is Blake himself. If he wants some examples on how to do so, all he has to do is look at two guys in the Canadiens line-up, Koivu and Kovalev, how they dispense leadership. Or he could use a formula that legendary coach, Scotty Bowman used when he was coaching those great teams of the 70’s. When one of his star players was in a slump, Bowman would tell them ‘’ If you can’t score make sure the other team can’t either, in time your scoring touch comeback.’’

Now It would not be fair in assuming that Blake is as good or as talented as those stars Bowman coached in Montreal, but he is no slouch either. If you can’t score, make yourself useful in an another way, in time confidence and your scoring touch will comeback. Right now, Blake is concentrating too much on what he thinks he is doing right instead on what he maybe doing wrong, that is what Ron Wilson wants him to do.

It will be interesting to see what happens next. One thing is for sure, Blake will remain a Leaf through out the season.

No doubt the speculation will now run for sure, will Brian Burke become the new GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs ? A good question, if the situation had happened in July, but now, the landscape may have changed a bit in Leaf Nation.

If you go by a process of elimination, you can eliminate all the Western conference teams. Let’s take a look in the East, other than Toronto. Simple math tells you, eliminate Montreal from the get go. Ottawa also, this leaving Buffalo and Boston. Of course Boston would be perfect. Depending what Burke is looking for as far as dollars and cents, guarantees in a contract, would Jeremy Jacobs consider ousting Peter Chiarelli ? He might consider it, espacially that Burke is a proven GM and has won the Stanley Cup. It’s not everyday that a guy like Brian Burke comes along and is made available.

So folks after enduring close to four and a half months of where Sundin will play or not play, now we have the Burke is going where lottery. Shouldn’t the focus be on the game on the ice and not about over bolstered egos always trying to make the news ? If I was the league’s commissionner, I would not like this at all.

Gaborik to Montreal and ...

2008-10-19T10:48:00.006-04:00

Renaud Lavoie of RDS, mentionned last night during the Montreal and Phoenix game, that talks had intensified between the Wild and the Habs. Of course we all know that Minnesota's gm Doug Risebrough was a teammate of Montreal's gm, Bob Gainey, along with Jacques Lemaire and Mario Tremblay in the glory years in the 70's. That friendship is there, which most likely helped in getting talks started, but it might just be that, talk. We all know, that Gainey keeps his cards close to the vest, and rarely comments on rumours. There is a General managers meeting this week, and Gainey may have called Risebrough to get his take on certain issues that will be discussed. Who knows.

Let's say for sake of argument, both Gm's are talking to make a deal. It does not mean that once both sides agree on something, that a trade will be done immediatly, this could a wait and see agreement, between Gainey and Risebrough. Once Gaborik comes back to the active roster, the Canadiens gm will appoint a scout, most likely Pierre Gauthier is asst gm, to scout the Wild and see if there can be a deal to be done. Gainey can also ask Guy Carbonneau to give Mario Tremblay a call and get some inside info on Gaborik's attitude in the dressing room. One thing Mr. Lavoie may not know, either do I, that they maybe a third team involved and it could be three way deal in works, and Gaborik never even lands or plays in Montreal. Even if there is no third team involved, there is the cap space issue that Gainey and his CBA specialist, Julien Brisebois, must solve before making a deal. as mentionned in Lyle Richardson's rumour round up this morning, both Higgins and Halak total up 2.7 million in cap space, so the habs have shave off 4 .2million in space in order that Gaborik 6.333 cap hit fits in to Montreal's cap salary structure.

Ok you trade Halak, who is Carey Price's back-up, you then have to call up a goaltender from Hamilton, which will most likely be Marc Denis, and his cap hit is 600 k according to cap central. It will be interesting to see how all of this pans out in the days or weeks to come. Oh yes, of course all cap salaries would be prorated, as in the remaining money owned the players involved.

The Hit on Kostsitsyn

The debate is what is it a shot to the head ? Mike Milbury from Hockey night in Canada, it was fine.Coming from him, we should not be surprised. He also mentionned that it was Laraque that went after Thornton on wednesday night. He and his buddy Cherry, have been going pretty strong on the wacky tobacco. Well Mr.Milbury, look at this and tell me who went after who ? It's pretty clear. Ok let's get back to the issue at point here. I have seen it a few times already, but I will let you be the judge, don't forget to be objective about it. I have to admit that Mike was right on the hit, so was Benoit Brunet from RDS. Did Sauer deserve a penalty ? Maybe a roughing penalty, but not for the hit itself. As they say, blood is thicker than water, well while brother Andrei was being looked after by the excellent medical staff of the Canadiens, one of, if not the best in the league. I can't remember where I read it, but players on other teams that have been seriously injured in games in Montreal, have mentionned, they where well taken care off by that staff. I know it may sound dumb, but maybe they should of had a place in the ring of honor, espacially Dr. Mulder, who has been the team physician for over forty years.

First coaching casualty

After only four games, the Chicago BlackHawks fired Denis Savard on Thursday, and replaced him with Joel Quennville, former Avalanche and Blues coach. Now, is Quennville's Keaneen authoritive style good for this young BlackHawks team ? In his first game behind the Hawks bench, Quennville saw his team lose in a shootout. Yes you can say they got a point, but a loss remains a loss. But of course you have to let Quennville get his system in place. Tonight (Sunday) they play the Canucks in Vancouver, should be interesting. Pierre Lebrun on Hockey night in Canada's hotstove, said that he talked with the legendary coach, Scotty Bowman. Bowman told him that, he was not interested in the Gm job if ever Tallon was fired. Bowman also stated the two reasons he came to Chicago. One to work alongside his son Stan, who by the way was named after the cup that bares Scotty Bowman's name 11 times, 9 as coach and 2 has an executive. The second reason he invoked, was that he could hold the same kind of title he had in Detroit, work from his home in Tampa and see games around the league. Speaking of Bowman, he will be honored by the Canadiens during the celebrations of his former team's 100th season. When will this take place, not sure, but you know he will get a standing ovation by the crowd in Montreal. He was the coach of the last Canadiens dynasty of the 70's.

That's all for now folks.

The Boys are back

2008-10-05T12:15:00.007-04:00

The NHL's 2008-09 season got underway yesterday in the Czech Republic and in Sweden. In the Czech Republic, the New Yorks Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1. As my good friend Lyle Richardson mentions in blog on the game, it was not very entertaining, I agree.

Tampa Bay Lightning new ownership forgot one thing in their summer spree, Defense. They let go Dan Boyle and got weaker on the back end. With all due respect to Olie Kolzig and Mike Smith, they are not the solution. Ever since they let Khabibulin go, the Bolts have struggled in that part of their game, and will continue to. Of course top notch goaltenders are not easy to come by, when a team has one, teams keep them. Jose Theodore was available this summer, but they turned to Kolzig. I think in the short term, Theodore could of been a better asset than what they got now.

New York Rangers, are no better off this season than they were last season, but I think when the chemistry sets in, I think the Rangers have a good possible shot at a playoff spot. Of course that will depend if a third team from the NorthEast division squeezes in, that could make thing difficult. I would say that their matchs-up with cross state rivals New Jersey Devils will make or break their playoff hopes. It's just starting and we have a lot of hockey to play and no time to jump the gun.

The Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins met for the first time since last spring's quick elimination 4-0. The young Penguins drew first blood and quick, this in the first two minutes of play. The Senators then started the parade to the penalty box. In the first period alone, the Sens gave the Penguins a two man advantage, but Sid and his crew could not capitalize. They missed both Gonchar and Whitney on the point. Ray Shero could have to look outside the box for help. Could Bryan Berard be a short term solution, as he was released by Philadelphia yesterday. With both Gonchar and Whitney on the long term injury list, they can seek replacements and be over the cap by a portion of Whitney's salary and all of Gonchar's. They can go over by 2.7 million on Whitney's salary and can go the whole 5 m in Gonchar's case.

According to Kevin Lee, Alex Auld should get the start today against Pittsburgh for game two of the Stockholm tour. Not doubt with the win yesterday and having last line changes today, Michel Therrien will go back with Fleury again. So it should be an interesting game.

Enjoy. The North American part of the season starts on Thurday night. The defending Stanley Cup champions will be bringing up the banner in the Joe, to salute the 2007-08 cup run. The visitors will the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that has not had that pleasure in 41 years, should be teeth grinding experience for the faithful of white and blue.

For all of you in Canada, you can see the game on Hockey night in Canada.

Beware of the Salary Cap and…

2008-09-20T07:18:00.002-04:00

Yvon Pedneault well known columnist in Montreal and the NHL, mentions in his daily column*, that Gm’s should beware of the salary cap in what is left of the life of the CBA. (* it is in french, you may need to translate it. )

Pedneault, states that since the lockout the Upper limit has gone up 10 % every season, but like the stock Market, there is a risk of a slight tumble. The days of the cap going up 10 %, are pretty much gone. During their meeting on Tuesday, the Board of governors took notice of the financial health of all 30 teams, they concluded, that there will be an adjustement to make. The possibilities of seeing the cap go up to 62 million are slim, it may just stay where it is, or go up to 57 or 58 million. Would this mean that the NHL has reached the limit as far as revenues go ? It’s a possibility, how long can teams that are not in hockey hotbeds, like those in Canada, continue to ask fans to fork out more money to watch a team that seems to be turning circles and showing no signs of progression ?

This season the NHL removed the cap cushion that was in the previous three seasons. What is that you ask ? In the CBA, under article 50, there is a sub-article that deals with that issue. Teams are allowed to go over the cap due to bonuses, and what is paid out, can be forwarded to the next season. Because technically this is the last year of the CBA, the NHLPA, have the option to extend it, since they did not before Sept 15th, it will not be permitted for teams to exceed the cap, other than for teams with validated long term injury exemptions.

Around the NHL

The Carolina Hurricanes received bad news this past week, as Justin Williams will be out 4 to 6 months due to an injury to his achille’s heel. The Hurricanes won’t have any problems replacing him, as they are at 49 million plus in the cap, and would not go over with his replacement.

As bad news never comes alone, the St-Louis Blues are high alert due to a freak accident to defenceman Erik Johnson. If the Blues look outside the organization, it is mentionned they could look at Schneider. Nothing wrong there, but he could not be placed on the replacement list, he’s cap hit is higher than Johnson’s. The CBA is clear on that. The only way Schneider could appear on that list, is if the Ducks put him on recall waivers, which they won’t, as they would be held accountable for half the cap hit, which they don’t want.

Former Philadelphia Inquirer hockey writer, Tim Panaccio, who also blogs on a certain person’s site, mentions that Philadelphia has gained cap space by putting Derian Hatcher and Niittymaki on LTIR. That is false. The Flyers will be permitted to be over cap come October 9th, and will be to replace them with players making the same salaries, but caution, they can’t go over the full amount. They have not gained any cap space.

Who should be captain ?

2008-08-21T16:40:00.002-04:00

James Mirtle has a good piece on who should be captain of the Thrashers, Panthers, Kings, Rangers, Leafs, Flyers, Lightning and the Canucks. He list possible candidates for each team mentionned above. So let’s start with the most obvious choices on different teams.

The New York Rangers, it’s a no brainer, Chris Drury, that is one reason why Sather signed him as a UFA last summer, as he knew that he would be parting with Jagr and Shanahan.

The Philadelphia Flyers, the same thing, no doubt Mike Richards will get the nod. They did not invest all that $$$$ on his possible 50 goal a year seasons, because it won’t happen. He will be a 20 to 25 goal a year center.

In Tampa Bay, again there, no brainer, Vincent Lecavalier, will be captain of the Bolts until he retires.

Now for the less obvious.

Atlanta, Mirtle listed three possibilities to replace Holik. They are Niclas Havelid, Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov. I am not sure I would pick any of them, as your best players don’t also make for good captains. I think Todd White would be a good captain and a locker room presence.

In Florida, the choices are : Bouwmeester, Horton and Cory Stillman. Bouwmeester’s status is up in the air, so would not be a good choice. So it’s a toss up between Stillman and Horton. I would go with Stillman, he a proven leader, he has two cup rings, would be a good influence on the youngsters.

The Kings, the choices are : Armstrong, Brown (Dustin), Frolov, Kopitar and Stoll. I think Brown would make a good captain.

Oh yes the Leafs, now this is interesting, as that person will have big shoes to fill with Sundin gone. The candidates are : Jason Blake, Kaberle, Kubina and Mayers. Mirtle had put McCabe, but I doubt he would want that job anyways, this notwithstanding his possible trade to Florida or elsewhere.

The Vancouver Canucks, the candidates are : Kesler, Mitchell and Ohlund. Ohlund is a UFA a the end of the season, if they are tanking by the tradedeadline in early March, no doubt he could be a sought after defensemen for a team looking to good deep in the playoffs. So it remains between Kesler and Mitchell, I think he will get the nod.

Like everyone else, I’m getting sick of hearing of the where will Mats Sundin go ? story. As long as he stays silent and let’s the speculation go on, it will get sickening for fans all over the NHL, not only in the cities where has gotten offers from, but others also. Turn the microphones off and use the old it’s ‘’off the record’’ line, and you surely will get snarks from a GM. As in ‘’ How long will this take, we can’t wait all season for him to decide.’’ The worst part is, is that even Gary Bettman can’t even intervene. Hopefully he comes to a decide soon and puts an end to the saga.

Three years after the signing of the new CBA, there is still a misconception on who counts against the cap, espacially when it comes to long term injuries. It’s also the same for short term injuries. Just because a player goes off the active roster, it does not mean his salary is off the books, he still counts in the team’s upper limit count. Players on long term injury reserve, and the team applied for the exemption, and that are close to the upper limit, can go over the limit, but not by all of the injured player’s salary. I will use the situation with Ryan Whitney in Pittsburgh. Presently the Penguins sit at 55,360,867 which leaves them with 1,339,133 in cap space. Whitney’s cap hit is 4,000,000. Take that amount, substract what is left in cap space, and that is amount they can go over. Teams don’t lose their cap space because of this, it’s more calculate how much they can go over. Teams can replace an injured player such as Whitney,with as many as they wish, as long as the total is not larger than the replaced player’s salary/cap hit.

Hopefully news picks up between now and Saturday, see you then.

Waiting for Mats and ….

2008-08-18T20:53:00.001-04:00

Here we are Monday August 18th, and all of the NHL is holding it’s breath on where Mats Sundin will land next season. Of course, first he has to decide if he is going to play in the NHL again. That’s when the derby will really begin. Watch the rumour mill go wild, like it’s not already. Teams interested in him, will scramble to clear cap space in order that his contract fits in. Only Vancouver would only have to clear about a million in cap space to fit their offer to Sundin.

The Rangers are pretty close to the cap, as they have less than a million in cap space. The Flyers also have cap issues, as they are over the season limit of 56.7 million. Philadelphia is 1,031,667 $ in the red. Trading Jeff Carter for Bouwmeester, will not solve their cap problems. According to former RDS analyst, Yvon Pedneault, the offer the Canadiens made Sundin, was around 8 million, and the Habs fave about 6,564,699 $ in Cap space. No doubt Gainey will have to make a few trades for draft picks to make way for Sundin, if he returns to La belle province to play an another season.

Joe Sakic, like Sundin is still undecided about his future in the NHL, but unlike his former teammate from the Quebec Nordiques days, Sakic will either play in Colorado or retire. The Colorado Avalanche have enough cap space to sign Sakic, they have 12,725,000 $, so there is no cap issue in this case.

I don’t think too many Leafs fans will be to disappointed to see Bryan McCabe leave Toronto in two weeks, the day he recieves his bonus money from the Leafs and is officially traded to the Florida Panthers. His last game as a Leaf, was in Montreal when speared young Gregory Stewart in the groin area and left the ice giving the fans the bronx cheer.

Chicago: The last stop for Bowman ?

2008-08-18T20:50:00.004-04:00

The legendary coach took on a new challlenge last week, by accepting the position of Senior advisor to the Chicago Black Hawks. Is this the last stop in hockey for Scotty Bowman ? if you look at it in the perspective that he will get a chance to work with his son, at age 74 and soon to be 75, there is no doubt, it most likely will be, of course the master will have the final word on this. As we know, his son Stanley, named after the cup he has won more than any other coach in NHL history, has been battling cancer, the same that forced Mario Lemieux to sit out part of the 1992-93 season, when his dad was coaching the Pittsburgh Penguins.

This will be Scotty Bowman’s sixth and possibly last stop in a career that has spanned over four decades. Previous stops where until recently, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Montreal and St-Louis, where it all started in fall of 1967, when then the late Lynn Patrick whow as Gm and coach with the Blues, turned the bench over to the Young Scotty Bowman. In his first three seasons as bench boss, he brought a group of rejected players to three consecutives Stanley cup finals, losing all three and not even winning a single game. Of course the obvisious question was, what could this guy do with a better team ? Shortly after beeing fired as Gm in St-Louis, he got a call from the late Sam Pollock, who was already becoming a legend and was Gm of the Montreal Canadiens, who had just won the 1971 edition of the Stanley cup playoffs. Pollock did not offer Bowman the coaching job in his initial conversation with Scotty, that would come later. In fall of 1971, the Montreal Canadiens would have two new faces, who would come to write new chapters in the history of the great franchise, Scotty Bowman and Guy Lafleur, would team up to make the 70’s editions of les Canadiens, the strongest in hockey history. In the summer following the team’s third straight cup win, Bowman signed a two year deal, but would come to regret it in a way, as the Canadiens and the Forum were to be sold from Bronfman’s to Molson Breweries of Canada (who held on to the team til they sold a majority of it to now owner George Gillett Jr. in 2001). In the agreement of the sale, Sam Pollock would no longer be Gm, but could not tell Bowman. Scotty signed the contract thinking that Pollock would be his boss. In the spring of 1979, following the Canadiens fourth straight cup win, Bowman got offers to go elsewhere, he chose to exercise the option in the contract, which still had a year left, and opted for the Buffalo Sabres.

The Years in Buffalo did not turn out to be Scotty’s best moments in hockey, which in a way where of his own doing. He gutted a team that was maybe a few players short of a Stanley cup, and started a real bad re-building process, that went contrary to what Pollock did in Montreal. Not all went bad for Bowman during his seven year tenure in the great lakes city, he did make a few good choices, as in Housley, Barrasso, who he would recommend to Craig Patrick Gm in Pittsburgh as part of the early 90’s Penguins cup winning teams. When it all ended in Buffalo, a lot of people thought that Bowman’s reputation would be tarnished, and could be the end of one best coaching careers.

After his stint with Buffalo, he went on to become an analyst on Hockey Night in Canada, until he was offered a position with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the off season of 1990. Scotty was in charge of player personel and development. The Penguins won the Stanley Cup in the spring of 1991. Bob Johnson who coached that team, fell ill during that summer, and eventually passed away before the beginning of season. Scotty was asked to step in, which he did, it was not time bring in someone new. Bowman guide the Penguins to a second straight cup in 1992. Scotty and the Penguins were not as lucky in the spring of 1993, as they bowed out in round two of the playoffs. Bowman’s former team the Montreal Canadiens, coached by former wings coach, Jacques Demers, won the prize that year.

The Detroit Red Wings offered the coaching job to Bowman in summer of 1993. Scotty went on to win three more Stanley Cups as coach, he retired in the spring of 2002, after passing his mentor Toe Blake with his 9^th cup as coach. Before joining the BlackHawks, Scotty had spent fifteen years in Detroit.

His NHL coaching and executive career have come full circle, as he is back where it all started, in the american midwest.

NHL’s Money Madness

2008-07-03T16:48:00.002-04:00

It’s day three of the UFA signing frenzy, and yes Gm’s are back to their old habits, $pend, $pend and $pend more. It’s true then,that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Looking at teams cap payrolls, at cap Central on hockeybuzz.com, you will notice that already, 11 teams are over the 50m + line. Six of those teams are in the west, Anaheim, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit and Edmonton. The culprits in the East are : Boston, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and washington.

The Upper limit this season is 56.7 million, teams will be allowed to spend up to

$ 303, 209.00 daily.

To this date, with the numbers from 10 am ET, teams have spend on average

$ 46, 858, 035 in cap money, and average in cap space at around 9.8 million plus. In actual salaries, $ 46, 336, 327. The difference in the two, is that bonuses are counted in the cap hit and not in the salary. In the Eastern conference, teams have actual salaries averaging at $ 47,242,355 and cap payrolls at 47, 069, 023, with an average cap space of 9.5 million. In Western conference, the actual salary is averaging at $ 45, 430, 298, and the cap payrolls at around $ 46, 647, 047, with cap space at around $ 10 million.

I will try to come up with averages from the three previous seasons and see where we are going with this.

Happy Canada Day

2008-07-01T06:45:00.004-04:00

The day we have all been waiting for is finally here. It should be interesting and fun. Of course we are all waiting in anticipation to find out if one Mats Sundin will play an another season in the league, two if so, with who ?

So stay tuned, the fun starts in less than five hours.

Tomorrow's the big day

2008-06-30T18:06:00.004-04:00

We will find out where everybody is going or possibly going. Of course the headline of tomorrow's madness, is what will Mats Sundin do ? One thing for sure, he is not going back to Toronto. There is also two other big names that will be sought after. Marian Hossa and Brian Campbell.

The Salary cap is expected to be set at 56.7 million, but we will know tomorrow, before Gary Bettman sounds the bell for the opening of UFA season. To find out where your team is cap wise, you can visit cap central at Hockeybuzz.com. Speaking of the cap, Bob McKenzie from TSN has a good piece on it's going to work this year contrary to the previous three years.

I will be looking forward to tomorrow for sure.