New Beginnings Start at Free Agency
With the trade deadline arrived and largely passed, a new chapter of competition in the NHL has begun.
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Brashear departs for New York
Tough guy and enforcer Donald Brashear will not return to the Washington Capitals. Brashear inked a year 2.8 million deal with the New York Rangers.The fact Washington made no efforts in resigning Brashear before free agency was a signal the Caps chose to go in a different direction. One thing Washington is likely trying to do is eliminate penalites and penalty kill situations. ...
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Quick Heatley update...
Howdy again from Ottawa. Looks like the New York Rangers and San Jose Sharks are parties Heatley could be dealt too. Don't rule out the Oilers deal yet though. We know what an Oiler deal looks like. A Rangers deal would likely have Staal and Dubinsky in it as well as some spare parts. I'm not for any NYR deal as it wouldn't help our offence in the slightest. The Sharks would be either Marleau or Thornton with some other players/picks potentially. This deal wouldn't really help us either as we'd still be a one-line scoring team, which in today's...
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Top 5 First Round Moments of the 2009 Playoffs
Round one had some pretty interesting stories. Here are five of my favorite.1. The Ducks/Sharks SeriesThe Sharks have history to blame for their ineffective performance in the playoffs. They've been dubbed choke artists due to their inability to make it out of the first round. This season, with the President's Trophy in hand, that all looked to change. The Ducks had different plans, however. Currently leading the series 3-1, Anaheim hasn't given the best team of the regular season any room to shine or enjoy that home ice advantage. The Sharks have been outscored 12-6 in the series and have been shutout twice. Now they have to win three straight or forever be called the choke artists of the NHL Playoffs.2. .2 seconds!How do you piss off the usually calm, cool, and collected Martin Brodeur? The Carolina Hurricanes did just that in game 3, breaking a tie with just .2...Read more
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A Week of NHL Playoffs Has Taught Us...
A week into the NHL Playoffs and only one series has been decided as of today -- a sweep of the St. Louis Blues by the Vancouver Canucks. I didn't think the Canucks would sweep, but I did believe they'd win.With their series win in mind from last night, we'll begin there.Vancouver wins 4-0 against St. Louis - Hockey fans knew at the beginning of this series that Roberto Luongo was good. The sweep just cements that fact. Luongo is a beast between the pipes and it's not out of the question to think that he could carry the Canucks to another series win. It's too early to tell what team Vancouver would play in the second round, but don't be surprised if it's able to advance.Detroit up 3-0 against Columbus - This series is over. If it doesn't end in a sweep Thursday night, I'll be surprised. I picked...Read more
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Quest for the Cup, Who's Your Pick?
In keeping tradition with the bracketology craze of college basketball, Faceoff-Factor and The Pensblog joined forces with an idea to create "Rinkotology" in an effort to raise money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation.As the name suggests, it works just the same as your NCAA March Madness pool... simply go to Rinkotology and fill out a bracket. But please donate at least $5 -- the foundation is a very worthy cause.With the introduction out of the way, let me break down my Rinkotology picks and see where I think this NHL Playoff season may be headed. Keep in mind that I've never once won a pool like this and my picks will probably not even happen. And as a Pens fan, I hope they don't happen, because I'd like to see them win it all. But I digress...Western Conference:The West is always Detroit's to lose. Just because San Jose finished the...Read more
Top 10 Nice Guys of the NHL
Last week, I brought you the black sheep of the NHL. This week, to give both sides a fair shake, I'm going to show you the nicest fellas ever to play the game.10. Alexander OvechkinOvechkin is probably the one player that enjoys playing the most. With every goal he scores he shows sheer excitement in his celebration. At the most recent All-Star Game, Ovechkin took the opportunity to have fun and put on a show for the crowd. While some have criticized Alex's casual attitude as showboating, it's really just a player enjoying his time in the NHL.9. Mark MessierPlaying 25 years in the NHL and the last active WHA player, Messier exemplified an older style of hockey. One of the most accomplished players in the league as well, Messier won 6 Stanley Cups and is the only professional athlete to be the captain of two different championship teams.Off the...Read more
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NHL Rumor Mill - What Exactly is a Staged Fight?
Right now the 30 general managers of the NHL are meeting in Naples, FL to discuss a multitude of topics, but fighting will be at the forefront. The GMs would like to get rid of staged fights during games, which are predetermined bouts between two players that aren't in retaliation for anything; they just fight because that's what they're paid to do.At least that's what I think it is. I asked some fellow hockey fans on Twitter to give me their take on what they think a staged fight is."A boxing match""Wrestling"Okay, so apparently the people I follow on Twitter are just a bunch of smart asses. Moving on...Number CrunchersHere's some data the league put together on fighting in the NHL:21.6% - Number of fights this season have happened immediately following a faceoff, which is a 30 percent increase since 2000.23.6% - Number of fights started in defense of...Read more
Top 10 Problem Players of the NHL
Unless you've been living under a rock this season, you've probably heard about a fellow named Sean Avery. With his uncanny ability to destroy a team (Dallas) and get away with murder on another (New York), Avery is an easy target of ridicule from the media and fans. He's not in a league of his own, however. Plenty of jerks and idiots have passed in and out of the league. Here are the top ten.10. Theo Fleury While Fleury was a great player, even winning the 1989 Stanley Cup with the Calgary Flames, his career was mired drug and alcohol problems. During his time with the Blackhawks in 2002, his addiction began to surface, causing 2 suspensions. He was also involved in a physical altercation at Columbus, Ohio strip club. Unable to get a handle on his off-ice issues, he ended his career in the NHL in 2003. 9. Steve...Read more
Read more | 8 Comments | Tags: Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, NHL, Toronto Maple Leafs
Deadline Passes Without Blockbuster Deal
The 2009 NHL trade deadline passed about three hours ago. The top story this year? ... well, take your pick. It pretty much depends on what team you follow.This time last year, the Pittsburgh Penguins made the splash of the day, acquiring Marian Hossa from the Thrashers for a slew of players. A "sexy" deal, as one radio personality put it. An equivalent to that one was not pulled today.But that doesn't mean that some playoff-bound, or playoff-dreaming teams didn't improve their rosters. Some notables today:The Calgary Flames made arguably the biggest move, adding F Olli Jokinen and D Jordan Leopold. The Pittsburgh Penguins were back at it again. GM Ray Shero already added Chris Kunitz in the Ryan Whitney trade last week. Today, amid some other small moves, he added veteran winger Bill Guerin in exchange for a conditional draft pick.Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins added some veteran presence...Read more
The NHL Trade Deadline Edition of the Power Poll
With the Trade Deadline just around the corner in the NHL season, you can imagine what this week's theme is.This week we took a look at who each team might be trading (which is for a majority of clubs because they either feature a tradeable player or are on the fringe of decided whether they're buying or selling) or in a few cases, what the team needs. We also tossed in a few speculations just for fun.30. New York Islanders--(-19 points, Last week: -20 points): The New York Islanders could've been making a few moves at the deadline, but after getting ravaged by the injury bug, it's hard to finger who might be moved.Both Doug Weight and Mike Sillinger had potential (being free agents this offseason) but a season-ending injury for Sillinger and a sprained MCL for Weight means the probability for a deal is low (for Sillinger there's nothing,...Read more
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