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Spezza left off Team Canada training camp

By Colin Jeffrey | July 2, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

Howdy. Great now another pissed off member of the Big 3. I guess somebody watched the Senators last season other then us fans. Jason Spezza, who has lots of Team Canada experience, was left off the list of invitees to a Canada training camp in lovely Alberta. Alberta? Well with that news of course Dany Heatley would be ON the list of invitees. Congrats Dany, represent the Sens and our country proud! As for Spezza, I imagine he is right pissed off...Olympics in Vancouver and he isn't going. Annual top-10 NHL scorer and proven producer on the world stage and...

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Utterly Bewildered

By Colin Jeffrey | July 2, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

Howdy from a hungover Ottawa. Good show last night from the Hill. My favourite part about Canada Day is seeing so many different peoples and cultures celebrating one nation. Not totally shocked Heatley and Neil are still Sens today. Shocked on how it happened. Obviously Bryan Murray and Co. were put in a difficult situation when Heatley decided to cut and run. Obviously however it's been long enough to realize the market for Heatley is small and the chances he'll reverse his decision and play for the Sens is smaller. He needed to be traded before his $4 million dollar...

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Sens sign Brodeur and Martin St.

By Colin Jeffrey | July 1, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

Howdy from Ottawa. G Mike Brodeur and F Martin St. Pierre signed by Ottawa to play in the AHL this coming season. Both do good in the minors, but haven't produced in the NHL. All for now. Colin Jeffrey www.mvn.com/colinjeffrey's301 ...

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Oilers talking directly to Heatley

By Colin Jeffrey | July 1, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

Howdy from the nation's capital. Edmonton Oiler representitives, management...everyone is courting Heatley at this hour. That's the rumour anyways. Three teams in play for Dany are Edmonton, San Jose and NYR. As for FA Day 1, the Sens won't be signing Erik Cole or Kent Huskins. Both resigned with their old clubs. Mikael Samuelsson, Steve Sullivan, Derek Morris and P.J. Axelsson are still out their, so we can improve through FA while we wait on Heatley. Also of note is that many of the star players today have signed in the West, which is good news as our competition isn't...

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Source: Heatley to SJ for a package involving Marleau/Michalek

By Colin Jeffrey | July 1, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

Howdy from a now sunny again Ottawa. Rumoured from a source saying Dany Heatley is off to play with Big Joe in San Jose for a package including Patrick Marleau and/or Milan Michalek. Wasn't I just talking about these guys earlier today? Again, rumour only as of now. Nothing else out of the Sens camp...given the need to deal Dany and our cap situation we looked like a 'Day 2'-type team anyways. Colin Jeffrey www.mvn.com/colinjeffrey's301 ...

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Colton Orr a Leaf...Chris Neil's contract demands look silly now

By Colin Jeffrey | July 1, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

Howdy from Ottawa. Orr is a Leaf @$1 mil. per for 4 years. Neil's offer was $1.7 over 4. Orr had 5 pts last year, Neil had 10. Both are in the NHL for two reasons; to hit and fight. Looks like only one of them knows it. Gotta think Neil and agent are in serious fallback mode and I have to believe given the Senators mood at the moment (Dany are you awake yet?) they will be expecting Neil to drop down to $1.5 or less. Nothing else on the Sens front, no news on Heatley either. Colin Jeffrey...

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New Senators blog site...

By Colin Jeffrey | July 1, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

Howdy from Ottawa where the jets just flew by...Happy Canada Day! Here is the new link to this blog - www.mvn.com/colinjeffrey's301 Trying to re-design the blog soon, summer project. 301 of course is in reference to the movie '300' and its historical events. Thanks again for reading...Eklund's hockeybuzz website is confident Heatley will waive the NTC and go to EDM soon. Here's hoping. Colin Jeffrey www.mvn.com/colinjeffrey's301 colin_jeffrey@hotmail.com ...

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Quick Heatley update...

By Colin Jeffrey | July 1, 2009 | Colin Jeffrey's 301

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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A Week of NHL Playoffs Has Taught Us...

By Alan Smodic | April 22, 2009 | MVN Outsider

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?

By Alan Smodic | April 14, 2009 | MVN Outsider

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

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Top 10 Nice Guys of the NHL

By Grant Beery | March 14, 2009 | MVN Outsider

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?

By Grant Beery | March 10, 2009 | MVN Outsider

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

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Deadline Passes Without Blockbuster Deal

By Alan Smodic | March 4, 2009 | MVN Outsider

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

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The NHL Trade Deadline Edition of the Power Poll

By Bryan Thiel | February 26, 2009 | MVN Outsider

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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NHL Power Poll: First Year Wonders and Flounders

By Bryan Thiel | February 20, 2009 | MVN Outsider

This week we're looking at rookies: Surprising and depressing performances from the league's first-year players on every single team.All stats are as of Thursday afternoon, before any games were played.30. New York Islanders--(-20 points, Last week: -17 points): Right now the New York Islanders are eyeing up the best odds at the first overall draft pick this June. The question is, do they take John Tavares and pair him up with this year's rookies Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo (Who've combined for 36 points in 77 games), or do they take Victor Hedman and stock up on the back end.Basically it depends on the day: The Isles have scored the fewest goals in the league and allowed the third-most goals in the league.29. Tampa Bay Lightning--2 points (Last week, 4 points): Over the past few weeks, the Tampa Bay Lightning have begun implementing a "plan" for Steven Stamkos' development.Looks like...Read more

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Midseason Slow-Downs Impact Power Poll

By Bryan Thiel | February 12, 2009 | MVN Outsider

Two changes to this week's Power Poll:1) Teams noted in BOLD are (at the time of writing) holding on to a playoff spot in their respective conference.2) Teams in ITALICS are amongst the five worst teams in the league and eligible for the draft lottery.Aside from that, no changes: Two points for a win plus goals for and subtracting goals-against gets you your point totals:30. New York Islanders--(-17 points, Last week: -12 points): Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.Actually, for the Islanders it's been more like down, down, down, down, down this season. (At least they're .500 in they're past ten: 4-4-2)29. Atlanta Thrashers--1 point (Last week: 4 points): Bryan Little hasn't registered a point in ten games but it's the Thrashers' defensive play that's a little depressing. They've allowed the second-most goals in the league, an un-flattering 194 (Toronto has the most at 198).28. Toronto Maple Leafs--3 (Last week,...Read more

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