Time for a New Disciplinary System posted by Jeff Ponder

The NHL may be the greatest hockey league in the world, but it may not have the best system for dealing with disciplinary action.  It seems that they could learn from leagues that play under them.  Way way under them. 

Jason Miller runs a roller hockey league in St. Louis, Missouri that is a glorified pick-up league.  He calls players every week to play, which goes in order of the amount of times played in past games.  He even hires a referee every Sunday night to facilitate the two 44 minute games and also has a scorekeeper to keep track of goals, assists and penalty minutes.  As if that wasn't enough, he even keeps track of everything on sundayrollerhockey.com, the league's website for everyone to view in the comfort of their own homes.  But the most notable feature of Miller's league may be the way that he handles the discipline that needs to be handed out time to time.

Even though the league is played amongst friends, tempers do flare on the rink.  Miller has set up a unique way to handle these situations.  If he feels that it is necessary to pursue action off the rink (suspension or expulsion from the league), he takes the matter to his board of players that was voted in by everyone that participates in Sunday Roller Hockey.

“Its mostly made just to curtail violence and stupid behavior,” Miller said, “and its worked pretty well because its at least made people think twice about what they want to do before they actually do it.”

Is this something that could be adopted in the NHL?  Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell would vote in its favor.
Continue reading "Time for a New Disciplinary System"

USA! USA! USA! posted by Goon Squad

Has it been 30 years now since the US beat the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid?(It seems like only yesterday...)

The Americans went on to win the gold medal in hockey that year - something that hasn't happened since, but don't expect any miracles next month at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. No, the United States still isn't favored to win a gold medal in hockey. In that respect the Americans remain underdogs. But with a roster stacked with young talent, they certainly are a medal candidate - one that the powerhouses from Canada, Russia and Sweden can't afford to overlook. "A little bit different situation [than 1980] in my opinion," said United States team captain Jamie Langenbrunner, a forward with the NHL's New Jersey Devils. "As much as Canada deserves all the credit that they're getting for the players they have, the 23 players named to the [United States] team play in the same league as those guys and we feel quite comfortable playing against them on a nightly basis. We feel we belong on the same ice."

That's a far cry from goalie Jim Craig and the 1980 team! US coach Herb Brooks had to convince that group of college All-Stars that it could compete with the grown men the Soviet Union sent over. But since 1998 the NHL has allowed its professional players to compete at the Winter Olympics. So this group of Americans is baffled by the notion that they would be intimidated by any of the major hockey powers.

Told of stories in the Canadian press that listed him as the only American capable of making the loaded Team Canada roster, forward Zach Parise chuckled. "I think that's kind of a bold statement," said Parise, also a New Jersey Devils forward. "I don't think there's going to be too many people that would agree with that."

Uh Oh, Skettio's! posted by Goon Squad

Officiating has become so intolerable that one general manager filed a protest in a league that doesn't allow protests and several coaches have talked about reading the rulebook again to see if it had changed.

Bettman has put out many fires in his time as NHL commissioner.

On Tuesday, with the Burrows allegations, it was just a spark – and now smoke can be seen coming from Detroit.

NHL rules state that if a call on the ice is to be overturned there must be substantial video evidence to back up overturning a call. 

In this case there was none whatsover--just the word of Mike Leggo, the trailing official who claims he saw what no video camera could--the puck crossing the goal line.

What is the point of having video replay if it's not going to be used for it's intended purpose?

With two teams battling for a very important extra point, assuming the puck crossed the line and going against standard practice, which is substantial video evidence, is absurd. Yet, for the second time in a few days, we have an officiating controversy.

Maybe the call was correct, but the point is that we cannot assume a puck crossed the line.

It was an injustice to the Red Wings, who for the second time this season have been on the wrong end of, plainly stated, an incorrect call.

Coincidentally or not, both games were against Dallas:

Continue reading "Uh Oh, Skettio's!"

Team Sweden Making Some Questionable Moves posted by Jeff Ponder

Does anyone in North America remember Peter Forsberg?  You know, that guy that scored 885 points for the Nordiques, Avalanche, Flyers and Predators? 

Forsberg has attempted many comebacks to the NHL and other professional hockey leagues since playing in his last NHL game for the Colorado Avalanche in April 2008.  His nagging ankle injuries has limited his play, but he has continued working on his game, earning a spot with fellow Swedish countryman Markus Naslund on Modo Hockey of the Swedish Elite League.  Forsberg played in just three games last season, but has stormed back this campaign scoring eight goals and seven assists in nine games.  Is this worthy of a roster spot on the 2010 Swedish Olympic Team?

Team Sweden Head Coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson thinks so.  On Sunday, Gustafsson announced his 23-man roster for the Swedish Team, who will be defending their 2006 Gold Medal victory in Turin.  This roster includes 19 NHLers, three Swedish Elite League skaters and one KHL player.  Forsberg is one of the few men that are not playing on an NHL club but squeaked into the lineup.

One person did not seem too happy about the Swedish club's decision.  Mikael Samuelsson of the Vancouver Canucks was snubbed from the lineup and did not have very nice words for Gustafsson and his staff.

"Probably going to get in trouble for this, but they can go (expletive removed) themselves," Samuelsson stated after the Canucks' win over the Flames Sunday night.

The truth is that Samuelsson is enjoying a good season with the team he signed with over the summer.  Being tied for third on the team in goals with ten and adding 14 assists, the right wing has been a great addition for the Canucks.  Samuelsson could add size (6'2” 212 lbs.) and endurance (17:11 TOI/G) to a Swedish team that could be lacking grit.

Inter-League Game Could Spell Bad News for NHL posted by Jeff Ponder

Could an exhibition game really give bad publicity to a major North-American sports league?

The NHL has constantly been trying to show that their league is the best to the public all over the world.  For the past few seasons, the league has sent four of their teams overseas to play in places such as Germany, Sweden and England.  The teams usually open the NHL regular season a week early, playing two games in the country that they were designated.  This season the league has decided to send the St. Louis Blues and Detroit Red Wings to Sweden, and the Chicago Blackhawks and Florida Panthers to Finland.  Not only are these teams playing each other, but they will see time against some of the best teams of the chosen nation in pre-season play.

Why is this a possible threat to the league?  The NHL holds themselves as the greatest hockey league in the world with the most powerful teams and the best players.  There is almost no way of disputing that prestigious honor as long as the teams are playing against each other all the time and do not allow any outside teams to jeopardize that point.  Allowing other teams from other leagues could harm the reputation of the NHL. 

Here is the schedule for the games that will be played against other league teams:

Tuesday, September 29:  St. Louis Blues vs. Linkoping HC at Cloetta Center

Tuesday, September 29:  Chicago Blackhawks vs. ZSC Lions Zurich at Hallenstadion

Wednesday, September 30:  Florida Panthers vs. Jokerit Helsinki at Hartwall Arena
Continue reading "Inter-League Game Could Spell Bad News for NHL"

Vancouver Adding to D posted by Jeff Ponder

Vancouver signs Mathieu Schneider to a 1-Year, $1.55 million contract

The Canucks found the replacement for Mattias Ohlund that they were looking for.

After watching Ohlund sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 1st, the Canucks felt a gaping hole in their defensive corps.  Even at the age of 40, Schneider can still play the game.  He only accumulated nine goals in 67 games last season splitting time between the Thrashers and Canadiens, Schneider is still a key for a successful power-play.  6 of his 9 goals last season came with the man advantage, while also amassing 12 power-play assists.  The 20-season veteran will be a nice addition to an already impressive Canuck power-play unit.

Considering Schneider's age and the length of the contract, this deal makes perfect sense for the Canucks.  They filled the hole that Ohlund left on the blue line for the upcoming season.  This is a good short-term fix that will help Roberto Luongo sleep easier at night.

Vancouver acquires Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich from San Jose for defenseman Daniel Rahimi and forward Patrick White

The Canucks were not done bolstering their blue line after signing Schneider on Friday. 

The team announced that they had acquired the two defensemen shortly after signing Schneider.  With Kevin Bieksa and Willie Mitchell being the two tough defensemen that plow the front of the net, the Canucks added Ehrhoff who is widely known as a puck-moving defender.  Adding 34 assists last season, he can thread the needle to his forwards when the game is on the line.
Continue reading "Vancouver Adding to D"

Canucks Sign Henrik and Daniel Sedin to 5-Year Extensions posted by Jeff Ponder

Canuck fans no longer have a reason to panic. 

Vancouver General Manager Mike Gillis announced just before noon on Wednesday that the Canucks and the Sedins finally reached a contract extension.  It is believed to be a five-year extension  that will earn each brother $6.1 million each season. 

The Sedins originally were asking for 12-year contracts from whatever team wanted them, but found the five-year extension to be a fair compromise.  Daniel and Henrik both scored 82 points last season for Vancouver and were a big part of their sweep of St. Louis and 6-game series with Chicago in the playoffs.  The twins amassed 20 points between the two of them in the 10 playoff games.

The twins have been an important part of the Canucks franchise for years.  Vancouver gets a steal with this deal, considering 2/3 of their first line is locked up for 5 years.  Signing them for only $12.2 million a season is not too shabby either.Continue reading "Canucks Sign Henrik and Daniel Sedin ..."

The Red Wings are Beatable posted by Jeff Ponder

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings have had a strong playoff year thus far and look to be unbeatable.  There does not seem to be any kinks in the red armor they done on their chests.  The Chicago Blackhawks would not have an argument with that after they lost the opening game of their Western Conference Final series 5-2 on Sunday afternoon.  Detroit seems to be chugging along through the playoffs.  Is there anything that can get in their way to stop them from capturing yet another Stanley Cup?

Chicago has got to be scratching their heads going into Game 2.  The Hawks did a good job shutting down top-liners Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom in Game 1, but they still saw the likes of Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg and Dan Cleary play big roles in the win.  This is the strength of the Detroit Red Wings; production from everyone on the squad.  If Pavel Datsyuk has a bad game, the team looks to the second line to produce, which they usually answer favorably.  Datsyuk has not seen the score sheet in ten games after his team's victory on Sunday, but the rest of his team has compensated in every game.

The Blackhawks must find a way to contain the second line of the Red Wings.  Last game, the Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary line contributed seven points in the victory, including four of the five goals scored.  How can a team handle the Datsyuk line along with the Franzen line, as well as counter with their own goal scoring throughout one game?

The best defensive pairing must be played against the Franzen line.  Franzen leads the Western Conference in points with 18 in the playoffs this year, and Zetterberg is a close third with 16 points.  Putting Duncan Keith against these three scoring threats is a strong move for Head Coach Joel Quenneville to make.  He did this in Game 1, which means only one thing; Keith has to be better.  Duncan has been claimed throughout the years to be a premier NHL defenseman in the regular season.  He now has to prove that he can be that same stalwart throughout the playoffs.  Every game becomes much more important as the playoff grind continues.
Continue reading "The Red Wings are Beatable"

Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 2 posted by Kevin Christmann

Part 2 of this series will include Restricted Free Agent options as well as possible acquisitions via trade.

In Part 1 of this series I covered some of the more realistic Unrestricted Free Agent options for the Flyers in their quest to acquire a starting goaltender. In addition to the Unrestricted Free Agent options, there are several viable Restricted Free Agent options. The benefit of restricted free agents is that they are all young…that is, after all, why they are restricted free agents. They are often times coming off their entry level contracts, and just haven’t played enough seasons to be eligible for unrestricted free agency. The bad part about restricted free agency is that, depending on how much the player is signed for, the team is required to pay some sort of draft pick compensation.

The compensation thresholds are dependent upon the salary cap ceiling for that respective season. Since we don’t know what the salary cap will be set at for next season, the compensation thresholds have not been set either.

Last year’s compensation was as follows:

-at or below $863,812 = no compensation

-$863,813 to $1,307,812 = One 3rd round pick

-$1,307,813 to $2,615,625 = One 2nd round pick

-$2,615,626 to $3,923,437 = One 1st round pick, one 3rd round pick

-$3,923,438 to $5,231,249 = One 1st round pick, one 2nd round pick, one 3rd round pick

-$5,231,250 to $6,539,062 = Two 1st round picks, one 2nd round pick, one 3rd round pick

-$6,539,063 or above = Four 1st round picks

Western Conference Rolls Along! posted by Joshua Tarkoff

I have a confession to make. I love the Canucks. I really have loved them ever since the worst trade in NHL history when my beloved Panthers gave Luongo away for nothing. I know he is great and that team has a ton of fast guys with a lot of talent. For some reason, I really want them to win. What a job they did last night finishing off the Blues. Hey some big time people picked the Blues to win, since they were so hot coming down the stretch. So,no prediction is even needed for Vancouver. All I know is, I do not know of any team that wants to face the Canucks in the 2nd round.

Onto the series that are still going on...Sharks/Ducks. What a series this is. I think this is the best one we have going (no disrespect to NJ/CAR). It is a bit tough in Florida to be able to watch all of this series, but every second that I have seen has been awesome. Huge hits, I mean huge and every goal has been hard fought. I think this series will come down to who makes the least number of mistakes. That was especially true last night. Both teams are solid and the difference is going to be very small. I have to go with SJ here, they did not win President's trophy for nothing. 7 games, but this will take its toll on whoever ends up winning here.

Detroit is quietly doing its championship thing as usual. They really are an amazing organization. For years I know I have thought they were too old, but somehow they keep on doing it. Hossa this year has been a huge add on and he continues to shine in the playoffs. The series with the Bluejackets will not last much longer, although I must give them a hand for making it into the playoffs this year. It is just unfortunate that they ran into Detroit. 

Torres signs deal with Canucks

Free agent forward Raffi Torres signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks, the team said Wednesday. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL

Canucks sign F Torres to 1-year contract (AP)

Free agent forward Raffi Torres signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks, the team said Wednesday. Torres split last season between Columbus and Buffalo, scoring 19 goals and getting 17 assists in 74 games. He is expected to add a physical, scoring presence to the Canucks' third line. [read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports