My NHL Blog

Great Commercial From Reebok!

Posted on December 31, 2009 by adminNo Comments

Olympic Fantasy Talk?

Posted on December 31, 2009 by adminNo Comments

Who’s a crazy enough hockey nut to put together a fantasy pool for the Olympics? Guilty here.

It is not often you get fantasy tips about the Olympics, but here they are:

Here’s a little trivia for anyone preparing a fantasy pools list for the upcoming 2010 men’s Winter Olympic hockey tournament in Vancouver:

The National Hockey League has had full participation in three previous Olympics; twice, the same pair of players ran 1-2 in the scoring race. They weren’t Czechs, Canadians or Swedes either (the three countries that have won gold during that span.) Rather, it was Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu from Finland, a pair of well-known, highly respected NHL players who have a history of raising their performance levels when they don national colours.

But there’s something else you need to know while researching your Olympic picks—you can get some unexpected scoring heroes mixed in with the familiar ones.

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Big Day Outside For The NHL!

Posted on December 31, 2009 by admin1 Comment

The great outdoors has been very good to the NHL
By Kevin Allen, USA TODAY

Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said he was talking recently to Niklas Kronwall and Dan Cleary about their participation in last year’s Winter Classic, and “the first thing they said was that it was a great experience and they would like to do it again.”

The NHL has played three outdoor games, and this New Year’s Day meeting between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins at Fenway Park will be the third in the Winter Classic series. In that short time, the event has become one of the NHL’s grand traditions

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Top Plays Of The Decade …

Posted on December 30, 2009 by adminNo Comments

This would be tough to pick, some others come to mind, but these are a pretty good …

Power Rankings …

Posted on December 29, 2009 by adminNo Comments

Blackhawks up one, Devils down two, Canuck’s move up seven spots …

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Who’s On The Bubble For Team Canada?

Posted on December 29, 2009 by adminNo Comments

The Team Canada Bubble: Who makes the cut, who bursts?
By Greg Wyshynski

The identities of the proud Canadians who will sweat profusely under the spotlight of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver will be revealed on Wednesday, Dec. 30, and we’ll be live-blogging the announcement here on Puck Daddy. But in the moments leading up to Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman and his staff selecting their team, a few of those choices have come into focus while others remain undefined.

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Minnesota Wild’s All-Decade Team … Well Sort Of.

Posted on December 27, 2009 by adminNo Comments

It’s only technically been 9 years, thanks to the lock out, but here’s a good all-decade team put togther by Wild-Beat writer Michael Russo. The other night, we were watching the Wild play Edmonton and were trying to figure out who wore number 7 prior to Clayton Stoner wearing it for the Wild, after reading Russo’s column I was reminded it was Cliff Ronning!

Ronning didn’t make the all-decade team, but here is a list of players that did:

Goaltenders
• Niklas Backstrom; Manny Fernandez

Defensemen
• Nick Schultz-Kim Johnsson
• Willie Mitchell-Brent Burns
• Filip Kuba-Brad Bombardir

Left wing/center/right wing
• Andrew Brunette/Mikko Koivu/Marian Gaborik
• Brian Rolston/Todd White/ Pierre-Marc Bouchard
• Stephane Veilleux/Wes Walz/ Antti Laaksonen
• Sergei Zholtok/Darby Hendrickson/Derek Boogaard

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Brodeur’s Place In History …

Posted on December 22, 2009 by adminNo Comments

by PuckStopsHere from www.kuklaskorner.com

With Martin Brodeur breaking the career record for shutouts last night with his 104th of his career, he is now the holder of the significant career records for goaltenders. I gave a top 10 list of goaltenders all time to place Brodeur in his appropriate place in history and today will rerun that list.

10. Ken Dryden
Dryden was a top goaltender for a relatively short career. He was a five time goals saved leader with the Montreal Canadiens – although this was a team with such a good defence (and thus allowing such low shot quality – which is not taken into account by this method) that Denis Herron and Richard Sevigny could lead the league in goals saved after Dryden left. The controversey with Dryden, much like Brodeur, is that he played on a top team. How good would he have been on a weaker team? Dryden’s Habs were far more dominant than the Devils under Brodeur and due to his short career; he has less top level years than Brodeur.

9. Johnny Bower
Bower had a stellar AHL career before he finally made the NHL as a clear number one goalie at age 34. For the most part, this isn’t Bower’s fault, as there were only six NHL goalie jobs and he played behind Gump Worsley, who was a Hall of Famer himself. Bower consistently put up seasons that would have got him into the NHL All Star Game today, but were unable to get him an NHL job. He established himself as a top level goalie before he could crack an NHL roster. When Bower finally got his chance in Toronto, he had a Hall of Fame career at the age where he was likely in decline. He only once led the NHL in goals saved, due to his direct competition with Hall, Plante and Sawchuk. I have no doubt that if he had be given his NHL job years earlier (say the NHL expanded in the 50’s) he would be among the all time leaders in wins and shutouts.

8. Frank Brimsek
Eight times in a ten year career Frank Brimsek made the NHL first or second team all star. He was Patrick Roy of his day to Bill Durnan (who was Hasek of his day). Brimsek had the longer career (for the time), but was eclipsed for awards when a suddenly better goalie entered the league and shared the same prime seasons. Brimsek also lost two seasons in his prime years to serving in the armed forces during World War II. The loss of two seasons limited his effectiveness, yet despite that only Glenn Hall has more post-season all star selections in his career.

7. Bill Durnan
Durnan played a short career of only seven years, but he was the first team all star in six of them. His career falls before enough statistics are recorded to calculate goals saved. He was still in his prime when he retired, but cited the physical and emotional toll of playing so many minutes as a reason for it. We will never know what he might have done with a longer career – which would likely have happened if he played today – since there is far more money to be made playing in the NHL.

6. Terry Sawchuk
Sawchuk was the wins leader before Roy (and now Brodeur) came along. Sawchuk still leads in career shutouts (though Brodeur will take that soon). Sawchuk did this with a very long career. He was a top level goalie from the start of the 1950’s and lasted through to the early 70’s before his untimely death. He never was able to be the best goalie in any given season according to goals saved after Plante and Hall got going in their careers, though he was two times before them (and his first big season pre-dates the recording of enough statistics to calculate this statistic).

5. Martin Brodeur
Brodeur may be the man of the hour with his career wins lead. Wins by a goaltender is not a particularly good statistic. It is highly team dependant. It is not surprising that the all time winner is a modern day player. Wins are more plentiful today than they were in the past due to the fact no more games are tied (they go to overtime and shootouts so every game has a win) and due to the increasing length of seasons historically. A goaltender must play on a good team to win and Brodeur certainly has done this in New Jersey. That said, he is clearly a very good goalie and if he can keep having Vezina Trophy calibre seasons may move up another point or two on this list.

4. Glenn Hall
Hall was very good for the end of the fifties and first half of the sixties. He was the goals saved leader in the NHL five times. He was a seven time First All Star in goal (which is a better measure of top goalie than the Vezina Trophy which at that time went to the goalie with the top GAA). He did not remain a top level goalie as long as Plante (though he has a long career as well).

3. Jacques Plante
Plante also led the league in goals saved seven times (to lead Hasek). He did so over a period of sixteen years and did not do it by as dominant an amount as Hasek did. He was the best goalie in the league until the modern group of goalies who have dominated the 1990’s and beyond entered the league.

2. Patrick Roy
Roy is the career wins leader until Brodeur came along. His season by season numbers were more dominant than anyone until Hasek came to the NHL and they had historically coinciding prime years of their careers (a battle Hasek won). His three Conn Smythe Trophies give him a level of playoff success that is untouched by any other goalie.

1. Dominik Hasek
He is the most dominant goaltender in NHL history. Six straight years leading in goals saved and two straight Hart Trophies is strong evidence of that. He has very good career numbers but never challenged for the lead in wins or shutouts (for what that is worth) because he was in his mid-twenties before he got out of Czechoslovakia.

Hobey Baker Joke …

Posted on December 22, 2009 by adminNo Comments

I know we’ve all done it, said something, tried to dig ourselves out, but the hole just kept getting deeper!

Blackhawks VS Sharks – battle for conference lead!

Posted on December 22, 2009 by adminNo Comments

This is the third of four meetings between these Western Conference Juggernauts, these two teams are likely to meet in the Western Conference Finals in the spring. Chicago has won the first two meetings this season, a 4-3 overtime win in Chicago on Nov. 15 before a 7-2 thrashing.

Who’s Hot – Marleau’s pair of goals on Monday give him a team-leading 23 for the season, while Thornton notched his 49th point. … Huet has turned aside all 47 shots in his last two appearances and hasn’t allowed a goal in 141:21. Jonathan Toews has a four-game points streak.

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