My NHL Blog

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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Teams Christmas Wish Lists …

Posted on December 19, 2009 by adminNo Comments

Teams can’t go shopping on the last weekend before Christmas because of the roster freeze, but they’re all still hoping for something from Santa.

Some things even Santa can’t help with, but here’s the wish list.

East
West

Wild, NHL’s Hottest Team. Literally!

Posted on December 18, 2009 by adminNo Comments

Wild Fire: Minnesota Wild Equipment Truck Goes Up In Smoke
By Andrew Stoeten, theScore.com

Making the rounds on Twitter this afternoon is that a truck carrying equipment for the Minnesota Wild caught fire, turning much of the Wild’s gear into the charred mess you see below. The Wild beat Montreal at le Centre Bell last night and play Ottawa tomorrow, so one can assume this happened somewhere between the two cities.

No word yet on what the hell they’re going to be playing in tomorrow.

Click here for more pics

More info from Russo’s Rants:

Equipment trainer Tony DaCosta basically spent the night at Scotiabank Place cleaning equipment and taking inventory of what assistants Brent Proulx and Matt Benz needed to bring up from Minnesota. The equipment arrived in Ottawa at 9 a.m., but it’s a mess.

Nine players’ equipment was completely fine, 12 lost just about everything in yesterday’s truck fire. Here’s some pictures from my Twitter accounthere and here of the truck.

The team lost some medical supplies, but the video equipment was saved. Anton Khudobin has been called up and could conceivably start, Chuck Fletcher said, if Niklas Backstrom or Josh Harding don’t feel comfortable. I’d tend to doubt this, but we’ll see.

A lot of the coaches stuff was burned also, so Todd Richards is wearing extra skates from Marek Zidlicky today and Bob Mason is wearing Guillaume Latendresse’s extra skates.

Here’s an inventory, and some are a bit comical:

Zidlicky-Good

Johnsson-Good

Zanon-Lost a ton, but not his knee brace

Stoner-Skates and pants only saved

Koivu-Everything lost but skates

Kobasew-Good

Havlat–Everything lost, but they found a set of skates he used to wear in Chicago and put on a new blade

Brunette-Good

Ebbett-Everything gone

Miettinen-Everything gone

Clutterbuck-Everything gone

Brodziak-Good

Boogaard-Good

Belanger-Good

Hnidy–Everything gone, and two left skates burned

Scott-Everything gone

Earl-Everything gone

Backstrom-Everything gone

Harding-Everything gone

Sheppard–Everything gone, except, get this, his contacts and a mouthguard

Schultz-Everything gone, had skates picked up at his house that he wears in pond hockey and he went to Play It Again sports to buy shoulder pads he likes

Latendresse-Good

Who Would You Say The Decades Best Player Is?

Posted on December 18, 2009 by adminNo Comments

Here’s a look at the past decade’s top players (in no particular order)
By Scott Burnside

Alexander Ovechkin
True, Ovechkin has been around for only four seasons, but his highlight-reel résumé is already overflowing with dramatic images, as he has established himself as the game’s most dynamic player. In his short career, Ovechkin has managed to earn a rookie of the year award, one scoring title and back-to-back Hart Trophies as the game’s most valuable player. In 2008, he became the first player to capture the Art Ross Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award, the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy and MVP honors in the same year. He has amassed 221 goals in four seasons, more than any other NHL player.

Sidney Crosby
Like Ovechkin, Crosby’s presence in the league has been short, but his résumé is already the stuff of legend. After winning a scoring title in just his second season, he rebounded from a serious high-ankle sprain in 2007-08 to lead the youthful Pens to the Cup finals and finished tied for the playoff scoring lead with 27 points. Third in the NHL in scoring last season, Crosby was a force throughout the playoffs for the Stanley Cup-champion Penguins, leading all scorers with 15 postseason goals, including two game winners.

Nicklas Lidstrom
Six times in the past decade, Lidstrom was named the NHL’s best defenseman and twice was runner-up for the Norris Trophy. He won a Conn Smythe Trophy in 2002 and helped the Detroit Red Wings win Cups in 2002 and 2008 as well as go to the Stanley Cup finals this past spring. A sure-fire Hall of Famer, Lidstrom will spark debate of whether he may well be the greatest defenseman of all time.

Martin Brodeur
After being overlooked earlier in his career, Brodeur took home four Vezina Trophies between 2003 and 2008 and was a finalist the other year during that span. He also earned his second and third Stanley Cup rings during the past decade (2000 and 2003) and mixed in an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in 2002.

Chris Pronger
The second overall draft pick in 1993, Pronger won the Hart Trophy in 2000 to become the first defenseman since Bobby Orr in 1972 to earn MVP honors. Pronger, also named the Norris Trophy winner in 2000, then led the Edmonton Oilers to a surprise Stanley Cup finals appearance in 2006 before hoisting the Cup for the first time with Anaheim in 2007. He won a gold medal with Team Canada in 2002 and will be a lock to make the 2010 squad.

Jaromir Jagr
Between 1999 and 2009, the dynamic Czech winger won three scoring titles, earned the Hart Trophy and was runner-up for the Hart twice. After being considered by some critics to be something of a coach killer as he bounced from Pittsburgh to Washington to New York, Jagr emerged as a true leader with the Rangers after the lockout before signing on with the Kontinental Hockey League after the 2008 playoffs. Gone, but not forgotten.

Jarome Iginla
The good-natured leader of the Calgary Flames was a surprise member of Canada’s gold-medal-winning team in 2002, the same year he won an NHL scoring title and was runner-up for the Hart Trophy. He finished second in MVP voting again in 2004 after the Flames lost to Tampa Bay in seven games in the Stanley Cup finals.

Scott Niedermayer
The classy Anaheim Ducks defender won Cups with New Jersey (2000, 2003) and Anaheim (2007) during the past decade along with a boatload of individual honors that included his first Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 2004 and playoff MVP honors in 2007. Niedermayer, a gold medalist in 2002 with Canada, was also a Norris runner-up twice.

Peter Forsberg
Although Forsberg’s lack of durability always will cloud the discussion of his greatness, he was part of the Avs’ Stanley Cup finals run in 2001 as he posted 14 points in 11 games before a ruptured spleen ended his playoff season. The next season, Forsberg missed the entire regular season but returned with a heroic performance in the playoffs, recording 27 points in 20 games as the Avs fell in the Western Conference finals. In 2003, he won an Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading scorer and MVP honors.

Joe Sakic
The legendary Colorado captain finished in the top 10 in NHL scoring four times between 2000-01 and 2005-06 and won the Hart Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award in 2001. His steadying presence personified the Avalanche organization that, for many years, was a constant Cup contender. Sakic also was captain of the Canadian Olympic team in 2006 and a member of Canada’s gold-medal effort in 2002.

Let us know who you think is the best player from 1999-2009 by posting below!