NHL

NHL and other hockey related posts.

Blowing up the Predators

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The Nashville Predators made some very interesting moves this afternoon.

First, they shipped UFA to-be Dan Hamhuis to the Philadelphia Flyers for a conditional pick in 2011 and Ryan Parent. Secondly, they sent captain Jason Arnott to the New Jeresey Devils in exchange for winger Matt Halischuk and a second-round pick in 2011. Lastly, they resigned defenseman Francois Bouillon to a two-year $2.7 million contract.

So, in one afternoon, the Predators traded away two major players and reupped one 4th/5th defenseman.

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Jaroslav Halak dealt out of Montreal

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The Montreal Canadiens have decided who their number one goaltender will be. However, it isn’t who many would have guessed. Montreal shipped Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.

Jaroslav Halak is now a member of the St. Louis Blues. Weeks after leading the Canadiens past the Capitals and Penguins in the playoffs.

So, the Habs picked up a pair of prospects in exchange for the goaltender that carried them to the conference finals. Eller spent the 2009-10 season in the minors, while Schultz has been inked to his first NHL deal but stayed in juniors last season.

The quick winner here is definitely the Blues. Chris Mason is an Unrestricted Free Agent and will obviously not be signed. They dealt two players who haven’t shown a real push to crack the lineup for a proven goaltender who is entering his prime. The Canadiens still have a year or two to see if these two prospects will pan out. But they have given Carey Price a vote of confidence and hopefully that will light the necessary fire under him.

So, now the Habs really need a good season out of Carey Price, something that has yet to be seen since his fabulous rookie campaign.

Dear Mr. Pronger. Shut up

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So, Chris Pronger plays a very edgy style. Some might say dirty, I say he toes the line. Either way, he creates a lot of enemies on and off the ice. You might say Adam Burish, of the Chicago Blackhawks, is among his enemies.

Now, Burish’s comments weren’t necessary especially given the situation. He just won the Cup and could have easily avoided the question, but he chose not to. In my opinion it was the wrong choice. Not to mention, if he were to fight Pronger in a game he would likely lose the fight, badly. Oh – and he didn’t see the ice in game six, or a few others.

That brings us to Pronger. Who always has carried himself with a certain arrogance that I can’t stand. He had a few particularly bad games at the end of the series and probably should have taken the high road in terms of responding to Burish’s comments.

Listen Chris, you just lost the Cup, you played really poorly in the final two games (game five in particular) leave it be. If you’re so much better than this guy why bother saying something? If anything, Pronger comes off as the bigger ass because he is the one still chirping after the loss.

A little professionalism goes a long way, seems like Burish and Pronger could use a lesson in that.

I almost forgot, Jeremy Roenick cried!

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I should preface this post, and explain that headline, by saying I have loads of respect for Jeremy Roenick. I was lucky enough to spend time with Jeremy in Vancouver at the Olympics and he is truly a great guy. The morning production meetings were always a blast with him there.

So, I digress. The fact that Jeremy Roenick was so emotional over the Blackhawks winning the Cup shows the die-hard attitude the players have in the NHL. Roenick was so close, so many times and missed his opportunity. And to see him in that state shows his dedication to the game of hockey. I know a lot of people are going to have a lot of fun with what happened in studio after the game, but I respect him for it. I know if the Sabres ever win the Cup………….I will probably experience a wave of emotion. Plus, if I were to have the hockey career similar to his, and see a former team of mine hoist the Cup, I would be happy but heartbroken too. So, my hat’s off to you Mr. Roenick. But, for everyone else, here is the video.

Hawks win, cabbies beware

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Pat Kane fired the shot heard ’round the hockey world. Well, it was more of a trickler that eluded Michael Leighton to give Chicago their first Stanley Cup in 49 years.

It was a climactic end to a game that was rather frustrating to watch. Particularly the first period and a half. Scott Hartnell – first of all cut your hair, you look like an ass – ran around taking dives and just played reckless through the first period. I thought the dive that drew a make-up call on Brent Seabrook was far worse than the tumble he took before his first goal. Either way, he runs around every game and plays a dangerous style, so does Dan Carcillo. Of course, Carcillo couldn’t do too much damage in the press box could he?

I found more fault with the refereeing, particularly in the first half of the game. Chris Pronger plays a rather edgy style, but, he didn’t really deserve the call he got for roughing up Jonathon Towes. In the same hand Marian Hossa did not interfere with Leighton in the 2nd. In fact, that was one of the worst calls I have seen in quite some time. Thankfully, the zebras put away the whistles for the third period and overtime. The final 20 minutes and change was wildly entertaining hockey and rather poetic, thanks to the deflection off Marian Hossa’s shin pad that led to the Flyers tying goal. Of course, that was moot once Kane slipped the winner under Leighton from a sharp angle.

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Is the NHL back?

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In the mid-1990s a strong argument could be made that the NHL had surpassed the NBA in popularity. But, goaltender equipment grew, the trap gained popularity and hockey entered the dead puck era. All the while, the NBA had a surge of young talent and rapidly attracted casual fans.

Entering the early 2000s the NHL, armed with commissioner Gary Bettman, who was sent from the NBA, attempted to invade non-traditional, warm weather markets. Ten years later the Nashville Predators have been in a constant state of limbo, the Phoenix Coyotes are being run by the league and teams like Florida, Tampa and Atlanta have trouble filling seats. All of this is occurring while the Stanley Cup Finals draws new audience highs since the 90s with numbers comparable to the Lakers/Celtics NBA Finals. In fact, last night’s 7-4 Blackhawks win trounced the NBA Finals in the Chicago market. Of course, that is to be expected.

The trend nationwide surely would favor the NBA, and I would not argue that the NHL has again surpassed the NBA in popularity. However, hockey is a much more team-oriented sport that has seen less drama off the playing field than the NBA recently.  When it all boils down the NHL is still a few years away, but, the youth movement has spurred ticket sales and unique events like the Winter Classic. Plus, the high-scoring Finals that is developing not only will help draw casual fans hungry for goals, but it will have Gary Bettman doing backflips about high-scoring games.

If ESPN’s coverage was less biased towards the NBA and the NHL continues to grow, the league should see nothing but positive growth in the next few years.

Your call:

Pronger Fail

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The Hawks overwhelmed the Flyers, plain and simple. The three-goal first period all but nailed the coffin shut for Philly, although they fought back valiantly all game.

Give credit to the Chicago coaching staff, they used the last change to their advantage and kept their big guns away from Chris Pronger. Apparently, second line players are Pronger’s kryptonite. The towering d-man was a minus-5 tonight after going plus-7 in the first four games of the series. In fact, Pronger was on the ice for six Chicago goals, but Brent Seabrook’s first-period tally came with the man advantage.

Again, the goaltending was less than impressive on both sides. Antti Niemi played well enough for his team not to lose, which appears to be the trend for this Cup Final. I’m sure game six will mirror that trend. After all, every game, save for one, has been a shootout.

I don’t know who will take game six, I truly don’t. Neither team has shown up and played their true style of hockey for back-to-back games this series. If Chicago can come out like gangbusters on the road Tuesday, the Blackhawks will win the Cup. But, you just can’t count out home ice in this series, it has proven to be too valuable of a commodity.

Don’t you get it? It’s a JUMP to CONCLUSIONS mat!

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Why must major sports outlets jump to such wild and rash conclusions with every sport? Perfect example, the Chicago Blackhawks go up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Final. Sportscenter immediately wonders, “is the series over?”

Of course it isn’t. And the excuse that it makes for better television is, in the words of Charles Barkley, “trbl“. I’d rather hear why Philly had a chance to tie the series, which they did, and what the Blackhawks had to do for a sweep. That makes more sense to me.

Tiger Woods is another good example. The guy made a mistake(s), but it wasn’t on the golf course. So those transgressions should be left outside the realm of the PGA Tour because that’s where they occurred. He knows the errors he made and he took steps to fix that, why does ESPN need to stake out his rehab clinic?

Sorry, that was a rhetorical question. It’s the same reason the network televises the Spelling Bee (which is intoxicating to watch), the World Series of Poker and a NASCAR studio show. Honestly, what could you possible talk about on a 30-minute NASCAR talk show? Left turns can only take you so far.

The networks are even doing it after one game of the NBA Finals. I can almost guarantee the response from the major sports outlets. It certainly won’t be conservative either.

Five Alive

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Game five of the Stanley Cup Final gets underway at 8pm tonight (CBC, NBC) and will likely be touted as the turning point of the series for the winner. I’m not so sure.

I truly feel that this series will be decided by home ice, therefore Philadelphia needs an inspired performance tonight to steal the advantage. The Flyers already showed they could take away momentum in games three and four, why can’t they keep this ball rolling into game five?

Chicago, on the other hand, just needs to play their game. On paper, and sometimes on the ice, Chicago is the far better team. Hell, they went goal-for-goal with Philly in game one and finally imposed their will on the visitors to take the first victory of the series. The Dustin Byfuglien/Chris Pronger match-up has been a snoozer. Mostly because Pronger has neutralized Big Buff and Mike Richards; line have taken away time and space from Jonathon Towes and Patrick Kane.

Games three and four were very similar to games one and two, it was a simple case of role reversal. In Chicago the Flyers top guns were neutralized as was the top line for the Blackhawks. However, players like Patrick Sharp, Dave Bolland et. al. stepped to the plate and help take those two games. In Philadelphia, it was the other way around. Daniel Briere and Claude Giroux provided the Flyers with secondary scoring and they were the victors.

Then who takes game five? Its a tough call between home ice and momentum. I like Chicago tonight just because the Madhouse on Madison will be rocking and both teams have proven winning on the road this series is going to be difficult. Final: Chicago 4 – Philadelphia 2