January 30, 2008
What in the world is going on with Ray Emery?
For the second time this season, the Ottawa goaltender has been late for practice and has not been allowed on the ice. He has caused a lot of problems in the Ottawa dressing room with his antics. This awkward behavior is not as bad when you are playing well, but Emery has struggled all season and cannot grab the number one goaltending job in Ottawa.
The Senators are in a bad position as they could do without the distractions of Emery, but are unsure as to whether or not number one netminder Martin Gerber is capable of leading them to the Stanley Cup. Ottawa could have the best team in the league and as of now are probably the top team in the East (although Montreal is closing in quickly), but the Sens cannot be happy with their goaltending situation heading into the playoffs.
Ottawa would be best served by trading Emery and getting rid of the headache. Los Angeles and Tampa Bay both need goaltending, but it seems that the Kings should wait and give Jonathan Bernier the shot he deserves in the next year or two, since they are not legitimate playoff contenders right now.
That leaves the Lightning, who really need a goaltender to turn things around. The Lightning definitely have enough offense with Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis and if Emery could play like last season, a trade would make Tampa Bay a force to be reckoned with in the post-season, should they make it.
Ottawa would be relying an awful lot on Martin Gerber, should a trade be made, but it would make the dressing room a lot happier place to be in Ottawa.
January 22, 2008
Well the Toronto Maple Leafs finally did what had been talked about since the summer; they fired their General Manager John Ferguson Jr.
Ferguson must be commended on the class that he exuded throughout the day (and the four plus years at the helm of the Leafs), never blaming anyone. Let's hope he gets another job in the NHL real soon.
Back to the Leafs. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment went once again to Phoenix to get their new GM as they hired their former GM from a decade ago, Cliff Fletcher, on an interim basis. The organization, which also owns the Toronto Raptors, had great success when they hired Bryan Colangelo from the Phoenix Suns almost two years ago as Colangelo has turned the Raptors from a perennial laughing stock to a highly regarded, up and coming team. Perhaps the Maple Leaf Board of Governors figure lightning can strike twice.
Fletcher has a big job ahead of him and it is obvious to everyone, with the possible exception of the Maple Leafs that the club must retool, as their team is not good enough to realistically compete for the Stanley Cup. Fletcher made headlines over a decade ago when he traded away future Maple Leaf draft choices and responded "Draft Shmaft". Well Cliff, it's up to you now and and it better be "Draft, it's the only way to rebuild the franchise."
Fletcher must be able to trade Mats Sundin and if he is able to convince Sundin to give up his no-trade contract, he will have plenty of teams interested in Sundin's services. There must be at least ten teams that think that they have an opportunity to win the Stanley Cup this season and if there is a bidding war for Sundin, it will greatly benefit the Maple Leafs future.
Fletcher needs to get at least three players for Sundin, be it one very good prospect and two high draft picks or two very good prospects and one high pick. Fletcher hopefully can turn Darcy Tucker into a draft pick as some team can use his grit for the playoffs and if Bryan McCabe waives his no-movement clause and returns to the New York metropolitan area, which is where his wife is from, the Leafs could be sitting pretty in the years to come.
Good luck Cliff. You're gonna need it.
January 21, 2008
The Vancouver Canucks are doing a nice thing in allowing Roberto Luongo to skip the All-Star game and the Canucks first game after the break, to be with his six-month pregnant wife at their home in South Florida. The baby is due in April and the Canucks front office will allow Luongo to leave after Wednesday's game against St. Louis for a week break. The Canucks are due to play on Tuesday Jan. 29 at home against Dallas and then go to Florida where they will play on Thursday against Tampa Bay and Friday against the Panthers, leaving Luongo with a short jaunt to rejoin his teammates.
This will give the over-used Luongo a nice one week break and he should be able to return a well-rested goaltender, able to play the vast majority of the rest of the Canuck games. While Luongo fantasy owners may complain that he misses the first game after the break against Dallas, the week's rest will rejuvenate him for the remainder of the season.
The Canucks are being smart with their best player and they should be rewarded with a top notch performance over the last part of the season.
January 18, 2008
Joe Sakic is out of action until the end of February, if not longer. It’s the same story for Ryan Smyth. Now, Paul Stastny will miss 2-3 weeks after having his appendix removed. Those are Colorado’s top three offensive threats. Things are pretty rough when you have to rely on Tyler Arnason to be your go-to center. Avs’ coach Joel Quenneville must be asking what he did to deserve this.
It will be interesting to see if complementary players like Marek Svatos, Arnason, Wojtek Wolski and Andrew Brunette will step up and provide the club with enough offense to win some games, until at least Stastny returns.
One thing is for certain. Jose Theodore (or Peter Budaj if he ever gets to play again) will have to stand on his head if the team is to have a chance of winning.
January 12, 2008
I was at the Tampa Bay-Florida game tonight and it is apparent that if the Tampa Bay Lightning are to do anything this season, they must put and keep Johan Holmqvist in net.
Before tonight's game, Holmqvist played in only two of the Lightning's last ten games as coach John Tortorella decided to play rookie netminder Kari Ramo. Well, the Ramo experiment did not work out as the 21-year-old Finnish netminder was 2-5-1 with a 3.20 GAA and a .895 save percentage. While Ramo has a better save percentage than the veteran Holmqvist, Holmqvist's record is now 14-13-4 after tonight's 5-3 win.
The Lightning have a young defense with Doug Janik, Mike Lundin and second-year player Shane O'Brien comprising half of the Lightning's blueliners. They definitely need a veteran in between the pipes and for now Johan Holmqvist is the only goaltender that fits the bill. The Lightning are in 29th place at this point in time, but they do have an outstanding four forwards in Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Loius, Brad Richards and Vaclav Prospal that only the top teams in Detroit and Ottawa can match. If the Lightning get the goaltending they need from Holmqvist, they can still move into a playoff position in the Eastern Conference and possibly even first place in the Southeast Division.
This is too good a team for GM Jay Feaster to break up and the eventual return of Dan Boyle will help the Lightning. Holmqvist is the key to the team and he must make the big saves, like he did tonight, if the Lightning are to contend.
January 11, 2008
Every week someone in the NHL does something so stupid it deserves comment. This week we hit the jackpot. Three members of the NHL community did themselves proud in the "I'm an idiot" category.
Bobby Clarke-You have to give the Flyer exec points for his loyalty in defending Steve Downie. But really! Downie left his feet to catapult into Ottawa's Dean McAmmond earlier in the year garnering a 20-game suspension, and this past week he sucker punched Toronto's Jason Blake. This is not the kind of player you go to bat for, Bobby.
Mats Sundin-There is no question the Toronto captain bleeds Maple Leaf blue. But if he really wants to help the franchise, he should waive his no-trade clause so that the team can trade him for some prospects. Then he can re-sign with Toronto in the off-season. Can somebody show the big Swede the sense in this approach?
Ray Emery-Just when it looked as if he finally earned a little of coach John Paddock's respect by working hard in practice and winning his last two starts, the bonehead goalie gets into a fight during practice with good friend Brian McGratton. Does this guy know how to self destruct or what?
I can hardly wait for next week!
January 05, 2008
For those of you like myself who are not fluent in French, the word brule means to burn. Today we ask, has Gilbert Brule burned the Blue Jackets with his substandard NHL performance to date?
Selected as the sixth-overall pick in the 2005 amateur draft, Brule has yet to demonstrate any of the traits that made him a junior scoring star with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants. After scoring an impressive 87 goals and registering 185 points in 164 junior games, Brule has scored only 12 goals and registered 27 points in 126 NHL games spanning over three seasons. This is not the stuff first-rounders are supposed to be made of.
Columbus management, frustrated with Brule’s efforts this season, demoted the lad (on his 21st birthday) to the team’s AHL affiliate in Syracuse this past week.
To be fair, Brule has not been well recently (he is suffering with a bout of tonsillitis). He is also still young enough to carve out a successful NHL career.
But while Anze Kopitar, Martin Hanzal, Matt Niskanen, Paul Stastny and Kristopher Letang, all drafted after Brule in the 2005 draft, have begun to make their mark in the NHL, Brule continues to spin his wheels.
Is it too early to give up on Brule? Maybe so. But if the North Vancouver native doesn’t show us (and the Blue Jackets) something soon, he will go down as being one of the biggest first-round burns in recent memory.
January 01, 2008
Happy New Year to everyone. I spent this afternoon watching the Winter Classic on NBC and it was quite a game. It reminded me of my youth, playing on a pond with the snow blowing in my face.
Sidney Crosby was absolutely amazing with some of his moves, especially the one in the first period when there was too much snow on the ice and he tried to stickhandle around the Buffalo defense handling the puck in mid-air. The crowd of over 71,000 fans were terrific and didn't let the weather get in their way of a good time.
The NHL will have to do this again next season, perhaps in New York or Boston. It gives the game character.
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