Down the Frozen River

Tag: 2003 NHL Entry Draft

  • December 7 -Day 56 – If bears could vote…

    There’s only four games occurring tonight, but they all look to be good ones. The action starts at 7:30 p.m. with Minnesota at Toronto (SN), followed half an hour later by Boston at Washington (NBCSN/TVAS). Later, the co-nightcaps drop the puck at 10:30 p.m. (Carolina at Anaheim and Ottawa at San Jose [RDS]). All times eastern.

    I know we’ve been in the Eastern Conference for the last four days, but the game I’m most interested in is going down in the Verizon Center. Off to the capital we go!

    Unknown-7Washington Capitals Logo

     

    Jumping right in, 15-10-1 Boston – currently riding a three-game winning streak – is the third-best team in the Atlantic Division, thanks in most part to a defense and goaltending that has allowed only 57 goals so far this season, the fifth-fewest in the league. That stat is made only more impressive by the fact that the Bruins allowed 228 goals a season ago, the tying for 11th-most.

    Much of that improvement can be attributed to the 14-4-1 Tuukka Rask, whose .939 save percentage and 1.68 GAA – which rank fourth and second-best in the league, respectively, among goalies with 10 or more appearances – are vastly better than his efforts a season ago (.915 and 2.56) that rank among the worst campaigns of his 10-season career.

    Rask doesn’t get to take all the credit though. Last season, his defense allowed 30.4 shots-per-game to reach his crease, the 13th-most in the league. Nowadays, that number is down to 27.7, the fifth-best. Taking responsibility for that change is rookie Brandon Carlo, who’s 45 blocks is a greater total than even the likes of Captain Zdeno Chara (43), Adam McQuaid (37) and John-Michael Liles (28).

    That success has followed the Bruins to the penalty kill, where their 86.4% kill rate is the third-best in the league. Carlo has led that charge as well, with 15 shorthanded blocks on his young NHL resume.

    Boston‘s Achilles heel continues to be their power play, which ranks fourth-worst at 13.8%. Two of the Davids (David Krejci and David Pastrnak, to be exact) have five power play points to co-lead the team, but I’d argue Pastrnak has been the most vital with four extra-man goals.

    *Seriously, count up how many Davids are on the Bruins‘ roster. Last I checked, there’s three active right now.*

    Hosting Boston this evening are the 14-7-3 Capitals, who currently occupy fifth place in the Metropolitan Division. Just like the Bruins, Washington has found most of their success by being a strong defensive team, allowing only 53 goals – the fourth-fewest in the NHL.

    Last year’s Vezina Trophy-winning Braden Holtby currently has an 11-6-2 record on a .923 save percentage and 2.14 GAA – the 16th and 10th-best efforts among netminders with 10 or more appearances.

    Much of the reason Holtby has been able to maintain his stellar play from a season ago has been due to the impressive defense playing in front of him that has allowed only 28.2 shots-per-game to reach his crease – effectively identical to last season’s Presidents’ Trophy-clinching effort.  Brooks Orpik has led the blueline with 39 blocks, but four total defensemen (Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen and Orpik) already have more than 30 shot blocks on the year.

    Surprisingly, the power play has let Washington down thus far into the season. Even with Nicklas Backstrom‘s nine power play points and Alex Ovechkin‘s four power play goals, the Caps‘ 15.2% success rate is ninth-worst in the NHL. Part of the reason for that decline might be due to T.J. Oshie being sidelined since November 19 with an upper body-injury, one would expect a potent Capitals offense to overcome that setback.

    Some players to keep an eye on tonight include Boston‘s Pastrnak (+15 on 15 goals [both tied for third-most in the league]) and Rask (14 wins [tied for most in the NHL], including three shutouts [tied for second-most in the league], on a 1.68 GAA [second-best in the NHL] and a .939 save percentage [fourth-best in the league]) & Washington‘s Holtby (2.14 GAA [10th-best in the NHL]) and Ovechkin (12 goals [10th-most in the league]).

    Vegas thinks Washington is the favorite tonight, marking them with a -145. Since the Capitals are on home ice, I also like Washington to pull out the victory in what should be a good game.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Gerry Cheevers (1940-) – How funny we’d feature the Bruins on 12-year Bostonian goaltender Cheevers’ birthday! Up until the 2011 championship, this netminder had been responsible for the Bruins‘ previous two Stanley Cup titles.
    • Garry Unger (1947-) –  A long-time Blue, this center was an seven-time All-Star and notched 804 points over his 16-season career.
    • Peter Laviolette (1964-) – Currently the head coach in Nashville, this skipper’s crowning achievement of his 15-season coaching career is still the Stanley Cup he won in 2006 with Carolina.
    • Georges Laraque (1976-) – The 31st-overall selection in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, this right wing spent most of his time with Edmonton, the club that drafted him. Twice he made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but both times his club failed to hoist the Cup.
    • Milan Michalek (1984) – This left wing was the sixth-overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by San Jose, but he played most of his days in Ottawa.

    It’s the games I’m most confident in that are getting the best of me. I assumed the Rangers would have no problem beating the Islanders, but once again a good rivalry game turned the tables as the home Isles bested the Blueshirts 4-2.

    The first goal of the night was a special one for the Islanders. Struck 7:03 into the game, Third Star of the Game Scott Mayfield‘s (Cal Clutterbuck and Anders Lee) slap shot was his first goal of the season, and only the second of his 14-game NHL career. Jason Chimera (Brock Nelson) backed that tally up with one of his own with 2:36 remaining in the frame to give the Islanders a two-goal lead going into the first intermission.

    The Rangers‘ incredible offense finally got on the board 56 seconds into the second period with a Jimmy Vesey (Rick Nash) wrister, but Andrew Ladd (Shane Prince) notched the eventual game-winner only 1:22 later with a snap shot. The Rangers fought back within a goal at the 8:54 mark via a Marc Staal (J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider) wrister, but it was the last tally they could manage, both in the second period and regulation.

    Second Star John Tavares (Josh Bailey and Nick Leddy) scored an insurance goal with 8:47 remaining in the game to seal the Islanders’ victory in the Battle of New York.

    First Star Jaroslav Halak earns the victory after saving 36-of-38 shots faced (94.7%), forcing Henrik Lundqvist to take the loss, saving 28-of-32 (87.5%).

    The second straight win by the home team in the DtFR Game of the Day series has improved their record to 31-19-8 and expended their lead over the roadies to six points.

  • November 28 – Day 47 – This time, in the style of B.B. King

    All good things must come to an end. That includes the extended Thanksgiving weekend. Even worse, that signals the end of heavy scheduling, with only two games being played this evening. At 7 p.m., Calgary visits the New York Islanders followed an hour later by Dallas at St. Louis. All times eastern.

    It’s been a week since we’ve featured a Western Conference team, and even longer since we’ve been to a Western arena. Add in that tonight is a Western Semifinals rematch, and we have to make our way to the Gateway to the West!

    Unknown-2Unknown

     

     

     

    I’ll admit that I’m a bit partial when it comes to the Blues, but this is what I remember from last year’s playoff series:

    Game 3, the game where Ryan Reaves shared the love with Dallas‘ bench, was not a good showing by the Stars, as they fell 6-1 that night. That contest was not indicative of their series-long effort though, as neither team trailed by more than a game in the seven-game series.

    St. Louis ended up winning Game 7 by the same 6-1 score to advance to the Western Conference Finals, besting the Stars by a combined 25-14 score against the best offense in the league last year. Of course, they would fall to San Jose in six game to miss the Stanley Cup Finals.

    Dallas enters tonight’s game with a 9-8-5 record, barely on the outside of the playoff picture that is slowly starting to form – we are after Thanksgiving, after all. The reason they haven’t broken into that bracket is simple: they let a lot of goals by. 72, to be exact, the second-most in the league.

    Although time has been almost evenly split between the Stars‘ two netminders, Kari Lehtonen has spent a little bit more time between the pipes. In his dozen starts, he’s earned a 4-6-3 record on an .884 save percentage and 3.38 GAA, both ranking third-worst among the 48 goalies with six or more appearances.

    Those numbers are exceptionally poor, especially for a team that has the aspirations Dallas does. He has to take responsibility though, because the defense playing in front of him has done a moderately OK job keeping pucks off his cage. Before Johnny Oduya was placed on injured reserve, his 44 blocks led the blueline. That responsibility now rests on Jordie Benn‘s shoulders, the active block-leader with 41. Those efforts have led the blueline to allowing only 30.8 shots-against-per-game, the 11th-highest in the league.

    As one might expect, Dallas‘ penalty kill has faced similar struggles. They’ve negated only 78.7% of opposing power plays, the seventh-worst effort. Oduya was active on the penalty kill as well, notching 12 shorthanded blocks, but he has been forced to hand this mantle off to Benn, too, who has 11 to his credit.

    Hosting them this evening are the 12-7-3 Blues. Sitting in second in the Central Division, the Notes have found their success scoring the puck, with 58 tallies to their credit.

    Who else to be leading St. Louis‘ offense than Vladimir Tarasenko and his 22 points? How he fell to the 16th-overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft is beyond me. In addition to being the points leader, his nine goals is also tops for the club.

    The success has carried into the special teams. St. Louis‘ power play ranks seventh-best in the league, successful on 21.3% of attempts. Kevin Shattenkirk joins Tarasenko with nine man-advantage points to lead the squad. The defenseman also ties for the team-lead in power play goals, but not with the right wing – instead, it’s Robby Fabbri who has also fired three extra-man goals.

    The penalty kill has been even better than the power play. The Notes are second-best in the NHL at neutralizing their own penalties, refusing to yield a goal on 88.4% of opposing man-advantages. Captain Alex Pietrangelo tops the squad with 11 penalty kill blocks.

    These teams have already met up once this year at the American Airlines Center, and the Stars took it to the Blues. They won 6-2, led by John Klingberg‘s two-goal night.

    Some players to keep an eye on this evening include Dallas‘ Tyler Seguin (15 assists [tied for third-most in the league] for 22 points [tied for fifth-most in the NHL]) & St. Louis‘ Jake Allen (10 wins [tied for seventh-most in the league]) and Tarasenko (22 points [tied for fifth-most in the NHL]).

    According to Vegas, St. Louis is favored by all accords to win tonight’s game as they have a -165 next to their name at most books in town. Seeing as they’ve done a good job keeping the opposition off the board, paired with an offense that will best Lehtonen, I’m confident the Notes defend home ice.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Marc-Andre Fleury (1984-) – The 13-year veteran goaltender for Pittsburgh was the first pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Although he has two Stanley Cups to his credit, an emerging star in Matthew Murray has Flower’s future with the Penguins in question.
    • Mike Kostka (1985-) – Almost entirely an AHL lifer, this defenseman has played 85 NHL games with five different teams. His 35-game stint in Toronto in 2012-’13 has been his longest to date.

    Ottawa must’ve read yesterday’s Game of the Day preview, because they didn’t seem to care for the high praise I was pouring on New York. They decided to spoil the Rangers‘ fun and shut them out for a 2-0 win.

    The winning goal was struck after 21:54 of scoreless play. Second Star of the Game Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Tom Pyatt and Zack Smith) takes credit for the tally with a wrister. The lone insurance goal of the game found the back of the net with 3:49 remaining in the second period, courtesy of Third Star Mark Stone (Mike Hoffman)  on a power play wrister.

    First Star Craig Anderson earns the victory and an extra shutout feather in his cap after saving all 33 shots faced, leaving the loss to Antti Raanta, who saved 18-of-20 (90%).

    The roadies are pulling closer. After Ottawa‘s DtFR Game of the Day victory, the the home team has a 26-16-7 record, better than the roadies by only six points.

  • November 5 – Day 24 – Rematch, Vol. II

    Exactly what Elton John said. So good for fighting, in fact, that we’ll have 13 of them, starting with a matinee featuring Minnesota at Colorado (SN) at 3 p.m. The usual starting time of 7 p.m. brings eight puck drops (Columbus at St. Louis, New Jersey at Tampa Bay, the New York Rangers at Boston [NHLN], Philadelphia at Montréal [CITY/TVAS], Buffalo at Ottawa [SN1/SN360], Florida at Washington, Edmonton at the New York Islanders [SN] and Vancouver at Toronto [CBC]), followed an hour later by two more (Carolina at Nashville and Chicago at Dallas). The west coast gets involved at 10 p.m. with Calgary visiting Los Angeles (CBC/SN1), followed half an hour later by our nightcap: Pittsburgh at San Jose. All times eastern.

    Short List:

    • New York at Boston: It’s an Original Six rivalry as well as hockey’s iteration of the USA’s most famous sports rivalry.
    • Buffalo at Ottawa: Another rivalry for the Sabres this week.
    • Philadelphia at Montréal: Dale Weise returns to the Bell Centre wearing white after spending three seasons with the Canadiens.
    • Calgary at Los Angeles: Kris Versteeg is also making a return to his home arena of a year ago, but he only played for the Kings one season.
    • Pittsburgh at San Jose: It’s the second and final Stanley Cup Finals rematch this year, this one taking place on the surface where hardware was distributed.

    The Penguins and Sharks won’t run into each other again this calendar year, so we’re off to the Tank!

    tIMcw8ylStanley Cup Final LogoUnknown

    Game 8 of the Stanley Cup Finals goes down tonight!

    …Wait…

    Well, it is the eighth and final meeting between the Pens and Sharks in 2016, and Pittsburgh has certainly had the advantage in that time-span. Not only do they have the Stanley Cup in their possession due to beating the Sharks four times in early June, but the Penguins already won the first rematch in Pittsburgh 3-2.

    San Jose enters the night with a 6-5-0 record, even if they are riding a two-game losing skid. So far this season, they’ve found success in their defense and goaltending, allowing only 27 goals against.

    Martin Jones has started all but one game this season, and has a 5-5-0 record to show for a .909 save percentage and 2.34 GAA. Those are both decent statistics, but I would contest that they’re due in part to the help he is getting from his blue line (and sometimes even forwards!), as three skaters (Justin Braun, Brent Burns and Paul Martin) have 20 or more blocks to their credit and three more have over 10 (Joe Pavelski, David Schlemko and Marc-Edouard Vlasic).

    In the other corner, the 7-2-2 Penguins enter the Tank on a five-game point streak. While the Sharks are a defensive-minded club, the Penguins prefer to score with 31 goals already to their credit.

    Leading the way for Pittsburgh as been Evgeni Malkin, who has 11 points to his credit to average a point-per-game. That being said, Sidney Crosby is hot on his tail with eight points on six goals. He’s appeared on the score sheet in each of the five games he’s played since returning from his concussion and has been a force to be reckoned with.

    The Pens have been exceptionally potent on the power play so far this season. For every four extra-man opportunities, Pittsburgh has found the back of the net once – the fifth-best rate in the league. Michael Haley will need to keep himself contained if the Sharks want to earn a victory.

    That being said, part of the reason the Sharks have been so strong has been their ability to negate penalties. Their 86.7% kill rate ranks sixth-best in the league, a good match for Pittsburgh‘s attack.

    Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Pittsburgh‘s Marc-Andre Fleury (six wins [tied for second-most in the NHL]) and Malkin (six goals [tied for fourth-most in the league]) & San Jose‘s Pavelski (eight assists [tied for seventh-best in the NHL]).

    The Sharks desperately want to defend the Tank and earn a win this evening given what happened the last time the Penguins came to town. Vegas has them marked to win with a -125. I don’t feel quite that confident, but that may be partially my bias. Whichever team is able to win the special teams battle, especially when Pittsburgh has the man-advantage, should walk away with tonight’s victory.

    Hockey Birthday

    • Cooney Weiland (1904-1985) – A center from Ontario, Weiland played 11 NHL seasons, 71.7% of which were with the Bruins.
    • Sergei Berezin (1971-) – A left winger from Russia that played seven NHL seasons. He started his career in Toronto, where he played 357 games and scored 220 points.
    • Alexei Yashin (1973-) – Another Russian, but Yashin played center. He was drafted second overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by Ottawa and played 850 games over a dozen seasons.
    • Toby Enstrom (1984-) – This Swedish defenseman is working on his 10th season in the NHL, all of which have been spent with the Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise.
    • Nikolai Zherdev (1984-) – The fourth overall of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, this right wing has played six seasons in the best league in the world so far. Currently playing in the KHL, he’s most remembered for his four seasons in Columbus.

    On a night where 24 goals were scored among five teams (Montréal was shutout by Columbus), a 5-1 Anaheim victory seemed par for the course in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    The Ducks struck first, waiting 9:05 before Kevin Bieksa (Third Star of the Game Corey Perry and Second Star Rickard Rakell) scored his first goal of the season on a power play slap shot. The eventual game-winner was struck 3:06 later when Rakell (Perry and Michael Sgarbossa) found Anaheim gold with a slap shot of his own. The third and final tally of the frame also belonged to the Ducks, this time a Jakob Silfverberg (First Star Antoine Vermette and Andrew Cogliano) backhander to set the score at 3-0 45 seconds before the first intermission.

    With 6:37 remaining in the second period Vermette (Ondrej Kase and Josh Manson) scored a slap shot to give the Ducks a 4-0 lead. Arizona finally stopped the bleeding with a goal from Jamie McGinn (Radim Vrbata and Christian Dvorak) 3:09 later, but was unable to find another with the remaining time.

    Rakell (Ryan Kesler) scored another insurance goal in the third period to put the final nail in the Coyotes‘ coffin.

    John Gibson earns the victory after saving 21-of-22 shots faced (95.5%), while Louis Domingue saved 18-of-21 (85.7%) in the loss. He was replaced after 20 minutes of play by Justin Peters, who saved 10-of-12 (83.3%) for no decision.

    With the Ducks‘ victory, the DtFR Game of the Day series stands at 14-9-3, favoring the home squads by four points.

  • October 29 – Day 18 – Battle of the Keystone State

    We’ve got quite a few games on schedule today, which is exactly how we like it. The lone matinee takes place at 1 p.m. when Florida meets Buffalo. The usual starting time of 7 p.m. brings four games with it (Toronto at Montréal [CBC/CITY/TVAS], Boston at Detroit, Tampa Bay at New Jersey and Pittsburgh at Philadelphia [NHLN]), followed by a couple more an hour later (Los Angeles at St. Louis and Dallas at Minnesota). Colorado at Arizona drops the puck at 9 p.m. and Washington at Vancouver (CBC) follows suit an hour later. Finally, this evening’s nightcap gets started at 10:30 p.m.: Nashville at San Jose. All times eastern.

    Short list:

    • Florida at Buffalo: In addition to being an Atlantic Division game, Mark Pysyk returns to his home stadium of the last four seasons: KeyBank Center.
    • Boston at Detroit: It’s an Original Six and divisional rivalry, which in-and-of itself will make it worthy of promotion (you know how they do). What intrigues me most is that the Wings edged the Bruins by a tiebreaker last season to qualify for the second wild card spot. Don’t think Boston has forgotten their golf scores while the Wings were losing to Tampa.
    • Toronto at Montréal: Similar to the sex appeal of an Original Six contest in Boston at Detroit, but without the playoff implications (either last season or this one).
    • Pittsburgh at Philadelphia: It’s the first staging of the Battle of the Keystone State, a rivalry some consider one of the fiercest in the NHL.
    • Dallas at Minnesota: Ooh, our first rematch of last season’s playoffs of the night. The Stars beat the Wild in six games in the Western Quarterfinals.
    • Nashville at San Jose: Another rematch, but this one a round later. The Sharks obviously won this one a season ago, but only by one game.

    The Battle of the Keystone State is too attractive a matchup to miss, especially since everything is building towards their February 25 meeting at Heinz Field. To Philly we go!

    pittsburgh_penguins_logoPhiladelphia Flyers LogoThese teams don’t need any introduction. They’ve been meeting up for the last 49 years, as they both entered the league at the “Next Six” expansion. In fact, tonight’s game is only 10 days later on the calendar than that fateful first meeting in ’67 that Philadelphia won 1-0.

    The 5-2-1 Penguins enter tonight’s game on a two-game winning streak, most recently beating the Islanders 4-2. They’re an interesting team, as they have scored fewer goals than the league average and given up more goals than the league average, yet their efforts have earned them an early lead in the Metropolitan Division.

    Offensively, Pittsburgh is led by Evgeni Malkin and his eight points. He is joined by Patric Hornqvist and Phil Kessel as the only three players to score three goals so far this season. They’ll be called on this evening to lead the charge in earning Marc-Andre Fleury his sixth victory of the season.

    The 3-4-1 Flyers lost their last game 5-4 when they hosted the Coyotes. They’re definitely an offensive-minded team, scoring 27 goals already this season. The flurry of goals is due to Philadelphia being home to a power play successful 26.5% of the time, the fifth-best mark in the NHL.

    Philly is led by their fearless captain Claude Giroux‘ nine points, but it’s been Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds doing the dirty work with five goals apiece.

    As would be expected by those familiar with these team’s histories, Philadelphia easily has the all-time series at 151-96-30, but things have been evening out since the Penguins‘ coming-of-age party in the ’90s, as the Flyers have only a 84-76-11 edge since January 1, 1990.

    Some players to keep an eye on this evening include Philadelphia‘s Giroux (nine assists [leads the NHL]) and Simmonds (five goals [fifth-most in the league]) & Pittsburgh‘s Fleury (five wins [second-most in the NHL]).

    The Flyers have a +110 next to their name in Vegas, so the Penguins are projected to win this one even as the visitors. Fleury has been good enough to win most of his games, but he’s given up a minimum of two goals a night on already 464 minutes of work. Pittsburgh‘s forwards will need to keep up with the Flyers tonight, or they could be in for a long game.

    Hockey Birthday:

    • Al Suomi (1913-2014) – He may have only played five games in the NHL, but because of it he’s believed to be the first alumnus of the league to reach 100 years of age.
    • Denis Potvin (1953-) – The captain of the great New York Islanders teams of the 80s that won four Stanley Cups in as many years. He was selected first overall in the 1973 NHL Entry Draft by the only club he ever played for, logging 1060 games over his 15-year career. Florida fans will be well aware of the ex-defenseman’s birthday, as he is the color commentator for their local broadcasts.
    • Mike Gartner (1959-) – One of the all-time greats, this right wing played 1432 games over his 19-year career, over half of which were in Washington, the team that selected him fourth overall in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft. He’s tied with Jaromir Jagr for the most consecutive 30+ goal seasons , and adds two more like-seasons to set the all-time record at 17. The Capitals have retired his #11 and he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.
    • Joel Otto (1961-) – An undrafted center that ended up playing almost 950 games, Otto spent most of his time in Calgary, helping them to a Stanley Cup in 1989.
    • Eric Messier (1973-) – This defenseman played eight seasons in the NHL, racking up 385 games with Colorado and another 21 with Florida before a wrist injury brought his career to a close.
    • Eric Staal (1984-) – 909 games the second pick of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft played with Carolina, including winning one Stanley Cup.  After a stint after last year’s trade deadline with the Rangers, Staal is now playing his first season in Minnesota.

    They needed overtime, but the Chicago Blackhawks beat the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

    It was actually the Devils that drew first blood when P.A. Parenteau (Devante Smith-Pelly and Yohann Auvitu) scored a power play wrister with 4:28 remaining in the first period.

    Chicago drew even with a power play score of their own 6:38 after resuming play in the second period when Artemi Panarin (Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook) found gold on a wrister.

    New Jersey took another lead 4:06 into the third period when Third Star of the Game John Moore (Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall) found the back of the net, but the Hawks drew even again with 2:11 remaining in regulation when Second Star Marian Hossa‘s (Richard Panik and Jonathan Toews) wrister tickeled the twine.

    Overtime lasted only 1:15 before First Star Artem Anisimov (Panarin and Duncan Keith) found the back of the net with a wrister to earn the Blackhawks the extra point.

    Corey Crawford earns the victory after saving 30-of-32 (93.8%) shots faced, while Keith Kinkaid saved only 26-of-29 (89.7%) to take the overtime loss.

    Even though the road Blackhawks took the victory, home teams still own a 11-6-3 record in the DtFR Game of the Day series to lead visitors by four points.

  • Patrick Roy Part Deux

    By: Nick Lanciani

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    The Montreal Canadiens made a blockbuster trade on Wednesday that might now result in the Colorado Avalanche winning the Cup with Patrick Roy, oh excuse me, I read that wrong. The Canadiens made a trade on Wednesday that might result in the Nashville Predators winning the Cup in 2017 with P.K. Subban.

    About fifteen minutes after Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli traded the 1st overall pick of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, LW Taylor Hall to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for D Adam Larsson in one of the most lopsided one-for-one trades in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens decided to one up their Canadian comrades.

    After Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin remained adamant about not having an interest in trading P.K. Subban, he traded P.K. Subban.

    What else is there that needs to be said?

    UnknownSubban is signed with a $9.000 million cap hit through the 2021-2022 season, while Shea Weber heads from Nashville to Montreal with a $7.857 million contract that runs out after the 2025-2026 season when he’ll be 40 years old.

    Again, that’s Subban— in the early days of his prime— heading to Nashville for Weber— who might be the next Andrei Markov— in return. Granted, both of these guys have 100 MPH slap shots.

    This entire ordeal has the smell of Patrick Roy’s goaltending equipment still fresh from the mid-90s all over it, since apparently Subban had his quarrels with Montreal’s head coach, Michel Therrien, reminiscent of the days of Roy and Mario Tremblay.

    Wikipedia didn’t take too kindly to the trade.

    Screen Shot 2016-06-29 at 5.09.14 PM.png

    Subban is a 27-year-old defenseman that is a product of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft (43rd overall). He had 278 career points (63 goals, 215 assists) with Montreal in 434 career regular season games since making his NHL debut in 2009. In 55 career playoff games, Subban had 11-27-38 totals and won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 2013 with the Habs.

    Weber is a 30-year-old defenseman that was selected 49th overall by the Predators in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and served as Nashville’s captain from 2010 to 2016. In 763 career games, he had 166-277-443 totals. Weber has been a finalist for the Norris Trophy on three occasions in his career.

    Finally…

    …I rest my case.

  • TRADE: Canes’ Eric Staal dealt to Rangers

    By: Nick Lanciani

    The Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers completed a trade early on Sunday afternoon in which forward Eric Staal was sent to the Rangers. The Hurricanes acquired forward Aleksi Saarela, a second round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and a second round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft in return.

    New York Rangers LogoStaal is a 31-year-old center who has spent his entire career (until now) with the Hurricanes for the last 12 seasons. In 909 career NHL games with Carolina he had 775 points (322 goals, 453 assists) and 678 penalty minutes.

    He leaves the Hurricanes as the team’s all-time leader since 1997 in games played (909), goals (322), assists (453), points (775), hat tricks (13), penalty minutes (674), power play goals (105), shorthanded goals (16) and game winning goals (47). Staal ranks second to Ron Francis in franchise history in goals, assists, points and power play goals. He ranks first in franchise history, dating back to 1979, in shorthanded goals and hat tricks.

    The center led the Hurricanes with 28 points (nine goals, 19 assists) during their 25 game run to the 2006 Stanley Cup championship and is the franchise’s all-time leader in playoff scoring with 43 points.

    At 6’4″, 205-pounds, Staal is one of only two NHL players to register at least 30 assists and 50 points in ten consecutive seasons from 2005-2006 to 2014-2015 (the other being Martin St. Louis) and he is one of seven players to have tallied 50 or more points in at least ten different seasons since entering the league in the 2003-2004 season. Along with Jarome Iginla and Patrick Marleau, Staal is the only other NHL player to have skated in at least 900 games with at least 300 goals, 400 assists and 700 points since the start of the 2003-2004 regular season.

    He currently ranks second in the NHL in shots on goal with 3,033 shots since 2003-2004. Steal played an important role in leading Carolina to the 2009 Eastern Conference Final and led the Hurricanes with 10-5-15 totals in 18 Stanley Cup Playoffs games in 2009.

    The Thunder Bay, Ontario native has played in 63 games this season with 10-23-33 totals and 32 penalty minutes. He skated in his 900th career NHL game on February 7th in Montreal and became the third player to play in at least 900 games with the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise (the other two were Ron Francis and Glen Wesley, by the way).

    Steal served as Carolina’s captain for parts of the last seven seasons after being named the 13th captain in franchise history on January 20, 2010. He was captain of Team Staal at the 2011 NHL All-Star Game in Raleigh and was the 2008 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in Atlanta. He’s a four time All-Star (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011) and was selected by the Hurricanes in the first round (2nd overall) at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

    On an international scale, Staal has represented team Canada at the IIHF World Championship, IIHF World Junior Championship and Winter Olympics. He is a member of the “Triple Gold Club”, as a winner of the gold medal at the 2007 IIHF World Championship, Olympic gold medalist in 2010 and a Stanley Cup champion in 2006. Staal has also won a silver medal with Canada at the 2008 IIHF World Championship and registered three assists in eight games while serving as Canada’s captain at the 2013 IIHF World Championship.

    The Hurricanes retained half (50%) of Staal’s remaining salary, as he is a pending UFA.

    Carolina Hurricanes LogoSaarela is a 19-year-old forward who currently plays in the Finnish elite league, SM-liiga, leading Assat Pori in goals (18) and ranking second in points (31) through 46 games played.

    The native of Helsinki, Finland won a gold medal with his Finnish teammates at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship and amassed 4-3-7 totals in seven games in the tournament.

    He was drafted by the New York Rangers in the third round (89th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. In four seasons with Lukko Rauma and Assat Pori in Finland’s top league, Saarela has 47 points (25 goals, 22 assists) in 156 career games.

    Eric Staal will likely join his brother, Marc, and his new teammates on Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden. The Hurricanes will move on without Staal during Sunday afternoon’s matinee against the St. Louis Blues in Raleigh.

  • TRADE: Phaneuf sent to Sens in nine player deal

    By: Nick Lanciani

    With the trade deadline approaching on February 29th, I figured it’d be a good idea to recap the deals that are made before then and give you my two cents. So to start, thank you to the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs for giving me the first major trade before the deadline to write about while I’m in between classes.

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    On Tuesday, the Toronto Maple Leafs sent captain Dion Phaneuf to the Ottawa Senators in a large nine-player trade. Toronto also sent forwards Matt Frattin, Casey Bailey and Ryan Rupert, as well as defenseman Cody Donaghey to the Senators in exchange for defenseman Jared Cowen and forwards Milan Michalek, Colin Greening and Tobias Lindberg. The division rival Sens also included their 2nd round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft as part of the deal.

    This trade seemed inevitable, but comes as a bit of a surprise in its quick occurrence. The Senators have been known to have inquired about Phaneuf’s availability in the past, however given how the Phaneuf trade rumor mill had been relatively quiet in the public eye this season, it’s not surprising to be surprised.

    That all might sound like a bunch of nonsense, and in a way it was supposed to not make sense, but listen folks, the Maple Leafs don’t have much hope for the rest of this season. They’ve got room to wheel and deal and have plenty of pieces to offer this season approaching the trade deadline.

    While Toronto shipped Phil Kessel to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the offseason, many were left wondering when the next domino to fall would come in a potential Phaneuf trade, given how Kessel and Phaneuf were high priority assets to move.

    Now the time has come.

    Dion Phaneuf joins the 25-23-6 overall (56 points) Ottawa Senators who are currently sixth in the Atlantic Division, trailing the New York Islanders by four points in the race for the second wild card position for the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Phaneuf is expected to be paired alongside Cody Ceci on Wednesday night as the Senators take on the Detroit Red Wings.

    Phaneuf, 30, has a lengthy term left on his contract at $7 million AAV through the 2020-2021 season. He’s had 3-21-24 totals so far in 51 games with Toronto this season. Given the youth movement in Ottawa over the last few seasons, he should start picking up more assists and see plenty of time on ice, easing the pressure on the Senators largely young presence on the blue line.

    It’s not that the Senators are inexperienced on the back end of the game, with captain Erik Karlsson leading the charge as the Sens best defenseman (even if he is an offensive defenseman). Plus Ottawa has strength in Ceci, Marc Methot, and Patrick Wiercioch (notice, I didn’t say skill, I just said strength- as in these guys can push around the opposing team, but might not be superstars on their own or when they’re caught on a rush).

    Ottawa has a developing presence on the blue line that’s seen some impressive performance at times from Mark Borowiecki, Chris Wideman, Erik Claesson and company and Phaneuf is only going to bring in more experience to help mold the youth movement into a force to be reckon with.

    Phaneuf was a finalist for the Norris Trophy in the 2007-2008 season, a member of the NHL All-Star Rookie Team in 2006, an NHL First All-Star Team member in 2008, and has been part of three All-Star Game appearances in 2007, 2008 and 2012. He was a ninth overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames where he scored a career high 20 goals as a rookie in the 2005-2006 season.

    On January 31, 2010, Phaneuf was traded to Toronto in a seven-player trade. He had 120 goals and 424 points in 801 regular season games in his career split between Toronto and Calgary.

    Frattin is a 28-year old forward who has spent the entire 2015-2016 regular season with the Toronto Marlies in the American Hockey League, scoring nine goals, 13 assists and 22 points in 47 games. He had 22-26-48 totals in 59 AHL games last season. In 135 career NHL games, Frattin has 17-18-35 totals split between the Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings and Columbus Blue Jackets.

    If a change of scenery can help him now, then what went wrong before?

    Bailey is a 24-year old forward who has 4-14-18 totals in 38 games for the Marlies this season. He has one career NHL goal in six games with the Maple Leafs last season.

    Rupert is a 21-year old forward who has split the year between the Marlies and the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, combing for 9-8-17 totals in 36 games.

    Donaghey is a 19-year old defenseman who has spent the year with the Halifax Mooseheads and the Moncton Wildcats in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He has 5-17-22 totals in 36 games this season in the Q.

    Perhaps the more surprising elements of the deal were what the Senators gave up in Cowen, Michalek and Greening. Cowen is yet to enter his prime as a defenseman, however had a chance to become the leader of the younger blue liners in Canada’s capital. Cohen’s 6’5″, 238 pound build could prove to be a crucial part to Toronto’s defense if they can find a way to better utilize his size than the Senators did.

    He’s 25-years old and has just four assists in 37 games this season, but could see time with Morgan Rielly or other younger defenseman and turn out to be a puck moving, shut-down, pair. It seems as though the Senators tried to rush his development too quickly before fully understanding what they had before them.

    With Mike Babcock as Toronto’s head coach and his plethora of knowledge from the way he ran Detroit’s brick wall defense over the years, Cowen might finally get his chance to come into his own and shine.

    Cowen was the ninth pick overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft for Ottawa and had 15-31-46 totals in 249 career games with the Senators.

    Michalek is a 31-year old forward who can contribute both directly on the scoresheet and indirectly with his presence and puck movement on the ice. His 6-4-10 totals in 32 games this season mirror those of a typical glue guy on any NHL roster.

    Michalek had a career high 35 goals for Ottawa in the 2011-2012 season and was a 20+ goal scorer in four consecutive seasons for the San Jose Sharks and Senators from 2006-2010. He was the sixth overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and had 206-232-438 totals in 729 regular season games for San Jose and Ottawa.

    Greening, 29, is another glue guy that had been buried in the AHL this season, having scored seven goals and 13 points in 41 games for the Binghamton Senators. He had 38-49-87 totals in 256 games for Ottawa over appearances in the last six seasons.

    Lindberg is a 20-year old forward who has 5-17-22 totals in 34 games for the baby Senators his first professional season in the AHL. He was the 102nd overall pick of the Ottawa Senators in the fourth round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He had 32-46-78 totals in 67 games last season for the Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League.

    Again, the Senators face the Red Wings on Wednesday in what will be Phaneuf’s debut with his new team. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs play the Flames on Tuesday night.