Down the Frozen River

Tag: Calgary Flames

TRADE: GRANLUND SENT TO VANCOUVER IN EXCHANGE FOR SHINKARUK

The second trade of February 22 involved two more teams from the Pacific Division, as forward Markus Granlund now wears the blue and green of the Vancouver Canucks and forward Hunter Shinkaruk sports the flaming ‘C’ of Calgary.

Granlund is a 22 year old center who has four goals and three assists in 31 NHL games played this season in Calgary. He is in the final year of his three-year restricted free agent contract with an AAV of $925,000.

The 6’, 178-pound native of Oulu, Finland has played in 86 career regular season NHL games with the Calgary Flames, posting 14-14-28 career totals and 24 career penalty minutes. Granlund has a -3 rating and eight penalty minutes thus far in the 2015-2016 season and averaged 12:58 TOI per game with Calgary.

He was drafted by the Flames in the second round (45th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and has represented Finland internationally, most recently the 2012 and 2013 IIHF World Junior Championships in Alberta, Canada and Ufa, Russia, respectively.

Shinkaruk is a 21-year old center who’s 21 goals ranks seventh best
in the AHL this season, with a total scoring line reading 21-18-39 in 45 games. At the completion of this season, he will have two more seasons remaining on his three year restricted free agent contract, with an AAV of $1,075,833.

His NHL career is only 9:35 long, as he appeared in only one game for the Canucks. He played in 119 career AHL games in two seasons with the Utica Comets, amassing 37-33-70 totals.

With this trade, the 5’10″, 181-pound native of Calgary, Alberta returns to play for his hometown organization. He was drafted in the first round (24th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft by the Canucks. He has represented Team Canada twice in his career, most recently at the 2012 World Junior U18 Championship in the Czech Republic, where he took bronze.

Granlund had been playing with the senior club of late, but will probably be directed to Utica to play for the AHL franchise, who next play this Friday when they host the St. John’s Ice Caps. Shinkaruk has already received orders from the Flames that he will play for the Heat, who next play this Wednesday, when they host the San Diego Gulls.

February 22, 2016
TRADE: Maple Leafs send Matthias to Colorado

By: Nick Lanciani

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded F Shawn Matthias to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for F Colin Smith and a 4th round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft on Sunday.

Matthias is a 28-year old forward who has played in 51 games this season for Toronto. He has 6-11-17 totals currently and signed with the Maple Leafs as a free agent on July 6, 2015.

The 6’4″, 231 pound center spent the 2014-2015 season with the Vancouver Canucks. He had a career high 18 goals and 27 points last season in 78 games. Matthias also took part in all six playoff games for Vancouver in their first round exit to the Calgary Flames, where he had a goal and an assist in the series.

The Mississauga, Ontario native has won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship in the Czech Republic and was selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the second round (47th overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Matthias made his NHL debut with the Florida Panthers in the 2007-2008 season and went on to amass 148 points in 459 career games with the Panthers, Canucks and Maple Leafs. He has 1-2-3 totals in 15 career playoff games.

Smith is a 22-year old product of the seventh round (192nd overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, where he was selected by the Colorado Avalanche. The 5’10”, 175 pound center has appeared in one career NHL game last season.

He had 13-21-34 totals in 54 games played with the San Antonio Rampage this season prior to the trade, and will likely spend time with the Toronto Marlies moving forward. Smith had 8-26-34 totals in 76 games played in the 2013-2014 season with the Lake Erie Monsters and 12-19-31 totals in 53 games last season with Lake Erie.

No salary was retained in the trade by either team. The Maple Leafs are in the process of clearing house and were able to take advantage of Colorado’s full roster to pry a prospect and a draft pick in exchange for the lack luster Shawn Matthias. Matthias is a pending UFA with a cap hit of $2.3 million and will likely fill the role of a third or fourth liner for Colorado as they embark on the push for a wild card spot for the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference.

The Avalanche are in action on Sunday night in Vancouver to take on the Canucks while the Maple Leafs resume play on Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre as they welcome the Nashville Predators. It looks like Matthias will join Colorado in time for their Wednesday night matchup with the San Jose Sharks at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

February 21, 2016
Down the Frozen River Podcast #25- Joe Vitale is not like Michael Ryder

The Down the Frozen River crew takes a look at whether teams in the Western Conference should sell, sell, sell or buy, buy, buy this year at the 2016 NHL Trade Deadline. Connor doesn’t mess up a name for once, although he does confuse the position of a player or two. Next week the DTFR gang tackles the Eastern Conference with the trade deadline getting closer and closer.

Stay tuned for next week’s show, but until then, hear what they have to say about the latest news and notes from around the NHL in this week’s #DTFRPodcast.

Join the conversation, make a suggestion, or ask a question for our next podcast using #AskDownTheFrozenRiver or #DTFRPodcast on Twitter and/or drop us a line on Facebook– your thoughts might make it on our show!

February 19, 2016
February 19 – Day 127 – Days Gone By

Washington‘s 3-2 victory over the Islanders was the second this week in the Game of the Day series that required overtime to determine the recipient of the two points.

It was actually New York who scored the first and only goal of the first period, courtesy of John Tavares’ wrister at the 15:41 mark, assisted by Nick Leddy (his 23rd helper of the season).

Washington leveled the score only 1:25 after returning from the intermission with a goal from Alex Ovechkin. His wrister was assisted by Evggeny Kuzetsov (his 42nd helper of the season) and Justin Williams. They took the lead only 1:37 later with another goal from Ovechkin, this time a snap shot on the power play. This goal was assisted by Nicklas Backstrom (his 37th helper of the season) and T. J. Oshie. The Capitals held the 2-1 lead into the second intermission.

New York leveled the game with only 1:44 remaining of the game. Frans Nielsen takes credit, assisted by Kyle Okposo (his 30th helper of the season) and Travis Hamonic.

Washington had no interest in going to a shootout, so Williams made sure his slap shot with only 46 seconds remaining in overtime was pure, as he was assisted by John Carlson (his 25th helper of the season) and Matt Niskanen.

Braden Holtby earns the win after saving 20 of 22 (90.9%), while Thomas Greiss takes the loss after saving 32 of 35 (91.4%).

The Game of the Day series now stands at 56-29-12, favoring the home squads by 32 points over the roadies.

It’s not a very busy schedule this evening, as there’s only five games on the docket. As usual, the action gets started at 7 p.m. eastern with three games (the New York Islanders at New Jersey, San Jose at Carolina and Buffalo at Columbus), while Philadelphia at Montréal (NHLN) dropping the puck half an hour later. The final game of the night drops the puck at 9 p.m. eastern, when Vancouver visits Calgary.

There are only two divisional rivalries being played this evening (New York at New Jersey and Vancouver at Calgary), and none of the games are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs.

Since Vancouver and Calgary met in the playoffs last season, let’s take a trip down memory lane and watch that game.

Tonight’s game will be Vancouver‘s fifth in the Game of the Day series, where they currently own a 2-2-0 record. Their most recent time featured was January 15 when they beat the Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime in Raleigh. Calgary has been featured much more recently, as we focused on their game against the Ducks on Monday, which they lost 6-4. That game was their second in the series, and they have yet to earn even a point when featured.

The 22-23-12 Vancouver Canucks currently sit in fifth place in the Pacific Division and 11th in the Western Conference, eight points out of a playoff position. They play the 12th worst defense in the league, which is made even worse by being backed by the second-worst offense.

Even with Chris Tanev’s team-leading 124 blocks, Vancouver has still allowed 1759 shots to reach 12-17-9 Ryan Miller and co., of which they’ve saved 91.8% for 157 goals against, 12th-most in the league. Although the defense has not played as well, the penalty kill has been slightly above average, killing 81.11% for 34 power play goals against, 14th-best in the league.

That being said, the Canucks‘ offense makes their defense look best in the league. Even with Daniel Sedin’s 190 shots, Vancouver has only fired the puck 1607 times, with 8% finding the back of the net for 133 goals (led by Sedin’s 22 tallies), second-worst in the NHL. Much of Vancouver‘s issues can be found by the lack of success on the power play, which ranks fifth-worst in the league by connecting on only 16.96% of extra-man opportunities for 29 power play goals (led by Sedin’s six). To add insult to injury, Vancouver has allowed five short-handed goals, one more than the league average.

Vancouver is currently riding a three-game losing skid, with their most recent being a 5-2 loss to the Ducks last night in Rogers Arena. A win this evening would pull the Canucks within two points of the Coyotes for fourth in the division and only six points out of a playoff position.

The 25-28-3 Calgary Flames currently sit in sixth in the Pacific Division and 13th in the Western Conference. They play the 13th best offense in the league, paired with the fourth-worst defense. A more in-depth analysis of Calgary‘s game can be found within Monday’s post.

Calgary is also riding a three-game win streak, with their most recent being a 5-3 loss to the Wild on Wednesday. Should the Flames end their losing skid, they would move past Winnipeg into 13th position in the conference.

Calgary currently leads the season series against the Canucks 2-1-0, with their most recent meeting on February 6 in Vancouver, where the Flames won 4-1.

These teams also met in last season’s Western Conference Quarterfinal playoffs, where the Flames won the series 4-2 with a deciding 7-4 victory.

Some players to keep an eye on in tonight’s game include Calgary‘s Johnny Gaudreau (55 points [tied for seventh-most in the league]) and Vancouver‘s Sedin (46 points, with 22 goals, 16 of which were at even-strength and six were on the power play, with another six being game-winners, all on 190 shots [all lead the team]).

Neither team’s defense has played well at all this season, but Calgary seems to be the only team of these two prone to take advantage of that fact. Expect the Flames to get two points.

February 19, 2016
February 15 – Day 123 – Happy Grammy Day!

Once again, the Bruins proved me wrong in my prediction, as they fell 6-5 in Detroit in yesterday’s Game of the Day.

Although they took the loss, Boston did set a positive franchise record, as Brad Marchand’s goal only eight seconds into the game, his 28th of the season, is the fastest-ever Bruins goal. He was assisted by Brett Connolly. Detroit leveled the game only 2:36 later with a Henrik Zetterberg backhander, his 11th tally of the season, assisted by Justin Abdelkader and Danny DeKeyser. Again, Boston quickly broke the tie, when Zach Trotman scored his second of the season at the 2:58 mark with a slap shot. Goal scoring subsided for a little while before the Bruins set the score at 3-1 with a Loui Eriksson tip-in, his 19th tally of the season, assisted by David Krejci and Jimmy Hayes. The Wings got a goal back 1:47 later on the power play, scored by Pavel Datsyuk, assisted by Abdelkader (his 17th helper of the season) and Brad Richards. The 3-2 Boston lead held into the intermission.

The Wings leveled the score only 3:13 into the second period with a goal from Darren Helm, assisted by Xavier Ouellet and Alexey Marchenko. They followed that up with another goal only 3:25 later, courtesy of Datsyuk, who was assisted by Richards and Zetterberg (his 29th helper of the season). The Wings‘ lead expanded to two with another goal from Helm, assisted by Marchenko and Kyle Quincey. The Bruins got one back with Dennis Seidenberg’s first goal of the season at the 11:23 mark, assisted by Ryan Spooner (his 29th helper of the season). The 5-4 Red Wings lead held into the second intermission.

Boston leveled the game only 38 seconds into the final period with a score from Joonas Kemppainen, assisted by Marchand and Krejci (his 31st helper of the season), but Detroit earned the last laugh with a deflection goal from Zetterberg, assisted by DeKeyser and Datsyuk (his 22nd helper of the season).

Petr Mrazek earns the win by saving 17 of 22 (77.3%), while Jonas Gustavsson, who replaced Tuukka Rask after he gave up the fifth goal (19 for 24, 79.2%), takes the loss after saving 10 of 11 (90.9%).

The Game of the Day series now stands at 55-27-11, favoring the home squad by 36 points over the roadies.

Happy Presidents’ and Grammys Day! In honor of both of these “holidays,” we’ll try to keep the theme going in the schedule run-down. The first game of the day is between the Motown Red Wings and the “New York State of Mind” Islanders at 1 p.m. eastern (NHLN), followed by Marcus Mumford’s Anaheim Ducks at “(Marie’s the Name) His Latest” Calgary Flames three hours later. 7:30 p.m. eastern brings with it the beginning of the “Black and Yellow” Pittsburgh Penguins and the “Pocketful of Sunrise“ Panthers (yeah, I know, just work with me), followed half an hour later by Switchfoot’s Dallas Stars at the “Crazy Town” Predators. Drake’s Toronto Maple Leafs are “Goin’ to (the) Chicago” Blackhawks at 8:30 p.m. eastern (NHLN), and the Canadiens are almost “A Million Miles from Montréal,” visiting the Arizona Coyotes. The “Born to be” Minnesota Wild getting ready for a “Vancouver Shakedown” against the Canucks represents tonight’s nightcap at 10 p.m. eastern.

Only two of today’s seven games are between divisional rivals (Anaheim at Calgary and Dallas at Nashville), while another set of two are between teams currently qualifying for the playoffs (Detroit at New York and Dallas at Nashville).

While I’d usually go with the Dallas–Nashville game, especially since they’re slated to meet each other in the first round, but we’re already committed to the Grammys spiel. Because of that, and since Kendrick Lamar, the most nominated artist, is from Compton, Calif., we’ll go with the team he was born closest to (that’s playing today, the Kings are technically closer…): the Anaheim Ducks.

Today’s game will be Anaheim‘s sixth in the Game of the Day series, where they currently own a 2-1-2 record. Their most recent featured game was Saturday’s game in Chicago, a 3-2 overtime victory. The only other time Calgary was featured was featured was their trip to Madison Square Garden on October 25, where they lost 4-1.

The 27-19-8 Anaheim Ducks currently occupy third in the Pacific Division and sixth in the Western Conference. They have gotten themselves into playoff position with the second-best defense in the league, which has been more than necessary to cover for the worst offense in the NHL. A more in-depth analysis of Anaheim‘s game can be found within Saturday’s post.

As the Ducks were off yesterday, their most recent game was Saturday’s 3-2 overtime victory in Chicago. A win in today’s game pushes Anaheim past San Jose and back into second place in the division by a point.

The 25-26-3 Calgary Flames currently sit in sixth in the Pacific Division and 12th, or third worst, in the Western Conference. The main reason they are in that position is because of their fifth-worst defense, as the offense actually ranks 15th-best.

The Flames, led by John Gaudreau’s 143 shots, have fired only 1555 shots, of which 9.3% have found the back of the net for 144 goals (led by Gaudreau’s 21 tallies), 15th best in the league. That could actually be better if it wasn’t for the power play, which is second worst. Calgary has only optimized on 14.86% of opportunities for only 26 extra-man goals (led by Mark Giordano’s five power play tallies), seven fewer than the league average.

The problems for Calgary have been on the other end. Thanks in part to Kris Russell’s team-leading 174 blocks, only 1572 shots have made their way to the injured 17-18-1 Karri Ramo and co., of which they’ve collectively saved only 90.3% for 160 goals against, fifth-most in the league. While it is not completely the problem, part of the issue has been the Flames‘ penalty kill which, just like the power play, ranks second-worst in the league. The Flames have neutralized only 75% of opposing power plays for 35 extra-man goals against.

Calgary‘s most recent game was a 4-1 loss in Arizona on Friday. Should Calgary win today, they will move only a point behind 11th place in the Western Conference, and six points behind the second wildcard position.

Today’s game will be the third in the season series, which Anaheim currently leads 2-0-0. Their most recent meeting was way back on December 29 in this building, where the Ducks won 1-0.

This game is also special in the sense that it is a rematch of one of last season’s Western Conference Semifinals, which the Ducks ultimately won in five games before falling to the Blackhawks in the conference finals.

Some players to keep an eye on include Anaheim‘s Ryan Getzlaf (36 assists [tied for seventh-most in the league]) and John Gibson (four shutouts [tied for fourth-best in the league] and 2.11 GAA [fifth-best in the league]) & Calgary‘s T.J. Brodie (+15 and two short-handed assists [both lead the team]) and Gaudreau (30 assists, nine of which were on a power play, and 21 goals, 18 of which were at even-strength and six were game-winners, for 51 points on 143 shots [all lead the team]).

Anaheim has been in control of this series of late, and I don’t expect anything to change now. As long as Anaheim‘s defense continues to play lights-out like they have been all season, they should be all set for two points.

February 15, 2016
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.

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.

February 9, 2016
October 25 – Day 19 – Not Quite a Hot Start

Yesterday’s Game of the Day between Tampa Bay and Chicago was a defensive thriller, as neither team was able to break through the opposing defense in regulation. The Blackhawks finally scored at the 17 second mark of the 3-on-3 overtime when Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook assisted Jonathan Toews to his first goal of the season (cover of NHL ’16 curse, anyone? IT TOOK HIM EIGHT GAMES TO SCORE!). His goal earned him second star of the game honors.

Obviously, both goalies were phenomenal in this one, as first star of the game Corey Crawford stopped all 21 shots he faced to improve his record to 4-2-0, while Kristers Gudlevskis stopped all but one of his 32 shots faced (96.9%), earning the remaining third star.

The DtFR Game of the Day series now stands at 10-5-3, still favoring the home team by six points.

Today is a much lighter schedule compared to yesterday, as there is only three games on the schedule. The evening begins at 6 p.m. eastern when Minnesota visits Winnipeg, followed an hour later by Calgary at the New York Rangers (NHL Network, SN, SN1). The final game of the night gets started at 9:30 p.m. eastern when Los Angeles visits Edmonton (SN, SN360, SN1).

Two of these three games are divisional rivalries (Minnesota at Winnipeg and Los Angeles at Edmonton), and the other features a team that many hockey fans (or, at least us at Down the Frozen River) are just waiting to turn it on and play like they did a season ago.

Since the Calgary Flames at the New York Rangers game will be broadcast throughout both nations, we’ll turn our attention towards Madison Square Garden.

Let’s begin with the 2-5-0 road team. This young squad, with the exciting way they played last season and getting their first experience in the playoffs in six years, including beating Vancouver in the first round, was expected to turn some heads this year and try to improve on their third place-finish in the Pacific Division. So far this season, they’ve only accounted for two wins so far against the lackluster Vancouver Canucks and Detroit Red Wings (both of those victories required overtime to earn the bonus point). They have four goals less than the league average (part of that problem is the number of shots the Flames have taken [189] is 18 less than the league average, and their shot percentage is even worse [7.9%, 1.2% less than average]), which doesn’t tell the complete story until paired with giving up eight more goals than the league average (the Flames have a save percentage of only 88.1%, 3.4% under the league average). The Flames‘ penalty kill is also not on par, as they have only killed 78.26% of opponents’ power plays.

On the other side, they face a 5-2-2 team that is currently firing on all cylinders and well on their way to another successful season. The Rangers are both scoring (three over average, in spite of the power play not finding early success (only scoring on 15%, 3.9% below average) and stopping (allowed three less goals than the average team, especially on the penalty kill, where they’ve killed 86.21% of opponents’ opportunities, 5.11% over league average) the puck to earn themselves second place in the competitive Metropolitan Division. As is expected, Henrik Lundqvist is staking his claim as one of, if not the best goalie in the league, as he is leading his team to a 94.3% save rate, 2.8% better than the rest of the league.

Although the team write-ups may imply differently, it is in fact only Calgary that enters the matchup on a winning streak after beating Detroit on Friday. The Rangers lost yesterday’s game against Philadelphia in a shootout. In last year’s meetings, New York took both games by a combined score of 6-2, including a one-goal shutout via now-Oiler Cam Talbot.

My players to watch in tonight’s game are Calgary‘s Johnny Gaudreau (eight assists [tied for fifth in the league]) and, should he play, New York‘s Lundqvist (four wins [tied for sixth in the league] and .941 save percentage [eighth in the league])

I expect the Rangers to hold home ice in tonight’s matchup, but would not be surprised if the Flames try to build off recent momentum to try to jump-start their so far mediocre season.

October 25, 2015
Down the Frozen River Podcast #13- Torts, Goalies, and Other Essentials

The Down the Frozen River Crew talks about the latest in league standings, Winners and Losers, more surprises, other things, and makes several plugs for themselves. Also, Antti Raanta’s only played in 1 game (0.00 GAA, 1.000 SV%), which is not considered by the NHL.com stats page to be leading the league in goalie stats, so you lucked out this time, Reto Berra.

Connor didn’t butcher any names, although he did talk about a keg in a machine instead of a cog… wonder what’s on his mind. Oh and Colby may or may have not spilled the beans on our next marketing campaign. Nick, as usual, did Nick things.

Join the conversation, make a suggestion, or ask a question for our next podcast using #AskDownTheFrozenRiver or #DTFRPodcast on Twitter– your thoughts might make it on our show! Please interact with us- seriously, tell us we’re idiots if you want, we can take it.

https://soundcloud.com/down-the-frozen-river/dtfr-podcast-13-torts-goalies-and-other-essentials

October 24, 2015
Down the Frozen River Podcast #12- Surprise Surprise, Connor Only Messed Up Once

The Down the Frozen River crew talks about many things as week one (and a half) of the 2015-2016 regular season has gone by. Standings, winners and losers, and a couple of new segments debut in this episode of the Down the Frozen River Podcast. Connor only messed up one name and Colby will be back next time.

Surprisingly mentioned this week- Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo. Surprisingly not mentioned this week- Zach Boychuk, Pete Blackburn, DJ Bean.

Join the conversation, make a suggestion, or ask a question for our next podcast using #AskDownTheFrozenRiver or #DTFRPodcast on Twitter- your thoughts might make it on our show! Please interact with us.

https://soundcloud.com/down-the-frozen-river/dtfr-podcast-12-surprise-surprise-connor-only-messed-up-once

October 16, 2015
Colby’s Corner: Bold Predictions Part 2
Bold Predictions will be a two-part series where I, Colby, will discuss who I think will and won’t make the playoffs this season and why. The second part will be the teams who will not make the playoffs and why not. Now remember, these are my opinions. If you disagree, feel free to leave a comment; we always appreciate feedback.

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Metropolitan Wild Cards
1. Tampa Bay Lightning 1. Washington Capitals 1. Columbus Blue Jackets (M)
2. Montreal Canadiens 2. Pittsburgh Penguins 2. New York Islanders (M)
3. Ottawa Senators 3. New York Rangers
The two teams people will be surprised to see missing from the playoffs are the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins.

Boston Bruins: Aging core with weak blue line equals no playoffs for the city of Boston for the 2^nd year in a row. Zdeno Chara is by far the best defenseman on the Bruins’ team this year. The 38-year-old is just coming off an injury, and because he is getting up there in age he has people in Boston questioning when he will hang up his skates. It’s not surprising that the older he gets, the number of injuries he has and the time he misses increase also. As he gets older, though, the Bruins seem to be leaning on him more as they get rid of their other defenseman like Johnny Boychuk and Dougie Hamilton. Dennis Seidenberg and Patrice Bergeron grow another year older as they remain part of this Bruins core. Injuries have already plagued the Bruins on the defensive end and will likely result in them playing three young men in the back: Zach Trotman, Colin Miller and Joe Morrow. The three of them together only have 44 games played in the NHL. I don’t even see the Bruins being close to the wildcard spot, as some Bruins fans have been joking about. #AustintoBoston

Detroit Red Wings: New coach, different results. The Detroit Red Wings hired Jeff Blashill when Mike Babcock left during this offseason. I was a big fan of hiring from within the organization, as Blashill was the coach for the Red Wings affiliate last season. The Jump from AHL to NHL is big, you can ask all the players who never transition. Some coaches have been successful in this jump, like John Tortorella. However, I feel like Wings fans will truly see how much Babcock did for their organization and the core they have there. The Wings are also dealing with a goaltender battle between Petr Mrazek and Jimmy Howard. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg will have to have wide shoulders if the Wings want a chance at making the playoffs, along with help from Tomas Tatar and Mike Green. The Wings will compete for the wildcard at the end of the season, but will fall short.

Western Conference

Pacific Central Wild Cards
1. Anaheim Ducks 1. Dallas Stars 1. Chicago Blackhawks (C)
2. Calgary Flames 2. St Louis Blues 2. Colorado Avalanche (C)
3. Los Angeles Kings 3. Minnesota Wild
The two teams people will be surprised to see missing from my playoffs are two teams that made it last season, the Nashville Predators and the Winnipeg Jets.

Nashville Predators: Same tricks don’t work twice Nashville was a top team in the west last season due to big performance from James Neal, Filip Forsberg, Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne. I am calling that Forsberg will have the crucial sophomore slump. I also don’t see Rinne having the same numbers as last season. He and Weber got help this off-season from Barrett Jackman, however I don’t think this will be enough. The Preds will have a bad year because that division is just so good now and teams like Dallas added a lot of talent.

Winnipeg Jets: Off ice causes issues on it Winnipeg is dealing with a lot, what with all the trade rumors surround

(Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)

ing star defenseman/winger Dustin Byfuglien. It seems like reports are linking him to just about any team out there. Byfuglien had some issues with Evander Kane, back when Kane was in Winnipeg. There seems to always be tension inside that locker room. Another reason I feel Winnipeg doesn’t make the playoffs is in between the pipes. Michael Hutchinson and Onderj Pavelec are not number one goalies in the NHL. The reason they made the playoffs last season was because of Hutchinson’s amazing play down the final stretch of the season. I don’t see him doing this again this year. I actually have Winnipeg last in this division. I would say they finish about 10^th in the conference, however, because the Pacific is so weak.
October 13, 2015