Down the Frozen River

Tag: Columbus Blue Jackets

  • Merkle’s Weekly Bumblings: Weeks 12 & 13

    With New Years and the GLI preventing me from posting last week (and being out of town this weekend pushing this yet another day back) I’ll be combining the past two weeks of action, because I make the rules here and you all just have to deal with it. So there.

    Skater of the Week(s): Mikko Rantanen

    Though the big Finn was overshadowed slightly by teammate Nathan MacKinnon by two points over this stretch, Rantanen’s 10 points in six games are still nothing to scoff at. An even split of five goals (one on the power play) and five assists (also one power play tally) to go with a ridiculous +9 rating over the six games put the 21-year old at 41 points in 41 games and dug him out of a -8 +/- hole to put him at a +1 on the season.

    If Rantanen can continue producing at a point-a-game rate to go along with the incredible numbers MacKinnon is putting up, he may well lead the Avs (and my fantasy team) right into the playoffs.

    Tendy of the Week(s): Tuukka Rask

    (Special mentions to Jimmy Howard, Connor Hellebuyck, Jonathan Bernier and Ben Bishop, who all posted one more win than Rask over this span and all had terrific numbers of their own, as well.)

    The Bruins are scorching hot right now and Rask is a huge part of that. The man with two Us and two Ks truly was too good over these past two weeks, posting wins in all three of his starts with a scarcely believable .974 save percentage and 0.67 GAA to his credit, along with a shutout (duh) for good measure.

    Boston is never going to run down Tampa for the division’s top spot without some sort of extinction-level event befalling the Lightning, but with three games in hand over third place Toronto and the Grand Canyon between them and fourth place, the Bs look to be fairly comfortable in their push towards the playoffs. If Rask carries this play into the postseason, everyone should be scared.

    Game of the Week(s): Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………

    Okay, so, admittedly I did not watch a lot of hockey over the past 14 or so days. I can tell you that Michigan vs Michigan State in the consolation game of the GLI was a lot of fun, and the Winter Classic looked like it was a barnburner. Also the Jackets and Panthers went eight rounds into the shootout Sunday night, a game that I was originally supposed to attend (you’re welcome, friend who I gave the tickets to), and all five goals scored were gross.

    But if I’m being honest, I simply haven’t watched enough to make a solid pick this time around. So, tell you what, the game of the week is whatever you want it to be! Yeah, how about that? That’s me giving back to you, the reader.

    News, Notes, & Nonsense:

    David Savard was fined $5,000 for Paul Bunyon-ing Vincent Trocheck, a move that Cap’n Cornelius would probably deem the most solid defensive play he’s seen out of Savard all season.

    Dan Girardi blocked a Martin Frk shot with his head, which is definitely not recommended, but luckily had all concussion tests come back negative and is only listed as day-to-day. In Girardi’s defense, at least half of the time Frk lets a shot go, even he doesn’t know exactly where it’s going (a point Red Wings’ color analyst Mickey Redmond made himself after the play occurred). For those unfamiliar with Frk, I can tell you that he almost certainly has one of the hardest shots you will ever witness. Living in northwest Ohio, I’ve had multiple opportunities to watch him in action over the past few years when he spent time with Toledo of the ECHL, and even his wrist shot hits the boards with a sound unlike anything you’ll hear from 99 percent of other players. Maybe work on keeping them down, Marty.

    Patrice Bergeron had himself a four-goal game, which I assume was just to remind all of us that he’s still the best hockey player that no one ever remembers exists.

    Glen Gulutzan had a meltdown for the ages at Flames practice, highlighted by heaving his stick into the stratosphere. No one has seen the stick land yet, and I assume it has simply joined Jose Bautista’s bat on its eternal journey through the cosmos.

    Speaking of the Flames, the team is reportedly looking to release Jaromir Jagr, in a move that would likely put them on a level of heel heat that would rival Vince McMahon post-Montreal Screwjob (Bonus points to any reader that actually understands that reference).

    Nazem Kadri fought Joe Thornton (bad idea) and apparently thought ripping some of Jumbo’s beard out would cause Joe to lose some of his strength (decent theory, story of Samson and whatnot). It did not cause him to lose his strength, though, so a bad day for Kadri there.

    The Oilers nabbed goaltender Al Montoya from the Habs in exchange for a conditional 4th round pick, in a move that could be titled “Two dumpster fires exchange things in attempt to convince livid fanbases that improvements are being made.”

  • January 8 – Day 93 – Selections are slim, Vol. V

    If you were planning on coming back from another miserable Monday at work and watching hockey, you’re in luck: there’s a nationally broadcasted game on the schedule. If you were hoping to watch more than one game, you might want to come back tomorrow.

    That’s right, there’s only one game on the schedule this evening, and it features Columbus at Toronto (NHLN/TVAS) at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

    Teams on the bye: Anaheim, Arizona, Boston, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Montréal, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Jose and Vegas.

     

    Unfortunately, neither team enters tonight’s game in exceptionally good form. Both 24-16-3 Columbus and 25-16-2 Toronto are the third place team in their respective divisions, but they’ve slid into that position in the past month.

    With Tampa Bay playing in the same division, the Leafs – no matter how good they are – didn’t have much of a chance at the top spot in the Atlantic. However, they settled into second place quite nicely… until late December. Approximately two weeks ago during a 2-3-0 run, the Leafs lost home ice in the first round to the Bruins, and they’ve been trying to play catch up ever since.

    Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Division – though it is certainly the stronger group in the Eastern Conference – has been in an almost constant flux all year. As recently as December 14, the Jackets were the class of the Metro, but they too have settled into third place and trail Washington by four points for the division lead.

    If tonight is the beginning of the quest for second, both teams face tough opposition.

    Let’s start with the visiting Jackets, who enter tonight’s game as winners of two of their last three games. The main reason they’re winners? 20-12-3 G Sergei Bobrovsky.

    Bobrovsky would probably be the first to tell you he had a miserable December. In a dozen starts, he allowed 41 goals for a .891 save percentage and a 3.46 GAA. That’s right, the two-time Vezina winner was the worst goaltender in the league in the month of December among the 22 netminders with at least nine starts to their credit.

    But it seems Santa delivered a new calendar to the Bobrovsky household, because the Russian looks like he’s back to his old ways since the start of the new year. He’s started all three games the Jackets have played in 2018, posting a .949 save percentage and 1.63 GAA to earn two victories.

    However, with him playing to a 3-2 shootout victory yesterday against the Panthers, it seems likely he’ll relinquish his crease this evening at Air Canada Centre. Fresh off a 37-for-40 (.925 save percentage) shootout loss with the Cleveland Monsters, Columbus’ AHL affiliate, on Saturday, 4-4-0 G Joonas Korpisalo very well could draw his first NHL start of 2018. With the senior team, Korpisalo has posted a .904 season save percentage and 3.1 GAA.

    Just like the Blue Jackets, Toronto enters this game after winning its last showing on a shootout. In fact, the Maple Leafs have gone so far as to perfectly duplicate Columbus’ 2-1-0 record for 2018.

    Ready to continue having the mirror image conversation? The Leafs have won both their last two games because of solid work by 22-12-1 G Frederik Andersen.

    Go figure, right?

    Over his last three starts, Andersen has posted a .944 save percentage and 1.92 GAA, both of which are the third-best effort in January among goaltenders with at least three starts. This solid start to the calendar year has elevated his season numbers to a .922 save percentage and 2.64 GAA, the eighth- and (t)12th-best efforts, respectively, in the NHL among the 31 netminders with 18 or more starts to their credit.

    These squads have already tangled once this season, and that December 20 contest went the way of the Jackets. Behind the two-point game of D Seth Jones and Korpisalo saving 39-of-41 Toronto shots, the Blue Jackets were able to beat the Leafs 4-2 in their lone trip to Ohio of the regular season. They’ll complete the three-game series on Valentine’s Day (that’s 37 days away, guys!).

    Pitting Andersen against either a tired Bobrovsky or Korpisalo doesn’t seem like a fair fight, especially when we remember that Toronto has the league’s seventh-best offense at its disposal (obligatory C Auston Matthews shout out here). Even though Korpisalo’s last victory came against the Leafs, I think the boys in blue can come away with the victory tonight.

    Though they needed overtime to do it, the Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 at Capital One Arena in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day.

    Even the opening 20 minutes proved to be an evenly contested first period (Washington led 8-7 in shots on goal), the scoreboard read 1-0 in favor of the Caps going into the first intermission. That’s because W Brett Connolly (Second Star of the Game W Alex Ovechkin and D John Carlson) was able to score a power play tip-in with 6:45 remaining in the frame to break the scoreless tie.

    Whatever Head Coach Mike Yeo said to the Blues during that intermission obviously worked, because St. Louis dominated the second period to claim a 2-1 lead. RW Vladimir Tarasenko (F Ivan Barbashev and D Joel Edmundson) leveled the game at one-all only 78 seconds into the period with a snap shot, followed 3:44 later by Third Star F Alex Steen (F Brayden Schenn and D Alex Pietrangelo) potting a power play deflection.

    Like the Notes exploded out of the first intermission, Washington did just the same following the second. Ovechkin (Carlson and First Star C Nicklas Backstrom) took advantage of D Jay Bouwmeester‘s tripping penalty against LW Jakub Vrana at the 7:57 mark to level the game at two-all only three seconds later. 2:49 after the goal horn was quieted, C Lars Eller (F T.J. Oshie and D Madison Bowey) recaptured a one-goal advantage for the Caps. However, D Carl Gunnarsson (F Patrik Berglund and F Tage Thompson) wasn’t going to let his club go down without a fight, and he leveled the game once again on a wrist shot with 4:09 remaining in regulation.

    With neither squad able to break the 3-3 tie in regulation, the contest shifted into the five-minute three-on-three overtime period. It’s there where Backstrom (Oshie) found the game-winning goal, his first of the season and the 30th (35th if you include the postseason) of his 11-year career.

    With only 43 seconds separating the game from the dreaded shootout, Oshie took advantage of a mistimed line change by his former club. He ripped a pass from the right face-off circle in his own defensive zone to a wide-open Backstrom cruising up the right boards. With only G Carter Hutton to beat, he ripped a wrister from the slot high cheese over the netminder’s right shoulder to give Washington its ninth-straight home victory.

    G Braden Holtby earned the victory after saving 31-of-34 shots faced (.912 save percentage), leaving the overtime loss to Hutton, who saved 29-of-33 (.879).

    It’s another win for a home team in the DtFR Game of the Day series. The hosts now have a 53-29-11 record that is 25 points superior to that of the roadies.

  • Hey, why isn’t (insert NHL team here) playing?

    Still trying to figure out why your favorite team has games all next week, but your rival gets to take five-straight days off? Or maybe you’re most concerned about your fantasy hockey team? Either way, *NSYNC has the answer:

    The NHL is in Year 2 of its experiment with bye weeks. Some things – like the average length of each team’s break – stayed the same. 19 of the 31 clubs are taking the minimum five days off, while 11 others get an extra sixth before returning to action. Of course, the winners of the bye week lottery are the Ottawa Senators, who get a whopping seven days to rest, regroup and rediscover the art of ice hockey before hosting St. Louis.

    But there are a few differences from last year, most notably where these breaks occur within the league schedule. Last season when the bye weeks debuted, the Islanders and Penguins had already started and finished their breaks by now, while others wouldn’t see the gap in their schedule until well beyond the All-Star Break or even the trade deadline. In fact, the Ducks didn’t take their week off until the beginning of March.

    It was probably because Anaheim is on Pacific Time. That’s how time zones work, right?

    Anyways, all 31 bye weeks this season – whether five, six or seven days – will start and end in the span of the 18 days between today and January 19.

    Though initial thoughts were that the bye weeks were consolidated in anticipation of the NHL potentially releasing its players to their respective national federations for the XXIII Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, it instead will simply be an opportunity for the league’s scheduler to determine which format is better for business.

    But we’re not worried about attendance, advertising dollars or TV ratings here at Down the Frozen River (actually, that’s a lie: we love to talk about that stuff during podcasts). Let’s talk about who’s going to be off when. Teams are presented in order of the league table as it stands entering play January 7, and you might find some notes from myself and @nlanciani53.

    TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

    29-9-3, 61 points, leading Presidents’ Trophy race

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Calgary on January 11

    Bye week: January 12-17 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Vegas on January 18

    Nick’s Notes: A hot team must cool off a bit and then play the Vegas Golden Knights on their first night back to action? Talk about a prison sentence. At least they’ve still got the Presidents’ Trophy (lead) as consolation.

    VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS

    28-10-2, 58 points, leading the Western Conference

    Final game before the bye: Hosts the NY Rangers on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Edmonton on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: Son, where the Golden Knights are from, they don’t need no breaks. Polar opposites of the Tampa Bay Lightning bye week, Vegas plays a good team before taking time off. Then they play Edmonton. Next!

    Connor’s Notes: That may be true, but there’s surely some concern among Gerard Gallant and his staff that the Knights just might lose some of this positive energy over the break. They’ve posted a 9-1-0 record over their last 10, and it’d be a shame if the only reason this club drops from Cloud 9 to Cloud 8 is just five little days off.

    WINNIPEG JETS

    24-11-7, 55 points, leading the Central Division

    Final game before the bye: At Minnesota on January 13

    Bye week: January 14-19 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: At Calgary on January 20

    Nick’s Notes: The Winnipeg Jets are vying for first place in the Central Division this season after missing the playoffs last year. Their second best point-scorer (that’s right, point-scorer, not goal-scorer, Patrik Laine), Mark Scheifele‘s been nursing an upper body injury and this break won’t hurt the team for a week while he remains out of the lineup.

    NASHVILLE PREDATORS

    24-11-6, 54 points, second in the Central Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Edmonton on January 9

    Bye week: January 10-15

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Vegas on January 16

    Nick’s Notes: Most people think the party never stops in Vegas, but they’re wrong. The party never stops in Smashville and let’s just hope none of the Predators players get carried away on Broadway in their week off.

    ST. LOUIS BLUES

    26-16-2, 54 points, third in the Central Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Florida on January 9

    Bye week: January 10-15 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: At Toronto on January 16

    Connor’s Notes: Any way to avoid playing games while Jaden Schwartz‘ ankle is still healing is a good thing. While he won’t be ready to go until the end of the month, the Blues will hope to get out of a rut that has led to them posting a 4-6-0 record over their last 10 games entering Sunday.

    WASHINGTON CAPITALS

    25-13-3, 53 points, leading the Metropolitan Division

    Final game before the bye: At Carolina on January 12

    Bye week: January 13-17 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: At New Jersey on January 18

    Nick’s Notes: It’s not that Braden Holtby‘s been bad, but he’s having his worst season since 2013-14, so like, maybe send him to a remote mountain top or whatever it takes for Holtby to regain his form and focus (a water bottle usually does the trick). Seriously though, his 2.68 GAA and .917 save percentage is not great, Bob.

    LOS ANGELES KINGS

    24-13-5, 53 points, second in the Pacific Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosted Nashville on January 6, lost 4-3

    Bye week: January 7-12 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Anaheim on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: Best of luck to the Los Angeles Kings who will smash bodies against the boards with Nashville leading into their bye week and then smash bodies all over again with the Anaheim Ducks fresh off their vacations. It’s a grueling game. Ice those bruises.

    BOSTON BRUINS

    23-10-6, 52 points, second in the Atlantic Division

    Final game before the bye: At Pittsburgh on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: At Montréal on January 13

    Connor’s Notes: Similar to Vegas’ current run of success, with an 8-0-2 record over their last 10 games played entering Sunday, the Bruins arguably have the most positive energy to lose by going on break of any team in the Eastern Conference. Fortunately for them, they’ll play in what I expect to be a rivalry game that’s even more heated than usual given the Habs’ position in the standings to get right back into the swing of things.

    TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

    25-16-2, 52 points, third in the Atlantic Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Ottawa on January 10

    Bye week: January 11-15 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts St. Louis on January 16

    Connor’s Notes: While the Leafs aren’t currently certain he’ll be ready to go by then, the original hope was that sophomore defenseman Nikita Zaitsev‘s lower-body injury would be healed by the time Toronto returned to action against the Notes. If St. Louis’ offense is ticking that day, his presence in the defensive zone will be a big help to Frederik Andersen. 

    NEW JERSEY DEVILS

    22-11-7, 51 points, second in the Metropolitan Division

    Final game before the bye: At the NY Islanders on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Philadelphia January 13

    Nick’s Notes: The New Jersey Devils have been quietly good as of late. They’re this year’s biggest surprise outside of the Golden Knights. Nico Hischier just turned 19, so unless he’s going outside of the United States for his break, he can’t (legally) party hard.

    DALLAS STARS

    24-16-3, 51 points, fourth in the Central Division – first wild card

    Final game before the bye: Hosted Edmonton on January 6, won 5-1

    Bye week: January 7-12 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Colorado on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: Wouldn’t it be mean if nobody tells Kari Lehtonen when the break is so he just drives up to the practice rink on the first day like “where’d everybody go”? Just a thought.

    NEW YORK RANGERS

    22-14-5, 49 points, third in the Metropolitan Division

    Final game before the bye: At Vegas on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts the NY Islanders on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: Great, another week off means Henrik Lundqvist has to wait even longer for a Stanley Cup.

    COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

    23-16-3, 49 points, fourth in the Metropolitan Division – first wild card

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Vancouver on January 12

    Bye week: January 13-17 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Dallas on January 18

    Nick’s Notes: The Columbus Blue Jackets have been the St. Louis Blues of the Eastern Conference this season. One week they’re amazing, the next week they’re losing. A lot.

    Connor’s Notes: Nick is right, and the Jackets are in one of their losing funks right now. Entering Sunday, they’ve posted a 3-5-2 record over their last 10 games played. They won’t regain any of their four injured players during the break, but perhaps John Tortorella can find a way to regroup his troops before they lose any more ground in the Metro.

    SAN JOSE SHARKS

    21-12-6, 48 points, third in the Pacific Division

    Final game before the bye: At Winnipeg on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Arizona on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: Joe Thornton should use this break to regrow that part of his beard that got torn off his face by Nazem Kadri in Toronto.

    COLORADO AVALANCHE

    22-16-3, 47 points, fifth in the Central Division – second wild card

    Final game before the bye: Hosted Minnesota on January 6, won 7-2

    Bye week: January 7-12 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: At Dallas on January 13

    Connor’s Notes: Goaltender Semyon Varlamov should be prepared to return to action following the bye week after suffering a lower body injury on January 2, and there’s a possibility J.T. Compher get back into the lineup too. However, considering the Avs’ unbelievable position in the standings, does Jared Bednar even think about pulling Jonathan Bernier?

    MINNESOTA WILD

    22-17-3, 47 points, sixth in the Central Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Vancouver on January 14

    Bye week: January 15-19

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Tampa Bay on January 20

    Nick’s Notes: Oft-injured and finally healthy, the Minnesota Wild should place everyone in bubblewrap for their bye week. Just a suggestion.

    ANAHEIM DUCKS

    19-15-9, 47 points, fourth in the Pacific Division

    Final game before the bye: At Calgary on January 6, lost 3-2

    Bye week: January 7-12

    First game out of the bye: At Los Angeles on January 13

    Connor’s Notes: With Corey Perry returning to action last night against the Flames, Anaheim is effectively at 100 percent once again after losing basically every star at one point or another this season. After seeing what an injured Ducks team was capable of, the Pacific Division should get ready, because a rested and healthy Ducks team just might wreck havoc against weak competition.

    CALGARY FLAMES

    21-16-4, 46 points, fifth in the Pacific Division

    Final game before the bye: At Carolina on January 14

    Bye week: January 15-19 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Winnipeg on January 20

    Nick’s Notes: Whoever’s running the airport gates in Calgary should make sure that wherever the player’s are going doesn’t actually say “Seattle” on their ticket. Unless the gate agent is originally from Seattle. *dramatic Twin Peaks music plays in the background*

    CAROLINA HURRICANES

    19-14-8, 46 points, fifth in the Metropolitan Division – second wild card

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Calgary on January 14

    Bye week: January 15-19 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: At Detroit on January 20

    Nick’s Notes: One thing’s for sure, even with their potential new majority owner, none of the Carolina Hurricanes players are going back to Hartford for their break. What a shame.

    PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

    21-19-3, 45 points, sixth in the Metropolitan Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Boston on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Detroit on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: Phil Kessel doesn’t like time off (remember the 2016 World Cup of Hockey?) and Matthew Murray should probably go to the same place as Braden Holtby for a week. Murray’s goals-against average is almost a 3.0.

    CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS

    19-15-6, 44 points, last in the Central Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Detroit on January 14

    Bye week: January 15-19 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts the NY Islanders on January 20

    Nick’s Notes: Jeff Glass is the feel good story of 2018 so far, so why would anyone want to see him take five nights off? *Checks standings* Oh, right, this team isn’t in playoff worthy right now.

    PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

    18-15-8, 44 points, seventh in the Metropolitan Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Buffalo on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: At New Jersey on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: Someone make sure the Philadelphia Flyers don’t try to move to the Atlantic Division over their bye week. They’ll do anything to make the playoffs this season.

    NEW YORK ISLANDERS

    20-18-4, 44 points, last in the Metropolitan Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts New Jersey on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: At the NY Rangers on January 13

    Connor’s Notes: The reason the Islanders have been making by with their horrendous defense, which was made worse by Calvin de Haan requiring a season-ending shoulder surgery, has been their explosive offense. Josh Bailey should be back at 100 percent following New York’s bye to reunite the BLT Line, allowing the Isles to get back to their version of Russian Roulette: finding out which goaltender is going to allow just one more goal than the other.

    DETROIT RED WINGS

    17-16-7, 41 points, fourth in the Atlantic Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Tampa Bay on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: At Pittsburgh on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: If the Detroit Red Wings were a young, rebuilding, team I’d recommend a five-day long pizza party at The Pizza Box (Little Caesar’s Arena). Maybe they can figure out the right way to tank during their time off instead of winning a lot before the break.

    FLORIDA PANTHERS

    17-18-5, 39 points, fifth in the Atlantic Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Calgary on January 12

    Bye week: January 13-18 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Vegas on January 19

    Connor’s Notes: Just as James Reimer is beginning to run out of steam, Roberto Luongo is expected to return to the Panthers’ crease with his club seven points outside playoff position. Whether he resumes his starting job before or after the bye, the break allows both of them to be fully rested.

    EDMONTON OILERS

    18-21-3, 39 points, sixth in the Pacific Division

    Final game before the bye: At Vegas on January 13

    Bye week: January 14-19 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Vancouver on January 20

    Nick’s Notes: Peter Chiarelli can’t possibly figure out how he’s going to save his team in six days when he spent $21 million on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in about that amount of time over the summer.

    VANCOUVER CANUCKS

    16-19-6, 38 points, seventh in the Pacific Division

    Final game before the bye: At Minnesota on January 14

    Bye week: January 15-19 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: At Edmonton on January 20

    Nick’s Notes: Like Mark Scheifele and the Winnipeg Jets, Bo Horvat and the Vancouver Canucks haven’t seen each other in a little while due to injury. Take some time and rest up.

    MONTRÉAL CANADIENS

    17-20-4, 38 points, sixth in the Atlantic Division

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Vancouver on January 7

    Bye week: January 8-12 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Boston on January 13

    Nick’s Notes: I’m pretty sure you can’t trade players during your bye week, so don’t try to move Max Pacioretty while nobody’s paying attention, Montreal.

    OTTAWA SENATORS

    14-17-9, 37 points, seventh in the Atlantic Division

    Final game before the bye: At Toronto on January 10

    Bye week: January 11-17 (seven days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts St. Louis on January 18

    Nick’s Notes: The Ottawa Senators will find a way to lose games over their seven day break. Meanwhile, Eugene Melnyk will have just enough time to figure out an escape plan while nobody’s at Canadian Tire Centre.

    BUFFALO SABRES

    10-22-9, 29 points, last in the Eastern Conference

    Final game before the bye: Hosts Columbus on January 11

    Bye week: January 12-17 (six days)

    First game out of the bye: At the NY Rangers on January 18

    Nick’s Notes: The Sabres should hold an exhibition matchup with some bantam teams while on their break. You know, so they can get better.

    ARIZONA COYOTES

    10-27-6, 26 points, last in the NHL

    Final game before the bye: Hosted the NY Rangers on January 6, won 2-1 in a shootout

    Bye week: January 7-11 (five days)

    First game out of the bye: Hosts Edmonton on January 12

    Nick’s Notes: Wait, you mean Arizona hasn’t already been taking time off all season?

    Final notes: I strongly dislike how the NHL is abandoning entire markets for a week at a time. This is most noticeable in the United States’ two biggest cities: New York and Los Angeles. All five teams that play in those markets will be dormant for the same five days (January 8-12). Why didn’t they stagger these byes so those important markets would still have at least one squad active at all times? After all, if there’s one thing Devils fans love to see as much as a Jersey win, it’s a Rangers loss. Whether they take in that loss at Madison Square Garden or from their couch doesn’t ultimately matter. The fact that those markets could turn their attention away from the NHL to either the Clippers, Knicks or Friends reruns on TBS does.

    But this extends further. The entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will be shut off from NHL hockey from January 8-12 (The same days as New York and Los Angeles? Who is making these decisions?), as neither the Flyers nor Penguins will be in action. Boston and Montréal? Nope, they’re both on the bye at the same time too (you guessed it, January 8-12). The Blues and Predators can vacation together as well – though I doubt they’d want to – as they are both out of action from January 10-15.

    I’m sure the league’s competition committee is going to claim that they’re trying to reduce the possibility of one particular team getting too much of an advantage, but this just seems silly from a business perspective. If that is truly the case, perhaps one day when the league reaches 32 teams it will simply shut down an entire conference for five days and then the other (the odd number of teams right now makes scheduling a little… interesting in that scenario), or – the more likely of these two options – perchance expand the distribution of byes over the course of three weeks instead of just two. Who knows?

    Beyond this issue, while I don’t necessarily like where it is in the schedule, I do like that the NHL has condensed the time period for bye weeks in the season. Keeping track of which teams had and hadn’t taken their week off last season was a bother, and this system eliminates that. Of course, we’ll know how NBC and Sportsnet react based on how these byes are arranged next year.

    As for my final complaint, the byes have the possibility of creating a very staggered January. We just got out of the three-day holiday break 12 days ago. Each team has played an average of only 5.4 games since then. Now we have these bye weeks of at least five days, and the four-day All-Star Break (January 26-29) is only 20 days out. If those sentences were confusing, I’m concerned that’s how the month of January is going to feel – scattered hockey thoughts until Groundhog’s Day.

    The NHL Players’ Association demanded these bye weeks in return for the league turning the All-Star Game into the divisional three-on-three format we have had for the past two years. They’re not going anywhere: the players obviously like the idea of getting some time off, and putting it near the midway point of the season seems like a logical idea.

    However, how this change is impacting the league’s product is still being understood. Unless we could see a plausible situation where bye weeks don’t happen until the end of February or March (remember, that’s likely after the trade deadline), the existence of the midway-point byes could be yet another reason the NHL could axe the All-Star Game, eliminating that break altogether.

    Throw in the fact that the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement could expire as soon as 2020’s offseason – should either party opt out early – and no later than the summer of 2022 and we could be looking at a whole heap of changes  – or a whole heap of no hockey – within the next four years.

  • Down the Frozen River Podcast #87- 87s Galore (Crosby’s Favorite Episode)

    Down the Frozen River Podcast #87- 87s Galore (Crosby’s Favorite Episode)

    The Original Trio discuss the 2018 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship and more in separately recorded sessions of the podcast. Also, we’re available for hire. In memoriam: Part of Joe Thornton’s beard that Nazem Kadri ripped off (2015-2018).

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and/or on Stitcher.

  • Numbers Game: Oh We’re Halfway There (Kind Of)

    At the time of this writing it was January 1st, so first, Happy New Year everyone. Now, onto the more important manners, shall we?

    Entering January, all 31 National Hockey League franchises have played at least 36 games. Only the Arizona Coyotes and St. Louis Blues have played at least half a season (41 games played) so far, while the San Jose Sharks have played the fewest games (36) through December. Everyone else falls somewhere in between– and that’s not including Monday’s 2018 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, which would bring both the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers to 39 games played thus far.

    Considering there’s no perfect way to slice it, we’ll consider this the midpoint of the 2017-18 regular season.

    In the Western Conference, at least seven teams are destined to reach the 100-point plateau on the season, with the Los Angeles Kings (106 projected points) leading the charge followed by the Winnipeg Jets (102), Vegas Golden Knights (101), St. Louis Blues (101), Chicago Blackhawks (101), Sharks (101) and Nashville Predators (100).

    Last season’s dominance of the Metropolitan Division alone– where four teams reached 100-points or more in 2016-17– has migrated west this season.

    The Washington Capitals (118), Pittsburgh Penguins (111), Columbus Blue Jackets (108), Montreal Canadiens (103) and New York Rangers (102) tipped the balance of the 100-point plateau to the Eastern Conference last season, with five members of the NHL over 100-points compared to the Western Conference’s four teams over 100 members (Chicago, 109, Minnesota Wild, 106, Anaheim Ducks, 105 and Edmonton Oilers, 103).

    This season, the West takes the reigns of the 100-point guild, with seven projected members while the Eastern Conference may only amount to four teams with over 100-points on the league table at the end of the regular season.

    Everything seems to be going the Western Conference’s way, except for the fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning exist and they are here to make a claim to this season’s President’s Trophy with a projected 110 points on the regular season.

    Meanwhile the Battle for Second in the Atlantic Division is hotly contested between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs with the three divisional spots in the playoffs (TB, BOS and TOR, in no particular order) all but a sure lock at this rate.

    Despite everyone’s fears that the Capitals might not be able to pull it together this season, they emerge on top of the Metropolitan Division once again in April with 103 points on the season– and a two-point lead over the biggest surprise of the season (Golden Knights aside), the New Jersey Devils.

    Two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, Matthew Murray, and the Pittsburgh Penguins may be outside of the playoff picture right now, but they’ll slide their way into the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. An exciting rematch of the 2016 Eastern Conference Finals between the Penguins and the Lightning would be exactly what the league needs for a 2018 First Round matchup.

    2017-2018 Projected Standings after Three Months

    Eastern Conference

    Atlantic Division

    1. p-Tampa Bay Lightning, 110 points (38 GP so far)
    2. x-Boston Bruins, 106 points (37 GP so far)
    3. x-Toronto Maple Leafs, 99 points (40 GP so far)
    4. Detroit Red Wings, 85 points (38 GP so far)
    5. Montreal Canadiens, 84 points (39 GP so far)
    6. Florida Panthers, 79 points (38 GP so far)
    7. Ottawa Senators, 78 points (37 GP so far)
    8. Buffalo Sabres, 67 points (38 GP so far)

    It’s no surprise for the top-three teams in the Atlantic, then it’s all downhill from there. The Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens find that being average plagues them. Meanwhile the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators exist in mediocrity (‘sup Erik Karlsson free agency watch 2019). There’s not much to say for the Sabres other than, well… how early can you schedule a tee time?

    Metropolitan Division

    1. z-Washington Capitals, 103 points (40 GP so far)
    2. x-New Jersey Devils, 101 points (38 GP so far)
    3. x-New York Rangers, 97 points (38 GP so far)
    4. x-Columbus Blue Jackets, 96 points (40 GP so far)
    5. x-Pittsburgh Penguins, 94 points (40 GP so far)
    6. New York Islanders, 93 points (39 GP so far)
    7. Carolina Hurricanes, 87 points (38 GP so far)
    8. Philadelphia Flyers, 86 points (38 GP so far)

    The Metropolitan Division is stacked with teams on top of one another. Thankfully, by April, the division sorts itself out just enough with Washington, New Jersey and the Rangers rising as its leaders. Despite their ongoing struggles, there’s nothing to fear if you’re a Blue Jackets or Penguins fan and all you care about is making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first place.

    Apologies to the New York Islanders, but it’s not their year in more ways than one *ahem, John Tavares free agency watch*.

    Somehow the Carolina Hurricanes are making noise right now, but that should quiet down. And for the Philadelphia Flyers and their fans, at least you’re better than five of the Atlantic Division teams in these projections.

    Western Conference

    Central Division

    1. y-Winnipeg Jets, 102 points (40 GP so far)
    2. x-St. Louis Blues, 101 points (41 GP so far)
    3. x-Chicago Blackhawks, 101 points (38 GP so far)
    4. x-Nashville Predators, 100 points (38 GP so far)
    5. Dallas Stars, 93 points (40 GP so far)
    6. Minnesota Wild, 91 points (39 GP so far)
    7. Colorado Avalanche, 83 points (38 GP so far)

    If it’s any consolation to the Nashville Predators, being a wild card team isn’t always a bad thing– oh wait, they figured that out last season en route to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final? Okay, they should be fine.

    Otherwise, look out for the Winnipeg Jets, ladies and gentlemen. They’ve been skyrocketing all season long and they look ready to control the skies of the league. It’s a shame the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks will have to play each other in the First Round in April– not like that series will have any excitement or anything.

    Despite their recent success and uptick in game-play, the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild lost too many times to recover earlier on in the season.

    Pacific Division

    1. z-Los Angeles Kings, 106 points (39 GP so far)
    2. x-Vegas Golden Knights, 101 points (37 GP so far)
    3. x-San Jose Sharks, 100 points (36 GP so far)
    4. x-Anaheim Ducks, 96 points (40 GP so far)
    5. Calgary Flames, 84 points (39 GP so far)
    6. Vancouver Canucks, 84 points (39 GP so far)
    7. Edmonton Oilers, 78 points (39 GP so far)
    8. Arizona Coyotes, 56 points (41 GP so far)

    All three California teams in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs? Consider me hooked.

    The Vegas Golden Knights continue to write history as they knock off the San Jose Sharks in the First Round of the playoffs– in their first playoffs appearance which just so happens to come in their inaugural season. It’s pure insanity, but it’s bound to happen.

    If you were worried about the Anaheim Ducks, worry not. The Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers know not what they are doing. Unfortunately for Calgary and Vancouver, they play in a division with the State of California and Vegas.

    Unfortunately for the Oilers, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are eating $21 million in salary cap space next season. They’re not bad players, but that’s bad asset management when you consider other large contracts on the books (Milan Lucic, in particular).

    Arizona, how does Seattle sound if the league is foolish to not take $650 million in expansion fees and run?

  • Merkle’s Christmas Bumblings

    I will now attempt to write a coherent article as I lay near-comatose full of grilled chicken, hamloaf, turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits, rolls and whatever else I might have eaten that my holiday-overloaded mind can’t recall. Thumbs up, let’s do this.

    Skater of the Week: Mathew Barzal

    I told myself I wouldn’t pick Josh Bailey again, so this time I picked his teammate. I promise you I’m not actually an Islanders fan.

    The Isles continue to score at a torrid pace, and while John Tavares and Bailey both matched Barzal’s six-point output in this week’s three games, I’m giving the nod to the rookie. A bit of a dark horse to even make the squad at the beginning of the year, I did make note of Barzal in my preseason preview article about the Isles, and he’s making me look smarter than I actually am.

    With 35 points in 36 games so far this season, the 20-year-old from Coquitlam, B.C. has really come into his own in recent weeks. Currently riding a four-game point streak, Barzal chipped in four goals and two assists in three contests this week, including a hat trick Saturday night at Winnipeg.

    If guys like Barzal and Bailey (not to mention Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle) continue to produce the way they are, the Isles look to be very dangerous, as they finally possess the complimentary firepower to free up some space for Tavares.

    Tendy of the Week: James Reimer

    Chill, Bruins fans (looking at you, Lanciani), I know Tuukka Rask had a crazy good week himself. But, considering their major stats were nearly identical, I’m giving the nod to Reimer based on him grabbing a shutout when Rask didn’t, and the fact that he faced 23 more shots than the Boston netminder.

    Smilin’ Reimer was truly on it this week. Winning all three games, he allowed just four total goals, scooping up a 1.33 GAA and a .964 save percentage across the contests. With Roberto Luongo still on the shelf, the Panthers desperately need Reimer to continue playing at a high level for them to have any real shot at keeping pace in the Atlantic. At least for the time being, he’s doing just that.

    Game of the Week: Basically the entire night of Thursday, December 21st

    10 games. Seven of them needed OT or the shootout to decide them. Even the three regulation games were at least weird if nothing else. The Hurricanes toppled the Predators, the Stars blanked the Blackhawks, and the Oilers upset the juggernaut Blues.

    Among the games decided in extra time, you had everything from defensive struggles (Bruins over Jets 2-1 in the shootout, Kings over the Avs 2-1 in OT), offensive showcases (Ducks over Isles and Sharks over Canucks, both 5-4 contests), and a couple rivalry showcases (Devils take out the Rangers 4-3, and Penguins edge the Jackets 3-2 in an extremely heated affair, both in shootouts).

    Just one of those strange nights where the hockey gods decide that everything gets an extra sprinkling of awesome.

    News, Notes, & Nonsense:

    Radko Gudas got suspended for about 137 games for a slash, because at this point he has to be doing stupid stuff on purpose.

    Boone Jenner had a game misconduct penalty retroactively rescinded (because that’s apparently worth something) by the league after being kicked from the CBJ/PIT game by possibly the softest game misconduct ever issued.

    Alexander Burmistrov has ‘retired’ from the NHL to return to his native Russia and play in the KHL. A once-promising prospect of the Atlanta/Winnipeg organization, Burmistrov left the NHL for the KHL back in 2013 before returning in 2015. His NHL career never really blossomed into what was hoped, and it sounds like the 26-year-old simply enjoys playing at home much more than playing in North America.

    Zac Rinaldo again finds himself amid controversy, staring a likely-lengthy suspension in the face. After laying a hard (though seemingly clean) hit on Nathan MacKinnon, Rinaldo sucker punched Avs rookie Samuel Girard who had come over to confront him after the hit. Erik Johnson then stepped in and used the fact that he is the size of a Chevrolet Silverado to his advantage, but by this point things had already entered into the category of line brawl. Girard never dropped his gloves, or even looked as though he had any intention of actually fighting Rinaldo, so it’s easy to see where the impending punishment has grounds to stand on (particularly in the case of oft-suspended Rinaldo), but counter-points have been made by more than a few people, most notably former NHL tough guy Paul Bissonnette, most to the tune of ‘Girard probably shouldn’t have gone after someone he didn’t intend to fight’. Regardless, expect to see a lot less of Rinaldo over at least the next few games.

    Ken Hitchcock reached the 800-win plateau as a head coach when his Dallas Stars beat the Blackhawks in the aforementioned Thursday night 4-0 blanking. Hitch is only the 3rd coach in NHL history to reach the milestone, with just that night’s opposing coach Joel Quenneville and Scotty Bowman ahead of him.

    Editor’s note: The common thread between those coaches? All three have coached the St. Louis Blues, yet none could lead the Notes to the Stanley Cup.

  • December 20 – Day 77 – A star-less night

    It’s Wednesday in the NHL, so you know what that means: time for me to pull out my weekly soapbox about supposed rivalries!

    There’s three games on the schedule today, starting with Toronto at Columbus (SN/TVAS) at 7:30 p.m. and Detroit at Philadelphia (NBCSN) half an hour later. Finally, tonight’s nightcap of St. Louis at Calgary (SN360) will close out the evening at 9:30 p.m. All times Eastern.

    If you can successfully pick the rivalry, be my guest. In the meantime, start heading towards Ohio for today’s featured matchup.

     

    Before we start the preview, I need to vent for a moment: I need to do a better job of picking teams for this series. Combined, these clubs have been featured a only nine times before today (compared to Chicago and Nashville’s 11 times individually), even though they’ve both been at the top of their divisions all season.

    You deserve better.

    Ok, rant over.

    Things haven’t been going exactly the way the 20-13-1 Blue Jackets would like in the month of December, as they’ve managed only a 4-5-0 record that includes an active two-game losing skid. Given the competitive nature of the Metropolitan Division, this little rough patch has dropped the Jackets into the top wildcard position.

    On the season, Columbus has been among the best defensive teams, allowing only 2.7 goals against per game – the eighth-fewest in the NHL. However, that solid play has not been here this month, as the Jackets have allowed 33 goals, the (t)fifth-most in the league.

    If we’re looking to place blame for this problem, I’m hard pressed to find an issue with Head Coach John Tortorella’s defensive corps. Led by RW Josh Anderson (1.22 takeaways per game), F Boone Jenner (three hits per game) and D Jack Johnson (1.77 blocks per game), the Jackets have allowed only 277 shots against this month, the 11th-fewest in the league.

    Unfortunately, I’m leaning towards this defensive deficiency residing in net. Usually, 17-10-1 G Sergei Bobrovsky is among the best netminders in the league. After all, the two-time Vezina winner’s .919 season save percentage and 2.43 GAA rank are both top-10 efforts among the 31 goalies with at least 16 starts to their credits. However, his lackluster .878 save percentage and 3.81 GAA in December are both 11th-worst among all 65 goalies who have played this month.

    But with an important Metropolitan Division game against Pittsburgh on the schedule tomorrow, all of that is water under the bridge since 3-3-0 G Joonas Korpisalo will be in net this evening. He’s managed a .902 save percentage and 2.97 GAA this season, and won his last start against the Ducks on December 1 (he relieved Bobrovsky on December 12, allowing two goals for no decision). If those numbers stand for the rest of the season, it’d be his worst NHL campaign, and considering he’s squaring against Toronto tonight, he’ll need to be on his A-game.

    Speaking of those 21-13-1 Maple Leafs, they’ve been a consistent force to be reckoned with all season, as they’ve been in second place in the Atlantic Division for the entirety of the year. That was no more apparent than yesterday’s performance against a decent Hurricanes team: the Toronto thrashed them 8-1.

    However, that win snapped a three-game losing skid, which shows that December hasn’t exactly been a friendly month to either of today’s squads. The Leafs have gone 4-4-0 since turning their calendar to its last page, and it’s because their floundering offense can’t take advantage of playing with a defense that has allowed only 16 goals in December (the [t]fewest in the NHL).

    Even with the incredible efforts of second-liners C Tyler Bozak (3-4-7 totals), F Mitch Marner (1-7-8) and LW James van Riemsdyk (4-2-6), Toronto has managed only 18 goals in eight games this month – the third-fewest in the NHL. Perhaps it’s no surprise that a 2017-’18 Maple Leafs team without C Auston Matthews plays similar to the 2015-’16 team that was trying to draft him.

    Ok, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but you get the idea.

    If nothing else has been proven by this hand injury that has kept him out of the Leafs’ last five games, it’s proven how integral he is to his club. Matthews has followed up his amazing 40-29-69 rookie season with even better 13-13-26 totals through 26 games this campaign, putting him on pace for 36-36-72 marks by season’s end.

    However, he won’t take a step towards achieving those totals this evening, as TSN’s Kristen Shilton is reporting that the only lineup change Head Coach Mike Babcock is making this evening is starting 3-3-0 G Curtis McElhinney due to 18-10-1 G Frederik Andersen being in net yesterday. That puts the onus on the Leafs’ offense to replicate yesterday’s success against a solid team.

    With both backup goaltenders being in net tonight, this game has an interesting flair. Though McElhinney has been statistically better than Korpisalo this season, I’m leaning towards the Jackets finding a way to get their business done at home this evening.

    With three goals in the second period, the Winnipeg Jets beat the Nashville Predators 6-4 at Bridgestone Arena in yesterday’s DtFR Game of the Day.

    Even though the Jets registered the first goal of the game at the 8:05 mark of the first frame courtesy of F Adam Lowry (D Tyler Myers and First Star of the Game F Brandon Tanev), Nashville exited the first frame with the lead as it scored two goals in the final 41 seconds. Second Star F Calle Jarnkrok leveled the game with an unassisted wrist shot, followed by a snap shot from Third Star W Kevin Fiala (F Craig Smith) 20 seconds before reporting to the dressing room.

    Going from winning to losing so swiftly didn’t seem to sit all that well with RW Patrik Laine (D Dmitry Kulikov and F Bryan Little), as he leveled the game at two-all at the 6:54 mark. However, the Preds took the lead once again only 61 seconds later on a D P.K. Subban (F Filip Forsberg and F Ryan Johansen) power play slap shot. The goal scoring spurt continued when W Nikolaj Ehlers (C Mark Scheifele and RW Blake Wheeler) buried a wrister at the 8:25 mark to level the game for Winnipeg, and he scored again (RW Joel Armia and D Tyler Myers) on a power play wrister with four minutes remaining in the period to claim the Jets’ first lead since Lowry’s tally.

    The excitement continued in the third period, which didn’t take long to get started. Only 30 seconds into the final frame, D Yannick Weber (Fiala) set the score at four-all with a clapper. Though a combined total of 24 shots were fired on goal in the frame, that tie held through most of the period. However, Tanev (D Josh Morrissey and Lowry) was not all that interested in playing an overtime game with a divisional rival. He scored the game-winning goal with 1:26 remaining in regulation.

    Though Tanev buried the goal, much of this score was the result of some stellar play in the defensive end by Morrissey. D Mattias Ekholm had the puck along the right boards, but had no teammates in support near him. Lowry and Morrissey took advantage and collapsed on him, forcing the puck out of his possession. Morrissey ended up with the puck on his stick and saw Tanev streaking towards center ice with no defensive pressure. After the pass, all Tanev needed to do was squeeze the shot between G Pekka Rinne and his right post with a sneaky wrister.

    With little time to force overtime, Head Coach Peter Laviolette pulled Rinne almost immediately after the face-off to resume play to get an extra attacker on the ice. Though it took the Jets a moment to steal the puck back, Wheeler (Myers) was able to score a long-range wrister on an empty net with two seconds remaining to set the 6-4 final score.

    G Connor Hellebuyck earned the victory after saving 30-of-34 shots faced (.882 save percentage), leaving the loss to Rinne, who saved 30-of-35 (.857).

    Winning on the road is fun, especially when it snaps a four-game winning streak by home teams in the DtFR Game of the Day series. The 43-25-9 hosts still own an 18-point advantage in the series.

  • Merkle’s Weekly Bumblings: Week 10

    The prodigal son has returned, and it is time, once again, for me to assault your reading receptacles with my meaningless awards and incessant ramblings. Thanks to Cap’n for stepping in for me while I was off going to random ECHL games and concerts.

    A special note: I’ve dropped the ‘Team of the Week’ section of these articles in favor of a new bit of weekly content that will be debuting here shortly. It will be replaced by a split of the ‘Player of the Week’ section, now giving one award to a skater, and one to a goaltender.

    Skater of the Week: Josh Bailey

    Heyyyyyyyyyy, HEYYY BAI-LEY, ooh…ahh, I wanna KNOWWWWOhhohhohh-Ohhoh, if you’ll score my goals…and assists…

    Anyway, in the season’s first repeat performance, Josh Bailey again earns the nod for being the only Islander better at being underappreciated league-wide than John Tavares. The New York centerman is on a five-game point streak, four of those taking place this week. In those four games, he has four goals and four assists, including a hat trick in a losing effort to the Columbus Blue Jackets (the first time in franchise history the CBJ allowed a hat trick and won the game, a stellar 1-32-1 record for my boys in blue), and has a scarcely-believable 40 points in just 33 games this season. For reference, Bailey has previously topped the 40-point plateau only twice in a full season in his entire career. 28 years old seems a bit late for a coming-out party, but Isles fans are hardly going to complain about finally giving JT some depth scoring support.

    Tendy of the Week: Brian Elliott

    Possibly the only thing hotter than the Philadelphia Flyers of late is their own goaltender. Riding a six-game winning streak overall, including a perfect three-win performance this week, Ells has drastically altered the fortunes of the once-floundering Flyers, and has the Philly Phaithful at least starting to bother watching anything but Eagles games.

    Starting off the week with 20 saves on 22 shots to down the Leafs, Elliott followed that up with single-goal games against Buffalo and Dallas to carry a superb .943 save percentage and 1.31 GAA through the week. The Flyers are still a few games back from the current Wild Card teams, but they hold games in hand on a good portion of the conference, and are much closer than any team that at one point lost 10 consecutive games should realistically be.

    Game of the Week: Pittsburgh Penguins 1 @ Vegas Golden Knights 2, Thursday December 14th, 2017

    I’m not even going to bother with the advanced stats, or play-by-play, or whatever else you think pertains to being the game of the week. This game was basically from a movie script. Recently-returned Marc-Andre Fleury facing the only team he had ever known prior to this season, he gets a hug from opposing goaltender Matthew Murray, who’s reasoning was simply “I missed the guy!”, and if you don’t love that you have no friends.

    Four total former Penguins have found refuge with the upstart Knights, who continue to crush every single expert’s opinion about what an expansion team is capable of and are slowly shedding their ‘Island of Misfit Toys’ appearance in favor of being a legitimate contender.

    Fleury stops 24 of 25, two of the three other former Pens tally points, and the franchise that didn’t exist last year beats the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs. Somebody call Disney.

    News, Notes, & Nonsense:

    Longtime Senator Chris Neil decided to hang up the skates this week, after a career spanning 15 seasons and over 1,000 games. One of the last of the ‘enforcer’ breed remaining, Neil was always known as one of the most complete players to wear the tough guy label, and was a highly-respected player both within his own locker room and throughout the league. All the best to Chris in his future endeavors.

    In other Senators news, owner Eugene Melnyk said this week that while he has no aspirations of selling his team, he would consider relocating the franchise. While I’d imagine this resulted in numerous flaming bags of feces being placed upon his doorstep by Ottawa residents, I’m sure Quebec City natives happily sacrificed their shoes for their new hero.

    Devan Dubnyk went down with a lower-body injury this week and is considered ‘week-to-week’, and if you open your window and listen very carefully, you can hear the screams of Wild fans from hundreds of miles away. (Note: If you’re in the Eastern Time Zone and north of the Ohio-Michigan border, these screams do mix in with the screams of Nordiques fans trying to remove their flaming pants.)

    Oh, also in Ottawa news, holy frigg did that NHL 100 Classic look cold. I mean, I know with it being Ontario there were probably shirtless locals in attendance, but I was more than happy to watch from home.

    Seattle looks poised to be the next expansion city, which is great, but I’m only going to really get on board if they decide to go with popular opinion and name the team the Seattle McSeattle Faces.

    Kari Lehtonen joined a fairly exclusive club this week, as one of just 33 goaltenders to earn 300 wins in an NHL career. All the props in the world to him, because as someone who has spent his entire career with mostly-lackluster teams (I mean, he played for the Thrashers), it’s one hell of an accomplishment. Kari also surpassed Miikka Kiprusoff for most games played by Finnish goaltenders in the same contest, and trails only Kipper in wins by Finns. But with Preds stud Pekka Rinne at 285 career wins, the race to catch that record could be interesting. Cam Ward also reached 300 wins this week, but only managed to hold on to the distinction of ‘Most Unlikely 300-win Goalie’ for about 24 hours before Lehtonen would steal the distinction.

  • Down the Frozen River Podcast #84- What’s the Problem, Senator?

    Down the Frozen River Podcast #84- What’s the Problem, Senator?

    Nick and Connor discuss the hullabaloo regarding the fallout of the Ottawa Senators and whether or not they should trade Erik Karlsson (thereby tanking and rebuilding). A quick look around California reveals contenders and pretenders, while All-Star talent and rookies are also reviewed.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) and/or on Stitcher.

  • Weekly Bumblings for Week 9 With Special Guest Host, Cap’n Cornelius

    Peter’s vacation continues, so you are stuck with me once more for the recap of last week’s NHL action.

    Player of the Week: Artemi Panarin

    You didn’t really think I’d get through two straight columns without talking about the Blue Jackets, did you? The Breadman had been having a solid if unspectacular year as the calendar turned to December.  Despite his talent (or because of it), it had taken some time for the Jackets to find line mates that paired well with the Russian winger.  The initial thought was to put him with Alexander Wennberg and Cam Atkinson.  On paper, that line made all of the sense in the world—two high scoring wingers paired with a player who showed his acumen for setting the table last season.  On the ice was a different story.  While Atkinson and Panarin clicked at points, Wennberg was too conservative, often playing in no man’s land beyond the offensive zone face-off circles.

    This lead to weeks of John Tortorella running the blender to try and find lines that worked. In the meantime, Wennberg’s injury also forced Tortorella to get more creative at center, a position the Jackets had been looking to upgrade during the offseason.  Enter rookie, Pierre-Luc Dubois.  While the Jackets wanted Dubois to be their center of the future, the team had been hesitant to play him at the position, preferring to try and ease him in.  But Torts took the advice of Dubois’ father who had found that when he was struggling with his game, he actually improved when forced into the rigors of playing center.  After a bit of a cold spell for Dubois, Tortorella decided to give it a try and Dubois slowly moved his way up the lineup, taking advantage of the opportunity presented by Wennberg’s absence, and finding himself on the top line with Panarin and Josh Anderson.  If the Jackets make noise in the postseason, the decision to unite the three unlikely line mates may be looked back as the moment that set the table for their success.

    So, in recent weeks, the line which has affectionately become known as PB&J (Pierre, Breadman and Josh) has started to click, but Panarin had yet to really have a performance where he went off. That changed on Friday night in New Jersey.  After a poor performance in Columbus on Tuesday against the Devils (notwithstanding excellent possession performances from the PB&J line), the Jackets’ backs were to the wall.  They really needed the win against their divisional opponent given how tight the race is in the Metropolitan.  The game didn’t start well for the Jackets with the team entering intermission down 2-0 and likely facing an unhappy LukasTortorella in the locker room.  But the tide would turn in the second period largely due to the efforts of Panarin.

    Panarin caused a turnover which found its way to Dubois’ stick for his first assist of the night. Another turnover created by Panarin lead to a goal by Lukas Sedlak in the middle of a line change to even up the score.  Panarin’s third assist of the night may have been the most impressive.  As four Devils watched Panarin, he saw the trailer, Scott Harrington, and made a perfect cross ice pass to get Harrington the goal.  After the Devils tied it before the second period ended, the Jackets got a rare power play goal when Panarin made a backhanded pass to Wennberg who, in a rarer aggressive play, went to the net and buried the puck.  Panarin would add a fifth first assist of the night when he found an open Zach Werenski for the fifth and final goal of the night. And that summary of the game doesn’t even fully encapsulate how well Panarin played.  He was consistently finding his way through traffic and the puck seemed to be magnetically attracted to the tape on his stick blade.

    While Saturday’s game was not nearly as exciting, Panarin still managed a Corsi For percentage of 58%. The Jackets would strike early as Panarin found Anderson behind the net and he would bury it top shelf.  When you have Sergei Bobrovsky in net, sometimes one goal is enough, and it would prove to be the case.  Panarin now has 6 straight primary assists for Columbus, but when you look back at Panarin’s performance this week, the thing that stands out that is underrated about him and is the big difference from Brandon Saad, is his play away from the puck.  His work in creating two turnovers that set up those first two goals against New Jersey during a crucial time in the game on Friday prevented the game from getting out of control and righted the ship for a team that had a couple poor performances against divisional opponents before that game.

    Game of the Week: Winnipeg Jets 3 at Tampa Bay Lightning 4 (OT), December 9, 2017.

    We’ve covered this game extensively this week, and with good reason. One of the top teams in the Western, versus one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. A classic matchup between the immovable object and the unstoppable force.  Even with the Jets coming off of two losses entering the game, you knew they would play up for this one.  Yes, I’m talking about Winnipeg for the second time in my two weeks doing this column and no it isn’t because there is a social media account that retweets anything you tweet featuring the word Winnipeg, positive or negative (yes, that really was a thing).

    The game got off to a quick start as you’d expect from two offensive powerhouses. Adam Lowry showed some great patience with two Lightning players defending him to find Andrew Copp in the slot for the first goal of the game.  The Lightning continued their streak of nine straight games with a power play goal (that’s possible, eh?) when Brayden Point made a beautiful feed to give Yanni Gourde a goal that Connor Hellebuyck had no hope to stop.

    A Cedric Paquette goal was overturned for goaltender interference by Chris Kunitz, so the score would stay 1-1, but Mikhail Sergachev would finally put the Lightning ahead with a beautiful shot after losing his defender with a quick change of directions. The Jets would not go away though.  Former Youngstown Phantom, Kyle Connor, would redirect a rising shot from Josh Morrissey to even the game at 2 and that is how the second period would end.

    Winnipeg retook the lead near the midway point of the third period when Nikolaj Ehlers somehow found Andrei Vasilevskiy’s five hole before the goaltender could even react to the shot.  After Vasilevskiy would stop another attempt by Ehlers, Nikita Kucherov’s shot through traffic somehow found the net and the score was again tied at three.  Note—the sequence I just described happened in all of about 2 minutes of game time.  Both teams then settled down and got the game to overtime to salt away a point for their troubles.

    Overtime wouldn’t last long though as Point would elude Bryan Little and get his backhand over Hellebuyck.

    The Lightning continue to be in a class by themselves in the early part of the season, but the Jets gave it their all.

    News, Notes, & Nonsense:

    A busy week in NHL and other hockey news. On Tuesday the news came down that Russia would be banned from the Winter Olympics as punishment for their concerted efforts to violate anti-doping rules during the Sochi games in 2014.  Clean Russian athletes will still be permitted to play at the games, but not under the Russian flag.  If they are looking for a team name, I suggest “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Russia, Steroid Free!”  There was concern that the KHL might prevent its players from playing in the Olympics, which would have thrown a monkey wrench in Team Canada’s plans for the games.  However, cooler heads prevailed as the KHL probably realized there was value to having its athletes compete on the world’s highest international stage…unlike the NHL.

    Backing up slightly, last Monday the City of Seattle approved the memorandum of understanding with the Oak View Group to remodel the ancient KeyArena at a cost of around $600 million (most of it comes from private funds) so that it could be suitable to host one or more professional sports franchises. This will likely be the death knell for a competing project which would have seen a new arena built closer where the existing stadiums are, in SoDo.  The NHL owners, who conveniently had a Board of Governor’s meeting, couldn’t wait to let Seattle know that they would be willing to take their money consider their application for expansion.  Fee for expansion?  $650 million, exceeding the $500 million that Vegas just paid.  I think Seattle is a great market for hockey in an underserved part of the country, but I also think the economics of a team with startup costs of over one billion dollars are a bit shaky.  For comparison, the Blue Jackets paid a franchise fee of $80 million and built an arena at a cost of $175 million…and still eventually needed a bailout from local government.  From the league’s side, it is understandable why they prefer Seattle to, say, Quebec City, because of the geographic balance adding the market will create.

    Finally, let’s take a moment to remember 11 years ago when Anson Carter and his Columbus Blue Jackets teammates released a Christmas album. Amazingly I see no trace of this masterpiece on YouTube, so, if you are looking for a Christmas gift for me, there you go.