NHL Hot Stove

[sensei_hanson]

Not really a thread dedicated to general NHL banter, so I thought I'd start one. Bankruptcy, playoff contention, all-star game chatter, mid-season awards and other stuff. Go nuts.

My first take here will focus on the Minnesota Wild. Is anybody else kinda shocked that this team hasn't fallen off yet, like most pundits predicted?

Obviously they've had a run of good fortune with a few Western Conference contenders (Phoenix, San Jose, LA, Colorado) getting off to such slow starts. But they've been doing it with a no-name team and basically only a single legit star in Gaborik. They're sitting in 5th in the West with 58 points, and are second in the NorthWest division, ahead of Edmonton and the Avs.

I'd have to think Lemaire is the leading candidate for the Jack Adams right now (yeah, he's ahead of Crawford) - and should win by a landslide if they make the playoffs. This is a team who's relying on Dwayne Roloson in net and a blueline made up of Bombardirs, Sekerasas, Kubas and Zyuzinz.

Do the Wild stay up and make the playoffs? Do they fall apart after the break? Is Lemaire the coach of the year?

So many questions.
-Sensei.

 

[sensei_hanson]

All-Star replacements and snubs

Center Olli Jokinen of the hometown Florida Panthers, goaltender Patrick Lalime of the Ottawa Senators and defenseman Tom Poti of the New York Rangers have been added to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team roster for Sunday's NHL All-Star Game

Center Vincent Lecavalier of the Tampa Bay Lightning and right wing Miroslav Satan of the Buffalo Sabres have been added to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team

Jokinen for Koivu, Satan for Sundin and LeCav for Lemieux. After all this, they still can't find a spot for the second-leading scorer in the East (and 3rd overall) - Kovalchuk. He's not even competing in the Young Guns game.

 

[hammerhead]

All Star Game

The all star game is a popularity contest and has little to do with who is playing well. Does anyone even watch the game?

I catch the highlites of the skills to see who won what, but otherwise couldnt care less

 

[sensei_hanson]

true, but....

I don't really care about the starters. Any time fans get involved in the voting process you get some skewed (or screwed, your choice) results. I think they should scrap the whole fan voting process anyways.

But when they name the reserves, that's when it gets interesting. The coaches vote on those....so you're really getting an idea of who the true "minds" of the game feel are the best players in the NHL. Players do pay attention to see which reserves are named, believe me. It's a good indicator of how well respected you are throughout the league.

Obviously Kovalchuk's showboating and celebrations after goals have blacklisted him to a certain degree....of the top 15 goal scorers in the NHL this season, Kovalchuk is the only one not to make be selected as an All-Star. He's got 28 tallies already. What's the deal there?

 

[hammerhead]

Kovalchuk

Looking that the all star roster for the east, the forwards are all center's and right wingers, so, as Kovalchuk plays left wing, he didnt make the cut.

 

[hammerhead]

and one other thing

he pulled Mike Comries' hair, so should be exluded for that as well. No girls at the allstar game

 

[Yoda]

Re: true, but....

Originally posted by sensei_hanson
Obviously Kovalchuk's showboating and celebrations after goals have blacklisted him to a certain degree....

Could also be the fact that he is a one way player. Doesn't play a lick worth of defense.

Heard the announcers say it last night in the Canucks game too that he is offensive minded only and has been benched for his lack of two-way playing. As evidenced by his stats
This season in 49 games he's:
28 goals, 16 assists for 44 points but a -19 +/-

Last season he was also -19 with 51 total season points.

Shocking!

 

[sensei_hanson]

one more...

...before I'm off to class for the day. Some interesting stuff here, from thefourthperiod.com:

The Fourth Period has learned that the deal to bring Alexei Kovalev to Toronto is almost done. Sources close to the sitation say that Toronto management has finally agreed to include Nik Antropov in the package that will be sent to Pittsburgh, but that the defenseman that will be included in the deal will not be Carlo Colaiacovo, but another prospect. The Penguins want to wait until Mario Lemieux returns from his injury to announce the deal, so the team doesn't have to play any games with Kovalev and Lemieux both out of the lineup. The Leafs will also send a bundle of cash, possibly as much as $6 million to the Pens. In return they will get the NHL's fourth leading scorer, who becomes a restricted free agent this summer and an unrestricted free agent after the 2003-04 season. After the trade is announced it is expected that the Leafs will sign Kovalev to a multi-year extension. For Toronto this locks up one of the leagues most exciting players long-term, and for Kovalev it allows him to cash in for unrestricted free agent type money without having to wait until after next season and the possible ramifications of the expiry of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It is likely that if there is a salary cap of some sort in the next CBA, salaries of free agents could be affected.

and....

There's no truth to the rumor that the Detroit Red Wings have been searching for Bobby Orr's phone number. For the second time in less than a week, the Red Wings were told 'thanks, but no thanks' by a retired defenseman. This time it was Ray Bourque, the 42-year-old, five-time Norris Trophy winner was contacted by Detroit officials but declined the invitation to consider joining the Red Wings depleted blueline. As reported earlier this week another former NHL defenseman, Gary Suter turned down the same request by the Wings. The Wings have also reportedly contacted the New York Rangers about defenseman Brian Leetch.

 

[hammerhead]

Lots of trade rumors flying about.

San Jose is aparently shopping Nolan lots, Leafs dealing for Kovalev, Kings looking to lose Palffy and Smolinski ( unrestricted at the end of the year. Trade deadline could prove intersting for rental players

 

[The Apprentice]

Fcuk that was word for word off TSN or Headline sports(cant recall)...very impressed with your memory.

 

[sensei_hanson]

Big trouble in the big apple....

Slats got his first result as the head coach of the Rangers last night - 4-3 OT loss to Colorado. NY blew a 3-2 lead late in the contest and Slats didn't look at all happy leaving the bench last night.

Sather could be in serious job jeopardy here - seems like a pretty drastic measure to put himself behind the bench in a situation like this. I gather the NY brass gave him the "you made this mess, you fix it" ultimatum and he figured this was the best way to go about it.

Can Slats fix the Rangers?

 

[TheRob]

He can start by getting rid of some of the "superstars". There are too many of them on that team. Lindros is a cancer.

 

[Dapotayto]

The only way I think Slats could fix the Rangers is if he had a magic frickin' wand that changed old, overpaid primadonnas into young, hungry warriors. Damn, I love watching the Rangers suck!

 

[sensei_hanson]

yesterday's trade....

Nice move by the Ducks. This might actually get them into that 8th playoff spot in the West.

(TheFourthPeriod.com) -- The Anaheim Mighty Ducks have acquired All-Star defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh and defenseman Lance Ward from the Florida Panthers. In exchange, Anaheim sends forward Matt Cullen, defenseman Pavel Trnka, and a fourth round pick in this year's Entry Draft.

Ozolinsh is the centerpiece of the deal, the 30-year-old, 11-year veteran will join his fifth NHL team. Regarded as one of the NHL's most skilled offensive defensemen throughout his career, Ozolinsh has also carried with him complaints from coaches that he only plays when he wants to. He has 26 points in 51 games with the Panthers this year. The Panthers have been trying to move Ozolinsh and his $5.5 million/year contract for most of this year and they finally found a taker in the improving Ducks. Anaheim is 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 games and now sit one point out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. As was reported on TFP earlier today, the Ducks are buyers not sellers approaching the trade deadline, and they proved that with tonight's trade. They also receive defenseman Ward who has 4 points and 78 penalty minutes in 36 games this year with Florida.

Florida receives Cullen 26, who has 21 points in 50 games with Anaheim this year, and Trnka 26, who spent five years with Anaheim. Trnka has only participated in 24 games this year, and has 9 points.

 

[Lupoman]

All-stars......

Caught the NHL's annually shinny game on the box yesterday, and while it was still a no-hit event, the goal tending was outstanding, making for what turned out to be a fairly entertaining game.Too bad all these events couldn't be like this one was. Got to take the ballotting away from the fans... Brian Leetch getting selected to go, are you kidding me? Don't know if he was actually injured, or did the class move and bowwed out, but he should not have been there. Anyway a good close game, nice goal from Jovo, and the good guys winning in the shoot-out.
Not bad.

lupoman

 

[sensei_hanson]

I bet Milbury is really happy about passing on Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik for Rick DiPietro in the 2000 draft. How good did Heatley look on Sunday? 22 years old and he's scoring four goals in the All-Star game. That's mental.

If Hotlanta keeps Heatley and Kovalchuk together for a while, we could be on the verge of a tandem (talentwise, anyways) not seen since the Lemieux-Jagr time in Pittsburgh.

Too bad they're in Atlanta.

 

[sensei_hanson]

Kovalev to the Rangers....

I know somebody already put this in the Trade 'Em thread, but I thought I'd put my reply here. Just coz. Here's the deal:

Going to New York along with Kovalev are defenceman Janne Laukkanen, winger Dan Lacouture, and defenceman Mike Wilson.

Pittsburgh gets winger Rico Fata, winger Mikael Samuelsson, defenceman Joel Bouchard, defenceman Richard Lintner, and a speculated $4 million cash.

“We’re thrilled,” Rangers assistant captain Eric Lindros told Sportsnet. “It shows the New York Rangers are still totally committed, and there is still enough time to take a run at it (the playoffs). I couldn’t be happier.”

Kovalev, who was courted by several NHL teams, has 27 goals and 37 assists this season while playing alongside Mario Lemieux. The 29-year old forward is set to become a unrestricted free-agent this summer.

The Blueshirts currently trail Tampa Bay by six points for the eight and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.


I mean, just another superstar for the Rangers to payroll, but seriously, look at what they line up at forward now: Bure, Messier, Holik, Lindros, Kovalev, Nedved and Dvorak. The only team that runs deeper in the forward department right now is Dallas. And that's not even counting Barnaby and McCarthy who are having solid years for the Blueshirts.

They also pick up some depth on their shitty blueline with Laukkanen and Wilson. This one looks like a major steal for Slats, but given his track record in the Big Apple, only time will tell.

I tell you what though, if you're one of the top three seeds in the East, you can't be happy thinking that the Rangers could get hot and sneak into the playoffs as a 6-8 seed. Especially if Bure comes back within the next month. Dang.....

 

[Keeper]

ESPN hockey analyst Bill Clement, on Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux starting a fight with Florida's Brad Ference:

"Owners shouldn't attack players like that."

 

[Dapotayto]

Sensei,

I don't think the Rangers are going anywhere with Messier taking up all the ice-time at centre. Twenty-five minutes a night he's getting with younger guys like Lindros picking up the scraps. Maybe I'm a dummy but with Holik and Bure hurt and a senior citizen playing first line centre their team is actually extremely thin. And Nedved. Puh-lease. Imho, Slat's devotion to Messier is dragging the team down. It's an 'old-boys club'. How the hell would you feel if your 'captain' was in bed with the GM? It's a lot like when Keenan and Messier were here together. The rest of the players said all the right things but they basically tuned Messier out. He's not quite the Uberleader everysone says. I think Kovalev will definitely help. I heard some people slagging the Rangers for picking up Kovalev and adding another huge salary for next year (probably $7m after filing for arbitration) but they're not thinking about the future. Messier and Leetch will be gone next year and that's almost FIFTEEN MILLION in salaries they will shed. Maybe some of the other guys can finally step out of Messier's shadow as well.

 

[Zaurrini]

Driving into work....

Naslund or Forsberg?

who is better?

personally, I cannot believe it was even brought up!

If you were starting a team, and had to pick either Marcus or Peter, who would you take?

Me: Forsberg, no question.