Riding High in Denver
By Kaprowy | Posted on April 10, 2010 | No Comments
If you were to bet at the beginning of the NHL season where the Colorado Avalanche would rank in the Western Conference you probably wouldn’t have guessed they’d make the playoffs. The reasons are many: the Avalanche are coming off a losing season (32-45) where they finished last in the conference with head coach Tony Granato, they lost hall of famer Joe Sakic to retirement, they rely too heavily on young players and they have an unproven starting goaltender.
That’s a lot stacked up against a team. But its also a recipe that the Avalanche have used for success. Starting with Colorado’s general manager Greg Sherman, the Avalanche wanted to build a team for the 2009-2010 season that was young, exciting and hard working. To fit into this blue print, the Avalanche selected speedy centre Matt Duchene third overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Duchene fit perfectly and has had an immediate impact. Centering the second line, Duchene is likely the front runner for the Calder Trophy with 54 points in his rookie season. Likewise, the second round pick of the Avalanche at the 2009 Entry Draft, Ryan O’Reilly is starting at the third line center position and has a had impact on the team.
The leadership of the Avalanche was passed onto veteran defenceman Adam Foote. Foote, an Olympian and long time Avalanche all star, was named the captain after Joe Sakic decided to retire. With two championships wins and an 18 year professional career Foote has winning experience and has shared his experience with the younger players.
The young players of Colorado have been the biggest surprises. Colorado’s rookies have scored a combined 158 points (60 goals, 98 Assists). This statistic leads other NHL teams by a huge margin. In addition, the hard nosed play of second year player Chris Stewart is also having an impact. Stewart leads the team in goals (28) and is second in team scoring behind Paul Statsny. Statsny, only 24, is again having another productive year for the Avalanche with 79 points in 80 games.
Craig Anderson has played backup for the past seven seasons and has waited for his opportunity to be a number one goaltender. In his first full season as the number one, Anderson is setting records for the Avs. He has played the most games in a season (70) by any goalie in Nordiques/Avalanche history and has picked up his 38th win tying him for second with Patrick Roy for the most wins in a season for the Avalanche/Nordiques. Anderson was spectacular during the beginning of the season and many believed a candidate for the Vezina trophy. Lately however some believe he was almost played too much. Time will tell.
The question for you: What is the No.1 reason the Avalanche WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
Being a King in LA
By Kaprowy | Posted on April 9, 2010 | 1 Comment
The LA Kings came out hot this season. Ryan Smyth was in the top fifteen in scoring at one point and Anze Kopitar was leading the league. They played a solid two way game throughout the rest of the season and have found themselves tied for fifth with Detroit and Nashville in the Western Conference standings with two games remaining.
This is a great turnaround considering that the Kings have missed the playoffs the past six seasons. They were hungry, maybe even starving for a playoff birth. This year they have scored more, found leadership in their captains and have had surprise performances out of several of their players. They are a really balanced hockey team heading into the playoffs.
Leading the charge is defenceman Drew Doughty. At 20 years old nobody believed Doughty would be playing like he is at this point in his career. Doughty leads the Kings’ defencemen in scoring (57), is a plus 19, and plays just below 25 minutes a game. Add to that that he was the youngest player on team Canada at the Olympics this year and you can understand how some believe that he may get some attention for the Norris Trophy this year.
Jonathon Quick is also a player that needs to be recognized for his accomplishments. If it was not for Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes, Quick would be a shoe-in for the best goaltender in the west. Quick is tied for fifth in the league with 39 wins. Coming into his second season he has played 70 games for the Kings ranking him third overall in games played by a goalie this year. Not bad for a guy who’s had to deal with all the sleepless nights that come with being a new father.
The Kings will have to work hard on their penalty kill to be contenders. Right now they are 22nd out of 30 teams in PK percentage. On the other hand their power play is ranked sixth in the league.
Look for strong performances down the stretch by captain Dustin Brown, Ryan Smyth and Anze Kopitar as well as second year man Wayne Simmonds who leads the team in plus minus and has 16 goals this year.
The question for you: What is the No.1 reason the Kings WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
The New Face of Montreal
By Kaprowy | Posted on April 8, 2010 | 4 Comments
At the time of writing this the sixth, seventh, and eighth positions in the Eastern Conference are technically up for grabs. Montreal is sitting sixth in a dog fight with Philadelphia, Boston, the New York Rangers and Atlanta to decide who’s going to the playoffs. Here at this blog we stick with our picks and Montreal is one of the teams we believe should make the playoffs.
We are so certain they’ll make the playoffs we’re willing to bet our mom on it. Why are we so sure? Because Montreal went out and changed the whole face of their organization to make this year different. And it worked!
Montreal got new players like Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Dominic Moore, Hal Gill, Benoit Pouliot, Jaroslav Spacek, and Travis Moen. They got rid of players like Alexei Kovalev, ex-captain Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay, Guillaume Latendresse, Chris Higgins, Mike Komisarek, Patrice Brisebois, and Tom Kostopoulos. They even changed their general manager from Bob Gainey to Pierre Gauthier and got a new head coach, Jacques Martin.
Their goaltending has pretty much stayed the same and has been solidified with the play of Slovakian netminder, Jaroslav Halak. Often splitting time with Carey Price, the Canadiens will probably go with Halak in the playoffs because they just seem to win more often in front of him. Price is still great to have – he’s one of the best backups in the league, even though his record may not tell you so (13-20-5). There’s also the fact that Price is often booed when he plays on home ice, so hopefully for the pride of Montreal Halak can stay healthy through the stretch.
A key loss to the core of the Canadiens lineup has been the injury of Glenn Metropolit. Metropolit suffered a season ending shoulder injury during a late season game. Metropolit posted a career high in goals with 16 along with 29 points this season. Picking up the goal scoring for the Habs will be Thomas Plekanec, Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri, and Beniot Pouliot.
The question for you: What is the No.1 reason the Canadiens WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
Motown on the Move
By Kaprowy | Posted on April 7, 2010 | 1 Comment
Do you remember when the Detroit Red Wings sat in eighth place in the Western Conference, three points ahead of the Calgary Flames? In an article from March 22nd, this blog wrote about teams on the playoff bubble. Detroit was one of them, although we believed at the time they were playoff bound we didn’t expect them to be as dominant as they are rounding out the last remaining games of the season.
The 11 time Stanley Cup champion is now in sixth place with three games left. Two of these games are against woeful Columbus. At the end of the season the Wings could sit in a tie for fourth place in the Western Conference.
Are we again seeing glimpses of what has made this team a perennial cup contender? Detroit started slow this season and didn’t look like the Stanley Cup finalists they were a year ago. Maybe that’s what happens when you go so deep in the playoffs – you just get tired. But lately we are seeing a rejuvenated team, a team that has recently gone on a six game wining streak and they look like one of the hottest teams heading into the playoffs.
They’ve kept the same core of players: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Rafalski, Holmstrom, Draper, Maltby, Kronwall, Cleary…the list goes on. Over the last three seasons all they’ve done is win, going to the Western conference finals, the Stanley Cup finals and winning a Stanley Cup. You can never count out this team.
Also, their goaltending has been surprisingly steady. Led by rookie Jimmy Howard who’s played off and on again for the Red Wings since he graduated from University in 2005-2006, Howard is playing his first full season and with 34 wins he’s reached a personal best for his professional career. Backup to Howard is none other than Stanley Cup winner, Chris Osgood.
To top it all off, Detroit is coached by Olympic gold medal winner Mike Babcock. Into his fifth season with the Red Wings, Babcock led the team to a Stanley Cup championship in 2007-2008. Babcock’s worst finish was a first round loss in his rookie year, 2005-2006.
With all that Detroit has going for it, its no wonder teams are dreading the first round match-up against them.
The question for you: What is the biggest reason the Red Wings WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
Senators Bounce Back
By Kaprowy | Posted on April 6, 2010 | 1 Comment
The Ottawa Senators are back after a year out of the playoffs. They pretty much look like a lock for the fifth place position in the Eastern Conference standings. One of the hottest teams in the NHL, the Sens were on a six game winning streak until they lost to the New York Islanders Saturday night. The winning streak was a really good sign for the team heading into the playoffs.
Leading the late scoring charge has been Jason Spezza. On paper this hasn’t been the best season for Spezza- 54 points in 56 games. He’s been often injured missing close to thirty games but he appears to be peaking at the right time. Spezza had a three point game two games ago.
But the Senators have been missing something this season. They have the worst goals for/goals against ratio of the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.
Do they miss the services of Dany Heatley? His individual accomplishments for sure, but as a team they might be stronger without him. Heatley was traded to San Jose before the season for, most notably, Jonathon Cheechoo and Milan Michalek. Heatley twice scored 50 goals and 100 points for the Senators, but saw his point totals dip to 39 goals and 33 assists last season, the lowest of his four years in Ottawa. Picking up the goal scoring hole left by his trade has been Michalek, who has 22 goals in 64 games, Mike Fisher with 22, Spezza with 22 and Daniel Alfredsson has 20.
Still at captain, Alfredsson is the leading scorer for the Senators. Captain since the 1999-2000 season, Alfredsson has led the team to the Stanley Cup finals once in the 2006-2007 season. He is an unselfish and hard working leader, the type of captain lots of clubs would love to have.
In goal is Brian Elliot. Elliot, in his second season, has played well enough to often steal wins for the Senators. This is what’s needed in the playoffs when the games get close. Elliot has a 29-17-3 record in the regular season and has started the last seven games. He lacks playoff game experience – can he step it up?
Cory Clouston, second year coach of the Senators, also lacks playoff experience. Clouston took over the team just over half way through last year and had a record of 19-11. Add to that this years’ record of 43-30 and Clouston has a regular season record of 62-41 at the NHL level. Not bad. He could be doing all the right things and leading this team in the right direction. We’ll have to wait for the playoffs to see.
The question for you: what is the biggest reason the Senators WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
The Predators are Hungry
By Kaprowy | Posted on April 2, 2010 | 1 Comment
Nashville is one of just four teams (along with San Jose, Detroit and New Jersey) to record 40 wins in each of the last five seasons. Now into their eleventh season, the Nashville Predators are headed to the playoffs for the fifth time since joining the NHL in 1998 as an expansion franchise. They sit fifth in the Western Conference leading sixth placed Detroit by one point with three games remaining.
The team is led by Barry Trotz who’s coached the Predators for all eleven seasons- Trotz has seen it all. He’s had years with good teams- 51 wins and over 100 points in 2006-2007, and he’s had poorly performing teams- 27 wins in 2002-2003. However good or bad, the best the Predators have done is a first round playoff birth. Once there, the best they’ve done is a six game series.
So what gives this year’s team a chance of winning it all?
The Predators’ success should be a result of the play of their goaltender, Pekka Rinne. The Fin is in his second year now and had a very good rookie season. He was an early candidate for the Calder trophy. He ended up being considered the second best rookie goaltender to eventual Calder Trophy winner Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
With a year under his belt and that much more experience, Rinne has won 28 times this year. Over the last month, Rinne has been named one of the NHL’s three stars three times, and was in the running for the NHL’s player of the month. Not a bad place to be heading into the playoffs. He is also second in the league in shutouts this season.
Overall, the Predators are well rounded. They score in waves, there’s really not one line you can focus on. They’ve scored 214 times, but they’ve also been scored on 214 times, so their games are very close. They are gritty and hard to move off the puck. They have nine players with ten or more goals. They also have a thirty goal scorer in Patric Hornqvist and a twenty goal scorer in Martin Erat.
Their core is made up of steady veterans Jason Arnott, Francis Bouillon, J.P. Dumont, Steve Sullivan and David Legwand. This group has been together for several seasons now and has gelled together. Colin Wilson, Dustin Boyd, and Patric Hornqvist weren’t on anyone’s radar at the start of the season and have now established themselves as key parts of the Predators success down the stretch.
The question for you: what is the No.1 reason the Predators WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
No Wear on Miller
By Kaprowy | Posted on April 1, 2010 | 1 Comment
With five games remaining the Buffalo Sabres have locked up a playoff birth and are ranked first in the Northeast division, second in the Eastern Conference overall.
Coming off an amazing performance at the 2010 Winter Olympics there was some concern that Sabres goalie Ryan Miller may have already played too much hockey this year. Taking the US to the gold medal game and being chosen as the tournament’s MVP, Miller played ever single minute minus maybe ten when backup Tim Thomas got some pity play in their semi-final romp over the Fins.
But it doesn’t appear that Miller is complaining. Playing at this rate at this time of the year is what the number one goaltender has been doing for the Sabres for the past five years. Considered a candidate for the league’s MVP, Miller’s play has been spectacular this season. He already has 38 wins, two shy of his personal record of 40.
Overall this year has been pretty good for the Sabres. The team missed the playoffs the last two seasons, but currently are playing like they did when they went to the Eastern Conference finals in 2006 and 2007. This will be the twelfth season that Lindy Ruff has coached the team. Ruff brought the team to the finals in 1999.
Tim Connolly, Derek Roy, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek are Buffalo’s offensive threats. On the backend they are led by captain Craig Rivet and rookie defenceman Tyler Myers. In previous seasons the team has been a beset by injuries, and until recently they managed to remain relatively healthy. Recent bang ups of Tim Connolly, Thomas Vanek and Raffe Torres has meant the Sabres have had to lean on the services of younger players from their farm team. The result: a three game win streak.
What is the No.1 reason the Sabres WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
The Coyotes are Howling
By Kaprowy | Posted on March 31, 2010 | No Comments
Despite bankruptcy hearings and attempts to move the team, the Phoenix Coyotes have their best record ever in regular season play with 47 wins and 100 points. With five games remaining they are poised to reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2001-2002 season.
The play of goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov has been the biggest surprise. Recovering from last years disappointing season, the big, long legged Russian has 40 wins, second most in the NHL. His play this year has been given alot of attention and some are considering him a good fit to win this years league’s MVP.
But what can we make of a team that half of the players we’ve never heard of? Playing in Phoenix means most of us, even old die-hard Winnipeg Jets fans, never get any news of the team. Maybe that’s a blessing in disguise– come playoffs the teams that have to play the Coyotes won’t know what hit them.
Coyotes general management wanted to make changes from last years’ team- so they brought in new players like goal scorer Lee Stempniak from Toronto at the deadline and traded former first round draft pick Peter Mueller to Colorado for talented scorer Wojtek Wolski. The Phoenix defence was also improved with the free agent signing of Adrian Aucoin in the summer. Aucoin also has improved the offence – he’s a perfect 5 for 5 in shootouts this year.
But for some the exit of Wayne Gretzky may have been the best move the Coyotes made in the off season. Gretzky made his coaching debut with the Phoenix Coyotes, but it wasn’t successful. Each year the Coyotes missed the playoffs. Bring in newly hired coach Dave Tippet – 271-162-59 in six seasons with five playoff appearances – and the team has found cup contending success.
The question for you: what is the No. 1 reason the Coyotes WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
Penguins: Reigning Stanley Cup Champions
By Kaprowy | Posted on March 30, 2010 | 3 Comments
Ray Shero, general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins, put his stamp on the team by signing five key members of the hockey club- Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury and Brooks Orpik- to long term contracts. In 2006-2007, their first year together, the Penguins lost in the first round of the playoffs. They went onto the NHL finals the next season, and then won the Stanley Cup in 2008-2009.
The Pens are automatically a contender, because they’ve got pretty much the same team as the one that won last year. All that has changed on the roster are some of the periphery players. Out are Petr Sykora, Miroslav Satan, Rod Scuderi, Ryan Whitney, and Hal Gill. In are Alexei Ponikorovsky, Jordan Leopold, Mike Rupp, and Jay McKee.
To talk about the Penguins without talking about their young talent is impossible. Sidney Crosby is arguably the best forward in hockey, Evgeni Malkin was runner-up for the Hart Trophy last year, Jordan Staal is one of the best two way players in the league, Marc-Andre Fleury is one of the best goaltenders, and Brooks Orpik was a key to the success of the US team at the 2010 winter Olympics.
The only noticable weakness for the team this year has been the play of star Evgeni Malkin. The Russian star is well below his normal point totals. This may have been a result of off and on again injuries he’s suffered through for most the season. He was a standout in last year’s playoffs scoring 36 points in 24 games, sixth best ever in playoff scoring behind only Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky.
The question for you: what is the No.1 reason the Penguins WON’T win the Stanley Cup?
The Canucks: Good Enough?
By Kaprowy | Posted on March 29, 2010 | 10 Comments
Do the Vancouver Canucks have this year’s MVP? Maybe they do in centre Henrik Sedin. The league’s leading scorer coming into Monday’s games, Hank leads Alexander Ovechkin by one point in the league’s scoring race and he’s done this in large part without his brother, Daniel, who was sidelined earlier in the season with a fractured foot. Ovechkin has a higher point-per-game total, but who is more important to their team?
As far as the Canucks go, it takes more than one player to win the Stanley Cup. On paper the Canucks have the best chance of any Canadian team to go the farthest in the playoffs. With six twenty-goal scorers the team is ranked second in the NHL in goals – they trail only Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals, who have seven 20-goal scorers.
“Luooooo” is the chant often heard at both home and away games as a serenade for goalie Roberto Luongo, the Olympic gold medal winner who led team Canada to first prize at this year’s winter Olympics. But did he lead? Luongo’s play this year has been somewhat streaky. His numbers, 12th in goals against average and 14th in save percentage, are not stellar, yet the team has still found ways to win in front of him and has responded well when Luongo’s replacement Andrew Raycroft has been between the pipes. To win it all the Canucks will need Luongo to be peaking when the playoffs come.
Vancouver’s backend is very mobile. With injuries to Kevin Bieska and Willie Mitchell other Canuck defensemen like Sami Salo, Christian Ehrhoff and Alex Edler have had to step up their games. Bieska’s recent return will add stability to the lineup and bring another valuable top four defenceman for the playoff run. It does not appear that Mitchell, who has been out with concussion-like symptoms since Malkin’s cheap hit several months ago, will return this year.
Having the league’s top scorer, secondary scoring punch, and solid defensive players, Canucks fans can feel optimistic that the team has the potential this year to bring a cup to Vancouver. But Canucks fans are known for their optimism.
The question for you: What is the No. 1 reason the Canucks will NOT win the Stanley Cup?
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