NHL Returns with Looming Deadline

NHL hockey returned last night after a two week break with Detroit edging the tenacious Avs in Colorado. Though perhaps, 'break' is not really the most apropos word, as hockey was still very much is the spotlight in North America, as Canada won the Gold medal on Sunday against the U.S. with by far the biggest audience in Canadian television history.

80% of the Canadian population tuned in at some point in the broadcast to watch their heroes take Gold with 50% of the population watching the whole thing. Such an amazing captivation is unprecedented and surely augurs well for Gary Bettman and NHL heading towards the playoffs. Along with the return of NHL action comes the return of trade buzz.

With the deadline looming at 3pm EST tomorrow afternoon, NHL general mangers scramble to negotiate the transaction that they think will get them that added edge come April. Already a few minor to medium-sized trades have taken place since trade-season re-opened, with names like Grebeshkov, Artukhin, Toivonen and Leopold all being given new homes. But over 24 hours remains and a storm is surely brewing.

In this new age of NHL parity, comes a shortening of the lists of buyers and sellers alike and more and more general managers aren't particularly sure exactly what category they should fall under. Still, there are enough clear-cut buyers and sellers out there to at least speculate around the water cooler. In terms of sellers, it would be safe to include Atlanta, Carolina, Columbus, Edmonton, Florida, NY Islanders and Toronto in that group of prospect and pick seekers.

Plenty of names, as usual, have been thrown around over the last few weeks but some guys with a very good chance of moving are: Joe Corvo, Cory Stillman, Ray Whitney, Radek Dvorak, Dan Hamhius and Tomas Vokoun. Given the activity prior to the Olympic break which saw Kovalchuk, Phaneuf and Giguere sent elsewhere, March 3 will most likely seem comparatively quiet.

For the action that does take place, it's safe to assume GM's from Boston, Chicago, Buffalo, Los Angeles, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Washington will be among those actively seeking the missing parts to create the soughtafter, Stanley Cup Machine.

All the answers will come tomorrow as the details of each deal unfold. Every trade deadline is always a fun day for a hockey fan, but don't be too disappointed or surprised to find that all the big deals have already happened.

Winter Olympics: Knockout Preview

With the round-robin group stage of the Olympic Men's Hockey Tournament in the books, a very interesting and unexpected picture has emerged. The standings after the group stage is as follows:

(1) United States:
Road to the Gold - Bye through first-round playing winner of (SUI/BLR) in quarter-finals followed by most likely CZE or FIN in semi-final.
(2) Sweden:
Road to the Gold - Bye through first-round playing winner of (SLV/NOR) in quarter-finals followed by most likely RUS or CAN in semi-final.
(3) Russian Federation:
Road to the Gold - Bye through first-round playing winner of (CAN/GER) in quarter-finals followed by most likely SWE in semi-final.
(4) Finland:
Road to the Gold - Bye through first-round playing winner of (CZE/LAT) in quarter-finals followed by most likely USA in semi-final.
(5) Czech Republic:
Road to the Gold - LAT in first-round, followed by FIN in quarter-finals and most likely USA in semi-final.
(6) Canada:
Road to the Gold - GER in first-round, followed by RUS in quarter-finals and most likely SWE in semi-final.
(7) Slovakia:
Road to the Gold - NOR in first-round, followed by SWE in quarter-finals and most likely RUS or CAN in semi-final.
(8) Switzerland:
Road to the Gold - BLR in first-round, followed by USA in quarter-finals and most likely FIN or CZE in semi-final.
(9) Belarus:
Road to the Gold - SUI in first-round, followed by USA in quarter-finals and most likely FIN or CZE in semi-final.
(10) Norway:
Road to the Gold - SLV in first-round, followed by SWE in quarter-finals and most likely RUS or CAN in semi-final.
(11) Germany:
Road to the Gold - CAN in first-round, followed by RUS in quarter-finals and most likely SWE in semi-final.
(12) Latvia:
Road to the Gold - CZE in first-round, followed by FIN in quarter-finals and most likely USA in semi-final.

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As I see it, there are only five real contendors for the Gold, any one of which can win on any given night (or day, as the case may be):

United States: After a seemingly slow start against the suffocating Swiss, the young upstart U.S. squad seemed to go from strength to strength with the lead of veteran defenseman, Brian Rafalski, who scored 4 goals and added an assist in the three games. After easily accounting for Norway 6-1, in their second clash, the stage was set for their biggest test, Team Canada. The Americans passed their first test with flying colours as they stormed past a frustrated Canadian squad 5-3, taking top seed after the group stage.

Sweden: Perhaps the most consistent team in the tourney thus far, Sweden looks serious about defending their Olympic crown. Having allowed a stingy 2 goals in their first three games, this will be a tough team for anyone to beat. Two more concerns for would-be opponent; Swedish goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, is still yet to allow a goal in his two starts and the dangerous tandem of Henrik Zetterberg and Peter Forsberg, while yet to score between them, look very sharp and due to trouble scorekeepers as well as goalies very soon.

Russia: The top "favorite" along with Canada, this team like it's short-betted counterpart has seen a few hiccups so far. With the exception of the opening game against the under-talented Latvian team, Russia has been far from dominant and even lost to Slovakia in a shootout. Defense and goaltending is still yet to be proven and may need more from the immensely talented offense to get the gold. The bad news for the Russians is, they'll need to go through Sweden and most likely Canada to do it.

Finland: The silver-medallists in Torino have one again proven to be a formidabble opponent so far, but as demonstrated in the final game of the group games, Sweden is still ahead of them when all is said and done. Tight defense and an extraordinarily effective powerplay mowed through the competition in.... but it all came undone against the Swedes. Their 6/12 PP was unable to convert on seven attempts including two 2-man advantages and were reminded of their distaste for their neighbours to the west. The Fins will need more from their offense to get on the podium and probably a miraculous effort from goalie, Miikka Kiprusoff, to go one better and snag Gold this time around.

Canada: Disappointing is probably somewhat of an understatement when used to describe Team Canada so far. The build up to these Olympic Games was colossal as the Canadians eagerly awaited the chance at redemption for the woeful outing in Torino where they finished seventh. The pressure was immense and so far, the Canadians seem to have responsed poorly with only one regulation win in three games with a loss to southern rivals, the U.S. Having said that, a team this talented cannot be ruled out of contention until they out of the tournament. If they do in fact, find their groove, it'll be a near impossible task to stop the Hockey Nation.

The great thing about our game and these tournaments, particularly the Olympics, is that any team can win if they play well enough. Of these five legitimate 'contendors', you could probably expect one of them to lose a game to a 'non-contendor' before the series is over.

The Winter Olympics really is a hockey-lovers dream and so far, the tourney has definitely delivered the drama only this game can bring. As the stakes rise in the knockout stages we should expect more drama and more excitement and I, for one, can't wait!

The Caps and The Cup

Everyone loves to watch the Capitals. Why wouldn't they? They play a fast-paced, high-scoring, reckless style of game that is pure entertainment on ice. And while the popularity of the Washington Capitals soars to the highest of heights, both inside and outside of the Nation's Capital, are they actually good eanough to finally be a Cup Champion?

Dave Thorson once said, "Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships." and recent history seems to be pretty consistent with this old adage. Of the past ten Cup-winners, four of them have had the best GAA in the playoffs and eight of them were in the top three. The two outside the top 3 were:

- Last year's Penguins, who were fifth after a high-scoring seven-game shootout with said Washington Capitals, giving up over 3 goal/game in that classic series. Aside from that series, the Penuins were fairly stingy giving up less than two and a half goals per game, good for about 4th.

- The 2002 Red Wings who were also fifth in GAA, but boasted possibly the most feared offensive line-up of all time with names like Hull, Yzerman, Robitaille, Fedorov, Shanahan and Larionov. Despite having four teams statistically ahead of them in defense, the Wings barely gave up 2 goals per game during the playoffs -- certainly nothing to be embarrassed about.

Right now, the Capitals are 19th in the NHL in goals against per game giving up 2.81 each outing. That's half a goal more than Chicago, the best in the League. Of all the impressive stats Bruce Boudreau's team has earnt, this is not one of them. Not since the high-flying Pens of 1992 has a team given up more than 2.80 goals/game in the playoffs and won the Stanley Cup.

The good news is that this glaring defensive statistic for Washington is only a regular season stat. And despite this they still sit atop the entire NHL. But is this kind of defensively-irresponsible hockey good enough to win in the postseason?

As mentioned, history says no.

There's no doubt about it, the Caps have an amazingly talented offense. One that can, and has been relied on many times to win a game. But during the course of a seven-game series, a well-coached team has the ability to familiarize themselves with their opponent and find weaknesses to exploit.

All the confidence in the world can be obliterated in just a few short games, when one or two players begin to doubt themselves. And that's where the problem lies. With the help of an astute coach and an excellent goaltender, it's not only feasible, but likely, that a team could gain and maintain the upper-hand when it comes to playoff hockey.

If a team were to completely stymie the rhythm of a Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin, can Ovechkin really do it all alone? What if, God-forbid, AO himself were the lose his, seemingly endless supply of mojo? It's difficult to see how the Capitals could possibly get out of the holes they consistently create for themselves with their aggressive style if these-albeit extremely potent-threats are nullified.

Even with their amazing recent streak and their current place in the standings, the Capitals have shown times when they are simply not the best team on the ice. Sometimes they still find a way to win those games, but over seven-games those injustices usually find a way of balancing between the teams.

The way they play is the reason I, along with many others, would love to see them succeed, but the way they play is also the reason they probably won't. In the second-season, familiarity is the worst enemy of a team that plays one-dimensionally and that is probably the most appropriate way to describe Washington right now.

Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom and Green are just a few of the stars in D.C. that are undeniably dangerous. But against a suffocating, oppressively-disciplined defense, you cannot expect 4+ goals from them every night and if they continue to allow goals against to flow like a Sharks' fans tears in April, that's what they'll need.

If coach Bourdreau can't find a way to instill a defensive conscience into his players, they will find themselves once again, playing golf after one or two playoff rounds.

Trade Deadline: Part One

February 12 was expected to be somewhat of a hectic day of NHL trades being the "deadline before the deadline". The Olympic trade freeze will end in just over weeks on February 28, giving NHL GM's just over two days to finalise their deals before March 3 "real" deadline at 3.00pm.

But while Friday's activity was for the most part, underwhelming, the preceding events certainly gave hockey fans plenty to discuss.

February 12, 2010
Minnesota acquires: (D) Cam Barker
Chicago acquires: (D) Kim Johnsson, (D) Nick Leddy

My hat goes off to Stan Bowman for this one. How he was able to trade a player he was in need of off-loading for a promising young talent in Leddy and experienced vet Kim Johnsson is beyond me. In all honesty, Wild GM Chuck Fletcher, had all the leverage in this deal. How did he get so screwed??

New York acquires: (F) Jody Shelley
San Jose acquires: Conditional 6th-Round Draft Pick (5th if he Re-signs w/ NYR)

This trade will in all likelihood be of very little consequence to anyone.

Ottawa Acquires: (F) Matt Cullen
Carolina Acquires: (D) Alexandre Picard, 2nd-Round Pick

Sens' GM Bryan Murray, went straight to work after his contract extension. Matt Cullen is a good character addition to the Sens' lineup, he should also provide a good point-man for their powerplay. The Hurricanes may turn out to be the winner of this trade though; 24-year old D-man Alex Picard could develop into a very important part of the 'Canes blue-line and the 2nd-round pick is just icing on the cake. Nice deal for both teams really.

February 11, 2010
Montreal Acquires: (F) Dominic Moore
Florida Acquires: 2nd-Round Pick (2011)

My initial reaction to this deal was to laugh. I'm still kind of laughing to be honest. Once again, the siren-song sung by Dominic Moore has lured in another unaware sailor -- this time, it's the newly-promoted Pierre Gauthier. A second-rounder for this perennial let-down will almost certainly prove to be a mistake on Gauthier's part. And I thought Bob Gainey had been a bad GM in the past few years.

Pittsburgh Acquires: (D) Steve Wagner
St. Louis Acquires: (D) Nate Guenin

There's not a great deal to say about this.... uh, deal. Two young minor-leaguers that probably won't play very much NHL in their lives.

February 9, 2010
Dallas Acquires: (G) Kari Lehtonen
Atlanta Acquires: (D) Ivan Vishnevskiy, 4th-Round Pick (2010)

Nieuwendyk really wanted a new #1 goalie in Dallas, apparently. To move Ivan Vishnevskiy alone, let alone add a fourth-rounder is pretty bold. Vishnevskiy was an excellent defensive prospect for Dallas. Having said that, Kari Lehtonen certainly has the potential to be a great goalie for them. I still have that fading memory of his AHL performance in Chicago during the lockout.

February 7, 2010
San Jose Acquires: (D) Niclas Wallin, 5th-Round Pick (2010)
Carolina Acquires: 2nd-Round Pick (2010)

San Jose is not really in a position to acquire a big-ticket player at the deadline. With Thornton, Marleau, Heatley, Boyle, Blake, etc. -- do they really need one? Wallin is a big guy at 6'3", 220lbs and has a moderate cap-hit of $1.725m. Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford, did pretty well to upgrade his 5th-round draft pick for the Sharks' second-rounder for a guy that wasn't in their future plans anyway. Expect much more from Rutherford after the Olympics. Everything must go!!

February 6, 2010
Detroit Acquires: (D) Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, 5th-Round Pick (2011)
Philadelphia Acquires: (F) Ville Leino

After losing Kyle Quiney for nothing in the 2008/09 season, Wings' fans were probably expecting the same to happen with Ville Leino. Wings' GM, Ken Holland was in desperate need of shedding salary. Leino had been by far the biggest disappointment in Detroit this season and was an automatic choice to go. Getting Tollefsen and the Flyers' fifth-rounder isn't too bad of a return considering the tough position Holland was in.

Compared to the monumental swaps we'd seen earlier involving names like Giguere, Phaneuf, and Kovalchuk, these reports are somewhat anti-climactic. The good news is, Trade Deadline Part Deux, is still to come.

The Mystery of Detroit

If last night's shootout loss to St. Louis demonstrated anything to the hockey world, it's that the Red Wings clearly do not understand the urgency of the situation they are in. Right now they sit ninth in the Western Conference amidst a ferocious fight between seven teams for two playoff births. Apparently this information was not relayed to Detroit, who played a lethargic and apathetic game for the better part of fifty, of what at times seemed to be, endless minutes.

Then, inexplicably, the Wings wanted to play.

Attempting to gain a firm, or for that matter, tenuous comprehension of this enigmatic squad would most likely prove to be a frivolous task. An empathetic person could certainly see why the Wings of past years have displayed occasional diffidence when a playoff spot is all but locked up in December. It's a long season and most of the time, the playoffs are just too far away. These days however, the eternal wait for the playoffs could use a slight extension.

With each suffered loss, the importance of each game increases. This truth, undeniable, despite the contradictory words spoken by Detroit's on-ice actions. Perhaps force of habit is behind their listless efforts, perhaps it's fatigue, or maybe after a Cup and a heart-breaking Cup Final-loss, it's a loss of passion, but confidence should not be the cause of their ailing ways.

Being down 3-1 and facing another disappointment with six minutes to play, Detroit dominated until the score was tied. The goals scored weren't particularly demonstrative of the usual Red Wing-style, and some might say luck got them to overtime with some fortunate bounces. But the fact is, for the first time in that game, Detroit put sustained pressure on the St. Louis defense and for all intents and purposes, willed the puck over the line. Twice.

It's amazing what talent like that can do in five minutes when they slip out of first-gear. To the average spectator, it would seem theoretically logical and reasonable, to suggest that if coach Mike Babcock could negotiate even forty minutes of urgent intensity from his players, wins would instantaneously become less elusive. Apparently, the mysterious throttle on this juggernaught is not as easy to operate as it once was.

Maybe we're all being fooled and Detroit will end up with the fourth seed through some sudden spring to action. This is still actually a plausible scenario given the flashes of excellence we have seen from time to time. But unless those flashes become a steady stream, it won't happen.

Even then, nothing can be certain. Talent is great, but talent alone is not the reason they became the Stanley Cup Champions in 2008. The hardest working team in the National Hockey League, was the Detroit Red Wings. The hunger and the work-ethic of that time barely even felt like a memory but more a dream about a past incarnation when you watched them play last night.

Upon the return of Holmstrom and Kronwall, they will be devoid of excuses. It has been a tough year for the mighty Wings, one that no-one would envy. The good news for the Detroit faithful is, they do have the power. They control their destiny and what's more, they can win games when they really want to.

So. Do they really want to?

Red Hot!

Thursday and Friday night saw the extension of two very impressive win streaks. One surprising, one not so much.

Two nights ago, another team that's been heating up of late, the Vancouver Canucks visited Scotiabank Place with the intent of ending a 10-game win-streak of the Sens. The 'Nucks had won 6 of their last 7 through the benefit of the hottest line in the league in January -- Alex Burrows and the Sedin Twins. Red-hot rookie netminder, Brian Elliot was equal to the potency of the dominant line as he extended his own personal win-streak to 9 games as the Senators never really looked like losing en route to a 3-1 decision extending their streak to 11.

24 hours later, in a somewhat contrasting affair, the Capitals pushed their league-leading, frachise-record streak to 13 straight wins, this time with a win over the Kovy-less Atlanta Thrashers 5-2.

The significance of the extension of these two streaks is the potential record-setting "Something's Gotta Give" match-up between these two next Thursday if both sides can remain in the win column until then. If this indeed does happen, the Senators will place their 13-game streak up against the 15-game mark of the Caps. Two teams playing each with a combined 28-game winning streak will be an NHL record.

Before that, the Caps must survive "Ovechkin vs. Crosby II" on Sunday in Washington and be successful in a visit to Montreal while Ottawa visits the disappointing Leafs tonight and plays host to Calgary on Tuesday.

The chances of this big meeting on Thursday night having the significance of a record-breaking streak vs. streak are still somewhat low. Four games need to be won:

• Tonight 2/6 - Ottawa @ Toronto: The Leafs will be looking to get a win in honor of the tragic loss of Brendan Burke - son of Leafs' GM, Brian - who died last night in a horrible car accident.
• Sunday 2/7 - Pittsburgh @ Washington: The Caps are at home and won the last meeting in Pittsburgh pretty handily, but beating the reigning Champs is never a simple task. NB: Don't anticipate seeing anything else covered on NHL.com but this game.
  
• Tuesday 2/9 - Calgary @ Ottawa: Call it addition by subtraction or just coincidence, but the Flames seem to have responded very well to the recent changes to the club -- no easy game for the Senators.
• Wednesday 2/10 - Washington @ Montreal: Of all four games, this is probably the most winnable for the streaking team. Montreal are not to be underestimated though, and if Halak is in goal and on his game, the Caps will find it very difficult to find the net 6 or 7 times as they seem to so frequently do.

So something big could be waiting right around the corner next Thursday. Again, there is still a very good chance both these streaks will no longer be intact, but even if so, it should prove to be a very interesting game between the two hottest teams going around. Incidentally, I might put myself on the line with the early prediction -- winner: the fans!

Okay yeah that was a huge copout and hideously clichéd... deal with it.

Could Kovy Mean More Than a Cup?

Well, the torrid whirlwind of speculation surrounding the city the biggest name on the trading-block would be calling home this weekend (yes, yes, I was definitely one of the hopeless speculators) is over. Ilya Kovalchuk is a New Jersey Devil.

All week we'd heard rumors of him heading to Philadelphia, Calgary, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and even Washington but Lou Lamoriello was the one able to best synergise with the Atlanta GM, Don Waddell.

Reports say the sought-after star was offered contracts of $70m/7yrs to $101m/12yrs but declined. Maybe Kovalchuk thinks he can get more money, maybe he just feels like a change of scenery or maybe he wants a Cup. The events that unfold over the off-season will surely provide the answers to those questions, but what about now?

You wouldn't win much for guessing that most Devils fans are quite pleased with the transaction -- and why wouldn't they be? NJ was a contender before the deal. Now with one of the best attackers in the game, imagine the possibilities. Zajac, Parise and Kovalchuk? That could be fun!

Whichever way Kovalchuk's presence is integrated in the New Jersey roster, the impact will be quite large. I use the words "quite large" in the same way Ken Hitchcock's jock-strap says its job "Isn't great.".

But for the slightest moment, let's ignore the Devils newly attained dangerousness.

For the first. time. ever. I actually thought to myself, "I'm gonna hafta watch a bit more of the Devils." and as crazy as it sounds, I'll bet I'm not alone with this sentiment.

For the longest time, New Jersey has been home to the most boring product in the NHL. Personally, I always found it difficult to criticise because at the end of the day, it worked. But through all the years of sustained success, fans in Garden State never reached the excitement-levels you see in Washington or Pittsburgh right now.

Kovy won't change the defense-first style of Lamoriello's regime, but the fact is New Jersey has never seen a player of Kovalchuk's talent in its relatively short history. It could be said that Kovalchuk alone could put more fans in the seats this playoff season, than winning the Cup without him might have.

A new era could be dawning in NJ if Lou is able to work his magic and keep Ilya beyond 2009/10. The rare talent of a player like Kovalchuk, coupled with the enduring inherent success the team seems to eternally possess, could be the panacea for indifference the town has always shown for their hockey team.