I know it is a big time for many prospects on the weekend of the NHL Entry Draft, but I am more interested in the wheeling and dealing that takes place among the clubs.
The Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins delivered the biggest blockbuster of the weekend. The Penguins, unable to come to terms with Jordan Staal long term, traded Staal to the Hurricanes for centre Brandon Sutter, their first round pick and a prospect.
Staal, considered by many to be one of the best natural centremen in the game today, will join his brother Eric in Carolina.
This past season Staal had 25 goals and 25 assists in 62 games, while Sutter had 17 goals and 15 assists in 82 games.
The Dallas Stars dumped salary by trading Mike Ribeiro to the Washington Capitals for forward Cody Eakin and a second round pick in 2012. Ribeiro had 18 goals and 45 assists this past season.
It was a very intriguing opening night of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
First off, you have the Pittsburgh Penguins blowing a huge 3-0 lead only to see the Philadelphia Flyers storm back to win the game 4-3 in overtime on a game winning goal by Jakub Voracek. Other key performers for the Flyers Wednesday night were Daniel Briere who notched two goals and Brayden Schenn with a goal and two assists. It will be interesting to see how the Penguins rebound from a devastating loss.
In Vancouver, the Canucks had penalty issues all night long, accumulating 27 minutes in penalties, highlighted by a five minute major for boarding by Byron Bitz in the second period. The Kings kept the game close, and with the score 2-2, former Oiler Dustin Penner scored the game winner with 3:14 left. How many times Penner will come to play during the playoffs is anyone’s guess, but he was a factor Wednesday night as he was a recipient of an outstanding Jeff Carter pass with his skate in a 4-2 Kings win.
In Nashville, the Preds were lucky to beat the Red Wings 3-2. The team got two garage goals early–a Paul Gaustad shot from a bad angle that went off of Brad Stuart’s skate and a Matt Halischuk shot near the blueline that was tipped by Gabriel Bourque that handcuffed Jimmy Howard.
Another week has come and gone in the NHL, which means it’s once again time to count down the best of the best from around the league.
This week on the GOTW we’ve got a unusual looking penalty shot, a couple of bruising power forwards showing off some soft hands, a spin-o-rama overtime winner and a great breakaway dangle.
Let’s go!
5. Alexander Semin
It’s not everyday that you see a guy try a clapper on a penalty shot, but Washington Capitals forward Alex Semin did it to perfection this past week. The crazy part is that he winds up at the hash marks and puts it right into the top corner!
(AFTER THE JUMP: The rest of this week’s Top 5!) (more…)
In separate blockbuster deals, the Philadelphia Flyers have traded the two most notable faces of their franchise.
First, Philadelphia traded Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakub Voracek, and Columbus’s first and third round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. Columbus’s first pick is very interesting, as it is number eight overall.
Second, Philadelphia traded captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for forwards Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds and a second round draft pick.
Carter led the Flyers with 36 goals in 2011, while Richards led the Flyers with three shorthanded goals. Each sniper had 66 points.
Then after the Flyers traded away two players that combined for 132 points in 2010-11, they signed goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine year deal worth $51 million.
The mindset of the Flyers’ management is that a goaltender was not just a requirement, but a necessity in 2011-12. In the Flyers’ Eastern Conference Semi-Final against Boston, Tim Thomas clearly outplayed the Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky. But the bottom line should also be noted was that Bryzgalov was not very steady in net for Phoenix against Detroit in the Western Conference Quarterfinal.
After the first two periods of Wednesday’s World Junior Hockey Championship gold medal game it looked like it was going to be Canada’s night, but as Ryan Ellis and company found out…looks can be deceiving!
A fired up Russian squad scored three times in five minutes to tie the game near the start of the third period, including two goals that came just eleven seconds apart. They put the game away with two more in the closing five, virtually stealing the title out of the hands of the waiting Canadians and stunning the thousands of fans in attendance.
Who would have thought that Canada, coming off a huge win over the United States and playing in a tenth straight final, would fall to pieces like that?
As I write this, hours after the final whistle, I’m still shocked by what I saw! Canada seemed to have it in the bag after two relatively dominant periods and then just fell flat. So what happened out there? (more…)
Remember the time the Tampa Bay Lightning are tied for top spot in the Eastern Conference?
That time would be now, thanks to a 1-0 overtime win over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night, a 34-save shutout for newly acquired goalie Dwayne Roloson. The Lightning picked up Roli the Goalie on the weekend for practically nothing from the New York Islanders, sending him from the bottom of the standings to near the top.
I’ve always liked the way the unassuming Roloson carries himself – when he was with the Oilers, the thing that always stuck out for me was his insistence that he still had years of hockey ahead of him despite his age, since he had shared starting duties for a big chunk of his career. Some people didn’t believe him, but here he is at 41 looking like a young buck. (After the jump: All-Star voting, Ovechkin’s new commercial, Kovalchuk’s brutal night and a WJHC final preview!)(more…)
Canada is now off to the semi-finals of the World Junior Hockey Championship.
On Sunday, Brayden Schenn recorded two assists as Canada defeated Switzerland 4-1 in their quarterfinal game in Buffalo.
The win now means Canada will play the United States in the semi-final this evening (5:30pm, TSN).
Expect Mark Visentin to get a second consecutive start. He looked awful on the one Swiss goal that was scored. He didn’t put his right pad up to the post, allowing for an opening for the puck to get by him. Then in the second period, Visentin had a complete mental lapse as he thought there was a Switzerland penalty and went off the ice, when in fact there was a Canadian one. Luckily Visentin’s lapse didn’t cost Canada a goal on that occasion.
On Friday you can simply put it– one Oiler prospect was rock solid, and the other was horrendously awful for Canada in their 6-5 shootout loss to Sweden at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo Friday.
Being in the New Year’s spirit, let’s take a look at the good first.
Curtis Hamilton of the Saskatoon Blades, the Oilers’ 4th choice, 48th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, probably had his best game of the tournament to date. He scored twice and had great chemistry with teammates Ryan Johansen and Brayden Schenn.
Ok. It was only Norway, a team many believe should not have been at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
But Brayden Schenn of Saskatoon simply had one of those nights on Wednesday when everything he did was right. His four goal performance has only been matched twice by Team Canada in World Junior Hockey Championship history– 1983 by Mario Lemieux against Norway and 1999 by Simon Gagne against Kazakhstan.
Already down to 18 skaters because of injuries to Cody Eakin (hand), Calvin de Haan (lower body), Jaden Schwartz (knee) and a controversial suspension to Zack Kassian, Canada had to shorten its bench, but still came away with a commanding 10-1 blowout victory.
But, if you thought that a four goal performance by Schenn would be good enough for him to be named player of the game– you’re wrong. That honour went to defenceman Erik Gudbranson, who scored a pair of goals himself. The selection of Gudbranson over Schenn led TSN analyst Pierre McGuire to comment that the entire process for the player of the game award needed to be reviewed– a comment I agree with immensely.
The Canadian effort Tuesday was significantly strong against the Czech Republic.
Once again, the team continued to have a very balanced scoring attack as seven different players put the puck in the Czech net.
The final result was a convincing 7-2 Canada victory. Canada was led offensively by Brayden Schenn, who has played with the Los Angeles Kings this year (one goal and four assists) and captain Ryan Ellis (one goal and three assists).
Even though Canada is currently 2-0, they didn’t come out of Tuesday’s game unscathed.
It wasn’t pretty. At times a little lackadaisical. But the bottom line is simple– a win is a win is a win.
There were positives as well as a few negatives in Canada’s 6-3 win over Russia at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo today.
First, let’s take a look at the positives. The experts said for Canada to have a good tournament, they needed a balanced scoring attack. Well, they got goals from Marcus Foligno, Ryan Ellis, Erik Gudbranson, Ryan Johansen, Brayden Schenn and Oiler prospect Curtis Hamilton.
Canada was also disciplined. They only took three penalties. Solid, when considering it was a Finn and a Swede refereeing. European officials tend to call more infractions than North Americans.
Another week has come and gone in the NHL, which means it’s once again time to count down the best of the best from around the league.
Wow, I didn’t see that coming…
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