Things are heating up around the NHL as the trade deadline approaches, but don’t worry folks – I’ve got a No Movement Clause!
This week on the GOTW, we’ve got a beautiful shorthanded goal from one of the Staal brothers, a monumental goal from a long-time Duck, a strangely awesome overtime winner, a last-second GWG and a wicked breakaway goal from one of the league’s rising stars.
Let’s go!
5. Eric Staal
Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal made the Habs look foolish last week with this shorthanded goal around Tomas Kaberle. He drives right around him, cuts to the net and then jams a slow-roller past Carey Price.
Tomas Kaberle (Bridget Samuels, Wikimedia Commons)
There was a rare trade in the National Hockey League on Friday.
The Carolina Hurricanes have traded defenceman Tomas Kaberle to the Montreal Canadiens for defenceman Jaroslav Spacek.
Hurricanes’ General Manager Jim Rutherford is getting high praise throughout the National Hockey League for pulling off this deal. Kaberle was in the first year of a three year contract in Carolina, that was seeing him make a total of $12.75 million. So far this season, he had nine assists and was a -12.
Statistically, Kaberle is a long ways off from his prime years in Toronto from 2006-08, where he amassed the 50 point plateau each season.
Spacek, has gone in a similar direction in his career as of Kaberle and that is south. So far this season he only has three assists, and an upper body injury he suffered on November 14, has had him on the injury reserve the last three weeks. Spacek’s +/- is a +2 however. The former Oiler is making $3.83 million this season and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.
Tomas Kaberle (Bridget Samuels, Wikimedia Commons)
The Carolina Hurricanes enhanced their defense on Tuesday with the signing of defenceman Tomas Kaberle to a three year deal worth $12.75 million.
Kaberle had four goals and 43 assists in 2010-11 with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins.
But even though Kaberle won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins, I think more was expected from him in their playoff run. He had 11 assists in 25 playoff games, but the Bruins powerplay looked disorganized at times while he was on the ice.
Carolina Hurricanes’ General Manager Jim Rutherford is no stranger to the Kaberle connection. Tomas’s brother Frantisek played for the Hurricanes from 2005-09, and won a Stanley Cup with Carolina over Edmonton in 2006.
The Hurricanes also traded defenceman Joe Corvo to the Boston Bruins for a fourth round pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. If Corvo fits into Boston’s nucleus of talent, he will need to be more defensively responsible. He was a -14 with Carolina last year and was a -10 with Carolina and Washington in 2009-10.
One of the greatest sporting events of the year will take place on Wednesday.
The seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final.
On Monday night, Mark Recchi recorded three assists as the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 to force a seventh and deciding game.
It will be the first time since May 31, 1987 that a seventh and deciding game is played on Canadian soil. That year, in the greatest hockey game in the National Hockey League that was ever played, Jari Kurri scored the game winning goal for the Edmonton Oilers as they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 3-1.
In game six Monday, the Bruins scored four times in 4:14. Canucks’ goaltender Roberto Luongo, who was pulled after the Bruins made it 3-0, gave up two very soft goals, one to Brad Marchand and the other to Milan Lucic. In the process he gave yup three goals on eight shots.
There were also some other interesting storylines in game six. Prior to the game, Bruins’ forward Shawn Thornton took a slapshot on Luongo from center ice. I’m not sure if it rattled Luongo at all, but CBC’s Don Cherry made an excellent point in the first intermission that Canucks went after Thornton whatsoever.
If the Philadelphia Flyers are going to get back in this series against the Boston Bruins, they will simply need better goaltending.
Saturday afternoon the combination of Brian Boucher and Sergei Brobovsky didn’t work, as the two combined to give up seven goals on 33 shots.
The Boston forwards moved the puck completely at will. David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Nathan Horton all registered multi-point games.
The best Bruin defenceman was German Dennis Seidenberg, who had two assists and was a +4.
After the first round where I was red hot at 7-1, let’s see how things transpire in the Conference Semi-Finals.
WEST
(1) Vancouver Canucks vs. (5) Nashville Predators–The Vancouver Canucks are coming off an emotionally draining series where they knocked off their top nemesis, the Chicago Blackhawks. Will they have enough in the tank? I’m saying yes. But only if the Sedins show up. Daniel and Henrik Sedin were basically absent in the final four games in the Western Conference Quarterfinal, and will need a much better showing in round two. The issue with Nashville is they have an outstanding defense corps led by Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, but do they have a forward that can play the shut down defensive role like Dave Bolland did so effectively with the Blackhawks? I don’t think so, therefore Vancouver has the edge. On offense, the Canucks are also at an advantage. Don’t forget Nashville’s top scorer was Sergei Kostitsyn with 50 points. That’s right, the same Sergei Kostitsyn who lost his way, and could not get out of his brother’s shadow in Montreal. The Canucks take this one in five.
For the first time in eight years, there were two Stanley Cup Playoff games that went into double overtime on the same night.
At Madison Square Garden, Edmonton native Jason Chimera was the hero as he scored at 12:36 of double overtime past Henrik Lundqvist to give the Washington Capitals a come from behind 4-3 win over the New York Rangers. The Capitals got three third period goals, two from Marcus Johansson, to come back and tie the game at three after being down 3-0 at the end of the second period. The Capitals now have a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal.
The game I was watching was the double overtime game in Tampa Bay as the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 3-1 series lead on the Lightning with a game winning goal from James Neal.
Sunday night in Anaheim the Calgary Flames have a monumental match that could ultimately decide their fate in the 2010-11 NHL season. Currently the Flames lead the Ducks by two points in the Western Conference Standings. Calgary sits in eighth place with a record of 37-27-9, while the Ducks are in tenth with a record of 38-27-5. The game takes on added significance because the Ducks have three games in hand on the Flames.
The Ducks have remained in playoff position despite the absence of goaltender Jonas Hiller who is out with a serious case of vertigo. Dan Ellis and Ray Emery have played admirably in Hiller’s place, and have a combined 6-2-1 record. Jarome Iginla is producing at a rapid pace for the Flames. In his last nine games, he has seven goals and five assists.
The game can be seen on Sportsnet, Sunday at 6pm. Here are the other sports events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Once a year you grace us with your presence, teasing us with the prospect of blockbuster deals and momentum shifting swaps all in the name of gearing up for the playoffs/next season (depending on how things have gone up to this point, of course).
It’s been kind of a funny lead up to the “big day” this time around with a number of fairly significant moves since early February, but you just never know what will happen! The aim of this feature will be to try and stay updated on the latest trades up to (and beyond) that 1pm deadline and provide a bit of my own insight into each move!
Let’s get right to it (despite several alarms set, I couldn’t actually get up before 10am this year)! (more…)
Heritage Classic (Pat Steinberg, Sportsnet Radio FAN 960)
It is going to be an interesting weekend in my life of watching sports. Sunday I’ll be watching my first ever hockey game played outdoors.
I’ll be at the Heritage Classic (Sunday 4pm, CBC) as the Calgary Flames (30-22-8) host the Montreal Canadiens (31-21-7). Montreal sits sixth in the Eastern Conference and Calgary is ninth in the Western Conference.
This will be the second Heritage Classic. The first was played in Edmonton on November 22, 2003. The Oilers lost to the Canadiens 4-3 that Saturday night.
Jarome Iginla leads the Flames with 25 goals and 31 assists. Tomas Plekanec leads the Canadiens with 19 goals and 27 assists.
Things are heating up around the NHL as the trade deadline approaches, but don’t worry folks – I’ve got a No Movement Clause!
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