According to TSN, Edmonton Oilers defenceman Andy Sutton has announced his retirement at the age of 38.
Sutton, had three goals and seven assists in 2011-12 for the Oilers and then missed all of 2012-13 after undergoing knee surgery.
Sutton played 13 NHL seasons with the San Jose Sharks, Minnesota Wild, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks and Oilers, with 2011-12 being his only year in Edmonton.
Sutton was acquired by the Edmonton Oilers from the Anaheim Ducks for Kurtis Foster on July 1, 2011.
A native of Kingston, Ontario, considered by many a hockey hot bed, Sutton had his best seasons with the Thrashers where he had 67 points over a span of three seasons from 2003-2006. He was also a +5 on the Thrashers blueline during that time, impressive when one can recall that the Atlanta/Winnipeg Jets franchise has only made the playoffs once (2007).
This weekend is an extremely significant one when it comes to the history of Canadian tennis. Team Canada is tied 1-1 with Team Italy in the quarterfinals heading into a key doubles match today and two singles matches on Sunday.
This afternoon (Saturday, Sportsnet, 4:30 p.m., joined in progress) Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver will take on the Italian pair of Paolo Lorenzi and Daniele Braccaili. It will be interesting to see how much energy Pospisil has in the tank after he lost a five set marathon to Andreas Seppi on Friday afternoon. Canadian head coach Martin Laurendeau ridiculously went with Pospisil over Jesse Levine, who is overall a much better tennis player.
Sunday’s matches are right now Milos Raonic versus Seppi (Saturday, Sportsnet, 3:00 p.m.) followed by Pospisil versus Fabio Fognini.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
The Calgary Flames have lost their leader in assists from last season.
On Monday it was confirmed that the Winnipeg Jets had signed Olli Jokinen to a two year deal worth nine million.
Jokinen had 38 assists for the Flames last season to lead the team and was also second in points (61) and third in goals (23).
The Flames on Monday simply decided to spend their money on Jiri Hudler rather than Olli Jokinen.
Jokinen maybe six years older than Hudler, but Jokinen has proven he is a more complete player. I know Jokinen had only 11 more points, but he also had a whopping 96 more shots on goal.
The Jets love Finnish talent and Jokinen will give Winnipeg hockey fans a glimpse of the past when they had the great Teemu Selanne.
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.
The Phoenix Coyotes are going to their very first Western Conference Final in franchise history.
On Monday night, the Coyotes defeated the Nashville Predators 2-1 in game five of the Western Conference Semi-Final.
Defenceman Derek Morris, a former Calgary Flame who was born in Edmonton, got the Coyotes on the board early in the second period and then over ten minutes later Martin Hanzal put the Coyotes up 2-0.
Another area where Phoenix dominated was in the faceoff circle. Antoine Vermette and Boyd Gordon went a combined 24-8.
The Coyotes continued to get good news off the ice as well. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced plans are in place to sell the team to former San Jose Sharks Chief Executive Officer Greg Jamison.
The Calgary Flames are only one point back of a playoff spot. On Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Flames defeated the Winnipeg Jets by a score of 5-3.
The Flames got a huge offensive performance from winger Alex Tanguay who notched a goal and three assists. The 32 year-old veteran from Ste-Justine, Quebec now has two goals and seven assists in his last five games.
Other Flames with big nights were Jarome Iginla (one goal, two assists), Olli Jokinen (three assists), and defenceman Mark Giordano (one goal and on assist).
Another Flame that has played well as of late has been Matt Stajan, the only Flame left from the Dion Phaneuf blockbuster trade with Toronto. Stajan got a first period goal and notched an assist on Tanguay’s second period game winner. He is also playing strong defensively at the moment too as head coach Brent Sutter is having him play with Iginla a little more.
Sven Baertschi, the Flames first round pick from the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, made his NHL debut. The Swiss native had one shot in 9:08 of ice time.
The Flames won despite being outshot 45-27. Mikka Kiprusoff made 42 saves in the victory. The Flames have 74 total points and are one point back of the San Jose Sharks for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They next play the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon.
Another week has come and gone, which means another week’s worth of goals to whittle down into another Top 5 list!
In this edition of the GOTW: some beauty sauce, a rarely seen 5-on-1, some nice moves on a partial breakaway, a nifty bit of tic-tac-toe action and some filthy between the legs dangles!
Let’s go!
5. Matt Duchene
Injuries have limited Colorado’s Matt Duchene this season, but before his latest bout with the injury bug he managed to convert on this saucer feed from teammate Paul Stastny for a beauty goal!
(AFTER THE JUMP: See the REST of the BEST!) (more…)
The Calgary Flames were outstanding for a five minute stretch late in the first period Thursday night in Phoenix where they scored three goals en route to a 4-2 victory over the Coyotes.
Jarome Iginla led the way offensively with a goal and an assist– his goal coming late in the third period into an empty net. Alex Tanguay was the other Flame with a multi-point performance with two assists.
The Flames actually scored their three goals in a span of 3:14. Michael Cammalleri opened the scoring, followed by a shorthanded marker by Curtis Glencross and then nearly a second shorthanded goal by Olli Jokinen, but T.J. Brodie had come out of the penalty box three seconds earlier. Glencross and Jokinen each scored their 20th of the season.
The Flames showed the hockey world Thursday they didn’t need a complete 60-minute effort to win an important game down the stretch. The Coyotes dominated the second period, outshooting the Flames 15-6 before a relatively even third period.
The Flames now travel west to Anaheim to take on the Ducks tonight. They are currently two points back of Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
In other hockey action, you had to have been impressed with the Winnipeg Jets’ unbelievable effort in their 7-0 win over the Florida Panthers. Evander Kane led the way with two goals and two assists and Ondrej Pavelec recorded 33 saves for the shutout. Winnipeg now leads Washington by one point in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
I was expected to be very busy this afternoon writing about a significant number of trades.
The bottom line, there might have been one that I’ll get to later. But living in Alberta, I think it comes as a huge surprise how little the Oilers did and that the Flames did nothing today.
Message to Nikolai Khabibulin, Ales Hemsky, and Ryan Smyth. It’s time to step up. Management has shown confidence in all three of you and it’s time to take your game to the next level.
As for the Flames, it looks like they will continue to battle for a playoff spot. Good news for Flames fans is that Miikka Kiprusoff is reminding you of 2004 and if you get into the playoffs, anything can happen.
The Calgary Flames couldn’t hold on to the lead at key times Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Flames had a 3-0 lead during the second period, only to see the Philadelphia Flyers roar back to tie the game at 3. The Flames regained momentum in the third period on a goal by Alex Tanguay on a controversial penalty shot, only to see the Flyers tie the game up again at 4 on a tip in from Scott Hartnell.
The shootout meanwhile went five rounds when Matt Read scored the winning goal.
One major area for the Flyers however definitely seems to be their goaltending. Ilya Bryzgalov gave up two very soft goals to Mark Giordano and Matt Stajan early in the game on the Flames first two shots. I know Bryzgalov has a massive long term contract, but whether or not he is the long term question is up for debate. The Flames were outshot heavily in this one 45-21, and were actually lucky to get the single point.
Currently Calgary is one point back of Dallas for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They next play the St. Louis Blues on Monday.
The Oilers meanwhile continued to show inconsistency Saturday in a 3-1 loss at home to Phoenix. They next play in Winnipeg on Monday.
Huge offensive outbursts in the National Hockey League are very rare on occasion in today’s game. But when they happen, it puts a smile to my face and allows me to reflect back on the good ol’ days of the NHL in the 1980′s.
Winnipeg’s 9-8 win over Philadelphia last night instantly reminded me of the Oilers’ 12-9 classic over the Chicago Blackhawks at old Chicago Stadium in 1985.
With the players bigger and stronger than ever before, you just don’t see the classic offensive-minded hockey games today.
But last night the Jets and Flyers delivered.
What impressed me initially when analyzing the scoresheet, was the balanced scoring both teams exemplified. Fifteen Jets had a point, while thirteen Flyers had a point.
Danny Briere (two goals and two assists) and Kimmo Timonen (four assists) led the Flyers with four points each. While Nik Antropov (one goal and two assists), Tanner Glass (one goal and two assists) and Blake Wheeler (three assists) all notched three points for the Jets.
The Jets actually blew two four goal leads in this one, allowing the Flyers to score five unanswered goals. The Jets also tied a franchise record for most goals in a game, originally set by the Atlanta Thrashers on November 12, 2005 in a 9-0 win at Carolina.
The other interesting storyline from this game was the apology made by Flyers’ goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov afterwards. “I have zero confidence in myself. I’m terrible.” I don’t think the Flyers expected Bryzgalov to be perfect every night, but with his salary at $10 million, I don’t think they ever expected him to give up five goals in just over a period.
The Winnipeg Jets have won their first game in the National Hockey League in 15 years.
Ondrej Pavelec made 28 saves on 29 shots and Alexander Burmistrov recorded a team high two assists as the Jets defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. They now improve to 1-3 on the season.
The Jets got off to a great start in this one. Kyle Wellwood scored for the Jets only eight seconds into the hockey game on Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Tanner Glass would add another goal for the Jets with only 1:33 left in the first period.
With the victory, Jets’ head coach Claude Noel recorded his first career win as a head coach in the National Hockey League, and General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff had his first career win as well.
The Penguins were without the services of right winger Tyler Kennedy, who like his Penguins’ teammate Sidney Crosby is out with a concussion. Kennedy suffered the injury in Pittsburgh’s 3-2 loss to Buffalo Saturday night. Crosby meanwhile has been cleared to practice with the Penguins and is able to take light contact.
Finally, the National Hockey League in Winnipeg returns this weekend as the Jets host the Montreal Canadiens at the MTS Center (Sunday, CBC, 3PM). When the Phoenix Coyotes moved to Winnipeg on July 1, 1996, Manitoba sports fans have been circling this date on their calendar. Fifteen years later and they finally have their wish. Players that will become household Jets’ names will include Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Bryan Little, Blake Wheeler and Evander Kane.
The Canadiens (0-1) meanwhile got off to a slow start as they lost 2-0 to the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday night at the Air Canada Centre. James Reimer was brilliant in posting a shutout.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: The Esks spank the Ti-Cats, we discuss a report that says college athletes should be paid, Drew Doughty is a no-show at Kings camp, Buffalo’s Tyler Myers cashes in, an early look at Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and the NHL launches a social media policy.
In the GABBYs: Marc Savard, the Edmonton Capitals, Novak Djokovic, baseball injuries, Dustin Byfuglien, Adam Dunn…and this week’s Punchline is Ron Jaworski!
Another week has come and gone, which means another week’s worth of goals to whittle down into another Top 5 list!
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