1/30/2009
The two most powerful forces in society; Guy Lafleur and Disco
This video is awesome on so many levels...
- The CBC reporters' hair.
- 'The Baryshnikov of Hockey'.
- Leather pants with 4 inch stilletos. Yummy.
- The album costs $100K to make exactly why?
- I bet he made money on the thing. Afterall, he got free advertising from CBC!
- Lafleur loves disco, but can't dance. Who knew?
- It's hockey exercises set to disco. With a concept like that, how could you lose?
Cam's WD2 List Adjustment
Phew, good to know now eh?
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Forsberg rules out NHL comeback this season
Friday, 01.30.2009 / 8:38 AM / News Canadian Press
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Peter Forsberg has ruled out a return to the National Hockey League this season.
Forsberg told Sweden's national broadcaster SVT on Friday that if he's able to play at all, it will be for his hometown club Modo in the Swedish league. "There won't be any NHL this season, that's totally clear," Forsberg told SVT. "If I can play it will be in the (Swedish) Elite Series and Modo."
The injury-plagued forward has been back on the ice in recent weeks to test his ailing right foot.
Forsberg, 35, made a late-season return to the Colorado Avalanche last year, but injuries kept him out of half of team's final 18 regular season games and three of the four games in the second round of the playoffs.
SVT reported that Forsberg had also declined a spot on Sweden's national team for the LG Hockey Games tournament Feb. 5-8.
"I will be training with Modo during the national team break and I hope to make a decision after that," Forsberg said. "Modo understands that I'm still not sure I can play, but the foot feels better today than it did at the start of the week."
In addition to winning two Stanley Cups with the Avalanche, he won the NHL's MVP award in 2003 after scoring 29 goals and adding 77 assists.
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Forsberg rules out NHL comeback this season
Friday, 01.30.2009 / 8:38 AM / News Canadian Press
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Peter Forsberg has ruled out a return to the National Hockey League this season.
Forsberg told Sweden's national broadcaster SVT on Friday that if he's able to play at all, it will be for his hometown club Modo in the Swedish league. "There won't be any NHL this season, that's totally clear," Forsberg told SVT. "If I can play it will be in the (Swedish) Elite Series and Modo."
The injury-plagued forward has been back on the ice in recent weeks to test his ailing right foot.
Forsberg, 35, made a late-season return to the Colorado Avalanche last year, but injuries kept him out of half of team's final 18 regular season games and three of the four games in the second round of the playoffs.
SVT reported that Forsberg had also declined a spot on Sweden's national team for the LG Hockey Games tournament Feb. 5-8.
"I will be training with Modo during the national team break and I hope to make a decision after that," Forsberg said. "Modo understands that I'm still not sure I can play, but the foot feels better today than it did at the start of the week."
In addition to winning two Stanley Cups with the Avalanche, he won the NHL's MVP award in 2003 after scoring 29 goals and adding 77 assists.
Goal-A
As bad the feeling was looking at that graphic of Kipper's save %, this made me feel a ton better.
'Course, I can't get the song out of my head now...
The Return of Z
He still has a ways to go to reach 10 on the season, but the Zednik tally above is definitely a candidate for goal of the year.
Note, of you have any nominations for GOY feel free to post them to the blog, or e-mail them to me and I can do so for you. I'll re-post the finalist candidates at the end of the season and we can put it to a vote.
In other news, Phil Kessel returned from his bout of Mono earlier than anyone (especially his GM) expected, and registered a pair of assists in his first game back after missing 6 games. Heads mgt had been expecting a month long layoff and a slow return to form after that, so this is definitely good news.
The best news (for everyone but the Personal Vendetta) is that both Lidstrom and Zetterberg were suspended for a game for skipping the All-Star game. The three Red Wings on the PV roster have been absolutely killing it lately and any kind of slow-down in their production is a godsend to the teams chasing him.
John Tavares seems to have responded well to his new team-mates in London, as he has been blitzing the opposition routinely since he arrived and has regained his status atop the OHL scoring leaders including goal a game production rate overall, and a ridiculous 13 goals in his first 7 games (to go with 7 assists for 20 points) as a London Knight. Chances of him not being the first player picked in next years NHL-ED are growing smaller each day.
1/27/2009
Franchise Building
Pop Quiz;
Q - What do the following players all have in common?
Ryan-R Ana, Kessel-R Bos, Backstrom-C Wsh, Doughty-D LA, Mueller-L Phx, Little-C Atl, Setoguchi-R SJ, Green-D Wsh, Eminger-D Pha, Stastny-C Col, Kopitar-C LA, Kane-R Chi, Hudler-L Det, Toews-C Chi, Voracek-R Clb, Biron-G Pha, and Ericksson-R Dal
A - they are all prospects promoted to contribute to their FUNHL teams this year (in the case of Kessel and Stastny it is assumed they would be contributing if not injured/sick)
It's quite a list and it spans no fewer than 9 of the 12 teams in the league (Corey, Chris and Richard are the only Gms without promoted prospects on their rosters). The Highlanders and Wolves both lead the way in that they have no fewer than four prospects as part of their squads (to divergent results).
All of which speaks to two things IMO.
1. The system we have put in place with regards to prospects and their contract length is definitely working. Good young players have both been spread throughout the league AND have a contract length sufficient to see them succeed before hitting the RFA/UFA marketplace. In short they were EXACTLY the currency we needed to replace the trading of entry draft picks as our asset of choice to facilitate trades.
2. More than ever investing in scouting at the prospect draft pays off. Even if an asset doesn't mature in time to produce for your own team, they represent a potential return via trade that can't be ignored. This would also correlate further to the trading of high slot prospect draft picks, as netting a higher pick gives a team better selection options on prospects, creating more value on ones farm team, etc.
Last but not least; Dion Phaneuf and Evgeni Malkin (and maybe Anze Kopitar). The first two players are prospects just exiting their contract situations who are all but guaranteed to be selected as a Franchise players. Kopitar is having a step-back in production this year, but has an outside shot of reaching this status as well.
So not only do prospects make up important contributors to FUNHL teams, they are occasionally THE important contributors.
Q - What do the following players all have in common?
Ryan-R Ana, Kessel-R Bos, Backstrom-C Wsh, Doughty-D LA, Mueller-L Phx, Little-C Atl, Setoguchi-R SJ, Green-D Wsh, Eminger-D Pha, Stastny-C Col, Kopitar-C LA, Kane-R Chi, Hudler-L Det, Toews-C Chi, Voracek-R Clb, Biron-G Pha, and Ericksson-R Dal
A - they are all prospects promoted to contribute to their FUNHL teams this year (in the case of Kessel and Stastny it is assumed they would be contributing if not injured/sick)
It's quite a list and it spans no fewer than 9 of the 12 teams in the league (Corey, Chris and Richard are the only Gms without promoted prospects on their rosters). The Highlanders and Wolves both lead the way in that they have no fewer than four prospects as part of their squads (to divergent results).
All of which speaks to two things IMO.
1. The system we have put in place with regards to prospects and their contract length is definitely working. Good young players have both been spread throughout the league AND have a contract length sufficient to see them succeed before hitting the RFA/UFA marketplace. In short they were EXACTLY the currency we needed to replace the trading of entry draft picks as our asset of choice to facilitate trades.
2. More than ever investing in scouting at the prospect draft pays off. Even if an asset doesn't mature in time to produce for your own team, they represent a potential return via trade that can't be ignored. This would also correlate further to the trading of high slot prospect draft picks, as netting a higher pick gives a team better selection options on prospects, creating more value on ones farm team, etc.
Last but not least; Dion Phaneuf and Evgeni Malkin (and maybe Anze Kopitar). The first two players are prospects just exiting their contract situations who are all but guaranteed to be selected as a Franchise players. Kopitar is having a step-back in production this year, but has an outside shot of reaching this status as well.
So not only do prospects make up important contributors to FUNHL teams, they are occasionally THE important contributors.
1/26/2009
Lecavalier a Hab?
This image is from 'Puck Daddy's' Jersey Foul section - which is always a fun read and was for sale at an All-Star game kiosk.
Iit speaks to the ongoing speculation-that-will-not-die of a Vinny to Montreal trade. Last I heard the deal being considered was; Plecanek, Higgins, prospect P.K. Subban, Komisarek, and two first round picks for Big Vinny. To which if I am the Lightning GM Brian Lawton, I say 'Must get more' as there isn't a first line player in the bunch to replace any of the scoring Vinny provides.
I have to believe the Rangers would be willing to pony up a better offer including the equally ridiculous contract of Scott-occasionally-contains-1st-line-like-ability- Gomez to get a deal done, but would have to include Mark Staal in the package to get me interested.
Philly could likewise include their otherwise untradeable contract of the recovering from surgery Daniel-one-season-wonder- Briere, and prospect Luca Sbisa, but with Briere not playing that would seem unlikely.
How about Calgary? Can they enter the derby? Would Langkow, rookie D-man Pardy, Boyd and one of either Backlund or Irving plus picks get the job done?
I suspect that speculation will not die until the trade deadline passes or a deal gets completed.
1/24/2009
Week 17 Line-ups
Since I won't be in the country as of tomorrow, thought we should post this a little early. See you all soon.
1/22/2009
Week 16 Ends with All-Star Game Tie
The Personal Vendetta continue to hold a 20pt lead over the Highlanders as we reach the All-Star break. The Highlanders themselves have a 25pt lead on the Severed Heads/Bladerunners who have jockeyed back-and-forth for third place over the last few weeks. The Shadowmen have taken advantage of a rare poor week by the Scourge to take sole posession of fifth place. The top half of the league, all now with more than 500pts, are separated by less than 90pts but the teams are spreading themselves out.
At the bottom of the table, the Edge and Lost Boys, less than 15 pts ahead, seem destined to challenge for the Herbivore though the Wolves are only 26 pts out of the cellar themselves (a huge change from last year at this time when the Wolves were one of the contenders for their first Cup). While the Great Whites are still well ahead of the bottom slot, there may be some concern about how far they have slid down the standings of late.
In the Omnivore Race the Bladerunners continue to dominate, though the Personal Vendetta are also showing quite well. Everyone else is is "in the red" with the worst offenders being the Wolves and Great Whites.
While the Challenge Cup race has taken the week off, it will begin again soon with the Bladerunners holding off three challengers for the top seed and the Personal Vendetta, Highlanders and Severed Heads all trying to maintain their playoff position.
In this week's All-Star Game the edge in play goes to the Calgary All-Stars but the game itself, for the first time ever, ends in a tie.
I'm off for a week in Mexico so I do not anticipate being able to do stats - though this internet thing seems to be everywhere - but I should be ok starting up again in February.
Have a great time away from your fix and I'll talk to you all soon.
Doug
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1/21/2009
Totally Awesome
The Pittsburgh Penguins sign an 8 year old to a 1$ contract.
He has Cystic Fibrosis and the deal was arranged by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
And reading about it just made my day.
He has Cystic Fibrosis and the deal was arranged by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
And reading about it just made my day.
Quote of the Day
"If he could light the puck on fire, or himself, back-flip and then go top shelf, I think he'll win."
- Rick DiPietro on what Ilya Kovalchuk could do to win the trick-shot competition at last years All-Star game.
- Rick DiPietro on what Ilya Kovalchuk could do to win the trick-shot competition at last years All-Star game.
1/20/2009
Glenn Anderson Vs Ryan Smyth Vs Kirk Kuller Vs Trevor Linden
Tyler from mc79hockey crunches the numbers to make some sense of where Glenn Anderson fits vs the other three.
He comes to a conclusion (Smyth is underrated because of the time he plays in) that seem counter-intuitive, but the argument is strong.
He comes to a conclusion (Smyth is underrated because of the time he plays in) that seem counter-intuitive, but the argument is strong.
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