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Are two players plus a future draft pick too high a price for a player that scored 48 points all of last season. From AP-
The Minnesota Wild acquired right wing Chuck Kobasew from Boston on Sunday in a deal that sent right wings Craig Weller and Alexander Fallstrom to the Bruins.
The Wild also sent the rights to their second-round pick in the 2011 draft.
The 27-year-old Kobasew had one assist in seven games with the Bruins this season. He had 21 goals and 21 assists in 68 games last season, reaching the 20-goal mark for the third time in his career.
The Wild have scored 15 goals while going 1-6, and forwards Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Cal Clutterbuck, Martin Havlat and Petr Sykora have been out with injuries.
Kobasew has gotten off to a slow start this year, so trading him may look premature. On the other hand Fallstrom was one of the Wild’s top prospects. He could end up a much better player than Kobasew but that won’t happen immediately.
Bottom line- I think Boston will come out better in the long-term.
The upcoming schedule was released yesterday. Right away I noticed something interesting. Florida has a home and home series with Nashville.
Nov 28 and Mar 29 are when the Panthers and Predators play next season.
What I find interesting is- Florida is playing Nashville home and home for the second straight season. In 2008-09, the Panthers and Predators played on November 1st and December 23rd.
In light of the way the NHL season is set up, namely that any Eastern or Western conference team plays only play 3 home and homes in any season, Florida and Nashville shouldn’t meet home and home more than once every five years 15 western conference teams divided by 3 home and home series equals five.
Here’s a link to the 2009-10 schedule. Anyone have theories as to what happened here or am I off base?
The last two first round series concluded last night. First Washington rallied to eliminate the New York Rangers.
Fedorov beat Henrik Lundqvist with 4:59 left in the third period, rookie Simeon Varlamov was good in the net when he had to be, and the second-seeded Capitals edged the No. 7 New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal Tuesday night.
If Washington coach Bruce Boudreau had stuck with the veteran Theodore as Goalie, The Rangers would have advanced. It was a gutsy decision.
New Jersey was victimized by two late Carolina goals in their loss.
Jussi Jokinen and Eric Staal scored in a 48-second span late in the third period as the Hurricanes stunned the Devils 4-3 in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference series.
To me, Carolina’s win is more surprising than Anaheim knocking off San Jose.
The conference semi-finals are set. My predictions are-
Boston takes Carolina 4 games to 1. I think the Bruins are the best team still in the playoffs.
Washington beats Pittsburgh 4 games to 3. Can Varlamov stand the pressure of Crosby, Malkin, and company? He better, otherwise the Capitals will make mincemeat of Theodore.
That’s the trophy given to the best goalie in hockey for an individual season. From AP-
Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild, Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins are the finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.
The league announced the finalists Monday. The winner, voted by general managers around the league, will be revealed June 18 at the NHL awards show in Las Vegas.
Mason, a rookie, posted a franchise-record three straight shutouts in December and helped the Blue Jackets reach the playoffs for the first time. Thomas led the NHL with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage for the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins.
Backstrom appeared in 71 games for Minnesota and ranked among the top five goaltenders in goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts. His 37 wins were a franchise record, and after playing in his first All-Star game he received a four-year, $24 million contract extension that will begin next season.
Here are the regular season stat lines for each goalie. Note only Thomas is still playing in the ongoing NHL playoffs for 2008-09.
Thomas- Games Played 54 Wins 36 Losses 11 Overtime Loses 7 Goals allowed 114
Shutouts 5 Goals against average 2.10 Save Pct .933
Backstrom- 71 37 24 8 159 8 2.33 .923
Mason- 61 33 20 7 140 10 2.29 .916
Sentimentally I’d vote for the rookie Mason, but Thomas clearly has the best stats of the three nominees.
It probably resulted from a hit put on him in a playoff game last Thursday night. From AP-
Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick had his spleen removed Saturday but has not been ruled out of the NHL playoffs.
The surgery was done Saturday afternoon, about 2½ hours after Hunwick felt increased pain while the team was together for its morning skate before that night’s second game against the Montreal Canadiens.
“He’s comfortable and he’s recovering in his room” at Massachusetts General Hospital, Bruins team physician Dr. Peter Asnis said before the game. “Spirits are high, feels well, and he’ll be there for a couple of days.”
Asnis said Hunwick, 23, thought he was injured when he was checked during the second period of Boston’s 4-2 win Thursday night. But he said the defenseman didn’t notice any abdominal pain after the game and “had no complaints” during practice on Friday.
Asnis said that when the Bruins learned of his injury, they determined that Hunwick would not play Saturday night.
“It’s possible, depending on his recovery, that he could be back” later in the playoffs, Asnis said, “but that’s something to be determined.”
I’m astonished the playoffs haven’t been ruled out for Hunwick. It’s 8 months since I had open heart surgery. Having your spleen removed isn’t the same, but it isn’t minor surgery.
Get well Matt Hunwick.
Boston beat Montreal last night to go up 2 games to none in their series. I would be surprised if the Bruins don’t get to at least the Eastern Confernce final.
He hadn’t played in a game since mid-December. From AP-
Sturm, who led the Bruins with 27 goals last season, had surgery Tuesday on his left knee. Doctors repaired his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament and said the operation was successful.
Sturm played 19 games this season and had seven goals and six assists before getting injured in an 8-5 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Dec. 18.
As the Bruins are 32-7-4 for the year and have a 11-point lead in the Eastern Conference, I think they will survive this blow to their starting lineup.
The Florida Panthers played their 41st game of the NHL season last night. A 4-2 win over division rival Carolina Panthers. Before I make some comments, here are the standings
1 Boston Bruins Games played- 41 Record- 30-7-4 Points- 64
2 Washington Capitals 41, 27-11-3, 57
3 Philadelphia Flyers 41, 22-10-9, 53
4 Montréal Canadiens 40, 24-10-6, 54
5 New York Rangers 42, 24-15-3, 51
6 New Jersey Devils 40, 23-14-3, 49
7 Carolina Hurricanes 42, 21-16-5, 47
8 Buffalo Sabres 40, 20-15-5, 45
9 Florida Panthers 41, 19-16-6, 44
10 Pittsburgh Penguins 42, 20-18-4, 44
11 Toronto Maple Leafs 41, 16-19-6, 38
12 Atlanta Thrashers 42, 14-23-5, 33
13 Ottawa Senators 39, 13-20-6, 32
14 Tampa Bay Lightning 40, 11-19-10, 32
15 New York Islanders 42, 12-26-4, 28
First I can safely conclude the NY Islanders, Tampa Bay, Ottawa, and Atlanta are out of the playoff picture. Toronto faces a uphill battle, but I won’t count them out yet.
Look where Pittsburgh is only one year after making the Stanley Cup finals. What is going on up there? They recently had a five-game losing streak at home.
They aren’t the only recent memory Stanley Cup final team fallen on hard times. Ottawa who made it in the 06-07 looks to be re-building. How did anyone in Senator management think Alex Doug Auld and Martin Gerber were playoff quality goalies?
Tampa Bay has gotten out of the cellar. Two wins against Florida in late December helped. Will Rick Tocchet still be coaching next season?
Florida has its best record at the half way since the 1999-2000 season, or the last time they went to the playoffs. I had high hopes for Florida last year only to see them dashed. Could they make it this year?
Definitely. The teams immediately ahead of them are beatable. If Florida sneaks in as the 7th or 8th seed, they are most likely to get buzz sawed by Boston or Montreal.(Though Florida does have a good record against Goalie Tim Thomas and are the only NHL team with a lifetime winning record against the Canadians. )
Some miscellaneous Florida notes-
Their defensemen have scored more goals than any other team in the Eastern Conference
Florida has gained at least 1 pt in every game Gregory Campbell has scored in.
Yesterday’s game marked just the 3rd time ever Florida went without a penalty in a game.
Tomas Vokoun now has 201 career wins as a goalie.
Florida has a very good goalie at Rochester that the name eludes me. Would Florida consider a deal for Craig Anderson and bring up the rookie before the season ends? Anderson is a free agent at the end of the year and not expected to be back.
Florida signed a multi-year agreement with Fox Sports Florida which as a result have more Panther games on television.(I got NHL Center Ice too, so I rarely miss a game unless there is no television at all) That’s good news. Now I would like FSN to stop showing upcoming programming promos while play is happening on ice. Those idiotic spinning pucks fill 1/8th of the television screen and often interfere with watching play. Every time I see this crap I feel like screaming at the television.
He died in a snowmobile accident on Sunday. RIP.
Hubert “Pit” Martin, a four-time NHL All-Star in the 1960s and ’70s, has died after his snowmobile plunged into an icy lake, Quebec provincial police said. He was 64.
Const. Marie-Josee Ouellet said Martin was driving the vehicle on Lake Kanasuta in northwestern Quebec on Sunday when the ice cracked and he plunged into the freezing water.
Another man who was driving a separate snowmobile at the time has confirmed Martin ended up in the water, Ouellet said.
Divers were attempting to retrieve Martin’s body.
Martin would have turned 65 next week.
He played 1,101 NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks, amassing 809 points from 1963 to 1979.
Martin was part of one of the biggest blockbuster trades in hockey history in 1967, when he and two other players were shipped to Chicago in the deal that made Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield part of a Bruins dynasty.
It appears Marty Brodeur isn’t the only hot goalie in the NHL at present. From AP-
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Boston coach Claude Julien didn’t waste any time picking his starting goaltender against Vancouver.
After watching Tim Thomas backstop the Bruins to a 1-0 win against Edmonton on Monday night, Julien ended his back-and-forth goalie rotation. He passed over Manny Fernandez and gave Thomas a second straight start. The decision paid immediate dividends.
Michael Ryder scored his second goal of the season midway through the first period and Thomas made the best of his 31 saves in the frame en route to a second 1-0 win in two nights, leading the Bruins over the Canucks.
“As soon as the game was over Monday, I knew who I was going with,” Julien said after Boston’s third straight win. “Not only did he get a shutout, but he played well. When I say something I keep my word, and my word is, if somebody is going to get hot, he’s going to get the chance to take the ball and run with it.”
*****
“The composure we kept in the third was awesome,” said Thomas, who also blanked the Canucks in their only other meeting, a 39-save, 2-0 win on Dec. 21, 2006. “Hopefully it gives us confidence that in tight games we can come out with the win, whether it s 4-3 or 1-0.”
At first I thought AP got it wrong. Thomas, who’s 34 years old, had to played against Vancouver more than once. A check of his NHL profile showed me he has only been a full-time NHL goaltender since the 2005-06 season. Until a recent rule change, Eastern and Western conference teams only played the other two out of every three years.
Back to back 1-0 shutouts by the same goalie happened in the 2007-08 season. Florida’s Craig Anderson pulling off the feat.
If I was Julien, I’d continue to play Thomas till one of three things occur-
1 The hot streak ends
2 Boston plays games on back to back nights and one of the games is played on the road
3 The next Bruin game against Florida. Thomas has been awful against the Panthers in the past.
On second thought, let Thomas face my favorite hockey team.
The Panthers backup goaltender is hot right now.
BOSTON – Florida goaltender Craig Anderson followed his record-setting shutout two days ago with a 40-save win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. Nathan Horton scored 22 seconds into overtime to give the Panthers the 1-0 win.
Anderson stopped 53 shots in a 1-0 victory over the Islanders on Sunday, the most ever in a shutout since shots on goal started being kept in the 1955-56 season.
Alex Auld made 30 saves for the Bruins, but was beaten by Horton’s wrist shot inside the left post on the first shift of the extra period.
The Panthers won for just the second time in five games. Boston, coming off an embarrassing 10-2 loss at Washington on Monday, lost for just the third time in 10 games.
With 13 games to go in the season, Florida is 5 pts behind division leader Carolina. Carolina has one less game played than Florida. The Panthers face a daunting task to make the playoffs.
The last month has driven this Florida Panther fan up the wall. Four times, REPEAT Four times Florida blew two goal leads in the 3rd period. Three of those losses coming in OT and the other in regulation. The Southeast Division and Florida has had their chances to take the lead and can’t get over the hump.
Anderson is hot right now, but the Panther offense is non-existent, so the Goalie needs to be nothing less than perfect. Florida Captain Olli Jokinen has been almost unheard from since the Richard Zednik incident. Some say it shook Olli, but I’ve had my doubts about the will of this team all year.
Now Jacques Martin is seeing it may be a good idea to play Craig Anderson some. Tomas Vokoun has been good, but I as I said before, I felt Florida needed to give the Czech Goalie an occasional rest. In the first 60 games of this season, Anderson started less than 10 games. Why?
Untill the last two games, I think Martin had no faith or confidence in Anderson. For what reason, I don’t know. His stats were good, his won loss record so so but Anderson only had one bad outing this year. His losses were 3-2, 2-1, 3-2.
The Palm Beach Post’s Brian Biggane hasn’t even let the 07-08 end, before starting to write a revisionist history of it.
Acquired in a trade with Chicago before last season, Anderson spent most of last season in the minors before going 1-1-1 over five games in a late-season callup. That brief stint prompted the Panthers to release both Ed Belfour and Alex Auld – who was in the Boston net Tuesday night – in favor of the 26-year-old from Park Ridge, Ill.
Florida let go of Auld because he played like crap last year. Belfour was let go because Anderson was a cheaper alternative. Coach Martin had so little faith, confidence, or trust in Anderson’s abilities last year that he trotted out the 41-year-old for over 20 consecutive starts. Tell me what that and Anderson’s bench warming this year say about Martin’s use of his goaltenders.
If Anderson had been played more, maybe Florida would be a little closer to the division lead. Other than a game against Montreal at Florida, after a long road game the night before, can I point to a game where Martin was undeniably dumb in his choice of goalies.
Can Florida still make the playoffs? Yes. Do I expect them to? I’m negative on this team, so I say no. If Florida doesn’t make the playoffs, I don’t expect Jacques Martin to be back as Coach or GM. Based on this year, firing Martin seems reasonable to me.
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