Both team’s coaches won’t have a hard time learning their new player’s name. From the Canadian Press-
VANCOUVER – Matt Pettinger is heading back to British Columbia.
The Vancouver Canucks acquired him from the Washington Capitals on Tuesday for winger Matt Cooke. Both players are leaving the only NHL team they have ever played for.
I watched NBC’s Today show this morning. So far as I know, Matt Lauer has no comment.
Detroit Red Wings 51-37-10-4-78
San Jose Sharks 50-28-15-7-63
Dallas Stars 54-29-20-5-63
Anaheim Ducks 53-27 20-6-60 Minnesota Wild 50-28-19-3-59
Calgary Flames 50-25-17-8-58
Vancouver Canucks 51-26-20-5-57
Colorado Avalanche 50-26-20-4-56
Phoenix Coyotes 50-27-21-2-56
Columbus Blue Jackets 52-25-21-6-56
Nashville Predators 51-25-21-5-55
St Louis Blues 49-23-19-7-53 Edmonton Oilers 53-23-25-5-51
Chicago Blackhawks 50-23-23-4-50
Los Angeles Kings 52-20-29-3-43
Note- The numbers above from left to right are- Games played, wins, losses, Overtime losses, total points
Teams in Bold are Northwest Division teams
I think its more than reason to say Detroit, San Jose, Dallas, and Anaheim are going to make the playoffs, while the LA Kings have no chance. Edmonton’s chances are slim also.
The closest division is the Northwest. Three points separate first to fourth place. I like Vancouver because of Goalie Roberto Luongo. The division is both talented and very tight and I could see anyone but Edmonton could come out on top and deservingly so. The Avalanche, Wild, Canucks nor Flames rate as mediocre or badly underacheiving teams unlike members of the Southeast Division.
The former Florida Panther goaltender wants to spend time with his pregnant wife. From the Canadian Press-
VANCOUVER – Roberto Luongo announced Wednesday he will skip the Jan. 27 NHL all-star game in Atlanta.
The Vancouver Canucks star goaltender, voted in by fans as the starting goalie for the Western Conference, wants to spend time during the break with his pregnant wife, Gina, at their off-season home in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The baby is due in April.
With the permission of the Canucks, Luongo will also miss Vancouver’s first game after the all-star break, Jan. 29 at home against Dallas. The Canucks then travel to Florida where Luongo will join up with the club for games Jan. 31 at Tampa Bay and Feb. 1 at Florida.
Luongo’s 263,221 votes were the most among Western Conference goalies, ahead of the 180,381 garnered by Pascal Leclaire of Columbus.
Does that mean Leclaire will be the starting goalie for the west? The Columbus goalie has been having a much improved season over last year.
I’m looking forward to seeing Luongo face Florida later this month. Florida better have their offensive woes improved by then or Luongo will shut them out.
Moore’s neck was broken a result of hit placed on him by then Canuck player Todd Bertuzzi. From AP-
TORONTO – Todd Bertuzzi’s on-ice attack on Steve Moore might have been ordered by former Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford, according to a report aired on CBC’s “The National” Wednesday night.
Bertuzzi grabbed Moore from behind during a 2004 game, punched him on the side of his head and then landed on top of Moore, driving his head into the ice. The bloodied Colorado player was removed on a stretcher.
Moore sustained a broken neck and a concussion. He filed a lawsuit against Bertuzzi, the Canucks and their parent company in Ontario in February 2006.
A statement of claim filed in court by Moore’s lawyer and obtained by CBC alleges that Crawford pointed to Moore’s name and number on a board in the Canucks’ locker room during the second intermission of that game and said “… (Moore) must pay the price.”
In an accompanying document, Moore’s lawyer claims Crawford’s statement was disclosed by Bertuzzi while under oath, and by Canucks general manager Dave Nonis.
A month earlier, during a Feb. 16 game in Denver, Moore checked Canucks forward Markus Naslund and that led to talk of retribution against him, culminating with the Bertuzzi hit a month later.
Crawford, now Los Angeles’ coach, didn’t want to talk about the report after the Kings’ 4-1 loss to Phoenix on Wednesday night.
Here’s the video of the infamous incident.
I felt at the time Bertuzzi(who now is with the Anaheim Ducks but spent the 06-07 season with the Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings) should have been kicked out of the NHL. The NHL, as seen by Commissioner Gary Bettman’s attempts to prod an out of court settlement, would rather make this ugly attack go away. Why do I get the feeling a reason why is that players in the NHL engage in retaliation all the time? Click here and here for other possible proof. The League would rather have the truth kept unknown. Breaking people’s necks doesn’t put the NHL in a good light.
It was the second time the goaltender accomplished this feat in his career. From AP-
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Roberto Luongo made 26 saves for his third straight shutout, setting personal and franchise records while leading the Vancouver Canucks to a 2-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Luongo, who began the streak against Chicago and Anaheim, hasn’t allowed a goal in 193 minutes, 56 seconds. He got some help from Brendan Morrison, who swept a dangerous loose puck away from the goal line with 17 seconds left.
Defensemen Matttias Ohlund and Lukas Krajicek scored for the Canucks, who after losing the first game in November — and losing top defenders Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo to serious injuries the same night — finished the month on a 9-1-2 run.
*****
Luongo, who had consecutive shutouts three times with Florida, passed his personal best, set with the Panthers in 2004, at 8:39 of the third period. He then eclipsed a 32-year-old franchise record at 10:22, moving past Ken Lockett, a backup who played 55 games over two seasons and set the mark in April 1975.
I will say it again, the Florida Panthers shot themselves in the foot when they dealt Luongo in the summer of 2006. All the team has to show for it is Bryan Allen. The Panthers got Luongo and Olli Jokinen in one of the all-time great NHL trade steals. Seven years later, Florida returned the favor to Vancouver.
Current Panther goaltender Tomas Vokoun is a very good goaltender, but Luongo is better. To make matters worse, Florida gave up three draft picks to fix the goalie mess they created by trading Luongo. I sometimes wonder if Florida will ever see the playoffs again.
All NHL teams will meet again once every season. From AP-
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – The NHL’s board of governors approved the sale of the Nashville Predators and changed the league’s scheduling format Thursday night to allow every team to face each other at least once every season.
Paul Kelly, the new executive director of the NHL Players Association, also addressed the league’s owners during a late-afternoon session to open the board’s two-day meeting at an elite resort on the Northern California coast.
After a three-year experiment in developing rivalries in hockey’s far-flung outposts, the NHL voted to go back to the scheduling format used before the 2004-05 lockout, most notably decreasing the current eight games against every team’s divisional opponents to six.
Starting next season, teams will play just 24 total games against their four divisional foes, 40 against the rest of the conference and 18 against the other conference — one game against all 15 foes, and three home-and-home series against wild-card opponents.
First let me state, my interest in hockey was only rekindled in the last year. Otherwise I had watched little of the sport since the end of the NY Islanders Dynasty in the early to mid eighties.
The arrangement where teams didn’t all meet seemed dumb to me. Fans in the west miss out on seeing players like Sidney Crosby and fans in the east miss getting to see……. well see what problem I have. LOL, make that former Florida Panther and ace goaltender Roberto Luongo. Now I can learn about the LA Kings, San Jose Sharks etc. To be honest I’m sick of Atlanta. You would be too if you had to see the Thrashers and Panthers cross sticks eight times a year.
TORONTO – The Calgary Flames have hired Mike Keenan as their new head coach, The Canadian Press reported Wednesday night.
The Canadian Press, citing unidentified sources, reported an official announcement is expected Thursday or Friday.
Current Flames coach Jim Playfair will remain with the organization.
The Flames went 43-25-10, finishing eighth in the Western Conference last season under Playfair. They lost to the Detroit Red Wings in six games in the first round of the playoffs.
Keenan has 569 victories in 1,014 games as an NHL head coach.
He won the Jack Adams trophy awarded to the league’s top coach in 1985 after leading the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup final. He also took the Chicago Blackhawks to the Cup finals in 1988, and won the Cup with the New York Rangers in 1994.
Calgary will be the eigth NHL team Keenan has been head coach of.
My take- Considering he traded the Florida Panthers’ star goaltender Roberto Luongo for garbage, and then bailed on the team two months later, forgive me if I don’t wish Keenan well in Calgary.
Eastern Conference
(1) Buffalo Sabres v. (6) New York Rangers
The Rangers easily won their series as Atlanta put forth the most embarrassing performance by a playoff team this year. While the Rangers dominated every aspect of their series and Avery got into the heads of the Atlanta stars, that was Atlanta and we already noted they were embarrassing this year. The Rangers’ problems start with their captain Jaromir Jagr, who while talented lacks the skill set to be a captain. At a point where leadership becomes key, as evidenced by Mark Messier leading the Rangers in 1994, will only serve to hurt them. The Sabres are just flat out good and the clear favorite in the East. A fast, talented offense leads them up front and a solid defense benefiting for trade deadline upgrades has been solid. Throw in the goaltending of Ryan Miller and this team should be in the Stanley Cup. Prediction: Sometimes favorites do preval even if it takes a fight, Sabres win in 7.
(2) New Jersey Devils v. (4) Ottawa Senators
Despite parting ways with the 6’-9†defensive beast Zdeno Chara, the Senators looked better in the playoffs than at any point over the past few years. In fact as a whole the team looks good with strong goaltending, a defense that tied up the explosive Penguins offense, and an offensive onslaught that just battered the Penguins around the ice. I couldn’t have been more wrong about the Devils as Martin Brodeur continues to amaze with his ability and I shouldn’t of doubted him as much as I did. The offense for the Devils came through against a weaker than predicted Tampa Bay defense, while they are good I don’t think they will fair as well against the Ottawa defense. Prediction:It’s a good year for Ottawa to win in 6.
Western Conference
(1) Detroit Red Wings v. (5) San Jose Sharks
Detroit has earned from their failures of the past few playoffs. In the Calgary series they adapted their game to play against their opponent instead of sticking to a system that wasn’t working. They managed to beat the best home team in the league on their home ice and looked good doing it. They will rely heavily on a mix of skill and brute force, while depending on a talented, but old goaltender. The Sharks have the fortune of two excellent goalies to use in the series, which could pay dividends in a long series or even if one of the goalies goes cold. The Sharks absolutely stuck it to a talented Nashville team making them look like they didn’t even belong in the same building. Possessing two solid top lines, like Detroit, will put a greater importance on the ability of defensemen to join the offensive rush at key times and the ability of the third and forth lines to provide offensive input and solid play in the defensive zone. Prediction: The combination of youth, speed, skill and size put the Sharks over the top in 6.
(2) Anaheim Ducks v. (3) Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver spent their series against Dallas flopping between looking like a contender and an over-matched minnow. Roberto Luongo’s stellar play was key to the previous serious and will be a key again in this series. However, the test of the team will be the play of the Sedin twins if they disappear for large parts of the series, it will be a quick exit for the Canucks. The Ducks easily handled the Wild in their first round match up and built up a good bit of confidence for the next round. The two defensive pillars of Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger will eat up huge minutes for the Ducks and for the most part will have their way with the top lines for the Cancuks as well as continued boosting of the Duck’s power play unit. While Vancouver has the better goaltender, the ducks have two solid goalies who won’t let in the easy goals and can stand on their heads when called upon. Prediction: Talent and depth carries a team and the Ducks win in 6.
In a Game 7 that was closer than the score showed (Dallas pulled the goalie down 2-1 and Vanouver netted 2-empty net goals to pad the score), the Vancouver Canucks won thier series against the Dallas Stars in seven games by scores of 5-4, 0-2, 2-1, 2-1, 0-1, 0-2, & 4-1. One of the impressive stats for the series was Marty Turco becoming only the 13 goalie in NHL history to record 3 shutouts in a playoff series.
The New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings booked tickets to the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with their Game 6 wins in their respective series on Sunday. This leaves the Dallas Stars and Vancouver Canucks as the only teams who have not finished their 1st round series, they play Game 7 tonight in Vancouver.
