nhl-general
Draft time has come in the NHL. Yesterday saw many deals, many surprises, and many, for lack of a better term, moments during the draft. For example, Edmonton’s phone would not stop ringing yesterday due to the news of Chris Pronger. Pronger apparently wants a trade, and again this is just rumored, because his wife thinks it’s too cold in Edmonton, and wants to move to a warmer climate.
Tonight, Todd Bertuzzi finds himself with a new address. The former Islander turned Canuck was traded to the Florida Panthers along with Alexander Auld, and Byran Allen for Roberto Luongo, Lukas Kraijeck , and a 2006 sixth round draft pick. With that, this ends two years of controversy.
Ladies and gentlemen, put on your tuxes, because it is time for the NHL’s annual awards ceremony. Tonight, we honor the best the NHL had to give us this year. Here is a breakdown of awards and who got them, along with my analysis of what happened.
by Matt Wells
Depth: Strength held in reserve, especially a supply of skilled or capable replacements.
In the sports world, depth is an asset that every team in every sport wishes to have. Each sport has a particular position where depth is most wanted. Though it is wanted at all positions, depth is most desirable at a certain position.
In football, you hope to have depth at the quarterback position. In baseball, you want pitching/bullpen depth, for pitchers seem to get hurt the most often. Basketball might be the only sport where depth is needed at each position; after all, you want a strong bench. And then, there’s hockey. The position of goaltender is where you want the most depth.
NHL pundits have traditionally relied on the old adage that the key to winning the Stanley Cup is solid goaltending. “Build the Cup winner from the goalie out” is commonly heard as color commentary. Well, this first year of the “new NHL” may put that generally accepted assertion to the test.
Don’t blame the majority of Western conference hockey fans for not paying too much attention to the rest of the playoffs. Of the four teams that remain, (Anaheim, Colorado, Edmonton, and San Jose), three teams have a lack of legitimate playoff goaltending, defense, and experience. This can be disputed of course, but if you take a closer look, you’ll see why Western fans are looking away.
by Matt Wells
We’ve been through 82 regular season games. 16 teams will be playing hockey this postseason. Only the best of the best will survive.
We’ve gone through a season that featured the retirement of Mario Lemeiux and the fantastic seasons of rookies Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin.
Now, it’s time for postseason hockey. Let the games begin!
Two young men from Canada just over 20 years ago came into the NHL within a four year span and absoloutely destroyed their competition. The torch was passed from stars like Gordie Howe and Bobby Orr to Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, giving these two soon-to-be superstars the responsibilty of taking hockey to a new level with astonishing skills and enormous expectations.
Every team needs a goon. You know, that guy who skates as well as a five year old figure skater and scores only when a far more talented player makes a nice deflection in front of the net. The goon’s job is not to score goals, his job is to annoy the other team and take stupid penalties (i.e. Donald Brashear). The goon is as much a part of hockey as the ice they skate on.
The New NHL: in like a lion (shootouts, more scoring), out like a whimpering, kicked little puppy dog (the ready-to-explode gambling scandal). While Wayne Gretzky is busy wiping the sweat from his brow, let’s review the “first half” of the NHL season up to the Olympic break. First, the Eastern Conference (hey, we got a bias to keep up here!).