Luongo Tells Fans To Shove It

Okay, so not really, but the Canucks heart and soul is going to skip the All-Star game in Atlanta despite being voted in to start by the fans. TSN is reporting that the Canucks have given Luongo permission to skip not only the All-Star game, but also their first game after the All-Star game so that he can be with his wife, who is pregnant with the couple's first child.

Luongo says, "Thanks but no thanks." to the All-Star Game.

I think this is a great move by the Canucks to get their big man some rest before the playoff drive really kicks in. This team is only going to go as far as Luongo takes them and getting him a week or so off could really pay off for Vancouver down the road. I'm sure the NHL would love to have Roberto in Atlanta, but the NHL can't complain too much since Luongo will also be missing one of his team's games and not just the All-Star game. Besides, in a perfect world this opens the door for Pascal Leclaire to get the start for the Western Conference. I'll take just about anyone though, as long at it's not Hasek.

The NHL Announces All-Star Game Starters

The fan votes have all been counted and the NHL has announced the starters for the upcoming All-Star Game in Atlanta. The starters are:

Eastern Conference

• Sidney Crosby
• Vincent Lecavalier
• Daniel Alfredsson
• Andrei Markov
• Zdeno Chara
• Martin Brodeur

Western Conference

• Henrik Zetterberg
• Pavel Datsyuk
• Jarome Iginla
• Nicklas Lidstrom
• Dion Phaneuf
• Roberto Luongo

All things considered these are actually pretty solid picks by the fans as all 12 players are definitely deserving of the trip to Atlanta. I would probably stick hometown boy Ilya Kovalchuk in instead of Alfredsson, but Ilya will make the team any way so it's not that big of a deal. At first I didn't think too highly of Markov being voted in, but it's not that much of a reach when you look at the numbers. Of course if Sergei Gonchar had been on the ballot (I'll never understand why he wasn't) then maybe things would have been different.

Some Stars Don't Shine In Shootouts

Following Pittsburgh's shootout victory over the Canucks on Saturday night, a game in which Sidney Crosby was not only stopped by Roberto Luongo in the shootout, but also on an OT penalty shot, I started to reflect on Sidney's relatively poor track record in shootouts. I couldn't help but think that Michel Therrien might better serve the Pens by letting someone else take Sid's place in the shootout. This in turn led me to wonder how many other big name players are sent out in the shootouts by their coaches despite a lack of success. After going through the shootout stats since the start of the '06-'07 season, there is quite a list of big name players who have been disappointing in the shootout.

Some of the most prominent players are:

• Sidney Crosby - 6/20 (.300%)
• Alexander Ovechkin - 2/13 (.154%)
• Vincent Lecavalier - 3/14 (.214%)
• Henrik Zetterberg - 2/9 (.222%)
• Evgeni Malkin - 3/16 (.188%)
• Thomas Vanek - 2/11 (.181%)
• Patrick Elias - 2/11 (.181%)

My first reaction when researching these stats was that Crosby's numbers are actually a little better than I thought they were, yet still not as good as I would expect from him. For some reason I'm not surprised that Ovechkin hasn't fared well in shootouts. He's more of a finisher to me than a guy who can consistently take on goalies one-on-one and prevail. The numbers for Lecavalier, Zetterberg, and Elias (and Vanek to a lesser degree) really shocked me. These are craftier players who have been around for a while, and you would think they would be more successful in this setting.

The real question here is whether or not these players are helping their teams by taking part in the overtime shootouts. I recognize that there is pressure for a coach to send out a premier player like Crosby or Lecavalier, but at some point results have to start to come into play. If you look around the league, it isn't hard to find some "no name" players who have excelled at the shootout. Erik Christensen has been a revelation for Pittsburgh, going 11 for 18 in shootouts since the start of last season. Devils defensive specialist John Madden is a somewhat surprising (I think his offense is better than he gets credit for) 4 for 7 when participating in shootouts. And then there is the Wild's secret shootout weapon, defenseman Petteri Nummelin is a remarkable 8 for 9 in shootouts. Certainly these players help show that results count more than the name on the back of the jersey.

This isn't to say the stars should be given up on. For example, Anaheim center Andy McDonald was 1 for 10 in shootouts last season, but has converted both of his opportunities so far this season. I'm simply saying that coaches could probably secure a few extra points for their teams if they looked a little outside the box when putting together their shootout lineups. Would it hurt for the Penguins to try Kris Letang (2 for 2) in Crosby's usual 3 slot for a bit, or for the Canucks to make Trevor Linden (4 for 5) a regular shootout participant? It could mean a few extra points in the standings. And in today's NHL, that can be the difference between making the playoffs or golfing in April.

NHL Team Of The Month: November 2007

With the quarter mark of this season in the rear view mirror, it's time to name the Team of the Month for November:

• Center: Vincent Lecavalier (14 GP, 9 G, 16 A, 7 PPP)
  
• Right Wing: Martin Erat (12 GP, 8 G, 10 A, 4 GWG)
  
• Left Wing: Ilya Kovalchuk (12 GP, 14 G, 8 A, 8 PPP)
  
• Defense: Sergei Gonchar (12 GP, 4 G, 11 A, +5, 9 PPP)
  
• Defense: Zdeno Chara (13 GP, 3 G, 7 A, +7, 4 PPP)
  
• Goalie: Roberto Luongo (12 GP, 8 W, 1.56 GAA, .940 SV%, 4 SO)

Comments:

• Lecavalier and Kovalchuk were both out of their minds in November. They were no brainers for Team of the Month honors.
• Martin Erat has been quietly sensational for the Predators. Four game winners in a single month is great for anyone. Where would they be without his offense?
  
• Chara and Gonchar both had outstanding months. Gonchar's +5 is especially noteworthy considering he does most of his scoring with the man advantage. Maybe it's time for people to start giving him some credit for his defense.
• Luongo gets the nod over Henrik Lundqvist because he takes the ice every game knowing he has to steal points for the beat up and goal-starved Canucks. Lundqvist has a bit more margin for error on most nights. It also doesn't hurt that Luongo closed out November with a three game shutout streak.
  

I'll Keep the Flower, You Take the Thorns

One of the unfortunate byproducts of the Penguins newfound hoard of young talent has been the debate among fans of which players are most vital to the team and which ones should be moved if they can't all stay due to the salary cap. Welcome to the new NHL. While ideally this topic would not have sprung up so quickly I won't deny my part in the conversation. I will also not deny my outrage at how many people think goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is the most expendable of the Pens' young studs. Nevermind that goalie is the most important position in the sport, Fleury had a breakout season at the tender age of 22 and at times carried the team to victory almost singlehandedly.

Your '06-'07 Penguins MVP?

In just his second full season in the NHL Fleury became only the second goalie in Penguins history to win 40 games in a season and backstopped the Pens to their first playoff appearance since 2000. He set personal bests in all statistical categories and did it all playing behind a suspect Penguins defensive unit. When I traveled to Dallas to watch the Penguins take on the Stars I walked away very disappointed in the Pens defensive play. I said right then that if the Penguins were going to make the playoffs it would be thanks to MAF. Well Fleury got the Pens to the postseason and was arguably their best player in the disappointing series loss to Ottawa. Yet this is the guy many Penguins fans see as expendable, despite excelling at one of the toughest positions in all of sport at such a rapid pace.

Most knowledgeable hockey people will tell you that it takes goalies longer to develop than skaters. Some of the NHL's best netminders have been traded multiple times by GMs that lacked the patience to let them come into their own at the NHL level. Current franchise goalies Roberto Luongo and Jean-Sebastien Giguere are both now with their third teams in their relatively short careers. Fans and media members are still in disbelief that Mike Keenan traded Luongo away in a move that likely played a large role in his dismissal from the Panthers. Let's compare the numbers for each of these goalies in their first three seasons:


The first thing that jumped out to me when comparing these numbers was how long it took Giguere to even secure a regular gig in the NHL. He really didn't have any success until landing in Anaheim. It wasn't like there were a lot of top-tier goalies ahead of him on the depth chart during his time in Hartford and Calgary either. Luongo put up good numbers in his third (second full) season, but only managed 16 wins. That was mostly due to the team playing in front of him, but I still would have expected at least 20 wins from a goalie of his ability. And then there is MAF... his goals against and save percentage are almost identical to Giguere's while appearing in far more games. On the surface Luongo's numbers look better... until you look at the win column. Fleury is the only one of the three to even reach the 20 win mark, let alone 40. Granted Luongo and Giguere did not have the luxury of playing behind the likes of Crosby, Staal, and Malkin, but they also broke into the NHL (slightly) later in their careers and never faced the kind of pressure in their first three years that Fleury was under this past season. They never had to feel the heat of a playoff push or challenging for a division title in their early years.

Marc-Andre Fluery may never quite get to the level that Roberto Luongo is at, but he has proven to be an outstanding goalie at a young age and has all the potential and ability to be a top 5 goalie in the NHL for the next ten years if not longer. He has also shown the knack to make the big save at the key point in the game, something that is vital to winning games and playoff success. MAF's present is in Pittsburgh and I am confident that his future is as well. I would love to see him sign a long-term deal this season and remain a Penguin for the long haul. Sid is great, Malkin is a star, and Staal is tremendous, but MAF is the key to the Cup for the Penguins.

The Man Who Killed the NHL

It has become something of a hobby for the mainstream sports media to take shots at the NHL. This charge has undoubtedly been led by ESPN in their effort to show Gary Bettman what a fool he was for moving the NHL to the Versus network. As a hockey fan myself, I am not about to pile on the NHL during these dark times, but I can't deny that the league isn't what it used to be. Despite many attempts to open up the game, the NHL is still not the wide open, creative, up tempo kind of hockey that was around in the 80's and early 90's. The NHL has been constantly adjusting the rules for years in an effort to "open up" the game and increase offense, but that is not going to solve the problem. Clutching and grabbing is not the NHL's problem. Neither is the dreaded neutral zone trap (which was around long before the Devils won the Cup in '95). The lack of offense in the NHL is attributable to the increase in elite level goaltenders in the NHL, and there is a single person to blame for this... Patrick Roy.

If you were a French-Canadian kid in the late 80's to early 90's you worshiped this guy.

When Patrick Roy won the Stanley Cup in 1986 in his first full season with the Canadiens he set into motion a change in the hockey landscape as the world knew it. As Roy began to dominate the NHL he made it cool to be a goalie. Young Canadian kids (French-Canadians in particular) who used to grow up wanting to be the next Orr or Lemieux now had a new idol. Patrick Roy brought a new level of athleticism to the goalie position while at the same time showing that a goalie could dominate the game like no other position in any sport. Youth hockey was no longer just about sticking the slow, fat kid in net. All of a sudden the best athletes wanted to play in net, and the result turned the NHL upside down.

When Roy won his second Cup in '93 he solidified his place as one of the game's brightest stars. But his real impact on the sport was also starting to take shape as the first wave of top French-Canadian goaltending prospects were starting to arrive in the league. Goalies like Felix Potvin, Stephane Fiset, and Dominic Roussel were already starting to appear in the NHL and in some cases, like Potvin with the Maple Leafs, have a huge impact on their teams. The '95-'96 season saw Roy leave his hometown team and move on the the Colorado Avalanche where he would lead the Avalanche to Stanley Cup glory in the team's first season since leaving Quebec. He would later win a second Cup with the Avalanche and become the first and still only player in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP three times. These seasons also saw the emergence of even more dominant French-Canadian goaltenders in the NHL. The likes of Martin Brodeur, Jocelyn Thibault, Jose Theodore, Roberto Luongo, Patrick Lalime, and J.S. Giguere have all followed in Roy's footsteps to NHL stardom. Many of them by imitating the butterfly style of goaltending that Roy himself perfected.

The definition of a winner.

Patrick Roy retired as the most successful goalie in NHL history in both the regular season and playoffs, but his true legacy lives on every time a French-Canadian goalie takes the ice in the NHL. Like I said before, Roy made it cool to be a goalie. That single change in attitude led to a league-wide increase in the quality level of goaltending in the NHL that has not subsided. Despite all the rule changes, equipment advances, and overall improvement of player quality in the NHL scoring is still down from 10-15 years ago. The reason in my opinion is largely due to the quantity of outstanding goalies currently minding NHL creases. And the man to thank/blame for that, is Patrick Roy.