Do More Pucks In The Net Mean More Butts In The Seats?

The topic of new restrictions on goaltending equipment has risen to the surface of NHL discussion in the last week or so, due largely to the fact that there really isn't anything else to talk about right now. One item that has drawn particular attention from many (including Puck Daddy and James Mirtle) is the idea of goalies wearing pads that are proportional in size to their bodies. While this rule in itself is completely absurd, it underscores a bigger problem with the powers that be in the NHL; the NHL front office is far more concerned with the totals on the scoreboard than they are with the product on the ice.

Short of photographic evidence, there is no way you could convince me that Gary Bettman had ever seen a hockey game before he became commissioner of the NHL, and it shows. All you have to do is go watch old YouTube clips of the NHL in the 80's to see that the goalies of that era were a joke. Somewhere in the early 90's a new generation of Patrick Roy inspired goalies finally caught up with the game and shooters actually had to do more than just shoot five hole every time down the ice. Bettman and Co. are taking the game back to the 80's, and I for one am not happy about it (even if they bring back Cooperalls too).

People can spout all the "Offense sells" rhetoric they want to, I'm not buying. I saw the 92-93 San Jose Sharks in person enough times to know that more goals does not equal better hockey. Some people like to draw a parallel between hockey and baseball and how the "long ball" helped bring fans back to baseball after its strike in the mid-90's. These people want to argue that increased goal scoring will do for the NHL what Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did for Major League Baseball. This is a ridiculous argument to make. Ignoring the fact that McGwire and Sosa were most likely juiced to the gills, the NHL restricting goalies is not the same as the power surge that took place in MLB. This is more akin to MLB making it illegal for outfielders to jump and catch a ball going over the fence. Players like Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Jarome Iginla are proof that the NHL's skill players can still put the puck in the back of the net. There is no need to keep changing the game until fourth-line grinders are putting up 30 goals a year.

The NHL has already set a precedent for preventing goalies from utilizing their full skill set with the trapezoid behind the goal line. In a nutshell, goalies like Martin Brodeur and Marty Turco (among many others) had gotten too good at handling the puck and diffusing an attack before it could even get going, so the NHL stepped in and attached an invisible leash to them in order to hamper them. I cannot think of another sport that punishes its players for developing a skill to an elite level. The NHL has done that with their puck handling netminders.

Handcuffing goalies will not make the NHL better. Neither will bigger nets. I will not go so far as to say that goalie equipment cannot afford to be reeled in a bit, but the NHL needs to come to the realization that hockey fans do not judge the product on the ice based on the number of pucks in the net. Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals was one of the best hockey games seen in ages, despite the fact that over 50 minutes were played without a single goal scored. There is nothing better in hockey than a jaw dropping save. Nothing. I can only hope that sanity and logic will eventually win the day. Otherwise Matt Bradley may yet get his blindfolded goalies.

Making Sense Of The Free Agency Madness

Well. we are about 58 hours into the NHL's free agency period as I write this and the dust is just now starting to settle. There are still a few big names still out there (Sundin, Jagr, Demitra). Most of the big players in the market appear to be done spending, and it is possible that from here on out most of the noise will be made by teams trying to find a way up to the salary cap minimum. As it is, let's take a look at the free agency winners and losers thus far.

The Winners

• The Detroit Red Wings: Obviously the Marian Hossa signing is huge for Detroit, and most people seem ready to forego the 2008-09 season and just give the Red Wings the Stanley Cup now. Hossa's deal is a perfect fit for their contract environment and he is a perfect player for their team. Ty Conklin is also a good signing, assuming he can play near the level he did in January for the Penguins. It seems like they maybe overpaid a little for Brad Stuart, but I'm just a guy with a blog so I will give Kenny Holland the benefit of the doubt here.
  
• The Columbus Blue Jackets: The Blue Jackets needed to make some big additions this off-season. While they didn't go quite as big time as I had hoped, adding Kristian Huselius, Mike Commodore, and R.J. Umberger (via trade) are very good additions for the Jackets. Hopefully for the Jackets Huselius and Umberger can help take some of the pressure off of Rick Nash offensively.
  
• The Chicago Blackhawks: The Hawks made two of the bigger splashes in the free agent pool by signing Brian Campbell and Cristobal Huet to huge contracts. You hate to kick dirt on the grave of Bill Wirtz, but signings like this would not have happened 12 months ago and Hawks fans have to be excited. They do have way too much salary tied up between the pipes right now, but they will find a way to deal with that somehow. It looks like the Blackhawks are finally ready to be players again in the Western Conference.
  
• The Pittsburgh Penguins: Losing Hossa has gotten most of the ink in Pittsburgh, but take a step back and look at what Ray Shero has accomplished in about the last 48 hours. He locked up Evgeni Malkin, Brooks Orpik, and Marc-Andre Fleury to long-term deals. He added Eric Godard as a cheap replacement for Georges Laraque. He brought back Mark Eaton and Pascal Dupuis on the cheap. And finally today he brought in Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko with very palattable one-year deals to help fill out the top two lines. Fedotenko should slide right into Ryan Malone's spot quite nicely, and Satan has enough offensive skill to thrive alongside Sidney Crosby. My only real complaint so far is why could the Pens have kept Adam Hall for $1.8 million over three years?
  
• The New York Rangers: This was a tough call for me simply because it is hard to say something positive about a team that is going to be paying Michal Rozsival $5 million per year for the next four years. Aside from that deal though, the Rangers did pretty well. The Wade Redden contract stands out, but he still has a lot of good hockey left in him and he should be a good influence on their young defencemen. The acquisition of Aaron Voros, Markus Naslund, Patrick Rissmiller, Dimitri Kalinin, and Nikolai Zherdev are also pluses for the Blue Shirts.
  

The Losers

• The Toronto Maple Leafs: The Jeff Finger signing has quickly become a running joke in NHL circles and I don't feel real good about the Hagman signing either. Hagman strikes me as the kind of guy who would be great in the right situation, but will flame out in Toronto. Only time will tell there I guess. At least they gave the fans a little service by bringing Curtis Joseph back.
  
• The San Jose Sharks: With Brian Campbell gone that trade looks pretty lousy now. The Sharks did not appear to have much of a Plan B in place after losing out on Campbell and have now had to settle for bringing Rob Blake in on a one-year pact. Losing Patrick Rissmiller to the Rangers is another shot to the Sharks, although the seem to have enough young talent to deal with that loss. Ultimately the Sharks have done nothing to improve a roster that has consistently underacheived for years now. Then again, maybe that Patrick Marleau trade is just around the corner...
  
• The Tampa Bay Lightning: I have to say that on paper I like a lot of the signings the Lightning made. Ryan Malone is an awesome player, they just paid too much for him. The Radim Vrbata and Adam Hall deals are also excellent signings. As is the deals they got Gary Roberts and Olaf Kolzig to sign for. The problem is that none of the players I just named are defensemen, and that is Tampa's biggest weakness. To compound the issue, the Lightning they may now be forced to deal Dan Boyle to compensate for their recent spending spree, which would weaken their defensive corps even further. In a vacuum I like the deals Tampa made, but in reality the Lightning's new owners spent their money in all the wrong places.
  
• The Washington Capitals: The Capitals did what they had to do in re-signing Mike Green, but then they took a big step back in net. The Caps front office can say whatever they want to, but the money they saved in signing Jose Theodore instead of Cristobal Huet was not worth it. With that one transaction the Capitals were transformed from a team on the rise in the East to a team that could easily find themselves on the outside looking in come playoff time. Just when things had started to look up for them too.
  
• The Carolina Hurricanes: If you are intentionally paying Josef Melichar real money to play hockey for your team you are a loser. Nothing else matters. There is a reason why this guy was in Europe last year.
  

Honorable Mention - The Edmonton Oilers: Kevin Lowe is the punch line to about 75% of all hockey jokes these days, but he has done a real good job of upgrading his team in the last few days. The only reason why the Oilers are here instead of among the winners is because Lowe did it all through trades. Having said that, Erik Cole and Lubomir Visnovsky are players any GM would love to have, and the Oilers will be a better team with them this coming season.

Pacific Division 2008 Free Agency Preview

As promised, here is the breakdown for what teams in the Pacific Division are looking at in regards to free agency come July 1st. This is the first in a six part (obviously) series that will run through next Thursday. We'll be starting on the West Coast and heading east. Lists are broken up into restricted free agents (RFA's) and unrestricted free agents (UFA's) with their 2007-08 salaries in parenthesis.

Anaheim Ducks

Pending UFA's:

• Doug Weight ($3,500,000)
• Teemu Selanne ($1,500,000)
• Joe DiPenta ($700,000)
  
• Mark Mowers ($475,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Corey Perry ($494,000)
• Brian Sutherby ($800,000)
• Jonas Hiller ($850,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $49.8 million
Notes: The Ducks are in pretty bad shape in regards to the salary cap. I have to believe there is a GM out there who is going to make a big run at signing Corey Perry, knowing that there won't be a lot of options for Anaheim to match. One other very interesting thing about the Anaheim roster, they have zero defensemen signed beyond next season. Brian Burke really has a mess on his hands in Anaheim.

Dallas Stars

Pending UFA's:

• Stu Barnes ($900,000)
• Antti Miettinen ($885,000)
• Niklas Hagman ($675,000)
• Brad Winchester ($475,000)
• Johan Holmqvist ($1,000,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Loui Eriksson ($650,000)
• Francis Wathier ($475,000)
• Brandon Crombeen ($675,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $46.5 million
Notes: The Stars don't have a ton of cap space, but they already have most of their roster coming back for next season. One big hole to fill will be the recently retired Mattias Norstrom. They may want to explore their options in regards to finding a backup for Marty Turco as well. I think Stu Barnes will be back, but I wouldn't be surprised if Niklas Hagman left for a better offer as he has shown flashes of ability in Dallas.

Los Angeles Kings

Pending UFA's:

• Rob Blake ($6,000,000)
  
• Ladislav Nagy ($3,570,000)
• Scott Thornton ($1,500,000)
• Brian Willsie ($900,000)
• Jon Klemm ($500,000)
• Kevin Dallman ($490,000)
  
• Jeff Giuliano ($475,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Patrick O'Sullivan ($650,000)
• Erik Ersberg ($575,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $32 million
Notes: The Kings have plenty of cap space to spend, which should be a good thing for this perpetually rebuilding club. Patrick O'Sullivan should get a healthy raise and Rob Blake will probably be back, but beyond that is anyone's guess. Maybe they could be the club to make a run at cross town rival Anaheim's Corey Perry.

Phoenix Coyotes

Pending UFA's:

• Radim Vrbata ($1,225,000)
• Mike York ($1,000,000)
• Niko Kapanen ($900,000)
• Craig Weller ($475,000)
• Mathias Tjarnqvist ($475,000)

Pending RFA's:

• Marcel Hossa ($780,000)
• Daniel Carcillo ($525,000)
• Joel Perrault ($495,000)
• Matt Jones ($522,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $29.9 million
Notes: Much like the Kings, the Coyotes have a lot of cap space and nowhere to go in the standings but up. Unlike the Kings, Phoenix seems to have a better nucleus of players in place and thus more reason to be optimistic about the upcoming season. I would expect guys like Hossa and Vrbata to be back next season, but it will be real interesting to see how they deal with Daniel Carcillo. Wayne Gretzky seems to think Carcillo has a lot of potential in the NHL, but he has also been frustrated by his continuing lack of maturity. This team would probably do well to try to upgrade their blue line through free agency. If I were them I would probably throw a big contract at Brian Campbell and cross my fingers that he would take it.

San Jose Sharks

Pending UFA's:

• Brian Campbell ($1,750,000)
• Curtis Brown ($700,000)
• Patrick Rissmiller ($595,000)
• Jody Shelley ($650,000)
• Alexei Semenov ($650,000)
• Sandis Ozolinsh ($625,000)
  
• Jeremy Roenick ($500,000)
• Tomas Plihal ($500,000)
• Brian Boucher ($490,000)
  
• Brad Norton ($475,000)
  

Pending RFA's:

• Christian Ehrhoff ($900,000)
• Joe Pavelski ($810,000)
• Marcel Goc ($800,000)
• Ryan Clowe ($600,000)
  

Cap $$$ Committed: $38 million
Notes: The big name that jumps out here is obviously Brian Campbell. The Sharks gave up a lot to bring Campbell at the deadline and though he fit in right away during the regular season, Campbell had a disappointing playoff. The Sharks will undoubtedly try to keep Campbell, but they may have a tough time as they have a few talented youngsters (Pavelski, Rissmiller, and Clowe in particular) up for new contracts who will be looking for significant raises. I think the Sharks may have a fight on their hands to keep Campbell as there should be plenty of teams lining up to sign him. Especially since he came off at the trade deadline as a guy who is more interested in getting the biggest contract than anything else.

2008 Playoffs: Second Round Recap

Well that didn't take long! The second round of the NHL playoffs went by pretty fast as only one series failed to see a team go up 3-0. Ultimately there was only one series sweep, but the second round flew by nonetheless. Let's take a final look back at how I fared with my predictions (quite well if I may say).

Pittsburgh v Rangers

I said: Pens in 6
What happened: Pens in 5
Comments: I expected this series to be longer as I thought these the best two teams in the East. Every game in the series was close, but at the end of the day the Pens prevailed thanks to their special teams and goaltending. The Penguins' power play and penalty kill were both amazing throughout the series and that was the difference. Marc-Andre Fleury continued to be outstanding in net as well. In the end the Rangers just couldn't keep up with the youthful Penguins. It was nice to see Jaromir Jagr still has some gas left in the tank though.

Philadelphia v Montreal

I said: Flyers in 6
What happened: Flyers in 5
Comments: This was the Montreal team I had been waiting to see. I am going to give the Flyers credit for overcoming their game 1 collapse and still wrapping up the series in five games, but Montreal was never really in this series. Carey Price was a disaster for the Habs and he left them with almost no chance to prevail. Easy work for the Flyers in round 2.

Detroit v Colorado

I said: Wings in 7
What happened: Wings in 4
Comments: What a disappointing end to the season for Jose Theodore. He almost singlehandedly got Colorado past the Wild in round 1, and then singlehandedly lost round 2 for them against Detroit. I'm not trying to short change Detroit here, but the Avalanche had no chance in this series with the way Theodore played. Detroit could not have had an easier second round.

Dallas v San Jose

I said: Stars in 6
What happened: Stars in 6
Comments: The Sharks were lucky to get by Calgary, while the Stars took out the defending champs. Seemed like a no-brainer to me. Plus I just think Dallas is a flat out better team than the Sharks. Plus with Marty Turco and Brenden Morrow playing at the level they are right now things are looking really good for the Stars. The Sharks were lucky to push this series to a sixth game.

2008 Playoffs: Second Round Hype Machine!

It's time to get the blood flowing!!!

Red Wings/ Avalanche


Stars/Sharks


Penguins/Rangers


Flyers/Canadiens

2008 Playoffs: Second Round Predictions

We're on to round two of the playoffs! This is generally where the real Cup contenders start to separate themselves from the other remaining teams and I don't think this season will be any different. I think this will be the round where we look back and see that the eventual finalists really started to get on a roll.

Eastern Conference

(1) Montreal vs. (7) Philadelphia

Breakdown: I'm man enough to admit that I really have no handle on Montreal at this point. I really don't think that highly of them and would love to pick against them in round two. That said, I also have a hard time picking Martin Biron to get a team to the Conference Finals. I guess that's my long way of saying that I go back and forth on this series.
Player to Watch: Derian Hatcher (PHI) - Hatcher may be the worst skater in the NHL today. Not just among playoff teams either, I'm talking all 30 teams here. Having said that, if he can keep up with Montreal's speedy group of forwards and help neutralize them then Philly stands a much better chance of getting by the Habs.
Prediction: Flyers in 6

(2) Pittsburgh vs. (5) New York Rangers

Breakdown: This is the premier match up in the East to me. I am on record as saying that I think the winner of this series will win the Cup. The Rangers did well against the Pens in the regular season, especially at MSG, but I'm not reading too much into that. Both teams are well rested so I don't think the layoffs benefit one particular team leading into game 1. It should be a pretty tight series, but the Devils were able to score a few goals against the Rangers which makes me think the Pittsburgh offense should be able to get the job done.
Player to Watch: Michal Rozsival (NYR) - Rozsival has made a career out of playing the Pens since joining the Rangers and they will need some of that offensive boost from the blue line to get enough pucks by Marc-Andre Fleury to be competitive in this series.
Prediction: Pens in 6

Western Conference

(1) Detroit vs. (7) Colorado

Breakdown: This rivalry doesn't carry quite the buzz it used to, but that doesn't mean we aren't in store for a good series. I think these teams match up pretty well and it should be a close series. I think Detroit is in a little better shape with Osgood in net and they have more talent and experience on defense. I think those two things will be enough to put them over the top. Joe Sakic and company are playing well enough to make quite a series of this though.
Player to Watch: Andrew Brunette (COL) - The Avalanche will need to continue to get goals from their depth players to make this a competitive series. If Brunette can carry over his hot hand from the series against Minnesota that will go a long way towards helping Colorado make life hard on Detroit.
Prediction: Wings in 7

(2) San Jose vs. (5) Dallas

Breakdown: Much like the Pens/Rangers series in the East, I think this series will produce the team that represents the Western Conference in the Finals. This should be a hard fought series and I think there will be more scoring than one might initially think. These teams are really close on paper and it really could go either way. I think Dallas has an edge though based on how they played while taking out the Ducks and the consistency they showed.
Player to Watch: Brad Richards (DAL) - This series is why the Stars went out and got Richards at the trade deadline. He can be the difference maker for Dallas in this series with his scoring and two-way play. He will need to be among Dallas' top scorers in the series for them to move on.
Prediction: Stars in 6

O Hockeytown, Where Art Thou?

Enough is enough, it is time to strip Detroit of its (undeserved?) Hockeytown title. I never liked the whole Hockeytown thing to begin with, especially since the Red Wings bestowed the title on themselves. Shouldn't something like that be voted on? Well that's just what we're going to do! We're going to choose a new Hockeytown right here and now.

The nominees:

• Buffalo - Plenty of teams in the NHL are having attendance issues these days, some even failing to sell out home playoff games (yes, I'm looking at you Detroit). Well the Sabres not only sell out their games, they also packed the area outside the arena with fans to watch the game going on inside projected onto a big screen. How many teams could pull that off? The Sabres were also named the best franchise in sports by ESPN not too long ago (for whatever that is worth). Buffalo is a strong choice to take on the mantle of Hockeytown, USA and probably has to be considered the favorite here.
  
• San Jose - Hidden on the west coast, I don't think most people realize what a good hockeytown San Jose is. But is it worthy of being Hockeytown? Sharks fans have come a long way. I remember being at the San Jose arena during the '93-'94 season to see the Sharks take on the Nordiques and someone sitting behind me asking the person they were with if the Nords were an expansion team. Well the Sharks have carried on and now their fans are (for the most part) as knowledgeable as they are loud, and that is saying something. If you don't think San Jose belongs on this list, take in a playoff game at the "Shark Tank" and then get back to me.
  
• Chicago - This may turn out to be an optimistic choice on my part, but I think Chicago is in for a hockey renaissance. The team is loaded with young talent and the team and fans both seem eager to put the Bill Wirtz experience behind them. They're even getting home games on TV now! Seriously though, I don't think there is any doubt Chicago is back on the hockey map.
  
• Minneapolis/St. Paul - In very Red Wing-esque fashion, the Wild have declared Minnesota the "State of Hockey". They are pretty much right though so I'll let it slide. As far as hockey goes, Minnesota is pretty much South Canada, and that's a good thing. The Wild's fanbase is as knowledgeable and passionate as it gets in the States. Of course I have to mention that they are on their second run with the NHL.
  
• Dallas - A surprise nominee to many I'm sure, but deserving nonetheless. I can say from first hand experience that going to a Stars game is as good as it gets. The arena is top notch and it has fans to match. It will always be Cowboys first in Dallas, that is just how things work here in Texas, but there is also a die hard Stars fanbase in Dallas that can't be matched. If you are a hockey fan, you owe it to yourself to take in a Stars home game. Just don't expect to sit down a whole lot. A definite dark horse in this contest, Dallas may just get my vote.
  
• Detroit - I'll give the incumbent a chance to defend its title here, but I don't think it deserves it any more (if it ever truly did). I have a hard time calling somewhere Hockeytown when you've got empty seats for home playoff games. I think Wings fans in general have grown a bit tired of the same-old same-old from the Wings and are a bit apathetic at this point. I could be wrong, but I doubt it.
  

Just missed the cut:

• Pittsburgh- The Pens have as rabid a fanbase as you will find, but I can't bring myself to put Pittsburgh on the list when they're less than a year removed from almost losing the team.
  
• Denver - The Avalanche have a great track record since relocating from Quebec. I just don't see them at the level as some of the teams above. Denver sort of strikes me as Dallas-lite.
  
• Boston - A great hockeytown to be sure, but the Bruins are an afterthought on the Boston sports scene.
  
• Nashville - Just kidding. The situation in Nashville is a joke/mess. Just move them to Kansas City already. Then in 5-10 years when that fails they can move to Hamilton.