It’s been very interesting watching John Tortorella coach his first few games in New York (both losses). For all of the talk about how brutally honest Tortorella is, he’s been very gentle with a very broken Rangers team. I would never guess Tortorella would even contemplate saying something like this: “You can’t hate your guys [...]
When Martin Brodeur went down, a lot of people wrote off the Devils’ season. Luckily, goalie Scott Clemmensen stepped-up and won 25 games, not only keeping the Devils in the playoffs, but giving them the lead in the Atlantic. And now, with Brodeur ready to play again tonight, in what surely will be remembered as [...]
I think this is the saddest thing I’ve read in a while (actually, this is, but stay with me). Steve Stamkos’s weekly diary is about how he’s started collecting sticks and pucks. It concludes with this sad note: I asked for [Alex] Ovechkin’s at the All-Star event but I didn’t get a chance to get [...]
Now that the Rangers have fired coach Tom Renney, Ranger fans have once less thing to chant at the Garden. The only real surprise in the move was that Rangers GM/President Glen Sather waited so long to make the switch. The team has looked lost for a few weeks and while there are severe problems [...]
I’m not sure if there’s a connection between these two items: Tim Panaccio had a pretty standard piece about hockey, and how while it doesn’t have broad appeal, it does have its fans in certain parts of the world. He talks about how the LA papers stopped covering the Ducks and Kings on the road [...]
I took a few days off with Mrs. PuckUpdate and read David Mamet’s THE WICKED SON, a treatise on modern American Judaism. I won’t review it here (it’s on my GoodReads if you’re interested), but one paragraph might have broad appeal to hockey (and sports) fans: We note that the individual, by accepting the power [...]
In case you weren’t sure, it’s tough to be an NHL linesman. Whenever you go to an NHL game with someone new to hockey, he/she is always shocked by the physical condition of the officials. Those guys can probably outskate a good 25% of the league. I’d love to see the officials play the Islanders. [...]
Tom Renney cannot be long for New York. Let’s ignore yesterday’s blowout loss to the Flyers. Larry Brooks pretty much predicted the entire debacle before the game. NBC did a fine job of calling out the players while giving Renney a free pass. But Brooks brought up the many coaching issues that have contributed to [...]
Apparently the Islanders won’t be moving to Queens just yet. The team released a statement saying they’re not moving into the now-industrial area near Citi Field, formerly known as Shea Stadium. I’m from Queens and I know that area near Shea. It’s a maze of chop shops (or at least car repair places housed in [...]
The thing I love most about NHL coaching is that in a lot of ways, it’s really more about persona and performance than Xs and Os. You can have no understanding of hockey and still motivate your players, probably relying on your assistant coaches to handle the tactical issues, and you can probably have a [...]
