Yesterday, George Richards, who cover the Panthers for the Miami Herald asked the question quite a few teams seem to be asking themselves this time of year: Should Florida tank to move up in the draft? It’s a valid question. If you’re not going to the playoffs, why not put yourself in better draft position? [...]
Some people really don’t like the NHL’s participation in the Olympics during its regular season. Apparently, Tim Panaccio and I are two of those guys. His Sunday column hypothesizes the Flyers recent struggles are at least partially linked to the amount of Olympians they had playing in Vancouver. I’m no fan of the Olympics, but [...]
I continue to be shocked by the performance of Calgary coach Brent Sutter. He was masterful with the Devils last season. Now, working almost a whole season with a relatively talented Flames’ team, the Flames look like they’re going to miss the playoffs. Not helping things is last night’s huge loss to the Islanders. Sutter [...]
Ottawa’s Brian Elliott had his second shutout in a row last night, with a considerable assist given to Anton Volchenkov’s shot-blocking. It’s still a little early, but this is the time of year when you look for a goalie to get hot. Because a lot of times a hot goalie becomes a huge factor in [...]
Larry Brooks’ Sunday column was all about how dull most of the season has been. This has been a slow season. The Olympic break took a lot of momentum out of the playoff chase. The trade deadline was quiet. This season has felt longer than previous ones. But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some [...]
Last night’s Bruins-Penguins was a great example of the need to get rid of the instigator rule. The Bruins looked completed depleted, both physically and emotionally, battling both the flu and the need to avenge Matt Cooke’s hit on Marc Savard. The Bruins chose to spend their energy avenging Savard and wound up losing 3-0. [...]
So the NHL is trying to rush a headshot rule into production before the playoffs. It’s important that the NHL protect its players but this really isn’t the type of thing you want to rush into. The headshot issue has implications that can ultimately impact the future health of hundreds, if not even thousands, of [...]
The Devils are 3-2 in their last five games and, in general, have looked much better than they looked going into the Olympic break (2-5-1 for February). A lot of that February malaise was a combination of adjusting to the return of injured players and learning to play with Ilya Kovalchuk. But one other factor [...]
Ryan Miller seems to be the beneficiary of Sidney Crosby’s media shyness. Crosby’s agent has now said Crosby didn’t do Letterman after the Olympics because his schedule was too tight. I’m not sure if Team Crosby turned down any other high-profile gigs, but it’s hard not to notice Miller is now everywhere and Crosby isn’t. [...]
Why NHL teams locking down players into long-term contracts really could be an even bigger problem: Raised as Scientologists, Christie King Collbran and her husband, Chris, were recruited as teenagers to work for the elite corps of staff members who keep the Church of Scientology running, known as the Sea Organization, or Sea Org. They [...]
