The New York Rangers were kind of smart in trading for defenseman Bryan McCabe. First of all, they didn’t give up very much. Just Tim Kennedy, who seems to have been accidentally been signed in the off-season and was never really given a shot to return to the NHL, and a third-round draft pick. In [...]

Do you get the feeling Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ray Shero isn’t feeling the playoffs this season? That’s what the re-acquisition of Alex Kovalev feels like. Shero wanted to pick up a player, but he didn’t want to give anything up and he didn’t want a long-term commitment. Kovalev’s streakiness is both legendary and maddening, but [...]

Whenever someone doesn’t know how to evaluate an NHL player, the go-to line is usually ‘And he’ll be a monster when he fills out.’ The idea is that every player can stand to get bigger and stronger. But Buffalo’s Drew Stafford isn’t finding that to be the case. He’s having a career season after dropping [...]

Photo by Anna Enriquez Earlier this season, both the New York Rangers and the Dallas Stars drew accolades for their physical play. Neither team was very deep and neither played with much finesse, but both teams could grind an opponent down. But is that kind of play sustainable over the course of an 82-game season? [...]

Photo by micdsphotos Today’s Times has an interesting piece about women’s lacrosse: Although some safety advocates call for head protection in women’s lacrosse, almost everyone involved in the sport has said that its current ban on helmets for everyone but goaltenders is actually the safest approach. People around women’s lacrosse say helmets might make the [...]

Photo by Mafue Ultimately, Peter Forsberg’s legacy won’t be his place as one of the league’s great two-way players. He won’t be remembered for playing with the soul of a grinder and hands as good as any NHL finesse player. In the end, Forsberg will be remembered as a player who refused to accept his [...]

Photo by BradJones9 If you’re a fan of the Colorado Avalanche, you’re probably used to emotional highs and lows. Just two seasons ago, they finished dead last in the West while last season saw the Avs clinch the eighth seed and then exit in the first round. This season, after a strong start, the Avs [...]

I’m not a huge investor, but I try and read a little bit on the basics of investing, just to keep Mrs. PuckUpdate and I from inadvertently ending up in Ponzi scheme (a very real threat in our part of Queens). Any basic investment book will constantly remind you of the need to diversify your [...]

Photo by bridgetds There are a lot of theories about why the Blackhawks are struggling this season. There are the players they lost in the off-season. There’s coach Joel Quenneville’s constant line juggling. There’s the team’s lack of intensity, especially against lesser opponents. But in general, you can file all of the problems under Stanley [...]

Photo by Anna Enriquez It’s no surprise Scott Gomez is getting called out in Montreal for his salary. Salary creates expectations. And in a salary cap environment, this is especially true, since every dollar going to one player is not available for another player. So when a player like Gomez underperforms, not only is he [...]