The gang over at Hockey Pundits had a link to this story about Roberto Luongo's troubles in Florida. Apparently he's having a rough time. Coach Mike Keenan isn't giving Luongo regular starts and is also micromanaging his butterfly goaltending style.
Reading all this sounded very familiar. Where had I heard about Mike Keenan torturing goalies before? Hmmm. How about everywhere.
Darren Pang wrote about being one of five goalies used by Keenan when Keenan coached the Blackhawks. Why five goalies? So no one would feel confident trying to do their job. Typical Keenan.
And just ask goalie Glenn Healy how he feels about Keenan. Keenan picked Mike Richter over Healy when Keenan coached the Rangers. Sure Richter is a great goalie, but wouldn't you think Healy deserved some kind of explanation before being made the back-up?
And who can forget the first round of the 1987 Cup playoffs that saw the Rangers meet the Keenan-coached Flyers. In game four of that series, Keenan pulled Ron Hextall. Twice. First after Hextall gave up three goals halfway into the first period. But Hextall was back in goal in the second when the Rangers went on a four-minute powerplay (and no, Hextall's replacement Glenn Resch didn't give up any goals in his almost 20 minutes in net). Hextall gave up another goal and Resch was back in goal to start the third period. Hextall came back for a a Philadelphia powerplay and stayed until the final 90 seconds of the game, when Keenan pulled both goalies for the extra attacker. (The Flyers won the series 4 games to 2 and went all the way to the finals, only to be beaten by Edmonton).
So I guess Keenan could be more of a jerk to Luongo. At least Luongo is only getting pulled once a game.

Ouch! Philadelphia has taken a turn for the worse! John LeClair is hurt and the team is in a five game skid, most recently capped with a 7-2 thwacking by Pittsburgh. It's a discipline problem — the Flyers took too many penalties against a Penguin team that has a red-hot power play.
This is what a lot of people (or at least me) have been waiting for. Watching disciplinarian Ken Hitchcock butt heads with a Flyer team that just isn't very disciplined at heart. Now everyone is just watching to see what Hitchock will do next. Will he let this slide? Will he start pointing fingers? Will he dislocate his own shoulder in a show of solidarity with LeClair?
Another great subplot in the soap opera that is the Flyers is Roman Cechmanek. Is this where he has the breakdown we've been expecting all season? The Penguins chased him out of goal — is this what's going to make him snap?
I'd watch Philadelphia even if I hated hockey. It's better than reality TV. It's MELROSE PLACE on ice.

This article is all about how the Blues will be an amazing team once Keith Tkachuk returns to the line-up and gets warmed up.
I don't know. Isn't this the same St. Louis as last year? Only with more injuries? Sure they made it to the Western semis last season, but they didn't do anything to go any further this season. Making it that far is nice, but you have to add to the team if you want to win the Stanley Cup. So unless Tkachuk's return includes some hockey-playing friends, I just can't get too excited.

And please give thanks if your favorite team is playing well. And if you're a goalie, give thanks you can wear a face mask now.

Today I started thinking about Tony Amonte and how we haven't really heard anything out of him since Phoenix signed him over the summer. At first I thought the news blackout might be because he plays hockey in Phoenix, which has the same glamour and national impact as singing in the shower. But Amonte's plight is actually worse than being in the southwest.
He's only got five goals this season. Part of the problem is the pressure Amonte puts on himself. Part of the problem is that Amonte's linemates don't really know him yet. But the biggest problem is that as good as Amonte is (or was, to be more precise), he's not worth $6 million a year. Very few current NHL players are, so it's nothing to be ashamed of. But what the Coyotes have done is take an overpaid player, and made him overpaid and bad. Amonte is carrying the weight of a team on his shoulders and it's a hard thing to skate with. Amonte chose to take more money from a bad team rather than less money from a good team, where he wouldn't have been the focal point. Now he's paying the price for his price. So are the seven hockey fans in Phoenix.

Ouch. I know Byron Dafoe needed to go back to work, but there had to be another team he could have signed with even for a little less money. Dafoe (and the rest of the Thrashers) lost to Montreal in his Thrasher debut.
One of Dafoe's challenges with Atlanta is definitely going to be backstopping a team that doesn't play defense, and doesn't really seem to know how.
Dafoe is in for a long season.
Also, please note that Atlanta seems to be spending billions of dollars paying around 10 different goalies — maybe they can get some of them to play as defensemen, but wearing the goalie gear. Just a thought.

So the crazy goalie experiments are over in Buffalo. No more demoting and promoting goalies. The Sabres have decided to try and fix goalie Martin Biron. The Sabres have also canceled their latest season-ticket promotion: "Buy Season Tickets, Play in Goal For a Night."

Does anyone else think Florida took center Jaroslav Bednar and defenseman Andreas Lilja from the Kings for veteran defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich and a draft pick because Panther coach Mike Keenan finds younger players easier to browbeat and brainwash?
Um yeah. Me neither.

The Red Wings sure do hate those obstruction penalties. First Brett Hull was complaining. Now Chris Chelios is.
Detroit has lots of opinions about officiating. You can tell because every time play stops, one of them is off talking to a referee about something. And it's no secret that Detroit gets a lot less penalties called than most other NHL teams. It's good that Chelios is getting this off his back now, though. It gives him less to talk about with the refs after the whistle. And time is important with those new fast face-offs.

Wanna talk about tough jobs? Try being the Detroit Red Wings team doctor for 46 years. Dr. John Finley has seen more teeth than a combmaker. He's seen more blood than a O.J. Simpson. He's seen just about everything. He's one of the best team physicians in the NHL and he's retiring. He's also working on his memoirs.

Poor Marty Lapointe. He can't catch a break. He's got a fractured foot and he's desperately trying to rejoin a Bruins team that is seriously depleted from injuries. And all this while trade rumors have him landing all over the U.S. and Canada.
And to make matters worse, when his coach, Robbie Ftorek, was asked who the best player in the NHL is, Ftorek said Martin...
...Brodeur. The Devils goalie Ftorek coached back in Jersey.
Smells like team spirit.
In other Bruin news, Sportsnet is reporting the Rangers are trying to move Eric Lindros for Kyle McLaren. But would Boston pay Lindros' salary? Boston wouldn't pay Bill Guerin or Byron Dafoe. Would they really pay Lindros?
I doubt it.

Larry Brooks over at the New York Post is grim as all hell about the NHL's upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations. He says the strike in an all-but-certainty. The owners want a $32 million salary cap, which would mean no teams could really afford any super-star players. I guess they'd go to Europe or maybe the WHA would start up again.
The NHL is looking to the NFL for contract guidelines. Which is great. Just about every NFL team is .500, so you'd get to see your favorite team win half of the time (which is good news for Pittsburgh fans). You'd also get to see entirely new teams wearing your favorite team's jerseys every season — just like the NFL.

What's with the Leafs? All of a sudden (this season), they're a good team. Goalie Eddie Belfour has been amazing. The Candian Press has no real explanation. Neither do I. They started the season a great team and they really just underperformed. Now they're playing up to their level. Maybe they figured out Pat Quinn wasn't leaving no matter how badly they played.
And how about Belfour? Is there another goalie that plays so badly and so well within the span of two seasons? How can the same person be capable of such highs and such lows?

According to the Edmonton Journal the Avs are trying to move Alex Tanguay and Martin Skoula to Boston for Kyle McLaren and Marty Lapointe. The Sun reports Colorado is trying to go "grittier" (The Rangers are supposedly interested in McLaren, too).
Colorado needs to go "grittier" and to go "scoring more often." I guess it's one thing at a time, though.

America's favorite lefty free agent (his arm, not his politics), pitcher Tom Glavine, took in a Flyers game last week while checking out Philadelphia. He was drafted in the fourth round by the Kings in 1984. So now you know.