Yesterday’s trade deadline was one of the quietest I can remember in years.
There just weren’t any really big moves. Teams like Pittsburgh and Phoenix made a couple of moves to get better, but none of them were exciting blockbuster trades that make you gasp.
My theory is that the Olympics suppressed any huge trades. GMs just [...]

Question: Can the Ducks and Kings both be good teams at the same time? Can they both be bad teams? Or, my theory here, do they feed off of each other, with the success of one causing the demise of the other, a veritable Western Conference yin and yang?
The Kings recent swoon has coincided with [...]

The Ducks have basically said Scott Niedermayer can play in Anaheim as long as he wants, even until the end of time.
Niedermayer isn’t quite so sure he wants to play forever.
I know what you’re thinking. This is the NHL equivalent of TWILIGHT. And you’re right. It is. Except there’s probably more sexual tension in NHL [...]

This weekend, the sportswriting world lost Mike Penner of the LA Times.
Penner was probably best known for his brilliant writing about his decision to become a woman. His byline changed to Christine Daniels. He subsequently returned to living as Mike Penner.
Penner covered the Ducks when they first joined the NHL and it seems he might [...]

A tough night for Pittsburgh in Ottawa last night. The Penguins had Max Talbot and Sergei Gonchar back and they still blew an early lead to the Senators.
Pittsburgh looked tired. It could just be the time of season or it could be all of the injuries the healthy players have had to compensate for over [...]

Forbes released their annual NHL franchise valuations and things actually look pretty good for the league. Or at least for some of the franchises. The average operating profit was $6.1 million, aggregate income increased, as did average franchise value.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t an across the board thing for the all of the franchises. While successful teams [...]

Oh wow! The Leafs finally won! The Leafs finally won!
Who knew goaltending was such an important position? Jonas Gustavsson earned his first NHL win with his second solid NHL start.
But credit Anaheim, too, for playing a very dull game. It’s almost like they wanted to give the Leafs their first win of the season.
Now, with [...]

Anaheim has a couple of issues right now, mostly that they’re 3-5-1 and have dropped four of their last five.
But their most pressing problem might be goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s groin.
Giguere is making $6 million this season and $7 million next season, even as the Ducks have a much stronger, cheaper goaltending option in Jonas Hiller.
It’s [...]

I like when training camp starts because it puts a real spotlight on coaches as everyone tries to figure out if successful coaches will be able to maintain their pace and if unsuccessful coaches will manage to turn things around.
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma would probably be considered a successful coach, what with his Stanley Cup [...]

The various owners of the Columbus Blue Jackets are drafting teams made up of training camp players and having a tournament. Coach Ken Hitchcock is all over this as he says it will give him a better way to evaluate more players — players who might not even be on his radar.
I’m not sure how [...]