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Slow Trade Deadline

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:08:27 +0000

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 didn’t have a strong sense of where their teams were and how other players were doing.

The Olympics only ended on Sunday. It’s tough to make a big, cap-implicating call with information that could be two weeks old.

One of yesterday’s bigger moves was Edmonton’s Lubomir Visnovsky for Anaheim’s Ryan Whitney. I don’t think it’s a coincidence both were last seen playing in the Olympics (although you could also make the argument both were in the Olympics because they play at a certain level and so, in general, are more desirable to GMs).

Both GMs had recent looks at how each player was performing. It took some risk out of the trade.

The weirdest move of the day was Washington’s re-acquisition of Milan Jurcina. Not only had the Caps traded him earlier in the season, but he’s scheduled to be out for four to six weeks with a sports hernia.

Did Jurcina owe someone in Washington money? Is he just a fun guy to have around?

If the NHL does decide to move forward with the 2014 Olympics, I hope they remember today and decide to make the trade deadline either a week later or two weeks earlier. But the league needs to give GMs time to gather information to pull the trigger on bigger, more exciting deals.

Ducks and Kings Feed Off of the Other’s Pain

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:01:47 +0000

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 a Ducks hot streak.

But last night belonged to the Kings, who shut-out Anaheim 4-0.

As Helene Elliott points out, the Ducks have always been a second-half team. It’s going to be tough going for Anaheim (and Team Finland), as the Ducks keep accumulating injuries. Teemu Selanne will be out two to six weeks while his jaw heals. Saku Koivu left last night’s loss with a lower-body injury. If I’m Kimmo Timonen, I’m going to wear a mattress out on the ice for the next few days, just to make sure someone can compete for Finland.

It will be interesting to see if the Kings feed off of the Ducks pain and solidify their playoff spot. Or, if my theory is disproved, and both teams finish out of the playoffs.

Speaking of the Olympics, here is my theory on why Chris Drury will actually be huge for Team USA. Hint: It has to do with his being under no pressure since he’s the worst player on the team.

Finally, the worst hockey movies of all time. I actually love MYSTERY, ALASKA and I’m not sure how THE CUTTING EDGE isn’t here, but the rest of these are suitably bad, as promised.

Scott Niedermayer’s Career Has No Twilight

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:46:56 +0000

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 contract negotiations than in TWILIGHT.

But it got me thinking about Niedermayer’s numbers. I took a look and they’re shockingly consistent. It really is almost like the guy isn’t aging. The only potentially alarming thing is he’s a -23 over the past three seasons, but that includes his current -13, which is more a reflection of the Ducks recent struggles than his ability.

But other than that, he’s pretty much been a 50-point defenseman the past six seasons, and before that he was usually good for around 40 points a year.

So yeah. I can see why Niedermayer has the green light to play until he’s a senior citizen.

Teemu Selanne had that kind of consistency and durability, too, but this season has been pretty brutal. He just got back from missing 17 games with a hand injury and then, last night, he broke his jaw on a deflected shot. The Ducks aren’t sure when he’ll be back. It could be a few days or a few weeks. And the Olympics could still be off the table for him.

Unless Niedermayer bites him, that is.

Goodbye, Mike Penner

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:54:47 +0000

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 have played a role in the team’s decision to go from being a Disney attraction to an actual hockey team.

Obviously, Penner went back quite a bit, to the days when the LA Times covered hockey…

Not hockey related, but Penner seemed to be a sweet person, too.

Also, an interesting tidbit out of Dallas, from Mike Heika’s mailbag:

Q: Hey Mike, when the boys are playing at the AAC, it seems like I’ve seen Alex Auld sitting at the opposite end of the bench from where Marty sits when he isn’t playing. … Am I remembering right? And if so, what kind of goalie logic is behind that?

HEIKA: I asked Alex Auld, and he said that his experience is that people on the center ice end of the bench get hit with a puck a lot more than people on the goal-side end of the bench. That’s his reasoning for not sitting in the “traditional” goalie spot on the bench – purely from a safety standpoint. Maybe Marty Turco will soon follow suit.

So yeah. In case you were wondering, Auld likes to avoid pucks hitting him both on the bench and on the ice.

Finally, my take on Carolina’s Jim Rutherford, the MacBeth of GMs. This guy is all about making decisions and then reversing them.

Pittsburgh Tired; Vultures Circle Ducks

Steven Ovadia — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:14:04 +0000

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 the course of the season.

Someone asked Dave Molinari if he thought poor conditioning was behind all of the Penguins injuries. Molinari said going deep into the playoffs so frequently could end up taking a physical toll on the team. So Pittsburgh could literally wind up a victim of its own success.

Hopefully, the team will get some rest over American Thanksgiving. And hopefully Talbot and Gonchar will help since they have relatively fresh legs.

Meanwhile, over in Anaheim, the Ducks haven’t given up on their season, but opposing scouts are watching the team closely, getting ready for the inevitable fire sale of talent.

Things are pretty bad. I heard opposing scouts were placing red stickers on players they’re interested in obtaining.

Also, I took a look at the importance of system-oriented coaches in player develpment. Nikita Filatov obviously wasn’t a huge fan of that kind of coaching…

NHL Is a Two Financial Tier League

Steven Ovadia — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:53:42 +0000

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 like Pittsburgh, Washington, and Chicago are doing great (as one might expect), other franchises like Nashville, Atlanta, the Islanders, and, of course, the Coyotes, are struggling. Here is the Forbes valuation chart.

One thing the article doesn’t mention that I’m curious about: the Stars and Avs, two seemingly successful franchises, lost $10 million and $11 million in value, respectively. I’m not sure if that’s a business loss of some kind that has nothing to do with the actual franchises, or if something else is going on.

Looking at the list of struggling franchises (and I’m assuming Dallas and Colorado aren’t actually struggling, that they just lost some value this year), you can’t help but wonder when the NHL is going to contract. You have wildly successful teams rubbing elbows with teams that can’t fill their arenas and can’t attract a buyer. Why not cut the fat and streamline league profits?

Speaking of value, the Blackhawks are about to see some return on their investment in Marian Hossa: he’s expected to begin contact drills this week, putting him one step closer to making his season debut. Like everyone else, I’m very curious how/if he’ll fit in with the rest of the team.

Also, here is my look at Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s demand to be made the starting goalie in Anaheim.

Leafs End Suffering; Isles and Wild Continue Theirs

Steven Ovadia — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:00:28 +0000

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 the one win under their belt, it’s not like the Leafs are ready to take the NHL by storm. They’re still a weak team with a lot of issues. But with the one win completed, they should be in a position to earn a win more often than every nine games.

Turning to other struggling NHL teams, the Islanders continue a rather impressive streak of going to overtime, only to lose. While the Islanders aren’t in great shape, standings-wise, imagine how bad it would be without the charity point.

Finally, the Wild are 0-8 on the road to start this season. The good news is they’re undefeated at home, so there seems to be a decent chance the team can still finish at .500. It’s very strange how the team has been unable to put together a solid 60-minute game on the road.

Even with some teams like these obviously suffering in a big way, the NHL’s U.S. TV ratings are up, seemingly driven by the power of the game in HD.

I don’t think anyone should have to watch Toronto in HD, though. That seems inhumane to all parties involved.

Ducks Future Hinges on Giguere’s Groin

Steven Ovadia — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:25:09 +0000

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 been fairly obvious that Anaheim wants to trade Giguere and has been giving him starts to keep him sharp and to showcase him. And Giguere is a solid, proven goalie who would have attracted some interest.

Would have. Until he left Saturday’s loss to the Blue Jackets with a sore groin.

Teams won’t take a chance on an expensive goalie like Giguere if there are concerns about groin issues. And if Giguere doesn’t come off of the Anaheim cap, they can’t get in some secondary scoring and a shut-down defenseman, both of which the team needs.

Giguere’s health is the key to Anaheim’s immediate future. Not because they need him to play for them, but because they need him to play his way onto another team.

Also, here’s something I wrote about the current New York Rangers trying to re-create the 2001-02 Wings. Because if the Rangers love one thing, it’s old players.

Bylsma Lowering Expectations

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:56:25 +0000

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 at the end of last season. Even so, he’s already lowering expectations for the upcoming season. He never uses the term “Cup hangover,” but it seems to weigh strongly on his mind.

By the way, the Penguins are trying to re-sign defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang. Is it me or does Gonchar seem to have stopped aging? Someone should look into that.

Over in New Jersey, John MacLean continues to insist he’s not mad he was passed over for the Devils coaching job. Again. In an unrelated note, Devils coach Jacques Lemaire continues to insist he always had someone start his car and taste his food for him.

Blues coach Andy Murray had a nice surprise during the Blues’ pre-training camp practice sessions: a healthy Paul Kariya and Erik Johnson. The Blues will have around 56 players at training camp, which is about how many players they needed last season.

Finally, the NHL marketing department slipped-up and actually promoted a player from a west coast team. Heads will certainly roll for this. The first rule of NHL marketing is to never reveal the NHL has teams west of the Mississippi.

Blue Jackets Keep It Real in Training Camp; Ducks Keep It Real Fiscally Responsible

Steven Ovadia — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:10:21 +0000

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 common this is, but it’s a really good idea. Anyone looking to make a team is going to go hard at training camp, almost by default. But players who are pretty much guaranteed a spot are often a bit harder to get going. This seems to solve that problem while giving other players the ability to step-up and score a roster spot.

Speaking of smart moves, Chris Zupke pays tribute to Bob Murray, who finally has the Ducks out of cap trouble. Of course, the Ducks still have a dueling goalies situation, but as Chicago will tell you, other than being absurdly expensive, it’s actually not an awful thing. And even with goalies Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Jonas Hiller, the Ducks still have a good amount of cap space. In fact, if they keep the cap space they have now (around $4 million), they should have some nice options at the trade deadline.

I love the start of the pre-season because everyone looks so smart and everything feels full of hope. In a few months, I’ll be jumping all over Anaheim for not taking full advantage of their cap space and for not having enough goaltending depth.