The Rangers completed their trade for Olli Jokinen this morning, giving up the underperforming Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik for Calgary’s Jokinen and Brandon Prust. Kotalik was strange for the Rangers. Brought in as a powerplay specialist, he became such a defensive liability, he found himself a consistent scratch, despite a booming shot. Also, presumably [...]

I’ve been shocked by the struggles of the Calgary Flames, both because they seemed like a solid enough team and because coach Brent Sutter did a fantastic job in New Jersey last year. But lately, I’m wondering if he really did as good a job as we think. A large part of the Flames struggles [...]

Just some quick weekend notes: Larry Brooks and Tim Panaccio aren’t happy about the Gretzky backlash. Both feel his time as a player buys him some goodwill with the public. I’ve been curious about the backlash and think a lot of it has to do with economics. Gretzky never seemed to put much work into [...]

Last night’s Calgary-Islanders might have been the game of late 2008. It was like some kind of movie. You had Dion Phaneuf’s massive open-ice hit on Islander Kyle Okposo (Okposo has a mild concussion). The one bright spot for the Islanders was that Okposo’s teammates immediately came to his defense, attempting to fight Phaneuf the [...]

It’s corn Friday. Sorry! Buccigross’ ‘Heatley will be a Shark’ call is just a big misunderstanding: he’s talking about an upcoming Ottawa production of WESTSIDE STORY. Also, don’t miss Jason Spezza as Maria. The Sabres released photos of the commemorative bricks from the Aud, which they’ll be selling. So the Sabres will hold onto bricks [...]

Larry Brooks caught up with Rangers coach John Tortorella and found some interesting stuff. For instance, veterans are not a lock to make the team out of camp. Assuming this is true, this is a huge departure for a team that loves to talk about a youth movement but has never been willing to support [...]

Adrian Dater has an interesting question: do we really know what the big deal is about Swedish goalie Jonas Gustavsson? I think the big deal is that he’s an unproven free agent, so you have the excitement of a rookie coupled with the track record of a veteran. A young veteran. I’m pretty curious how [...]

I’m shocked Washington’s Sergei Fedorov would leave the NHL for the KHL. Sure, his best days are behind him, but he was a pretty important part of the Capitals playoff run, serving as a calming influence on the ice. I really thought Washington would try and keep him and Fedorov would try and stay. After [...]

How can you not be impressed by the poise and maturity of the Chicago Blackhawks? Going into Calgary in game seven, you would think a young team like Chicago would collapse under the pressure and expectations. Instead, they went in and won the first round of the playoffs. The Blackhawks were aided by Calgary playing [...]

In a lot of ways, it’s kind of a relief for a coach to be down 4-1 in a game. It frees the coach up to make riskier decisions, since the game is pretty much gone anyway. Last night, down 4-1 to the Flames, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville rode his third and fourth line to [...]