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 [...]

Photo by Dan4th The KHL seems to have a two-fold purpose in terms of its relationship to the NHL. It makes players NHL teams didn’t want to sign look suddenly more attractive. It teaches NHL players to be more realistic in their contractual expectations. Look at goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who couldn’t attract any NHL suitors [...]

A year really does make a huge difference in the NHL. A year ago, I would have read something like Tim Panaccio’s report on Philadelphia’s goalie glut and I would have thought: ‘That’s crazy! The Flyers need to dump some goalies at some point.’ But after last years playoffs, and even after the end of [...]

The other day, I wrote about how Cup-winning experience is actually a good thing. The Blackhawks’ summer payroll purge has resulted in a Cup-winning team jettisoning a decent part of its Cup-winning experience. And that could wind up being a fatal mistake for Chicago. Obviously, a lot of the experience purge is due to salary [...]

One thing that’s a bit frustrating about the NHL is that a lot of weight is attached to well-known names. It seems that a lot of GMs look at names rather than stats before they make a move. How else to explain all of the interest in Mike Modano, he of the 14 goals and [...]

The nice thing about San Jose’s advancement into the Western Conference finals is that there are quite a few heroes responsible for the Sharks finally dumping their choke artists reputation. Here are five thank yous the Sharks need to express: Thank You One: Coaching First of all, you have to thank coach Todd McLellan, who [...]

I’m loving the San Jose-Detroit series because of how it represents a rebirth for the Sharks. Instead of being a first-round choke kind of team, they’re suddenly confident and composed. The officiating has been a bit strange, though. Specifically, the NHL suddenly seems to have taken exception to some of Detroit’s around-the-net play. Last night [...]

[picappgallerysingle id="8653547"] For all of the talk about the new NHL, with its speed and its goal-scoring, the reality is that the playoffs are very much the old NHL, with its hooking and its defense and its checking. The Flyers and Bruins made it into the second round of the playoffs playing pre-lockout NHL hockey, [...]

Vanity Fair has an interesting piece on John Hughes, the iconic director who died in August. In addition to being a huge 80s director, Hughes was also a big hockey fan. In fact, one of his last public appearances might have been the Wings/’Hawks Winter Classic. The article points out some cool things, like how [...]

Not to be a jerk about the Olympics, but what exactly is the NHL thinking? The Penguins are obviously already gassed from their successful Stanley Cup run. They beat Atlanta last night, but had dropped their previous five. And now, instead of just focusing on making it to the All-Star break, they’re going to send [...]