You know a player is taking a beating when the anger floating around him actually creates a positive backlash. Jason Spezza is now in the middle of a positive backlash. James Gordon has a nice post defending Spezza. This comes on the heels of an Ian Mendes defense of Spezza. Gordon argues Spezza has strong [...]

Do you know how you know the NHL season is winding down? Sure, you have the final round of the playoffs about to start. But you also have Ottawa stuck with a player they maybe/possibly don’t want. This year, it’s Jason Spezza, whose contract and one-way offensive style make him pretty much unmoveable. Apparently, many [...]

Ottawa’s Brian Elliott had his second shutout in a row last night, with a considerable assist given to Anton Volchenkov’s shot-blocking. It’s still a little early, but this is the time of year when you look for a goalie to get hot. Because a lot of times a hot goalie becomes a huge factor in [...]

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 [...]

The Stars have an interesting approach to goalie Marty Turco. Since they seem to feel they can’t replace him, they’re just throwing more and more coaching at him. Relatively hot on the heels of the news Turco is going to spend more time working with goalie coach/synthesist Andy Moog, comes news the Stars have added [...]

Ouch. Teams are now opting out of the Dany Heatley “sweepstakes.” The Kings are the latest team to close the door on the Heatley option, which is pretty telling. It’s like the Senators are getting rejected for dates they didn’t even ask people out on. The Kings could use a proven goal-scorer but they’re such [...]

Kind of a crazy 24 hours in hockey. Wonder goalie Jonas Gustavsson signed with the Maple Leafs, leaving the Dallas Stars scrambling to find a “backup” for Marty Turco who can step in and start when Turco inevitably flounders. Again. Not that Turco is going to go quietly into the night. He wants to play [...]

There’s a lot I don’t get about the Dany Heatley ransom demands. Like why are the Oilers so hot for a player who so obviously doesn’t want to play for them? Are they only interested because they know he’ll demand a trade in another two seasons? Do they think they can change him? And as [...]

Kevin Allen has an interesting piece on something I’ve been noticing: There doesn’t seem to be any market for or interest in Ottawa’s Dany Heatley. Obviously, a lot of the disinterest is posturing by GMs, but Heatley’s contract just doesn’t make sense, financially, in a lot of places. And when you consider players like Jay [...]

Fantastic game six last night. And for all of the talk about Detroit’s defense driving their offense, Pittsburgh did a tremendous job, at least for the first two periods, of letting their defense be a catalyst for their offense. Mike Heika said the game deserved to be on NBC. I think NBC should show the [...]