David Pollak had a piece discussing how much competition the Sharks have for their third- and fourth-line slots. This seems to be the new GM move: spending an excruciating amount of time, and to a certain extent, money, on guys who will play 10 to 15 minutes a night. At least San Jose GM Doug [...]
David Pollak has some interesting stuff about the non-stop drama that is the Summertime San Jose Sharks Show. In today’s chapter, goalie Evgeni Nabokov defends last season’s performance, while also admitting it could have been stronger. Pollak helpfully points out Nabokov’s five-hole often seemed to lack an off-switch last season. Pollak also wonders if the [...]
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 [...]
It’s very interesting to see how the Flyers view their status as a heavily penalized team. Tim Panaccio asked Mike Richards about the Flyers signing someone who can set-up in the crease as well as clear the crease, and Richards said the Flyers can’t afford that kind of player given the amount of penalties they [...]
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 [...]
Be honest. How many people even remembered Martin Havlat still played for the Blackhawks? I think even people in the Blackhawks organization didn’t remember Havlat was on their roster. Now, it’s tough to forget, given his two huge goals in a 3-2 win over the Flames. Chicago basically held on against Calgary, but it was [...]
Mike Heika posed an interesting question this morning: why didn’t Sean Avery work in Dallas? Heika obviously can’t say for sure. My suspicion is that ultimately, Avery’s salary was a source of jealousy and that kept the other players from embracing him. Salary is a huge thing — especially in a league with a salary [...]
It’s been very interesting watching John Tortorella coach his first few games in New York (both losses). For all of the talk about how brutally honest Tortorella is, he’s been very gentle with a very broken Rangers team. I would never guess Tortorella would even contemplate saying something like this: “You can’t hate your guys [...]
With Sean Avery’s reassignment to the AHL and seemingly self-inflicted muzzle working (for now), it’s very hard to find controversies in the NHL. You’d think there’d be one in Philadelphia, but Flyers coach John Stevens is a pretty smart guy. His former number one goalie, Marty Biron, has lost the starting job to Antero Niittymaki, [...]
Claude Lemieux returned to Denver last night, now 43 years old and a member of the San Jose Sharks. Lemieux is playing on the fourth line and it doesn’t sound like he’s expecting more of a role, although I suspect Sharks coach Todd McLellan will occasionally use Lemieux in shut-down roles when he senses it’ll [...]
