Playoff race - Mar 13 - Roasted Ducks in the Wild West

Anaheim Ducks' lone bright spot last night was to see Teemu Selänne climb another notch in the career scoring list, passing fellow Finn and childhood idol, Jari Kurri. The final score in the end of the game pretty much finalized their season. Colorado took the two points and making it to overtime provided one for the Ducks. They could reach 93 points by winning all of the remaining games and miraculously slip into playoffs with that. However, their recent play doesn't give much hope for miracles. Time to polish those golf clubs.

The winner of that contest, Colorado Avalanche, is instead on a roll. They find themselves again in the top eight, but the joy may be brief considering that there's three teams behind them within two points margin and all of them have at least two games in hand. Nevertheless, Avs have played way better recently than any of the teams they're fighting against, so we might witness them taking a firmer grip on the playoff spot in the coming rounds.

San Jose Sharks managed to wrestle one victory against the young and already eliminated Edmonton Oilers. The Sharks play rejuvenated Clagary Flames today in a four-point game. Victory there would catapult them all the way to seventh spot, a loss would see Calgary overtake them. Playoff atmosphere, guaranteed. Meanwhile, Phoenix Coyotes took another loss and are actually becoming targets for the desperate bunch under the playoff line in the West.

Playoff race - Mar 6 - Jets roll and Ducks cling

Only three games last night, but some meaningful results. Winnipeg Jets are making a statement in the Southeast division with another win. They seem determined to either take the home ice by winning the division or at least make it to the playoffs as the last seed. They've played a few more games than the other hopefuls, but have also been on a remarkable groove lately. It takes a complete shift in directions to change the dynamics in the bottom of Eastern conference.

Anaheim Ducks' win keeps them clinging to the last straw for their postseason dream. They still have a remote chance to make it, but need to collect about 16 of available 20 points. That leaves room for two losses this season. Considering that they still play St. Louis twice, Detroit and Vancouver once, just to mention a few tought ones, it is definitely a long shot. Hats off to Teemu Selänne, he'll be the all time number one scoring Finn with the next point. Hopefully it's a game winner that keeps the team's dream alive for another night.

Dare to gamble?

Okay, continuing to milk the trade deadline cow. Now I'm going through some thoughts on the potential free agents that might really spark up a team they land in. In addition I'll cover some of the ageless veterans that seem to just keep on firing on all cylinders no matter how old they get. These guys are mostly loyal to their long term teams, but there might be a chance to lure one or two out of their retirement houses by dangling the Stanley Cup in front of them. Finally I'll cover some of the ultimate risks, already proven to fail easily, but still having some hidden potential underneath.

Let's start with the impact players with somewhat inconsistent history. Number one is Washington's Alexander Semin. No matter how much the North American media hates this kid, I still believe he's up there with the best of them as far as hockey skills come. Semin is clearly unhappy as the number two primadonna in the team. OVechkin steals the spotlight and as both of these guys live for recognition as the artists they are, Semin is not going to hit his peak behind the bigger Alex. Semin has a shot like Steven Stamkos, hands like Patric Kane and skating skills to match. You just need to have the desperation level as a team to take the leap to unknown an build your offense around this young Russian. As the teams in the bottom of the standings, what can you lose? Montreal, Minnesota or something.

Another Capital is closing in on the free agency. Former league-leading defenceman, Mike Green, has the potential to be the ultimate game changer, especially on the powerplay. Just look at his stats from years 08-09 and 09-10. Green has been injured much of the past two seasons and his attitude has also been questioned. But you just don't rack up 70+ points per season as a blueliner in NHL unless you have exceptional talent day in and day out. On a team with highly skilled forward group on power play, Green could be the catalyst to just blow the PP goal column through the roof. Devils, Lightning and Ducks, just to name a few.

There's also a sneaky Swede, Kristian Huselius, who has dropped totally from the radar after injuries and other woes. This guy was producing almost a point per game in Calgary and Columbus while these teams were deep down in the bottom of the league. He managed even to crack it to the positive side of plus minus charts through 06-09. If he regains his health, this 33 year old playmaker is still very potential second line forward for any team needing secondary scoring.

Three more guys with high potential and solid careers enter the free agency unless new contracts come up soon. Brad Boyes, a lethal sniper and shootout specialist is having a horrible downswing in productivity after his high scoring years in St. Louis Blues. Install him in a proper line with a good setup man and he might well regain his level of 30+ goals per season. Olli Jokinen is playing on his best level in Calgary era. He seems to have found the groove with some true veteran leadership. Calgary is likely negotiating an extension with the Great Pumpkin Head, but Olli might be tempted to make one final attempt to be a big player in a big team. So far he has only been able to rise to high level of play while playing in mediocre teams. Edmonton's Ales Hemsky still has the speed to cause envy across the league and can pack a magnificent set of hands on top of that. The young Oilers will not make it to the playoffs yet this season. Hemsky might want to try a change of scenery for the extra notch to make it to the elite of forwards before hitting his thirties. Anyone with a gap in skill and speed should be interested. Dallas, Ottawa or even Detroit come to mind.

There are so many Hall of Fame -bound veterans still playing this season on a high level that it sometimes is hard to believe. Sweden's ironman Nicklas Lidström will likely postpone retirement and carry on for yet another season in Detroit. Even if the graying Wings run out of steam come playoff time. Martin Brodeur carries on and will want to increase his incredible numbers in a Devil uniform until retirement. I can't see Teemu Selänne migrating from warm and sunny Anaheim anywhere soon. Not even for a loan to dear neighbors San Jose or LA. He'll give the Ducks another chance and another solid year even if they miss the playoffs this season. You just cannot quit as the top scorer among this lineup while you're still skating like a 20 year old and love the game as much as Teemu.

Three more big names in the veteran corps might have a temptation play the remaining years in different teams. Jaromir Jagr might swap to another uniform for another year if he stays healthy and the Flyers mess it up early in the playoffs. Ray Whitney is absolutely killing it in Phoenix and he should be on the radar of any playoff bound team that believes that veteran leadership is critical in the postseason. Milan Hejduk is also headed for free agency and might be tempted to jump out of the Colorado train for a bit more mature team to finish off his career. Any of these guys can improve any team they land in. For some teams that rely heavily on young superstars, an elderly distinguished gentleman might be a perfect mentor. You just cannot be cocky while facing Jaromir Jagr and his merits. Take a note on this, Chicago Blackhawks.

Finally, the dark horses. Evgeni Nabokov went awol last season but humbly returned for a decent campaign in lowly NY Islanders. He might be of interest for any team with secure playoff spot but problems in the net. Chicago, Philly again. Then there are the ultimate gambles in Dustin Penner and Sean Avery. Both have proven to be valuable players to cause problems to the opponents and even score some points along with the rest of the hussle. Penner was solid big bruiser in Edmonton era, always in the face of opposing goalies. Avery was driving the opposition crazy while still amusing the home team and supporters in Rangers for a long period. Falling out of favor with the coaches has totally killed these guys' careers. For a team desperate enough and willing to gamble with the team chemistry on the line, these guys will join you on a bargain tab. Help them find their groove and give them the niche they fit in and you'll end up a winner. Penner to Washington to fill up Mike Knuble's big boots. Avery to any team that has an audience that appreciates some theatrics with their daily portion of hockey. Could the city of Chicago be ready for the Avery-show? And the young fun loving corps led by Patrick Kane might have a laugh with Sean. Captain Serious excluded of course.

Semi-Random All-Stars 2012

It's time for the yearly event of televised pond hockey in form of NHL All-Star game. This year it's hosted by Ottawa and luckily the Senators have amazed everyone with solid play for the first half of this season. Against all odds, the host team's boys can proudly participate in the rink instead of humbly filling the water bottles for true stars.

Talking about true stars, I need to rant some about the guys that somehow got left out of the ceremonies. The screaming error here is Anaheim's Corey Perry taking the spot that by any standard belongs to the amazing Teemu Selänne. Perry was superb in the second half of last season and got credits for that. However, this season he has been one of the young bulls watching the old man beat them in any category: points, consistency and heart. Come on, NHL, Selänne is breaking all the records in 40+ forwards' history and still hangs in the top-15 in league scoring race. Need to point out that Perry is 6 points behing and -15 lower than Selänne. What a failure.

-- Correction: At least according to ESPN:s Pierre LeBrun, Selänne was asked to join but refused. Too bad. Hats off to Teemu anyway on his point per game pace and all!

Maybe this whole selection should reflect the season heroics a bit more. Now it seems rather arbitrary. Just to point out a few more flukes..

How did you get Patrick Kane ahead of so many forwards that have him beaten in scoring? He's a thrilling player, but Chicago alrady has Hossa and Toews. Guys like Anze Kopitar, James Neal or rejuvenated Patrick Elias should have been considered before Kane. Maybe it's the thrill of seeing him pull off some moves in the shootout competition, who knows..

And how on earth did you guys come up with Logan Couture? He's having a mediocre season in San Jose and should be considered only after perennial All-Stars Marleau and Thornton have refused to come over. Ridiculous!

Ovechkin probably got his ticket from injured Bäckström. Maybe that's the case with a few others here too.

And guys.. you never leave Niklas Lidström out of the All-Stars lineup. Never!

-- Correction: Again, according to ESPN, Lidström requested to pass the festival. Maybe he's had enough of those already to know he's pretty good in the game. Leave it for the kids.

Finally, when you take a look at the goaltenders, you see that the selection board got tired of picking and just took some random guys after Thomas, Lundqvist, Quick and Howard, who all deserve the recognition. Elliott has been fantastic as a backup. But if you started taking backup goalies, you should have gone with Tuukka Rask, who has the best stats in the league after 15 games. Carey Price? Who is this guy to keep getting the love from everyone without much proof to base it on? There's a dozen goalies that have had better seasons so far! Workhorses Fleury, Kiprusoff and Rinne. Solid number ones Niemi, Smith and Luongo. Just to name a few.

Well, it's a relaxed event, but you should keep the serious professionalism until the team has been built. Otherwise you'll risk the few remaining reasons to keep this tradition. For players, young and old, it's always a moment of recognition for a job well done. Please, don't mess it up with personal bias.

Funky stats

There's enough games under everyone's belt to take a deeper look on the statistics so far. Not looking at the obvious ones, everyone can see those, but trying to peek behind the scenes and point out some oddities. Somewhat random, but if you're in, strangely interesting.

Disappearance of Alex Ovechkin. The guy gets paid 100k a game, has proven to be one of the unique talents in the league, but now lingers somewhere in mediocrity. 14 points in 18 games is fine for most, but less than expected from Ovie. The troubling fact is his -6 rating. That's the worst in the whole team! And the team is way over .500 and +2 on goals. What has Alex been doing? Not shooting is one thing. In the previous seasons he's been blasting away on the top of the league stats. Now, barely in top20. Defending, like coach Boudreau claims? Half of the hits than the league's biggest bruisers, three blocked shots. Doesn't look like much. He's playing 3-5 minutes less than in the previous years, maybe due to less than expected production. The bottom line seems to be that mr. Ovechkin is either injured or just not motivated enough. Both are bad for Washington, but later might be harder to fix.

The curse of Eric Staal. Staal has been among the top forwards of this league for several years. He's proven to be a great captain and a hard worker. But now he and his team are in a slump to remember. Leading the league unchallenged in -18. Shooting second most in the league with 5% accuracy. 8 points in 20 games, half of them in powerplay. Talk about squeezing the stick. Big Eric must snap out of this and carry the Hurricanes on his back again, if they have any dreams of the playoffs.

Teen-aged and fearless. Have you noticed a kid called Gabriel Landeskog in Colorado Avalanche? Well, if not, please look for the number #92 in the future. This Swedish rookie is in top20 of the league in shots fired and hits delivered. And was just promoted to play in the top line. Must be hard to miss. It's great to see the rookies of today playing just like the big boys. No fear, no bowing, and ready to challenge. Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins just posted 5 assists the other day. Wonder how many rookies have had that many on a game in the history of this sport? Well a guy named Gretzky had 7 back in the day, but Nugent-Hopkins likely made it to the top 5. Coincidentally, that heroic effort also puts Ryan on par with slightly older, but yet ever promising forward from the Ducks, Teemu Selänne. It'll be a fun race between guys aged 18 and 41 for the rest of the season. Place your bets!

Grabbing the momentum in the circle. Chicago's Jonathan Toews leads the league in faceoffs taken and has the biggest win percentage of the active centers on the paint at whopping 62,4%. That sure brings an extra edge to the game when you can grab almost two out of three to your linemates. And the linemates in particular are called Kane and Hossa, which doesn't hurt either. On the other end of the spectrum we have the polite Czech, Patrik Elias, from the Devils, who takes only a modest share of 42,4% of the many faceoffs he faces. I wonder, could the wingers do much worse there?

The Suter-Weber wall. Among the Nashville Predators' hot topics is how to keep their top defencive pair of Ryan Suter and Shea Weber. That might prove to be a bit tricky, but that shouldn't keep the team from enjoying the ride these two defensive monsters bring. They have the biggest plus minus ratings in the league, they stand in the top5 in d-man scoring and just seem to do everything right at the moment. I'd hate to play as a visiting forward in Nashville when paired agains these two. Tough and frustrating in the offensive zone, outright scary in the defensive zone diving in front of Weber's cannon.

Speaking of defensemen, Colorado's ever promising Erik Johnson must be hating the stats charts. He just hit 50 shots, leading the league in attempts in vain. Zero goals, one assist on even strength (8 more on powerplay though) and a miserable -12 rating. Can't really say that he's fulfilled the expectations yet. Maybe he should call up Detroit's colleagues Lidström and Kronwall for some consulting. They've both let go about as many shots and are looking at 6 goals apiece. Not to mention the positive ratings in plus minus column.

Well, that was the take today. I'll be drilling more some other time. Hope you enjoy!

It's playoff time!

I planned to go on and analyze the playoff pairs before the big games started. Here I am, however, a week late and some reality adjustment wiser. Nevertheless, here I go. First round prognosis and some random comments as dressing.

Let's follow the sun and start from the East. WSH-NYR. Rangers have some guts and they've played playoff hockey since March. Grinding away to the last game, they managed to get lucky and get in. Exhausted, yes, but still have to be pretty pumped up too. Capitals knew they'd be in the playoffs for a long time already. They have started the preparations early and changed their style to more defencive minded. The big guns haven't gone anywhere and keep on blasting the opponents away when given the chance. Therefore, Rangers have to fall in this series. It's been even so far, but already 3-1 for Washington. Next game will be a blowout, 5-1 for Capitals, Ovechkin popping up a notch and scoring a couple.

Philly-Sabres, that's an interesting matchup. Based on early season it would have been murder, Flyers taking it easily 4-0. Now it's 2-2 after poor regular season finish for Philadelphia and a great one for Buffalo. Ryan Miller has stolen couple of games for Sabres already. Still, that's going to end. Flyers are just way too strong to contain by a average lineup and a great goalie. They'll add a notch on the nastiness too, now that Miller's been denying the conventional scoring. Philly takes the next two and advances to second round.

Boston-Montreal, a classic. These teams have played each other so much over the years that they have a pretty good scouting report each on how to play the opponent. Boston has been very solid all year, Montreal has improved from last seasons. In general this should still be much more biased for Boston. Somehow Montreal has been able to dominate early. However, after getting the crucial win on the game 3, Boston will discover its lost confidence and sweep the rest of the series. Carey Price will turn human again and won't be able to steal the show.

PIT-TBL was another very interesting setup. With Malkin and Crosby well and in the lineup, Penguins would have ended in the finals for sure. Now, it seems like a miracle that they finished so high in the standings on regular season and keep on playing great in the playoffs. Fleury gives the edge in goal for Pittsburgh every night, but the offence is based on sub-50 point players only. Hard working, grinding style seems to work well against the Lightning and Penguins are one win away from advancing. Tampa has had only Martin St. Louis deliver on expected, and extremely high, level. Other guys seem to have dropped the ball (puck?) somehow. Lecavalier and Stamkos have the last moment to pick up their game if they plan to continue this season. I would have picked Lightning to take this one earlier, but now I can't see it happening. If Crosby returns on the second round, he's going to be all over the sports news like never before.

Passing the middle and moving to the West. East may be more of a playoff experience, low scoring, tight, grinding games. West has the entertainment factor of less balanced, hollywood-like, goal scoring fests.

Vancouver-Chicago. What a nightmare reward for destroying the competition for the whole year in Vancouver. Defending champs sure are dangerous, no matter how they played the and of the season. Lucky to be in, nothing to lose -attitude just adds up in the pressure towards Canucks. My guess was, and still is, that Canucks can take this series and go really far this year. The team is just so solid on all positions. Chicago could have gone far, but not with this team agains them on the first round. From players, Luongo will take over and Sedin twins will find the groove and possibly take the playoff scoring 1-2 spots.

SJ-LA, the two non-traditional, Californian hockey teams facing each other. What a setup. And good for the environment, not much travelling. Here I'd have said that San Jose takes this easily 4-0 with LA losing its top two forwards on the last stretch of regular season. Kings have really fought back courageously, but can't stop the obvious. Sharks will rip them to pieces on the last two and surf to the next round. Veteran leaders Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau will pick up their game and carry the younger Sharks to the next challenge.

Detroit-Phoenix, well this was the easiest to pick. Detroit has just been too good this year to even stumble with the Coyotes. Wouldn't have given them the sweep, but now that's the reality. Detroit sure has the team to go far this year, again. Datsuyk is just too good and if Zetterberg returns healthy, they'll have some serious added punch to beware.

Ducks-Predators is a matchup between offence and defence. I'm calling offence and Ducks going forward. They've become maybe the most entertaining team in the league on the second half of the season and I sure would like them to go far. Nashville just hasn't got the goods to match. Average scoring, great defence and goaltending, they may be enough, but won't carry over to the third round. Ducks might surprise everyone in the league with 7-5 wins. I just love to see Teemu Selänne shoving the pucks to the net like he's 20 again. Hopefully it's another good run for him too and a great motivation to keep on playing. Pretty big numbers on the backs of guys to be passed next on the all time scoring lists. Hall of famers all. Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Bobby Ryan will regroup on the next games and start really spreading fear to all the rest of the West.

I'll end this long post here and try to return with more foresight before it's too late. That being in the beginning of the second round, at latest.

Regular season heroics, the MVP

Ended up thinking about the MVP honours and decided to share a few words on that too. There are quite a few angles to look at this, but eventually we're often seeing this trophy going to the biggest scorers in the league. Flashy, celebrated, easy to remember moments. Well, there's other trophies for just that. The Art Ross for scoring title and Rocket Richard for most goals. MVP should have deeper justification criteria. Some thoughts will follow..

Goalies, anyone? Hasek got the Hart twice, for significant heroics, Theodore once for maybe a little less. Some guys in the past decades too, but in general it's been a trophy for the players.

Defencemen then? Chris Pronger is the only one since Bobby Orr to get this. And Pronger at his best sure was a dominating player on the ice. One could argue for Ray Bourgue, Niklas Lidström and such greats. Eventually, were talking about the most important forward here.

Defensive forwards? Top plus-minus, most steals, blocks, checks, penalty killing? Naah, we're really talking about another scoring title here. Which is okay, but on the other hand, we could spread the criteria a bit more. Even Pavel Datsuyk hasn't won this and he's about as complete package as it gets on both offence and defence. All-time. Maybe if he'd still have some crushing checking ability, he would be loved all around.

Last years' hottest, Ovechkin and Crosby have already tasted this prize. Something tells me that these guys will have their names on the vase some more times in the years to come. The Sedin twins seem to be taking over the scoring department with speed, so that surname should appear on the trophy a few more times.

Ovien and Crosby are out this season. Ovie punised for playing more defence and Crosby for the unfortunate concussion. Sidney Crosby would have taken this honour this season without a question if he'd been able to play full season. He would have actually beaten last decade's records on the scoring categories too. Let's hope he comes back strong for the next season.

So, who's going to take it this year? My guess is Daniel Sedin. He'll win the Art Ross with ease and he's really been solid all year long. Doesn't matter that he's playing on the most complete team of the season and with a fantastic line with brother Hank and Ryan Kesler. All of the guys are having tremendous seasons.

Some might throw Martin St. Louis in the mix. And why not. He's definitely most points per pound and has really again showed it's a skill game today in NHL. He's benefitted of the awesome linemate Steven Stamkos, who has somehow dimmed down on the second half of the season. In comparison to the brightest stars, of course.. it's tough to get criticism for scoring "only" about a point per game.

Corey Perry has been mentioned. He'll win the Rocket, and has to give big thanks to great linemates Getzlaf and Ryan. Another impact player on an impact line.

Well, apart of these obvious candidates, some credit should go to the "lonely wolves" department. Not that these guys don't have great linemates, but maybe not in the same category as the aforementioned.

Anyway, Jarome Iginla, another solid year, scoring, checking, fighting, really leading by example. Calgary won't make it to the playoffs, so maybe his stock falls a notch on that. Not his fault, though..

What about Henrik Zetterberg? Another good year on points, but really digging deep to do everything on the ice to make the team win. If Datsuyk would have played healthy all year, They'd both be in the mix for Hart.

Young guns, Toews, Kopitar, Richards, leading their teams as captains, scoring massive amounts of points and really showing that they are today's premier players. Maybe in the following years these guys will find another gear and tear the place apart.

And finally, what about the "old gun", Teemu Selänne. There isn't that many 40-year-olds, playing in the second line of a mediocre team that score over point per game. There actually isn't anyone, nor hardly ever has been. One can just stand in amazement and hope for a sequel. Truly the best Finnish player ever and one of the greatest all time in the history of NHL. And one cannot undermine the effect of Selänne's heroics to the Anaheim team just sitting on the better side of playoff bubble. Go Teemu!

Hopefully the selecting writers will expand their horizon a bit and also consider the heros just outside the brightest spotlight!