Hockey Talk

Hot Streak or Sustainable Production?

As of right now Friday November 25th 12:37 am. These are the top 5 scoring leaders:

1) Phil Kessel Toronto Maple Leafs 22GP 16Goals 14assists 30Pts

2) Claude Giroux Philadelphia Flyers 21GP 11Goals 16assists 27Pts

3) Kris Versteeg Florida Panthers 21GP 12Goals 14assists 26Pts

4) Joffrey Lupul Toronto Maple Leafs 22GP 11Goals 15assists 26Pts

5) Thomas Vanek Buffalo Sabers 21GP 12Goals 13assists 25Pts

Which of these players will keep up their production to the end of the season and which will fizzle out and return to their regular production?

1) Kessel is off to the best start of his career, and through 22 games he has half as many goals as he had last year in 82 games. The Leafs started off as one of the hottest teams but have now gone back to their regular form. Kessel’s scored 64 points last season (his career best) with little offensive support. Do I think he will improve on 64 points? Yes. Will he finish 1st in the league scoring? No. You can expect around 80-85 points. HOT STREAK!

2) Claude Giroux is a beauty. I am not talking about his physical appearance (even though many women tell me they find him very attractive and would fhgjagh his brains out). The Flyers thought he was too good not to be a top line center, which played a big part in shipping out Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Claude caught most of the leagues attention in the 09-10 playoffs where he scored 21 points in 23 games and helped get the Flyers to the finals. He has 38 points in 40 career playoff games showing he can score when it matters. Last season he had 76 points (career high) battling for minutes with Richards, Carter, Briere. He is now the undisputed top forward on the Flyers now and is mainly responsible for Jagr’s revival. You can expect him to finish top 10 in points with around 85-95. Sustainable Production!

3) Kris Versteeg is one of the biggest surprises this season. Traded 3 times after winning a cup in Chi city, he has finally landed in Florida in the perfect system to flourish. Versteeg has never been a big numbers guy, (In his best season he put up 53 points, he has not gotten past 40 since) at this rate he can match his best season in 42 games. Playing on the Panthers top line and PP has given him many more scoring opportunities which he has taken full advantage of. While I really hope he keeps his production up, since I have him in fantasy (picked him up as a free agent whuddup?!) I highly doubt he will so you can expect him to slow down in the second half and probably finish with 60-70 points. Still a good improvement on his career high. Hot Streak!

4) Lupul is another nice surprise, playing with Kessel it means that either they will both keep up their scoring streak or both return to their regular production. Lupul has been traded 4 times in his career (twice for Pronger) but it seems like he has finally settled in Toronto where you can expect 60-80 points per season as long as he plays first line with Kessel. Hot Streak!

5) Vanek is a bit of strange case; he had 43 goals in 06-07 (his sophomore year) which was mostly a result of playing on a stacked Sabers squad. He has only cracked 40 goals and 70 points again once (last season). Has Vanek finally regained his goal scoring form? This years Sabers team is the best it’s been since the 06-07 season. I think Vanek will crack the 40 goal barrier again this season but will only score around 70-80 points since he is a shoot first player. Not sure what to label this!!

Thanks a lot guys, don’t be afraid to send me feedback. Please note I am not hating on your teams or favorite players. I’m actually fairly indifferent with all 5 players.

Crosby’s Return.

Inevitably you have all heard the news that Sidney Crosby (aka The Chosen One) returns to NHL action tonight against the New York Islanders. CBC will be canceling the rest of their regular programming in order to show his return. He has been out since January 5th 2011 after sustaining two concussions in two games.

While he hasn’t played a single game since than he has still dominated most of the media coverage. Before his injury he was on a scoring tear and playing the best hockey of his career. Tonight all the questions will be answered; “How will Crosby respond? Will he be the same player he was before the injury? Were the Penguins better off without him? What will it mean for players like Jordan Staal and James Neal who have been putting up the best offensive numbers of their careers?

What you can expect tonight:

Disco Dan Bylsma has never brought back a player along slowly by giving him 5-10 minutes a night, you can expect if he doesn’t get hit early on or the flickering lights disturb him you can bet he’s playing between 15-21 minutes. The Islanders are not a very strong team so you can probably expect 1 or 2 assists from him for a Penguins lob sided win.

Just a thought but how funny would it be if the Islanders arena attendants set up the Penguins locker room with flickering flights and had a flashing light show during every commercial break?

What are your thoughts and opinions on Crosby’s return? How do you think he will do? Were the Penguins better without him?

I been away a while…

…Yes I have.

Tickets to buy this season.

I woke up at 9am yesterday morning to hop on my computer and wait in the virtual waiting room along with the thousands of hockey fans across Quebec not down for Habs season tickets. I ended up with these 5 games:

• Boston Sept 26
• Philly October 26
• Washington Jan 18
• Pittsburgh Feb 7
• Toronto April 7

They came together in what was called the rivalry pack.

No matter what city you live in, rivalry games are usually the best regardless of how skilled (or not) the teams are. In a long regular season you can usually expect the players to show up against teams with bad blood. At the very least you can expect big hits and lots of fights. Below are a list of teams you should try to get tickets to rivalry or not.

Big Ticket Games:

• Washington Capitals (Ovi, Backstrom, Semin, Green one of the most exciting clubs in the show. A no brainer.)
• LA Kings (with Richards and Gagne joining an already dangerous group the Kings are going to be one of the most fascinating teams this season)
• Chi city Hawks (a bit of a down year, but I wouldn’t count out any team with Keith-Seabrook with the Toews, Kane, Sharp trio up front)
• Philly Flyers (A complete reshaped offense with Breezy in nets and Jagr out of his NHL retirement, the Flyers grabbed headlines this summer and people are absolutely going to tune in to see the fruits of their labor)
• Pittsburgh Penguins (not a very exciting playing style but with Crosby (if he ever comes  back), Malkin, Staal, Neal, Letang the Pens have an exciting squad. With or without Crosby)
• Tampa Bay (surprised people by making it deep into the playoffs have Stammer, St.Louis, Purcell, Hedman and may see former top 10 pick Brett Connolly)

Still good games to watch

• Detroit Red Wings (did not make the big ticket games list because not a very exciting style but any team with the Datz and Zettz should be entertaining)
• Buffalo Sabres (added some big pieces this off season and can expect a lot from a very deep squad)
• Anaheim Ducks (Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getz and Corey Perry all play on one line. Enough said)

Wildcard games

• NY Rangers (big wildcard game. They have Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik playing together this season. Could be a very exciting game or a rip your eyes out defensive slug fest.)
• Colorado Avs (Not going to be a powerhouse team but one of the most exciting teams to watch. At the very least Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny center their top two lines.)
• Columbus Blue Jackets (I am legitimately curious to see how Rick Nash plays with a line-mate close to his caliber. Carter and Wisnewski hope to make the blue jackets an exciting squad)

Don’t bother unless their free

• Dallas Stars (After losing Richards and trading away Neal last season, there are few reasons left to watch the Stars. They don’t really have any rivalries and they will not have a very good season. Sorry Stars fans but the Neal-Goligoski trade was atrocious and Ryder does not come even close to replacing Richards. Eriksson is still really good and Jamie Benn might be good.)
• Edmonton Oilers (The only reasons to go would be to watch Hall, Eberle, Paarvi and The Nug if he makes it. The oilers project to finish bottom 5 again this season)
• Calgary Flames (Jarome Iginla still does not have a top center, they traded away Phaneuf and REgher. They don’t have any new young exciting players and they play a fairly conservative style.

I really did not intend to offend any of the fans of the Stars, Oilers and/or Flames. I have nothing against your teams, this is my personal opinion and I would not spend 50-200$ on a ticket to go watch your teams play the Habs at the Bell Center.

Season Predictions: Philadelphia Flyers

After an off season that saw many teams pull off major overhauls and quick patches the NHL pre-season is only a few weeks away.

The Flyers, who were playing for the Stanley cup only a season ago made the most drastic changes this off season. Grabbing headlines before the draft by trading away team captain Mike Richards to the LA Kings getting in return top prospect Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmons. Former 46 goal scorer Jeff Carter was traded to the Blue Jackets for former top 10 selection Jakub Voracek, the 8th overall pick and a third round pick. The two trades made cap room for the Flyers to  sign goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov(31) to a 9 year-51 million dollar contract. Center Sean Couturier was taken with the 8th overall pick ahead of defense man Dougie Hamilton (The Dougie), Duncan Siemens and Ryan Murphy. They would sign Jagr on the first day of free agency and Michael Nylander to a try out contract. So this is the result of the Flyers off season.

Gone:

• Jeff Carter
• Mike Richards
• Kris Versteeg
• Ville Leino
• Dan (the crazy man) Carcillo

Arrivals:

• Jaromir Jagr
• Ilya Bryzgalov (Breezy)
• Brayden Schenn
• Jakub Voracek
• Maxime Talbot
• Michael Nylander 

Most analysts consider this an upgrade but I beg to differ. The five players they lost were all proven NHL players. True, on the exception of Leino they will probably never put up better scoring numbers (well may Carcillo can but the bar is not very high). Schenn is considered the top prospect not yet in the NHL (this does not include people drafted this year so don’t message me RN-H) but most of his NHL player comparisons are to Mike Richards and I cannot see him getting more playing time than Claude Girioux or Daniel Briere meaning he is either playing 3rd line center or he has to move to the wing. Right now his competition on the wing includes JV-R, Hartnell, Jagr, Simmons, Voracek. All the players mentioned have at least one season experience. The Flyers do have a lot of options since they have about 5 players with the offensive ability to play top two lines (Claude, Briere, Schenn, Nylander and Couturier). The last two are major wild cards indeed but basically there are only a limited number of spots on the top two scoring lines so it means that somebody has to play third line and the untested Schenn is the best bet to start centering Simmons and Nodl. They will be a faster team this season but they have lost a bit from their physical, nasty game.

Breezy has good stats but he has never played in a market where people actually care about hockey (my apologies to anybody from Phoenix or Anaheim who do actually care). It is a big difference to go from playing in a town where fans won’t be outraged if you drop 4 maybe 6 games in a row to a town like Philly who are not so patient (I mean, in Montreal if Price drops back to back games you start to expect a lynching). He now has his 51 Million dollar deal which is a bit much considering Thomas Voukon signed with the Capitals for 1.5 Million, you can figure the Flyers fans are going to be expecting a 51 Million dollar effort each night. Breezy is a good goaltender and he will have a good team in front of him and will have a manageable work load since Bobrovsky is still there and they want him to play some games to increase his trde value.

On defense Chris Pronger and Kimmo both get a year older (which is not a good thing once you pass 32) and both have had their fair share of injuries (Pronger’s heart stopped once during a playoff game and he played in the following game. True story. Makes Chara look kinda weak for sitting out with dehydration…come on Bruin fans I think we can both agree that’s weak sauce for the playoffs) Coburn and Carle get a year older but they absolutely benefit by playing with two of the top D in the league. I like Couturier but what are they going to do when Pronger and Timonen go down? They have one d-man in their top 6 prospects and he projects to be a number 4-6 D man. The Dougie would have helped the team out more than adding a 4th scoring center to the fold.

In conclusion, the Flyers are still a dangerous team but I think it will take them a season or two before they gel and can seriously contend for the cup. I predict that they come 6th place in the East this year. On the other hand, this will be a great year development wise because Breezy will get playoff experience against a team not the Red Wings, Schenn will wet his beak, Jacub will probably get to play top 2 lines and gets to be mentored by Jagr. Jagr is going to disappoint; expect him to have around 40-50 points not the 66 most are projecting. DON’T HATE ME FLYER FANS BUT THIS WON’T BE YOUR YEAR.  YOU GUYS WILL SEE THE FINALS AGAIN SOON AT LEAST ONCE OR TWICE THIS DECADE.