I watched all of the Leafs-Sens game last night as well as some portions of several other games. Here are my random thoughts from what I saw. Leafs Overall they looked very good and only some weak defensive play resulting in Alfredsson’s second goal put a damper on an otherwise good night. If they can [...]
The following are my predictions for the eastern and western conference final standings. Note that teams are ordered in terms of points and not playoff seeding where division winners get seeded 1, 2 and 3 no matter what their records are. The western conference was quite tough to pick because there are so many teams [...]
After a year long shutdown the NHL is set to begin a new season and a new era of hockey. But without a year of hockey this years rookie class will be better than ever. Not only is it really a double entry year combining would-be rookies from last year with this years ‘usual’ rookie [...]
Well, it is that time of year again. Hockey Pool drafting season. With the NHL set to begin play less than a week away many of you will be participating in hockey pool drafts and for you, here are a few of my sleeper picks, guys who might fly under the radar of some people, [...]
Pittsburgh Penguins: The only direction they could really go was up, but they have gone up by quite a large margin. They haven’t really lost any significant players but have added Sergei Gonchar, Mark Recchi, John Leclair, Zigmund Palffy, Jocelyn Thibault and of course Sidney Crosby. Due to their weak defense I am still not [...]
On Sunday, former first-round draft pick Dan Blackburn announced his retirement at the tender age of 22. Selected 10th overall by the New York Rangers in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, he was projected as their future starter and the heir apparent to Mike Richter. Then, in October of 2003, Blackburn suffered an injury to [...]
With all the player movement since the NHL last played we can’t be sure if all of these lines will be used by the coaches of the teams but here is my list of the best possible first lines teams could use if desired. Be sure to also vote for your top line in the [...]
Anaheim: J-S Giguere should start again for Anaheim, although he may not be recognizable without his over-sized equipment. Russian prospect Ilya Bryzgalov is a strong possibility for the backup role, however, former Ducks netminder Steve Shields has also been invited to camp and could claim the role. The expectation is that Shields and Adam Wall [...]
One thing that we are seeing in the NHL under the new CBA is that some veterens are going to have to accept minimum or close to minimum salary contracts if they want to remain in the NHL. Mariusz Czerkawski who signed with the Leafs for a paltry $500,000 is an example. The best Bryan [...]
other
David Johnson