Babcock Pulls Datsyuk for Game 1

It’s a rematch of last year’s final with Hossa switching teams and reversing his number 18 to 81 as he joins the Red Wings in their march to a second straight Stanley Cup champagne shower, but they will have to win Game 1 without Pavel Datsyuk. After the morning skate, Datsyuk said he felt great and was ready to play, but once Mike Babcock heard the Russian talking with reporters, he pulled him aside and later released a statement that he would be “unavailable” for tonight’s game.

The Wings hope to repeat as champions just over a decade after they performed that same feat in 1997 and 1998. Datsyuk’s practice “did not look comfortable” according to reporters, most importantly, “lacked mobility”. Datsyuk suffered a foot injury on May 22nd and has been listed as day to day since. He may not play tomorrow for Game 2 either, but he will be listed a game-time decision. Jonathan Ericsson will be joining the club tonight, as well as Nick Lidstrom, but Kris Draper will sit it out to nurse his strained groin for another night.

Ruslan Fedotenko, who has come down with a mild flu, is listed as a game-time decision for tonight. The Pens would love to keep him in the lineup and continue his great chemistry with Maxime Talbot and Evgeny Malkin, but if he is not ready to play at 100% the Penguins are better off keeping him out of the lineup.

I will be liveblogging tonight’s game with Ryan MacIntyre of HockeyJackass.com. He will be taking you the way with the play by play while I chime in with the colour commentary. Hope to see you all there for a fantastic start to this year’s Finals as it truly has come down to the two best teams in the league.

Micheal Aldred
michealaldred@hotmail.com

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Pens-Caps Liveblog on TheScore

Ryan MacIntyre and myself will be liveblogging the game for your pleasure tonight and TheScore is waiting for us as they quote us as the "Blogging Heavyweights". Click Here to read the brief article.

It's Game 7 of the series everyone has been following, fans and followers alike. This is an exciting time for hockey fans. Crosby and Ovechkin go to Seventh Heaven. What is interesting is that every series Ovechkin has played in his career has gone the distance.

We'll be taking you to the distance tonight, On The Score. I'll be covering the play by play and Ryan MacIntyre will be keeping you entertained with the color commentary and game facts.

Hope to see you all there to celebrate the best game in the best series of these playoffs.

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Wings vs. Sabres LiveBlog Tonight

The Buffalo Sabres are on their last legs.

The team was sitting pretty in the Eastern conference for most of the season until star goaltender Ryan Miller went down to injury. Over that period, the team struggled to find wins, recording a 4-7-2 record and handing over their playoff spot to the surging Pittsburgh Penguins.

Miller is back now and Buffalo has returned to their winning ways however, they still sit 4 points back from the Panthers and the Rangers for that final playoff spot in the East. The good news is that they still have a game in hand, and that game is tonight.

The Red Wings on the other hand are in the midst of a goaltender controversy. Neither goalie has stepped up to show that they are ready to take the reins and lead the defending Stanley Cup champions into this year's playoffs. The team snapped a three game losing streak yesterday with a big win over the Wild however, Osgood still had his shaky points.

Despite rumors that Conklin was going to get the start tonight, Babcock has advised that he is going to stick with the vet for the next two games. Trying to instill some confidence are we??

I'll be play-by-play liveblogging the game tonight on theScore.com. CLICK HERE for a link to join me for coverage of the game and for some intermission playoff talk.


Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com

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Tim Thomas Signing

Note to Bruins Fans: Calm down.

Take a deep breath and go grab yourself some clam chowder. Everything is going to be OK.

It's mixed emotions today in Beantown. The Boston Bruins have reportedly signed Tim Thomas to a 4 year $20M deal that pays the goalie $6M/yr for the first two years, and then $5M and $3M respectively for the following two seasons. Some fans are overwhelmed with excitement about locking up one of the top goalies in the league. Other fans who have become accustomed to getting premier goaltending for Patrick Lalime money, are still in shock over the terms and duration of today's announcement.

Yup, it's a big one; $20M over 4 years. Although this was a bit a a shock to everybody, it is important to break the deal down before making judging it.


Timing
The Bruins took a big risk in signing Thomas before this year's playoff run. Thomas is due to turn 35 on April 15/09 however, and the current CBA states that players signed before their 35th birthday are able to be bought out, if needbe, without penalty to the team's cap. It looks like Chiarelli weighed out his options and wanted to keep the insurance of having a potential buyout down the road.

Money
Just because you were getting a stellar deal on something before, doesn't mean it isn't worth it when you have to pay proper price for it. Although he has never won a playoff series, a cap hit of $5M a year is not a bad deal for a guy who is favoured to win the Vezina and has been this solid for three years running. Bryzgalov got $4.25M from Phoenix; Huet got $5.62M from Chicago; Theodore got $4.5M from Washington. Let's keep things in perspective here folks.

Term
Four years. That's a long time, I agree. Big money/long term deals for goaltenders always make me nervous. It's a crazy position that is all about the mental game. Note that this is a front-weighted contract however, and I highly doubt that Thomas managed to negotiate a no trade clause. If a trade needed to be made, there would be takers for this guy. Even on the fourth and final year of his contract, a team with cap room could be real interested in having this guy for $3M in salary. Worst case scenario is that they work the buy-out option that we discussed earlier. ***UPDATE: SEE BELOW****

Tuukka Rask
I don't want this to be taken the wrong way. I think that Rask is due to be the future of the Boston organization and to date, he hasn't given any reason for us to think otherwise. I'm just not one of those people who sit around at night plaguing comment boards with ridiculous banter about how the current guy filling the roster spot is no good and how the young guy coming up is unproven savoir who will undoubtly lead the organization to the first Stanley Cup available. I have seen it too many times where we sit around touting how great some kid is only to never see those skills come to fruition in the NHL; OR, for us to see those skills come to fruition to a lesser degree, with another team's jersey on. Case in point: Matt Lashoff. Bruins fans have been talking about this guy for FOUR years now. Last I checked however, it looked like he was wearing a different color jersey???

As Brian Burke said ealier this week, the general public vastly underestimates the jump from the minor leagues to the NHL. Is it really a bad thing to ease in your potential franchise goalie? Have we not learned anything from the Carey Price debacle in Montreal? It never hurts to have a mentor for your young star goalie and to have him learn the ropes in the NHL without having to carry the burden of a team's playoff hopes on his shoulders.

It looks like the plan for next year is to have Rask and Thomas split the duties for the big club, with Thomas remaining the starter. It seemed to work out well this year, so why not keep the same formula? Rask's entry level contract, which holds a cap hit of $3.2M with bonuses, is due to expire at the end of next season. It will be interesting to see what kind of 2nd contract he gets based on his performance next year with the 25 to 30 games he should see. If he does indeed immediately become a superstar, then the Bruins will be stuck in the horrid situation of having two star goaltenders. From a cap perspective it wouldn't work, but as I've stated, I highly doubt that Thomas was able to negotiate a no trade clause.

Kessel and Krejci Signings
As I said in my earlier article here on CheckingFromBehind (Too Much Honey in the B-Hive), the Bruins have some hard decisions to make. They have groomed too much talent for one organization and the cap won't allow to keep it all. Does the Thomas signing change things? Well, not really. Although Boston fans were probably hoping that they would somehow keep reaping the benefits of an underpaid goalie, you can bet that Boston management were well aware that you eventually have to pay for it.

Somebody has to go, and there is a good chance it will be Kessel. He is a pure goal scorer with tons of speed and a deceptive shot, but management knows that not everybody can be kept. Kessel will draw significant interest on the market. Also who will probably be gone is Chuck Kobasew, who's $2.3M cap hit remains attractive. The Bruins will be looking to keep Krejci and the roster and you can also look for Lucic to get signed up this summer.

Conclusion
Maybe Rask is the real-deal-to-be, but Thomas is the real deal now. Having $8.2M in cap space dedicated to the goaltender position is rich, but the Bruins are being cautious in bringing up their star young goalie. In the mean time, they have a veteran all-star who is more than capable in carrying the reins. If Rask doesn't live up to the high expectations, then this signing is a no-brainer. If Rask does live up to expectations after next year, then I highly doubt that the Bruins will keep a $5M back-up around for long; trade and buyout options remain in play. Either way, the goaltending situation in Boston looks real solid for the next few years; is that a bad thing? Having great goaltending doesn't guarantee that you'll win a Stanley Cup, but having poor goaltending pretty much guarantees that you won't.

Peter Chiarelli has slowly gained my trust over the past two years and things are looking good in Beantown so sit back, enjoy your clam chowder, and let's watch the show.


Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com


***UPDATE****

Check that folks! It turns out the Thomas did indeed negotiate a no-movement clause. The Boston Globe have just announced the Bruins gave him the clause for the first three years of the deal. Wow, that definitely puts a different spin on this. I'm not sure what this means for Rask. It looks like the Bruins may have to eventually move him. If he comes out next season with a big year, it will be difficult for the Bruins to sign him, having already committed $5M a year to Thomas. It is easy to picture the two goalies splitting time next year, but I don't know how that would work after Rask's entry level contract expires. Should be an interesting summer in Boston.

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Sundin Signing Panning Out?

Somebody asked me the other day if the Sundin signing is panning out for Vancouver. Being the jackass that I am, I kind of surprised myself that I didn't have a quick answer for them.

I guess it kind of depends on how you look at it.

If you consider the fact that the Vancouver Canucks have been the hottest team in the league since the beginning of February, you could say that it is working out like a charm. After setting the team record for consecutive home losses with 11, the Canucks have gone on a 20-5-2 run. With numbers like that, one could easily devise that the Mike Gillis' master plan is working out.

But was this really the master plan?

Despite all the wins, Sundin's performance hasn't actually been all that stellar. Over the past eight games, the big center has had 0 goals, 4 assists, and has been a minus -5. In comparison, the Sedin's numbers have been considerably better:

Hendrik Sedin: 6 goals, 9 assists, plus 15
Daniel Sedin: 5 goals, 9 assists, plus 8

If the plan was to 'bait' the other team's checkers with the Sundin-Demitra line while the Sedin twins rip it up, then I guess it has worked out brilliantly. For some reason however, I highly doubt that that Gillis' master plan was to.....master-'bait'.

Either way, Canucks fans are happy. The team has been on a tear and Luongo is back to his stellar self. Coach Vigneualt's breaking up of the third line and adding Kesler and Burrows to the top two has been the spark that this team needed. His only hope now is that this move doesn't come back to sting him. Wellwood, Pyatt and Bernier are currently taking care of third line duties and despite doing a fine job so far in the regular season, you can be assured that whoever faces the Canucks in the first round will be looking to expose Wellwood as the third line checking center.

As for the Sundin question, I guess I'll have to leave the answer up to Sundin himself. The big Swede's performance over the 2nd half of the regular season means little to nothing truthfully. If you evaluate it based solely on his performance to date, then no, it hasn't worked out at all. If Sundin is able to have an impact in the postseason by winning key faceoffs, being a big presence down low and scoring clutch goals, then the signing has worked like a charm.

I looks like we'll have to wait before we get our final answer. For now, Sundin still remains the 'master' of his own domain.

So to speak.


Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com


UPDATE
Our thoughts and condolences go out to the friends and family of Carly Bragnalo, Taylor Pyatt's girlfriend, who was killled in a car accident in Jamaica this week.

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Devils & Penguins: Liveblog Tonight

If you were tuning in here a couple of weeks ago, I would have been talking about how the New Jersey Devils were destined to take over the top seed in the East and possibly represent the conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.

It has been a bit of a rough go since then however.

The Devils have now lost five games in a row and over this period, they've only scored one powerplay goal while giving up seven. The worst part of it all has been that the majority of the recent losses have been against potential first round opponents.

Tonight, they will be facing another one of these teams in the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens have continued to roll, winning 5 of their last 6 games, and have let the rest of the conference know that they are to be taken seriously.

Yours truly will be play-by-play liveblogging this one for your viewing enjoyment at theScore.com. Feel free to come and join me and to chip in your two cents.

Click here for a direct link.

Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com

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Can Buffalo Knock Off the Habs?

For the past week, all talk about the 8th and final playoff spot in the East has focused on the battle between Montreal and Florida. Which team will be the least-worst. Can Florida lose less games than Carey Price in Montreal? Can Jay Bouwmeester NOT score again tonight?

It has definitely been a battle of attrition.

Blowing leads. Missing nets. Barely having puck possession on powerplays. Not scoring when it counts. Taking bad penalties at key times. Not scoring when it counts.

Oh, did I already mention that one?


I would like to be able to say today that there is a new team in the fold. I would like to say that Buffalo has got Ryan Miller back and that they are going to come take the 8 spot in the east. I would like to say that both Florida and Montreal have blown their chance at the post-season.

Unfortunately, I can’t.

It may too little too late for the Sabres. Despite a big win last night versus Toronto and a key 4 point game coming up against Montreal, the hill for the Sabres to climb may be a little too steep.

With a victory against the Habs tonight, the Sabres would still be 3 points back with only 7 games left. While that doesn’t sound all that impossible, the problem for Buffalo is who some of those 7 games are against.

Washington, New Jersey, Carolina, Boston and Detroit.

Not exactly an appealing list of teams to make a run against.

What also is working against them is that Montreal won a pseudo Stanley Cup the other night in a game against the Tampa Bay Lighting, the second worst team in the league. Captain Koivu banged in a garbage goal and the team went on to celebrate like they just won a gold medal at the Special Olympics.

I guess you have to grab on to whatever you can these days if you are wearing a Habs jersey.

Either way, it feels somewhat nice now that there is at least SOME team near the bottom of the East that will put a push on to Montreal and Florida. Maybe that is what they have been missing.

The great news for Montreal is that a win tonight and they will basically finish off Buffalo and put a huge gap between them and Florida. Montreal's best case scenario is to meet Boston, their arch rival, in the first round. Coming in as the 8th seed and playing the underdog role could be exactly what this team needs.

Should be and interesting/non-exciting push to the finish. We'll see which team at the bottom of the East screws things up the least over the next few weeks.


Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com

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Best Team in the East?

Just in case you were wondering, the Bruins are still the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Wasn’t sure if you remembered.

There are a lot of people around who have been talking about how the New Jersey Devils are actually the team to beat in the East. Even the Devils themselves must have been thinking that they were destined to take over the number one spot.

That was until they faced the Bruins last Sunday.



Boston handed Marty Brodeur only his 2nd loss since his return to action on February 26, outscoring the Devils 4 to 1 and exposing holes in the Jersey defense.

For Boston it was a big morale boosting victory. For New Jersey, it was a segue to another key loss the following day to Philadelphia.

Boston has now stretched its lead over New Jersey to 5 points with only 9 games remaining. More importantly, the team finally has something to feel confident about. If you had taken a quick glance at the standings prior to last Sunday’s tilt, you would have noticed that over the prior ten game period, Boston was tied for having the worst record in the Conference.

Not exactly a confidence booster for the number one seed going into the playoffs.

Now the Bruins have close to a week to enjoy their big victory. They don’t play until the weekend when they’ll be taking on the Leafs on Saturday, and then the suddenly surging Flyers on Sunday. Yours truly will be play-by-play liveblogging that one at theScore.com; feel free to join me.

The break for Boston may be a blessing in disguise. Many of the team’s young guns, including Krejci, Wheeler and Lucic, have been slowed as of late as they continue to adjust to the hectic 82 game NHL schedule. The break also doesn’t hurt the team’s starting goaltender Tim Thomas, who has been known for showing signs of mental fatigue during the team's previous stretch runs.

Either way, Boston sent a message on Sunday and let everyone know that they won’t be just giving away the Conference lead.

If you want that number one seed, you’re going to have to come and get it.

Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com

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Predicting the East

For those that were paying attention over the weekend, there were some important clues that came out on Sunday as to who are the real contenders in the East.

Goaltender season is fast approaching and the Eastern Conference landscape has had some dramatic changes over the past week. The most obvious one is the return of future hall of famer Marty Brodeur to the Devils lineup. If you thought they were a threat before, well they have just upped the anty in a big way. Brodeur is 3 for 3 since his return, and two of those games were shut-outs.

You could say that he was pretty excited to get back to play.

The other big change on the Eastern front is the injury to Ryan Miller in Buffalo. They have gone 0-2-1 over their past 3 games and this couldn’t have come at a better time for the Pittsburgh Penguins. They had been sitting on the bubble waiting for an opportunity to grab one of those final playoff spots and within a week of Miller’s injury, they have done just that.

As for what happened on Sunday

People are in general agreement that there are four powerhouses in the East and as per the current standings:
1. Boston
2. New Jersey
3. Washington
4. Philadelphia

The biggest question marks for two of these teams however, is goaltending. If you are trying to figure out which two teams, look no further than to Sunday’s results. Martin Biron lost 3 - 0 to Martin Brodeur and the Devils and Jose Theodore got pulled after letting in 4 first period goals against the Florida Panthers. To drive the knife in a little further, those loses were to Eastern Conference rivals who currently are holding playoff spots.

Not a good sign.

Although their numbers haven’t been too bad, Philadelphia and Washington are hoping that their goalies can hold up when the pressure is on.

Jose Theodore: 2.90 .899
Marty Biron: 2.86 .910
Marty Brodeur: 1.81 .928
Tim Thomas: 2.06 .933

The Eastern Conference is down to 10 teams and has been for a while (sorry folks, Ottawa isn’t making it). Of the six other teams not mentioned under the ‘Powerhouse’ list above, their challenge isn’t just finishing in the top eight, but they’ll be hoping to get into that 5 or 6 spot to see if they can put Theodore or Biron to the test.

We’ll see how confident the Washington and Philidelphia brass are in stickign with their goaltenders come trading deadline.

Given the lack of supply out there, they may have no choice.

Ryan MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com
March 2/09

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Demitra: To Be or Not To Be?

Yes, that is the question in Vancouver. Although Demitra is known for a history of injuries, simply referencing the Canuck’s IR does not always tell you on whether or not he will be showing up at the rink that night. There are plenty of evenings where he is fully dressed and taking shifts, and yet he is no where to be found on the ice.

These nights are going to have to be fewer and farther between if the Canucks want to have any chance at doing some damage in the Western conference.

Demitra was brought into Vancouver to fill the void left by the departing captain, Markus Naslund. When GM Mike Gillis tendered the $10M dollar offer to Mr. Mats Sundin, his initial plan was to have him play on a line with his Swedish counterpart. When Sundin decided to take his time deciding on the offer, Naslund couldn’t wait any longer and he instead headed for greener pastures out in New York.

Demitra was signed shortly thereafter.

As was planned, the winger is now playing on a line with Sundin and thanks to their line-mate Ryan Kesler, they have been the Canucks’ best lines. Vancouver has won 5 of their last 6 and are back into the playoff picture and Demitra is playing some of his best hockey since joining the team.

The big question however, is which Demitra will show up in the playoffs; the poised playmaking Demitra, or the disinterested Demitra who is just along for the ride? There is no doubt as to the talent of the Slovak forward, but it’s the consistency that worries the Vancouver brass.

Pavol Demitra can put on a ‘going through the motions’ display that even Jenna Jameson would be proud of.

As for his historical playoff performances, they too have been spotty. In his last 3 trips to the playoffs, Demitra has averaged half a point a game with 8 points over 16 games. Each year he scored just one goal and each year his team was eliminated in the first round. The two years previous to that however, Demitra averaged a point a game with 6 goals and 11 assists over 17 games.

Pretty impressive.

Whether or not former Minnesota Wild will be the upgrade that Gillis was looking for is yet to be seen. So far in the regular season, his stats have been quite similar to those of Naslund’s over in New York. Naslund has 17 goals and 35 points compared to Demitra’s 15 goals and 34 points.

The only difference is that Demitra has done it over 15 fewer games.

Both the Rangers and the Canucks have been sinking in the standings, however, the recent win streak in Vancouver has fans out planning the parade route once again.

What Demitra will be, or not be, will be the big question going down the stretch. The one thing we do know is that he has landed himself on a line with the Prince of Swedin. If Vancouver fans have any yearning for a cup this year, they better hope that Sundin isn’t seeing ghosts come playoff time.


Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com

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Too Much Honey in the B-Hive

To say that there has been a buzz around the Bruins this year would be a bit of an understatement. In case you haven’t heard, here are a few of the accomplishments to date:

•2nd most goals in the league
•3rd fewest goals against in the league
•6 of their players are in the top 10 of plus minus
•both goaltenders are in the top five in GAA and SV%
•the team boasts the best road record in the league
•and…..oh yeah, they lead the league in points.

Not too shabby.

Although all these are considered to be desirable qualities, none of them are as desirable as the problems that Bruins management will be facing this summer.

Boston has too much young talent and not enough cap space to sign it all.

As it stands right now, Boston has 16 players signed through next season and will have just over $17M in available cap space to fill out the rest of the roster (depending on Glen Murray’s case; long story). Given that the average team typically sports about 25 players on their active payroll, this would average out to $1.95M per player given the Bruins current situation.

While this doesn’t sound like a huge issue, the biggest thing working against them right now, are the exact points that were listed above. When a team has this strong of a year, the player values typically go through the roof.

Just ask the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Bruins have a couple of super stars named Phil Kessel and Dave Krejci who have both had breakout seasons this year and are both RFA’s this summer. There are not many players in the league that can match Kessel’s speed and shot release and although he has been slowed as of late since his return from mononucleosis, other GM’s around the league are well aware of what this guy can do. As for Krejci, he has established himself as one of the great up and coming playmakers in the game and will only get better as he gets stronger. It would be fair to say that it could take a solid $11M of cap space to keep these guys on board for next season (assuming the contracts had reasonable terms).

Along with Kessel and Krejci, the Bruins also have a few other young guys to re-sign including two young puck moving defensemen in Matt Hunwick and Matt Lashoff, as well as hulking winger Byron Bitz. Fair to say that these guys could cost the Bruins a good $5M in cap space if they all were to sign reasonable second contracts.

Some quick math will tell you that this only leaves a million or two leftover to fill the other 4 roster spots. This leaves question marks around players like P.J. Axelsson and goaltenders Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez. The Bruins will need a veteran goalie to play in front of Tuukka Rask, but both Thomas and Fernandez may come in too expensive for the Bruins.

Moves will have to be made.

Things get even tighter when you consider the contracts that are expiring the following year: Milan Lucic, Blake Wheeler, Tuukka Rask, Vladimir Sobotka, and Petteri Nokelainen. Young star power, all looking to get the payday they deserve.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that there are going to be some serious names coming available in Beantown over the next two seasons. The big question will be whether the Bruins will keep them for the playoff runs and risk losing them for nothing, or will they try to realize their value on the trade market and re-stock their pool of prospects. Many of these decisions will be made for them based on the trade offers they receive.

The one thing that is for sure is that the list of untouchables in Boston is small. Aside from the Lucic’s, the Krejci’s and the Rask’s, pretty much any of these players could be had for the right price. There will be plenty of GM’s with sticky fingers waiting outside the hive to see what comes available.

Ryan D. MacIntyre
thejackass@hockeyjackass.com

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