So, two new semi offensive defensemen for the Oilers. Any Pitt or Chicago fans care to shed a little light on what we've gotten ourselves into?

I really think Rita will be a steal for the Pens. He'll hopefully fit in well over there and get the chance he never really got from MacTavish. Likely a nice piece to add to go along with the rest of the young developing talent they've got going. Should be a very fun team to watch in a year or two (even compared to now). Thanks for taking Cross too though, you have no idea how happy the Oiler fans are that we don't have to watch Cross OR Ulanov out there every night. Sure, Tarnstrom may not see the ice in the last 10 minutes of the game if we have the lead, but we've got enough other guys to cover that time well enough.

this was my first thought as well.

7 for 7 baby!

amazing. and SIX of them were the exact same spot - just over the pads on the stick side. the only time he changed it up was against Tim Thomas, a former teammate in Finland. (I only know this because they had a nice montage of it last night).

For all their talent, Colorado is terrible in the shootout. thank God we wont have them in the playoffs.

Oh, and for the 1,000,000th time: Ossi Vaananen freaking sucks.

Tarnstrom seems like he never found his groove this year, under Edzo or now under Therrien. Not sure what to attribute that too. Was 03-04 a fluke? I don't know. He's also taken alot of penalties this year. Again, is it him, or is it plays he's always made that this year are getting called? Probably somewhere in the middle.

If he regains his form, you have an excellent guy to use on your 3rd pairing, and 2nd PP unit (I'm guessing Pronger and Bergeron will still be on the first unit?).

Do you know this to be true-- heard Cross has a team option for next year, like $925,000? I can Patrick keeping him for a #7 guy...figuring Odelein will be gone, a possibly another guy not brought back like Joe Melichar.

Rita is the wild card. If he breaks out, great. If he doesn't, no loss...Tarnstrom was walking as an UFA after the year anyway.

Ron Francis gets his jersey retired by the Canes tonight, who promptly celebrate by beating the Thrashers 4-1. They are now a mind-boggling 13-1-0 over the last 14 games and have basically blown the division race open, now leading 2nd-place Tampa Bay by 18 points. They also stand atop the league by 4 over Ottawa, but Ottawa has three games in hand. Outstanding. :)

Make that 8 for 8 !

And a repeat of the Thomas move....basically the same move used by Forsberg back in the days...one handed. Beauty :)

Ovechkin
 

Just came across this video of Ovechkin.. I mean.. I knew the kid was somethinge else, but this is fantastic stuff.. He doesn't show any kind of rookie-nerves coming out against NHL-veterans.. he lands hits like he's a tough defenseman, stickhandles like Peter Forsberg and scores goals like Teemu Selanne in his prime.

I mean.. wow.. there's a sequence here where he handles the puck, is faced with a Boston defensemen, slows down, BANGS the Boston-player, and keeps on skating with the puck.. or where he completely humiliates Kari Lehtonen on a penalty-shot.. does some kind of "stop n deke" where he has the stick and puck between his legs, parallell with his skates, manages to score, and leaves Lehtonen looking all directions trying to figure out what the hell just happened..

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...=Alex+Ovechkin

I'm sorry Sidney, but Ovechkin is my Calder-candidate, hands down..

I don't disagree that Ovechkin should (and probably will) win it. But I really hope Henrik Lundqvist gets some consideration. He's been fantastic. Buccigross gave Ovechkin the Calder, but Lundqvist the Vezina. I guess I can deal with that :).

Is there any doubt though that an All-Rookie team that includes Ovechkin, Crosby, Phaneuf, and Lundqvist would be the best ever?

That video is amazing. It seems like every single one of Ovechkin's goals include some kind of nasty move -- he doesn't score any garbage goals (or if he does, it's with some kind of diving flair).

May as well add Marek Svatos to that lineup too. Not sure which other rookie defenseman would make the cut (there are a few having pretty good seasons), but that is a pretty sweet line so far.

I'll throw in Chris Campoli's name. Though he hasn't been very good since the first twenty games or so, I think he might yet turn things around.

Keith Ballard would be another good name - he leads rookie defensemen in assists and is 3 points behind Phaneuf. He looks like he's going to have a nice NHL career.

One of the worst NHL trades in the last few years is Pierre Lacroix sending him and Derek Morris to Phoenix at the deadline for stiff Ossi Vaananen and a playoff rental of Christ Gratton. If Colorado had Morris and Ballard on their blueline instead of Vaananen and Patrice Brisebois this year, they'd be substantially better.

Ryan Miller is also a rookie that deserves some consideration

Oh, I'm probably the biggest Lundqvist-supporter on the board, but even I can't see how anyone but Ovechkin should get the Calder :).

But by all means.. give Henrik the Vezina, I won't complain :)

SportsCenter showed the 7 previous shots before showing the one against Detroit. Buccigross was saying he does the same move, skates to the right and then shoots stickside until he faced Tim Thomas who he has played with and most recently played against during the lockout. He then uses the Forsberg "stamp" move on Thomas.

Nice to see he is expanding his shootout arsenal.

Those were some sick goals.

Woah.

Big trade. Weight is a Carolina Hurricane. Looks like Carolina is gearing up for a serious run this year. Good for them.

Here are the particulars:

Hurricanes acquire Weight from Blues


TSN.ca Staff


1/30/2006 1:21:18 PM

The Carolina Hurricanes have acquired Doug Weight and 27-year-old Finnish forward Erkki Rajamaki from the St. Louis Blues.

In exchange, Carolina gave to the Blues three draft picks and three players. The package includes:
- Carolina's first-round pick in 2006.
- Toronto's fourth-round pick in 2006, previously acquired by the Hurricanes.
- Chicago's fourth-round pick in 2007, previously acquired by the Hurricanes.
- Tough guy forward Jesse Boulerice, a 27-year-old eighth-year pro
- Forward Mike Zigomanis, a 25-year-old fifth-year pro
- Magnus Kahnberg, 25, an unsigned Carolina draftee from Sweden who will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1

Weight is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. At this point in time, Weight is considered by both the Hurricanes and himself to be a "rental" for the balance of this season.

Although the Weight trade is not related to the ongoing ownership issues with the Blues, sources tell TSN it finally looks as though the franchise will be sold to a group headed by former New York Ranger executive Dave Checketts, who has been in on-again, off-again negotiations to buy the team for months now.

Sources say the deal was supposed to be finalized over the weekend, but that did not happen. Whether it's just a minor delay or yet another snag that could cause problems remains to be seen, but the sense is that Checketts' group will be able to close the deal to purchase the franchise

Weight, 35, is the Blues' leading scorer with 44 points in 47 games this season. A productive offensive centre throughout his career, Weight will be an unrestricted free agent at season's end. He's earning $5.7-million this year.

In 960 career games with the Blues, Oilers and Rangers, Weight has 235 goals and 637 assists for 872 points, adding 55 points in 68 career playoff games.

Oh, my goodness! Obviously, the Canes front office thinks Weight will give them the clout to match up with Ottawa and Philadelphia in the playoffs. They also are perfectly willing to let him walk after the year is over.

I'm trying to think where he'll fit right now. I'm trying to figure out what line we'll put him on since the first couple of lines (Cole-Staal-Stillman, Brind'Amour-Williams-Vasicek) are well-matched and on a roll right now. With Joe Cullen out with injury, he may be taking over that spot on the third line.

They get rid of Boulerice, who's only basic role was to beat other people up, Zigomanis, who hasn't really done much this year (apparently, he, Kahnberg, and Rajamaki are the bags of pucks exchanging teams here), and several draft picks that the Canes generally acquired from other teams. The 2006 first-rounder, given Carolina's current performance, would have been a late first-round choice, so they wouldn't have had a shot at an immediate impact player like Kessel.

My only concern is we're putting a lot on the table to win this year. Carolina's frugality means that a lot of our guys are free agents coming up, though most aren't unrestricted. Lavs is also going to need a new contract this year as well. If we don't win it but get to say either the conference final or the Cup final, will Karmanos/Rutherford blow up the team to keep costs down or will they try to catch lightning in a bottle again next year? Worries, worries.

But for now, outstanding. :)

Isn't Vasicek hurt too? I think it's a nice trade, but I really am not convinced the Carolina is the real deal. I have a hard time picturing them going deep in the playoffs.

Yeah, he is. My goof. Still, it's a solid cast through the first couple of lines.

I have a little trouble thinking Carolina is this good myself, but generally, they've taken on and beaten all comers so far. They went perfect against the Central Division (5-0) at home and were 2-2-1 against the Pacific Division on the road. In addition, they have actually fared a little better outside the division than in it in the East (18-4-2 out, 11-5-1 in), so it isn't like we're feasting on our own division by any stretch of the imagination. By comparison, Ottawa is 13-5 out of division and and 16-3-1 in the division, and Philadelphia is 14-7-5 out of division and 11-3-1 in division. We've split the season series with Ottawa 2-2 and lead Philadelphia 2-0-1 with one to go.

yeah, I was surprised by that too. my first instinct was "sure, they play in a division with Washington and Florida", but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Well, truth be told, the Caps' 5-2 win over us recently was actually the first time either Washington or Florida has beaten us this year. We're now a combined 6-1-0 against those teams. After dropping the first two against Atlanta, we've won four in a row against them (now 4-2). Only Tampa has a winning record against us right now as we've only gone 1-2-1 against them. I think we're a pretty sure bet to win the Southeast at this point because we actually have more games against Washington and Florida left (9 more games) as opposed to Atlanta and Tampa Bay (6 games left). Tampa Bay could at best make up eight more points in head-to-head contests and Atlanta can only net four more points head-to-head, which still leaves a boatload of points they'll need to get off others in the league and they'll need help from those same others to beat us to catch up.

For all you Red Wings fans, Kronwall's back tonight, and with the Wings, not the Griffons as previously thought. I'm pumped to see him.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...602010441/1128

Excellent. Nabbed him off of the waiver wire a couple days ago in the hopes that he'd be back following the Olympic break. Here's hoping he gets back up to speed in a hurry.

He's going to be with Wooley tonight in the 3rd defensive pairing, but if he can get back to where he was supposed to be at the start of the year - 1st or 2nd pairing, that'll be a hell of a pickup for you.

speaking of Red Wings...
(from ESPN...I think it's an Insider Article. don't hate me).

Noting that in 1927, when known as the Detroit Falcons, the franchise had both red and black striping, the Red Wings have announced their new uniforms will contain black accents.

"The history of this franchise is very important to us, as are the fan’s desires." said owner Mike Ilitch. "We feel the fan want to see a more modern look. With Detroit’s Lions adding black with such great success recently, I thought it was only natural to bring the same look to the Red Wings."

Reebok designers worked with the Red Wings to bring a fresh look to the new style form-fitting jerseys. “The fan’s reception to the black practice jerseys was so overwhelmingly positive, we capitalized on that for the new design of the game jerseys.”

The jerseys are said to closely resemble the current practice jerseys, as Reebok has stated most NHL teams’ new jerseys will, but with black cuffs and collar and black panels under the white gusset inserts.

The new Red Wings home jersey will be red, and will feature a mid-weight ULTRAFIL polyester construction, as well as double layered shoulders, black interlock neck trim, reinforced stitching on the shoulders and armholes, with black cuffs and white polyester mesh gusset inserts for better ventilation. Below the gussets, the jersey will be black. The flying wheel chest crest will feature a black drop shadow, and the jersey will have black player numbers under the white player name. Piping across the shoulders will be reflective white.

The new jersey, to be released after the Stanley Cup finals, will be available for purchase for fans who want to get a step ahead of the 2006-2007 season.

Wait? You guys are changing your jerseys? That's just dumb

SI

not those guys. ALL those guys...

reading also that logo changes are in store for not only Anaheim and Buffalo (these have been reported already) but also Boston and Washington.

this is going to suck. hard.

the practice jersey, for those who haven't seen them:

Jesus wept. :(

WTF...Boston, Detroit.....ugh, please say it aint so

Even though I'm not a Detroit fan in the slightest, I still have to say, "Aw, hell naw!"

Lemme get this straight...it'll look like those practice jerseys, but with black instead of white in places? Ugh. Why can't classic things ever stay classic?

Why does Jesus care that Lucifer's team got a facelift (tho I suppose one could argue that New Jersey was his team)? ;)

SI

How can the B's do that!?!

Speaking of the Bruins, they are surging right now to make that last playoff spot atleast!

controversy? meet the NHL.

http://www.smart-guys-sports.com/?p=400

this one's gonna be a big'un

Oof. Not what the NHL needs unless this is a lot smaller than it looks :(

SI

I saw this on ESPN and TSN. Tocchet with his new bald head and goatee look really looks the part of a head of a big time gambling ring, doesn't he?

In any event, it doesn't look good, but so long as no NHL player/coach involved was betting on NHL games, I don't think the league will suffer too much. It does get a little dicey with Janet Jones involved. You never want Gretzkly near this kind of thing.

Interesting to see what comes of this.

I don't get this stuff:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...602080445/1053

All Legace does is win and play at a high level, but he has never gotten the credit that he deserves. I think it's totally unfair.

and the Gretzky thing is the problem. If Jones only bet on one game or something (USC fan, perhaps?) than that's one thing. If she's betting on a lot of games, you have to start wondering. Women, in general, do not bet on sports as much as men do, so right there you start thinking maybe they are in her name to protect her husband. then you have to ask how Gretzky has no idea that his spouse is gambling through one of his closest subordinates. doesn't seem very likely that he was in the dark.

and yeah, Legace really does get jobbed. he's a good goaltender. Detroit impresses the hell out of me.

I agree. Legace has played very well this year, especially at the begining of the season before he hurt his knee. He was stellar. He has regained much of his form of late as well.

That said, you've been a Wings fan for a long, long time Schmidty, so this sort of thing should not be new to you. I can't recall the last time there weren't concerns about the Wings' goaltender. Holland is right, even in 2002, when we had Hasek, there were people fretting. I recall many people referring to Hasek as HaSUCK. Ridiculous, I know. Remember the guy holding up that "I'm Sorry!" sign to Vernon in 1997? No one had faith in the goaltending back then either. Certainly no one had faith in 1998 when we won it with Osgood (who still gets no credit for that Cup). Even in '03 and '04 with CuJo in net, there were serious questions surrounding the goaltending.

I am usually more optimistic than most when it comes to the Wings, but other than 2002 - when the Wings had Hasek - I can't think of too many playoff series in recent memory other than the '97 Finals (the Hextall/Snow combination was pathetic) for sure and perhaps one or two more where I felt the Wings had the better goalie.

No one is going to have full faith in Legace until he performs exceptionally well in the playoffs and the Wings win some series with him in net. It's no fair, but that's how people are around here.

Just got back from the Wings game. They smoked the Predators. The Wings out shot them 20-2 in the 2nd period. Legace bagged his second shout out in as many games. It's good to see the Wings finally top Nashville and in commanding fashion. They even chased Voukon from the net after the 2nd.

From a hattrick fed:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Slightly-Used-Wa...ayphotohosting

I particularly like the "The seller ended this listing early because the item was lost or broken."

SI

Whoops- now I feel bad about posting that:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2325068

MONTREAL -- Montreal goalie Jose Theodore has tested positive for a banned substance in pre-Olympic screening because he was using a hair-growth drug that can be used as a masking agent, the Canadiens' team doctor said Thursday.

SI

Personally, I think the media is giddy over the gambling talk because they feel upset that the NHL has managed to come back strong and maybe they think this will finally send the sport north.

Do we really think Bettman cares? From the standpoint that it sullies the league, yeah. But from the perspective that anyone would actually CARE about NHL games enough to bet on them, says the league is doing something right.

lol.

But seriously, if this sting just started and there was no NHL season last year, seems sorta difficult for them to have bet on NHL games. So it has to be just games in other sports. But who cares about that?

Is it just the obvious links to organized crime? Seems odd to me, but that the NHL is gonna take the fall for something that's not even on their radar and completely over the heads of say, Tocchet and Gretzky and Co.

Still, sad to see it all happening at this point.

It seems people are more concerned about what could of have been happening as opposed to what appears to have happened. A lot of what I've been reading and hearing is people claiming that it's never good to have professional athletes tied up in something like this because it could connect them to a certain element, either organized crime or other big time gamblers. The theory goes, as I understand it, that a hockey player could make some bets on football, lose some money, and in an attempt to make some money back may give some "insider information" to a another (non-NHL affiliated) gambler about his team's injuries or something like that.

I don't know about all that. That seems to take things a hypothetical step or two too far. I also heard some guy on the radio in Detroit saying some stupid stuff about how this taints everything because everyone knows everyone. In the 3 minutes I listened to him he all of a sudden had Sergei Fedorov possibly involved simply because Mike Barnett (GM of the Coyotes) was once his agent. It's this kind of thinking that gets people worked up.

Unless it comes out that someone within in the NHL was betting on NHL games, I'm just not that worried about this. Is it great? No. Does it tarnish the image of the NHL? Yeah, a bit it does. I don't think it will turn off any current fans or dissuade any potential fans. There have been significantly worse betting scandals in most major sports and they survived.

Am I the only one who just doesn't see this as that big of a deal?

SI

Nope. As it stands, I don't see this as a big deal at all. If it comes out that NHL people were betting on NHL games, that will change. But, at the moment, no. Tempest in a teapot for the most part. Slow sports news week too.

While I've never been enamoured with the guy as a player, but these are some good quotes.

"Wait until next year, with Malkin, Crosby and Roy. It'll be good line." - Penguins enforcer Andre Roy "What's the matter with that? I have a Tonya Harding picture on my helmet." - Penguins enforcer Andre Roy, in response to Ray Emery's Mike Tyson mask