A refreshed Kyle Calder is on his way to showing he might be the best under the radar trade that happend before deadline day.  My take on Todd Bertuzzi in Detroit Red Wings jersey is good.  Once he gets ready to go he will do that at the Joe.  I really do think that bringing up th incident against Derek Morris is old news.  And that is behind him and I know that Ken Holland told himplay tough for us but do not be Scarface out there.  When the Red Wings make a trade it is not necessarily about business but what is best for the team and the fans who want the product to be the best and yes you have me there that is business.  What is not business about what Detroit did in trading for Calder and Bertuzzi is giving the players a chance to win it June.  And the team has exceeded expectations when neighsayers totally wrote the Wings out of the picture for the playoffs and even being an .500 team was not possible.  Ken Holland has proven once again that gambling on certain players in the league is worth it. 

     Other teams that are in the hunt for the Stanley Cup after the regular season is over are the Atlanta Thrashers this team has a experienced player Keith Tkachuk and he has valuable experience with being a team captain and he has very good post season statisitics.

     San Jose needs Joe Thornton Bill Guerin is a mercenary type player and he cannot win by himself.  When Joe Thornton appears Jonathon Cheechoo will be in picture as well.  The Sharks desparately need goals and wins and for talented players to start playing meaning scoring at will.  If that starts to happen before the playoffs they have a very good chance. 

     One other team out of the others in the NHL who is in the hunt for the Cup is the Sabres they have done very well on the power play but this team wants to win.  When they are frustrated you can tell that Lindy Ruff wants them to work out of that and start to score at will like they were at the start of the season.

     The Predators getting Peter Forsberg will add some spice to the series against the Red Wings if they should play in a seven game series look for Bertuzzi to help clear some lanes for the shots of Schneider and Lidstrom on the power play.  There will be quite a few penalties called. But the Wings will not drop out after the first round this year and by the way look for Datsyuk to compile some goals for his playoff stats column.  To help Zetterberg win his first Stanley Cup as a Red Wing.

     These predictions are meant for fun.  If they happen to be accurate I will be a happy Red Wings fan.  Look for Kyle Calder as well to be considered for Conn Smythe honros.  He is going to be the find of the deals before the deadline for 2007. 

     Hockey is known as the official winter of Canada.  The game is remembered in America when the team in 1980 won against the Soviets.  Hockey is a game that glitters at times in America like the ice after the Zamboni has cleaned it.  What will it take for the National Hockey League to gain audience and fan support in the United States?  The fact that most people do not know about the NHL other than the fact the teams did not play two years ago and that Wayne Gretzky was a great player.  Here a few ideas and these are not the be all end all but they might be start to get more in the USA to watch the game.

     The NHL should take on the issue of no one in the big metropolitan areas of the states has no means to buy the expensive equipment for the game to be played.  Basketball and baseball equipment is inexpensive for kids who do not have alot of money.  In essence this point is that accessability to the equipment of the sport for kids is limited to the middle and upper class of the United States.  Making the equipment affordable would increase accessability for new generations of fans, this could be applied to the urban areas of Canada as well. 

    Tell the ownership of the Chicago Blackhawks to give authority for the games to be televised locally.  The city of Chicago is ready for a winning team and one thing that will help the Hawks to reach the people is to televise the games for all to watch.  So far it is easy what the problem of Hockey America is, accessablity.  The fact that the equipment is expensive and that television is not used in a large metropolitan area like Chicago is not good for the NHL as an entity.  Correcting these issues will grow the sport to the fans and the profits will increase as well.

      If you have any ideas about Hockey America leave comment.  The sport has potential to reach people and give people more reason to get ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs.  I would say that expansion is not the answer if the NHL is to expand it should the game through affordable equipment and more games on local and major networks.

     It is half done.  The National Hockey League is winding towards the playoffs.  Here are my predictions for the playoffs and I will predict the winner.  There is still half a season left I will pick the 16 teams now.  I will also predict that two teams will make trades that no one thought would ever happen.  One team from the east and one from the west.  They will not swap players with each other they will address a need and both of these teams have some salary cap room.  The playoff predictions are:

From the Eastern Confrence-

Buffalo Sabres

New Jersey Devils

Atlanta Thrashers

Montreal Canadiens

New York Rangers

Carolina Hurricanes

Toronto Maple Leafs

Ottawa Senators

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Representing the Western Confrence-

Nashville Predators

Vancouver Canucks

Anaheim Ducks

Detroit Red Wings

Calgary Flames

San Jose Sharks

Minnesota Wild

Dallas Stars

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     Stanley Cup victor and the city that will host the parade will be from the result of an upset the Atlanta Thrashers.  Why?  The goalkeeping and the play of the offense will keep them in contention the remaining half of the regular season and then in the playoffs they have the team that is built to win close games.   The city of Atlanta will come to celebrate the victory as the result of winning the Cup in seven games over the Nashville Predators.  Nashville came oh, so close but 2007 was not meant to be for them.  The Conn Smythe trophy winner is Ilya Kovalchuk. 

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     The two teams that will make the trades are Detroit from the West and Buffalo from the East.  Detroit trades for a forward who can score and Buffalo trades for checking wing. 

     Steve Yzerman will be honored tonight at Joe Louis Arena, for his accomplishments, his work ethic that blended perfectly with the city he calls his home and the city that adopted him; and finally for just being someone who likes getting the job done.  It seemed the first time when Red Wings fans read about Steve Yzerman in 1983 and saw the draft day picture of him shaking hands with Mike Ilitch and Yzerman wearing a red tie that Detroit Red Wings fans knew that Steve Yzerman would restore Red Wings back to Detroit.  And that the jeers and name of "dead wings" would be erased.  Here is list of how flight was restored to the Red Wings.

     In 1983 it was plain to see that Steve Yzerman would be a great player in the NHL and that he would one day have a chance to win with the Red Wings.   The Red Wings were back in the playoffs.  For the first time in over 10 years  the Red Wings were playing with inspiration and the jeers ended.  The relentless pursuit of taking the puck to the opposition and scoring against any goalkeeper kept Steve Yzerman and the team on the road of winning and the team found itself in the NHL elites once again.  Number 19 had restored pride, excitement for the fans and the goals accumulated for Steve Yzerman one of them was to win the Stanley Cup.  There was one goal that he did not count on in Detroit.

     In 1986 at the age of 21 he was named Captain of the team.  He was the youngest player in NHL history to be given the honor and responsibility of wearing the "C".  He wore it for 22 years and along the way made more history, his 22 years as captain is the longest that anyone wore the "C" with one team.  His nickname in Detroit, is 'the Captain", fans respect the player who gave his all every night and played through every injury known to NHL physicians earned him that honor.  He has said that Detroit Red Wings fans have a passion and beyond that a commitment to winning and that he has that as well because the fans and the organization want to win.  Steve Yzerman is a proud citizen of Detroit, Michigan.  And we are proud fans of the Captain. 

     Steve Yzerman battled through the early 90's and when Scotty Bowman was hired lived through the trade rumors and became a two way forward.  He put aside personal success and when the sacrifice was made the Red Wings went on to win back-to-back Stanley Cups, in 1996-97 and 97-98.  Then in 2002 he would go on to raise the Cup one more time.   Steve Yzerman has proven that he can play the game at the highest level and that being rewarded for loyalty is one of the most glorious things in life and sport. 

      Since the celebration starts officially tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena before the game against the Anaheim Ducks, Steve Yzerman is starting his new career in the front office of the Red Wings, he calls the Detroit Red Wings, "the organization".  Tonight the organization, fans and friends will probably cheer him for over five minutes and salute the Captain for over an hour.  All he has to do is watch and enjoy.  And cheer on the team that has the name Red Wings back since the erasing of a name that took place 24 years ago.  Tonight the number 19 will be sixth in Red Wings history to go to the rafters, after that, next stop the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Other awards for the Captain include, Selke trophy, Conn Smythe trophy, and the Masterson trophy; which is awarded by the NHL to player who perseveres.  Other highlights of Steve Yzerman's amazing NHL career are found at the hockey hall of fame website.

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     Toronto, Canada- children play hockey outside.  Hot chocolate is served and the parents of the kids talk about happenings and community events.  Adults play outside games on club teams.  The Toronto Maple Leafs playing outside is a real fun idea, there is a real chance that most NHL teams will eventually consider the idea of an outside game during the regular season.

     The proposed venue is a new outside soccer field near Toronto.  It would be scheduled for January 8, 2008.  It would be part of the season schedule and the seating capacity is 20,000.  I would really like to go to this game.  The air is cold, ears are red or covered with a hat with the team logo.  There is a steam and fog hovering over the ice and the cheers of fans can be heard outside the stadium.  It is not capturing the atmosphere of true fun it is also bringing the history of the sport to the minds of fans who have never had the pleasure of attending outside hockey game. 

     The Maple Leafs have not given written approval yet but they expect to announce support of this outside game soon.  When it happens the Leafs should expect fans to be excited about the game.  Excitement can be seen hanging in the cold over the ice and heads of fans in Toronto, Canada.