I love hockey, but I can't keep a posting schedule like this.  Essentially, I don't have time for search for stats and new hockey stories to discuss my thoughts on.  I have a couple of projects in the works, so I may unfortunately just have to stay down, at least until the NHL draft. 

So thanks to everyone who has been reading, especially thanks for taking time out of your day to see what I think. 

See you another time,
NHL Guy14

Well, this is getting out later than I'd hoped, but here are my thoughts on the trades of the 2009 NHL trade deadline.

1. Ottawa sends Antoine Vermette to Columbus for Pascal Leclaire and a 2009 2nd round pick
My Thoughts:  I think Ottawa did better on this one.  They got a goalie who may prove to be the number one they've been looking for, and a 2nd round pick as well.

2. Jordan Leopold of Colorado will be moving to Calgary in exchange for Lawrence Nycholat, Prospect Ryan Wilson, and Montreal's 2nd round pick
My thoughts: Calgary is clearly going to try and make a run for the Cup this year.  Picking up Leopold will help that, and I feel that they didn't have to give up too much to get him.  A move the Calgary fans should like.

3.  Goalie Mikael Tellqvist moved by Phoenix to Buffalo for a 2010 4th round pick
My Thoughts:  Ryan Miller must be done for the season, then.  That said, getting a decent backup in Tellqvist for only a fourth round pick (two years from now) seem like Buffalo saying they won't go down quietly.

4.  Boston sends C Petteri Nokelainen to Anaheim for D Steve Montador.
My Thoughts:  I think that Boston actually did a little better on this trade.  Montador is a type of player I feel is built for the playoffs, and I think he will prove to be a great asset for Boston's postseason run.

5.  Phoenix sends Olli Jokinen to the Flames, along with a 3rd round pick.  Matthew Lombardi is sent to Phoenix along with Prospect Brandon Prust and a 1st round pick (Calgary's option: 2009 or 2010)
My Thoughts: Again, Calgary is going to be making a run.  I feel that they gave up too much in this one.  I realize that Phoenix wasn't just going to give Jokinen away, but giving up a 1st rounder, a prospect, AND a top-six forward seem like just too much.

 6.  Mark Recchi and 2010 2nd round pick are sent by the Lightning to Boston for Defensman Matt Lashoff and Winger Martins Karsums
My Thoughts: The Lightning apparently don't want to rebuild anymore.  They dumped a pick and an old guy for two high-pick Prospects.  The Lighting did do better, however.  They traded a player who just passed through waivers and a second round pick for two prospects who presumably could make the NHL next year.

7. Islanders send Bill Guerin to Pittsburgh Penguins for a conditional pick (5th round, or 4th round if Penguins make the playoffs, or 3rd round if the Penguins advance past the first round)
My Thoughts:  My, how Bill Guerin has fallen.  A good trade for the Penguins.  I have to believe that the Islanders could have done better for Guerin, but they got a pick which should help their never-ending rebuilding process.

8.  Phoenix sends Daniel Carcillo to Philadelphia for Scotty Upshall and 2011 2nd round pick
My Thoughts:  Daniel Carcillo is pretty good, but I just feel that Philadelphia overpaid for his services.  Scotty Upshall still has plenty of upside, and a second rounder is a pretty high pick, even though it's in 2 years.

9.  Toronto send forward Nik Antropov to the Rangers for 2nd round pick and a Conditional pick
My Thoughts:  Has anyone heard anything about this "Conditional Pick"?  Either way, next season will tell all about this trade.  If Antropov resigns and can mesh with this team, the Rangers probably get the win.  Toronto helped expedite their rebuilding process either way, gaining two draft picks.

10.  Derek Morris is dealt by Phoenix to the New York Rangers in exchange for defensman Dimitri Kalinin, and forwards Nigel Dawes and Petr Prucha
My Thoughts:  Ouch.  New York REALLY gave up too much on this one.  Derek Morris is good, but not that good.  Phoenix might be the real winner of this year's deadline.

11. Maple Leafs have dealt Dominic Moore to Buffalo for Carolina's 2nd round pick.
My Thoughts:  Dominic Moore is due for a wakeup call, and Buffalo surrendered entirely too much for what is essentially a 3rd or 4th liner.

12.  Atlanta has dealt Erik Christensen to Anaheim for Eric O'Dell
My Thoughts: A small deal, I thought about omitting it, but Anaheim picked up a shootout specialist, which may mean they are hoping to make the playoff push.

13. Tampa Bay trades for defensman Noah Welch and a 3rd round pick, sending Steve Eminger to Florida
My Thoughts: A fair trade.  Tampa might have the edge, getting Welch's potential.

14.  Calgary trades goalie Kevin Lalande to Columbus for a 4th round pick
My Thoughts:  Why?

15. San Jose gets a 6th round pick from Philadelphia for Kyle McLaren               
My Thoughts: I remember when Kyle McLaren was a player with all the potential in the world.

16.  Anaheim recieves defensman James Wisniewski and center Petri Kontiola from Chicago in exchange for winger Samuel Pahlsson, defensman Logan Stephenson and a conditional 4th round pick  
My Thoughts:  Chicago's GM shouldn't have been listening to TSN so much.  But seriously, a curious move.  I really don't know who will win this one.

17. The Sharks picks up forward Travis Moen and defensman Kent Huskins, sending goalie Timo Pielmeier, forward Nick Bonino, and a 4th round pick to Anaheim
My Thoughts: Anaheim resupplied their talent pool for two moderate talents.

18.  Los Angeles acquires winger Justin Williams from Carolina in exchange for Patrick O'Sullivan and Calgary's 2nd round pick
My Thoughts: An odd move.  LA is still rebuilding in most people's eyes.  I would expect them to be hoarding picks like Toronto.

19.  Carolina brings back forward Erik Cole and also gets a 2nd and 5th round pick, flipping Patrick O'Sullivan and a 2nd round pick to Edmonton
My Thoughts: Apparently Carolina feels they need a little extra veteran leadership to make the playoffs.  They got some extra picks, which helps, but I can't help but feel O'Sullivan would have been better if kept.

20. Buffalo gives up forward Ales Kotalik to Edmonton for a 2nd round pick
My Thoughts: I'm surprised.  This move is opposite what I would expect from Buffalo.  It screams "See you next year."  Wonder why they bothered picking up Tellqvist

21. Tampa Bay sends goalie Olaf Kolzig, defensmen Jaime Heward and Andy Rogers, and a 4th round pick to Toronto for defensman Richard Petiot.
My Thoughts: Looks like just a salary dump more than anything else.  Kolzig and Heward are both injured, if I recall correctly.

22. I was going to leave out the minor trades, but I only left out one so here it is: Pittsburgh sends Danny Richmond to St. Louis for Andy Wozniewski
My Thoughts:  Word is that Danny Richmond may have been involved in a recent incident that lead to the demotion of two of the Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins to the ECHL Wheeling Nailers, and the scratching of two others.

Well, that's it.  Be sure to check back monday for more commentary on the NHL!

I won't be posting an entry today so that I can do trade deadline coverage this Wednesday.  Check back here often as I'll be posting updates throughout the day as I see them!  Thursday's post will be a reaction to some of the more interesting trades of the day.

Pretty late on this one, but I really dislike the NHL's recently adopted policy of non-disclosure on injuries.  I can't really see the point of doing this.  I'm just a fan, but really, what is the point of keeping an injury from being public knowledge?  So your opponent won't know if someone is playing that night or not?  That might make sense if there were more impact players. 

In the NFL, you can have week-long debates as to whether or not running back A or wide receiver B are going to be playing, which would help keep the interest going during the week without any games between Monday and Sunday.  But how does this benefit the NHL?

I suppose it might be a situation where it won't cause a player to hurry back from a bad case of an injury, leading them to reinjure it.  But wouldn't a committed player want to do that anyway?  And they can't play before cleared by the team doctor(s) in most cases anyway.

So, I took to the web to find answers.

Unfortunately, aside from tons of advertisements for lawyers trying to sell me non disclosure forms, I couldn't easily find any information as to why this policy has been adopted. 

But wait!  Leave it to the CBC to clarify for me!  Thanks to former NHL goaltender Kelly Hrudey, now a broadcaster and blogger with CBC, I have been given the simple answer as to why teams don't disclose injuries.  And I feel kinda stupid for not realizing it.

I'll start by saying that it appears that it's not the NHL, but the teams that use this policy.  I apologize for accusing your league, Mr. Bettman.  Secondly, non disclosure is for the simple reason that if opponents find out about it, you're dead meat.  As suggested in the CBC article I linked to, if a team knows you're injured, they're more likely to target that spot. 

In Kelly Hrudey's case, he wouldn't have been able to stop a beach ball over his bad shoulder (an idea I'm familiar with) taking significant time off to heal it.  However, by the team not revealing it, he managed to keep playing decently.

So I guess I have to concede defeat on this one.  I am clearly little more than a fan on this one.  However, now I'm that much more informed about the why and how of the NHL, and I guess in the end, that's the purpose of my writing.  Hope to see you back here Thursday for another installment!

It's been quite a hiatus for me, I have had a lot of personal issues to get in order...but you're here to read about hockey.  So, I'll come right out and say it: I don't believe the Penguins are currently built to make the playoffs.  They have one heck of a talent level.  However, that talent doesn't mean anything if they can't control the puck, and especially win an important faceoff in enemy territory.  Before December, the Penguins were kicking butt and taking names, looking to have slowed only slightly from the previous season-a sure-fire choice to make the playoffs.  Then the proverbial wheels fell off.  Most Penguins fans, myself included, link this sudden drop off with the loss of Mike Zigomanis. 

Zigomanis was just a no-namer that Ray Shero plucked off wavier when his name first came across.  However, as the season began to get underway, it became terribly apparent that there was a reason for this move by the GM.  Before Zigomanis went down, he was amongst the League's elite in faceoff percentage...In fact, he lead the league as of December 02, 2008 with an impressive 63.7% winning percentage in the faceoff circle.  However, when he went down with an unknown injury (which I will probably rant about the NHL's new policy on that in a later posting), at that time just the latest in a string of unfortunate injuries that had only managed to slow the team, it proved to be a much bigger loss than previously expected.  As of writing this, the Penguins sit in 10th place, having just fired their coach in an attempt to shake up the players, and are currently 20th in the league in faceoff percentage.  Quite a change.

So how do the Penguins help this?  I recently had a thought cross my mind, which lead to some research.  Who do I think can be the answer to the Penguins' prayers?  Yanic Perreault.  I can actually hear people as they read this: "What?"  Yeah, I guess I'm psychic like that.  But hear me out.  Mr. Perreault is infamous around the league for his skill at the faceoff.  So who do they have to trade to get him?  No one.  He's currently sitting as an unrestricted free agent, and I couldn't find anything saying he's retired.  So why isn't he signed?  Good question.  He probably wanted too much money to be attractive to most teams, and the questions remains  of how much time does the almost 38-year-old have before he becomes ineffective. 

However, the Penguins really only need someone for this season.  Next year Mike Zigomanis will be back from his injury, presumably.  Interestingly, in my research I found that one of the people who Zigomanis spent time on a team with actually was Yanic Perreault, likely learning from his skills.  While the time away from the game likely hurt his ability, the Penguins might be able to sign him to a one or two year deal, perhaps throw an option year on there as the second, for relatively cheap, if he still wants to play NHL hockey.

It's just a quick fix, and only a thought, but an incentive laden contract might be enough to give the Penguins the faceoff specialist they need to make the playoffs, and with a little luck, maybe even advance a time or two.