2011 NHL awards information!

Well the first commercial for the NHL awards have been aired . The award show will be on versus and the host will once again be Jay Mohr. Mohr was hysterical in last year's show. But the man has had some controversy surrounding him and hockey. He once said, "Hockey sucks too. I can't root for a guy whose name on the back of his jersey has no vowels. I also don't think a sport is legitimate if its inception depended on the weather." And he also said this: "I am frequently asked who my favorite teams are, and I always give the same response: "Yankees, Knicks, Jets and screw hockey." But he put his differences with the sport aside and the show last year was incredible (just a side note. last year I predicted every single award correctly up until the Hart trophy so if you want to see my predictions for THIS year go to http://robinsnest-yoro.blogspot.com/2011/04/your-nhl-award-nominees-and-predictions.html). 
So it's June 22nd at 7 pm eastern. It's on versus so here are the channels for it:
Dish Network: ch 151
DirecTV: ch 603
U-Verse: 640
Fios: 90


One last thing. I'm sure most of you have seen the Bobby Ryan vs. Ryan Getzlaf skit from last year

Well they made a preview for a new one this year! Here it is:

So I'm sure we are all in store for another great awards show!

R.I.P. Derek Boogaard

It shocked me this morning to see the news about the Rangers' forward Derek Boogaard passing away at the young age of 28. This year was his 6th year in the NHL. He played his first 5 in Minnesota for the wild before being given a ridiculous contract by the Rangers over last offseason. Not known as a goal scorer, Boogaard is one of the most respected fighters in the game. Tweets were being...tweeted..throughout the NHL about their condolences toward him and his family. BizNasty wrote "Had to call my folks after hearing that awful news. Derek Boogard you were pure nails on the ice, and an even better person off. R.I.P" Bobby Ryan wrote "Absolute tragedy, RIP Derek Boogaard" and there were more tweets just like these. Teammate (and apparent roommate) Brandon Prust wrote "At a loss for words. I'll miss my roomy Derek Boogaard.. You will be missed by everyone. Great friend and teammate".

Known as a fighter, people say his actions off the ice were quite remarkable. He was a fun, nice guy and a great friend. He's also known as a very charitable guy and it was even reported that his family donated his brain towards science and research. 

Boogaard didn't have such a good season this year health-wise and scoring-wise. He had 1 goal and 1 assist in only 22 games as a Ranger. He also totaled 45 penalty minutes. He also fought 7 times this season and according to hockeyfights.com he won 4 of them and 1 of them resulting in a draw.

I'm not 100% clear on how contracts work in the NHL but the Rangers offered him a lot of money during the offseason last year. So I don't know if they still owe him money even though he's deceased or if it will affect salary-cap space or not.

One last line:

I know it's a sad time and everything, but when I saw the news in the paper this morning, my first response was "Why couldn't it have been Avery?!?!"

But in all seriousness, it sounds like the hockey world (and non-hockey world) lost a great fellow in Derek Boogaard. RIP and my condolences to the family.

Edit: Results of the autopsy showed that Boogaard died from a mixture of alchohol and oxycodone toxicity (generally speaking, it is not a good idea to mix these two). It was not a suicide.

Best Goals of the First Round

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL4T1VX229o - Helm
Datsyuk tried the same type of move earlier in the series with the same big rebound but noone was there to bang it home. This time, however, Darren Helm cleaned up the trash in front of the net for the impressive assist for Pavel. People said he did it just to show off but that is not the type of player he is. He systematically created a better shooting angle for himself. The result just happened to look goddamn amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7D4PcS5r3k - Gagne
This goal for the Lightning made it onto the list because of the slick passing and creative teamwork that was displayed. 8 crisp passes followed by a shot off the crossbar and then the finisher by Gagne. This was in the midst of an 8-2 skunking of Pittsburgh in game 5. Tampa later went on to win the series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PNHJJ26FSc - Vanek
With a possible advancing for Buffalo, Vanek scored this big goal to push their lead up to 2. It was a big cushion goal at the time from their big star player. He pulled a Malik (or Sedin if you prefer) and stuffed it 5 hole on the Flyers goalie. A very nice goal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hwLhWZmRWk - Ryan

Easily the best of the first round. He undressed Legwand on Nashville and then deked out a sprawling Rinne for the goal. Keep in mind, however, that Legwand isn't a defenseman, just another forward playing the point on the powerplay. But it doesn't take away from the individual effort by Bobby Ryan. Unfortunately, this was the only good thing about the Ducks in this years playoffs.

Best game: Game 7 Chicago @ Vancouver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQbDqeEPkE8&feature=channel_video_title

Just awesome. Every hockey fan enjoyed the hell out of this instant classic.

A couple of suspensions already

We've only been a couple of games in several series but we've already had 2 suspensions. This is an example of tempers boiling over during a stressful time for the players. Lets see what's happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qy0mK1ku2A
Jarret Stoll of the Los Angeles Kings crunched Ian White of the San Jose' Sharks into the boards. A battle behind the boards wasn't getting anywhere so Stoll tried to end it with a hard hit. Not only did Stoll target the head, not only did he hit him from behind, from a blindside, but after driving his head into the glass, he held it up against the boards to make sure White wouldn't be able to continue the play. Somehow, this did not warrant a penalty call and many fans were upset about this in the Tank. After the game, the NHL announced that Stoll will be suspended for the unpenalized dirty hit. Usually when a dirty play wasn't called for a penalty, the NHL makes up for it by adding a game in the suspension. The NHL only gave Stoll one game though for the nasty hit. I would have given him more games though. The hit was nasty and how he held his head against the boards was unnecessary. Also, I would have added a game or two for the fact that he got away with it during the game. I say it should have been a 3 or 4 game suspension at least. The NHL should not let it seem that this type of play would just be let go like it appears it is. They should really "Put their foot down" (refer to next suspension to understand the punn) with these plays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-fl4KpUjKs
Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks stomped down on Jonathon Blum's foot during Friday night's win in Anaheim. While battling him for the puck, he got frustrated and stomped down on his opponents foot to try to get the puck loose. Much like the Stoll hit, the Ryan stomp went unpenalized. This was at a very important part of the game. Nashville was down a goal late in the third and the much deserved powerplay would have helped fight back. However, nothing was called and Nashville eventually lost. The NHL gave Ryan a 2 game suspension for this and I think it was a good amount. As stupid as it was, Blum wasn't injured as a result and he was able to play on. It was a nasty type of play and I'm sure Ryan didn't want to necessarily injure Blum but was just frustrated. So I think 2 games was a good amound.

Anaheim Ducks vs. Nashville Predators Matchup Round 1

#4 Anaheim Ducks (47-30-5) vs. #5 Nashville Predators (44-27-11)
Season series won by Nashville 3-1

Although Anaheim was very good on home ice this season, this isn't a series that I see home ice playing such a big role in. I've seen playoff games in Anaheim and I'm not trying to diss out their fans but it doesn't seem as intense as a playoff game, say in Chicago or in another bigger market team. So I say Nashville has the advantage because for them, I don't think, it won't feel the same as a road playoff game and they'd be more comfortable. Both teams played great down the stretch to ensure a playoff spot in the wild western conference so this should be a fun one to watch. For Anaheim, they haven't done much in the playoffs since winning the cup in '07. There was one series where they beat around the Red Wings a bit before losing the series but besides for that they've been pretty quiet. Nashville was outed by Chicago in the first round last year and they didn't do as good as most people were hoping.

Offense: Anaheim:
The Maurice Richard (and possible Hart Trophy) winner this season was Corey Perry. He had a great season and especially stepped up this year when Ryan Getzlaf was out with an injury. Perry essentially saved the Ducks season by keeping them in the hunt during that period. Him and Bobby Ryan (who form the dynamic line with Getzlaf) both had good seasons. Thrown into the mix of good scorers are aging Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu. Besides for these players, Anaheim has few others who have really stepped up. Lupul is decent but Anaheim is gonna have to rely on their first lines if they want a chance to win this series. They were 11th in the league this year in scoring and they hope to continue this deep into the playoffs.

Nashville:
Stereotypically, Nashvilles lack of high scoring players is expected. They have a few lines that can do damage and each one is about just as effective as the other. Sergei Kostitsyn, Martin Erat, and Patrick Hornqvist have been Nashville's best scorers over the years and should be good enough in the playoffs also. For a team that's ranked 21st in the league in scoring, Nashville still seems like the team that can still run up the score if they need to. Look for guys like J-P Dumont and Joel Ward to step up in the playoffs along with guys like Steve Sullivan and Matt Halischuk. Newly acquired Mike Fisher is also looking to contribute on the top line.

Defense: Anaheim:
The high powered Ducks are a bit lacking in the defensive category. Besides for Lubomir Visnovsky, not one guy on this defense seems like the type of player you'd trust in a big playoff game. Toni Lydman did play well during the season  though and Cam Fowler looked good at times as well but their defense is partly responsible for the reason that Anaheim is ranked 20th in the league in goals allowed per game (2.85). This is the playoffs though and anything can happen. Any one can step up at any given moment and right now Anaheim is hoping for that type of player.

Nashville:
Shea Weber is one of the best all around players in the league. Not only is he quick, strong, and big, he has a wicked shot and blocks a lot of shots also. His leadership is key with this relatively young roster. His line mate Ryan Suter is also having a very good year. Shane O' Brien also played very consistent for this stably defensive team. I would not be surprised if Weber and more defensemen contributed in the scoring this series.  Weber alone was top 5 scoring defensemen in the league so this is definitely something to watch for.

Goaltending: Anaheim:
There is still some confusion about who is going to start for the Ducks. At the beginning of the year, Jonas Hiller was spectacular and made an all star game appearance. However, since then, he got injured and previously showed signs of fatigue late in the season so they acquired Ray Emery who came off of hip surgery and played well while in Anaheim. Also, Dan Ellis played a few games for them. They each played well but I think it's going to be Hiller who gets the start if he's healthy. If not then I'd give it to Emery who was with Philly for a while last year (before injuring his hip). Whatever the case is, I don't think goaltending will be a weak point for Anaheim.

Nashville:
For Pekka Rinne, it's another fantastic year. While everyone was raving about how well Tim Thomas was playing, Rinne had a hell of a season also. It's a shame he won't win the Vezina (he'll probably be a finalist but it will go to Thomas I'm sure) but he can seriously cause damage in the playoff. Although injured for a few games, he was still able to put up ridiculous numbers. 33 wins, a great 2.12 GAA, and an unheard of .930 SV%. He is the strongest part of this Nashville club and without him, they're game doesn't quite work. Nashville is 3rd best in the league in goals against per game at 2.32 and its especially thanks to Rinne (and partly Lindback who played in relief of Rinne during his injury).

Special Teams: Anaheim:
PP-23.5% (ranked 3rd)
PK-81.3% (ranked 19th)

Nashville:
PP-15.2% (ranked 26th)
PK-84.9% (ranked 5th)

When Nashville has a powerplay it will most likely just be getting quick shots in the high slot by guys like Erat and hard blasts from the point from guys like Weber. Anaheim isn't particularly good on the kill but they won't really have to be against a weak powerplay from the Preds. Everyone is excited to see the other matchup when the Ducks have a powerplay. They move the puck well and anyone on the ice for them will be able to put it home. In the mean time Nashville's strong kill along with their great goalie will serve as a giant obstacle. It's pretty much a tie for Special Teams right now.

Bottom Line: Anaheim:
They don't want to spoil such a career season for Perry and their offense will surely be there with their opportunities. They'll put on relentless pressure as they desperately try to make it onwards. If they stay this way and stay persistent, this could be a long series. They have to focus on shutting down the opportunistic Predators. They might not come flying at you full speed but they can still put the puck in the back of the net when given the opportunity.

Nashville:
After last years excitement which was followed with swift disappointment after their loss to Chicago, they want to show their dedicated fans that they can make it through a few rounds. With a healthy Rinne and a solid core of good, well-rounded players, they will do all they can to counter Anaheim's high powered team. They know they can shut them down if they need. All they need to do is get it done this year.

Predictions:
The Ducks don't have a deep enough team and will rely on their first line too much. Nashville will eventually be able to shut them down and Rinne will play amazing for them. The goals will indeed come for them against Anaheim's shaky defense. Anaheim puts up a fight at the end but it will be too-little-too-late.
Predators move on after 6 games.