Atlantic, Central Division Make History

Due to expansion, the NHL changed their format to the Divisional system they have today. Ever since then, there has never been a division with 4 teams to reach 100 points.

This year, there were two divisions who had that.

Going into the season, people knew that the Atlantic Division (New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, and the New Jersey Devils) would be a tough division to face. Little did they know, these teams were the toughest in hockey just about all season long. Each team stuck to their own systems and powered through the league. Personally, being a fan of the Devils, I find it to be a pain in the ass that we have to play 3 of the best teams in the NHL 6 times each. But each team had to put up with it and it's truly remarkable what each team accomplished.

As for the Central Division (St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks), it was a little bit of a different story. Chicago barely reached the 100 point mark and they needed a win on the last day of the season. Detroit also waited for the last week to get there. But just like with the Atlantic Division, the Central Division showed true resilience and skill throughout the year and it is impressive that they were able to achieve this feat.

Now it is easier for this to occur ever since the shootout was established in the 2005-2006 season. But people should not minimize what these Divisions have accomplished. First of all, no Division has done it since the shootout has been integrated into the league so it clearly isn't THAT simple. And second of all, it's remarkable that two divisions were able to achieve it.

So congratulations to each Division. They do have the opportunity to do this again next year considering this thing was voted against and canceled. All 8 teams definitely have the capability to do it again next year and I wouldn't be surprised if they did. That is, as long as they still have the Islanders and Blue Jackets to beat up on...

For the Devils, It's Do or Die. Playoff Preview

It's been an interesting last few years for the Devils. Two years ago they uncharacteristically signed super-star Ilya Kovalchuk and then threw a large chunk of money at him the year later. Then the next year they witnessed fan-favourite Zach Parise fall to injury and miss the bulk of the season. Last season the Devils looked pathetic all the way through January and were sitting in the basement. Then an almost impossible run in the second half put them remarkably close to a playoff spot. Ilya Kovalchuk and back-up goalie Johan Hedberg essentially carried them from the basement to right outside the playoffs. But they just missed out. Here's pretty much all you need to know about last year for them.

So the big question was how will the Devils play this year? With a healthy Parise, Brodeur, and Zajac, how will this team fare.

The answer was: adequate.

They went through hot and cold streaks throughout the year and will most likely end up as the 6th seed in the East, very respectable especially for their difficult division.

But Devils fans can almost sense that this is the year they HAVE to win the Cup.

Here's why:
1) Martin Brodeur is in the last year of his contract. Although he's talked about coming back for another season, the Devils feel that this may be his last run for the Cup and it'd be a nice way to end his career.
2) Zach Parise is in the last year of his contract as well. And while Brodeur will almost automatically resign with New Jersey if he decides to stay, Parise probably won't. Not only are the Devils bankrupt (all thanks to Mr. Kovalchuk) and wouldn't be able to pay his price, Parise is the most sought after free agent this summer. His gritty game play and evident offensive capabilities are the desire for any NHL team in the league. So if this is Parise's last year in New Jersey, the Devils would love to be able to get a Stanley Cup with him, their captain.

So as a Devil fan, I was aware of these 2 facts throughout the year. Still, I felt the team was lacking something and it'd be highly unlikely for them to make a legitimate run for the Cup. But now things are starting to click and I'm starting to believe in this team's chances.

Firstly, our penalty kill has been phenomenal all season. They are first in the league in penalty kill percentage and also lead the league in short handed goals (15). They all understand about sacrificing the body and each player knows exactly what to do on the kill and it has gone very well for them this year.

Although they had a rough start to the season, the powerplay has certainly picked up. Because teams were cracking down on the whole "give the puck to Kovalchuk" play, we needed a new system. Kurtis Foster opened up Kovalchuk's game a little but Deboer wanted more than that so they made a ridiculously stupid deal trading away 3 players and 2 draft picks to the 0-leverage Wild for defenseman Marek Zidlicky. Well Zidlicky has done pretty well for the Devils and their powerplay has improved even more. Zidlicky is a quarterback for the PP and has supplied an actual format for them as opposed to having Kovalchuk miss the net by 30 feet.

Now although it doesn't mean much, the last 2 games the Devils played were highly impressive. Given they were against Tampa and Carolina, the team looked sharp and crisp and all four lines contributed offensively. They scored 11 goals by 9 different players in those two games and I swear it's the deepest this team has been in several years. Let's look at them line by line.

Parise-Kovalchuk-Zajac:
The first line obviously gives you the high powered players like Kovalchuk and Parise. Kovalchuk has a shot that can score from anywhere on the ice, he's one of the fastest skaters in the league, and he has an outstanding physical presence. Parise is a player that plays bigger than he is, has a great pair of wrists, and has a fantastic all around game. But Travis Zajac just got back from an injury and has been a key player since his return. Firstly, he's been great in the faceoff circle, something the Devils have been needing. Additionally, he does a great job of setting up his linemates and has really opened up the game for Kovy and Parise. If this line continues what they've been doing into the playoffs, they'll be unstoppable.

Elias-Sykora-Zubrus:
Honestly my favourite line on the team. These guys look like they've been playing together for years. Their endless cycling in the offensive zone tire the hell out of every opponent and each one contains an almost unfair knack for scoring. Elias, in my opinion, has been the best player on the team. Sykora has refound his game and Zubrus is a big body who can still score goals and set up plays like nobody's business. They've impressed many all year and will for sure surprise fans in the playoffs.

Ponikarovsky-Henrique-Clarkson:
This line has been a work horse for the team. Ponikarovsky has been spectacular since signing with the Devils (even though nobody understood why we got him in the first place.) He has given the Devils timely scoring and has been a physical presence. The other 2 players on this line are interesting topics. Adam Henrique has taken the team by storm and is just about in the lead for the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. His play has energized the fan base and even since dropping down to third line, has still been able to produce. Now for David Clarkson, it's been an interesting career. He was mainly known as a fighter and a tough guy and his offensive game mainly consisted of failed rap-around attempts that led to turnovers. But now he's a 30 goal scorer and continues to surprise us with his scoring. This line is a great third line for the Devils and they have been adding timely goals since joining up together.

Carter-Josefson-Bernier:
This line, to me, is intriguing. For the bulk of this season, our fourth line has been embarrassing. They provided 0 offense and played miserably defensively. They were more of a liability than an asset. But now this line has started making some progress. First off is Ryan Carter, a player who I believe doesn't get enough credit. He has had to play on those lines with no offense and couldn't supply any offense alone. But when given other somewhat skillful players, he can surprise you. He's crafty and physical and could put the puck in the net. For Jacob Josefson, it's a tough spot. Like Mattias Tedenby (see Albany Devils), he's not a third or fourth line player. But lack of spots on the first two lines has left him in this tough position. But he has made the most of it and just recently scored the first goal of his season. He's talented enough but much like Carter, needs some assistance. These two players along with Steve Bernier, make for a formidable fourth line and one that can still provide offense.

So to sum things up, this team can truly make a run through the playoffs. They have the pieces, they're healthy, and they have motivation. As for their journey to the cup, the first two rounds look like Florida (a team that has fewer points than them) and then probably New York (one helluva series). So sit back and watch the Devils because they might just surprise you.

The Violent Origins of "Potvin Sucks"

If you ask any Ranger fan where the infamous "Potvin Sucks" chant  originated, they'd actually have no idea where tell you that it started when Islander great Denis Potvin "blatantly" injured Ranger forward Ulf Nilsson in a game in February 1979.

Now imagine a type of check that'd leave an ENTIRE FAN BASE enraged for over 30 years. Hits similar to cheap shots like one's dealt out by Todd Bertuzzi or Tie Domi (note: although these two incidents were harsh and will never be forgotten by either fan base of the victim team, both victim team fan bases have NOT made "insert-players-name-here sucks" chants).

Okay. So we know it's going to be some type of vicious hit, most likely a cheap shot, that should be a textbook violation of an NHL rule.

Alright.
Brace yourselves.
It's about to get ugly.....

no...wait really...show me the hit that some Ranger fans have said, and I quote: "It was a dirty hit."
Show me the play that made Denis Potvin one of the most hated players in Blue Shirt Nation

Wow....

This is the hit that the Ranger fans will never forget. The hit that united the fan base in hatred over the perpetrator. The hit that ignorant Ranger fans, specifically the younger aged ones (and ones that never actually viewed the hit), have called "dirty"....

Now let me ask you something, audience. Would you view Denis Potvin's hit on Ulf Nilsson in 1979 a dirty hit?

To be honest with you, I've seen basketball players check harder than this.

This play was one that, in my opinion, symbolized the way things were going in New York around that time. The Rangers were scared for their Stanley Cup dreams by the upstart Islanders. The Islanders were a young team that was starting to terrorize the league including their neighbors. While I (and many other people in this country) will never be able to understand why the Rangers find this hit so atrocious, I do know this. The Islanders went on to win four straight Stanley Cups starting in the 1979-1980 season.

Denis Potvin will go down as one of the top defenseman in NHL history. He was close to a point a game in over 1,000 NHL games. He was on the Islanders through their four straight Cup wins and he played on the Island his whole career. He was reputably a strong player with a lot of offensive upside and took his fair share of penalties. He was a player who got in the other teams face and was effective through and through.

The fact that the Rangers chant "Potvin Sucks" 2 or 3 times a game is cute. It symbolizes their hatred for Potvin and it gets the fans involved in the game. However, it also symbolizes how effective Potvin was as a player. Not only was he able to hurt the Rangers on the ice with his scoring and his monstrous hits soft hip checks along the boards, he also enraged their entire fan base. Until this day the Rangers chant his name. Just another accolade in a rather illustrious career.

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Columbus' Season of Woes Continue Via Clock Malfunction

It's been a tough season for the Columbus Blue Jackets. First, their star offseason acquisition, James Wisniewski, was suspended for the first 8 games of the season after an ugly hit in the preseason. The team was terrible without him and struggled to win a game. Next, their former all star goalie, Steve Mason, completely forgot how to play goalie. Then their 2 star forwards had to battle injuries and trade rumors and the end result has Columbus in the prime position to pick Nail Yakupov first overall next year to have the first pick in the draft next year.

Last night the Jackets were playing in the Staples Center when their streak of bad luck continued. In a close 2-2 game, the Kings had a last chance to end the game in regulation on a powerplay. After a big scramble in front, Kings Drew Doughty put the puck in the net just before the final horn sounded. While reviewing the play, we learned that the puck did indeed cross the goal line before the time ran out. However, we also learned that a mistake was made in the time keeping. Take a look.

The clock stopped at 1.8 for a little over 1 second. The puck went in at .3 seconds left.

They were not able to overturn the goal because they can't just say that the game SHOULD have been over already. It was an illegitimate reason to overturn a goal and as the NHL addressed it: "No you can't (overturn the goal). Once the game is over, it's over."

Now I'm not saying this is going to make a big difference for Columbus who don't necessarily need points. But the Kings potentially got an extra point out of the mistake.

Another interesting factor was whether the error was human or not. Columbus GM Scott Howson hinted in a blog post that "either there was a deliberate stopping of the clock or a malfunction." He said that it is a possibility that someone saw the play developing and maybe stopped the clock for 1 second to see if they can end it in regulation. However, Howson's post was quickly removed from the internet by the Blue Jackets.

Whether it was a human error or just a malfunction, this was an embarrassment for the NHL. To have such a bad mistake when the game matters most is completely unacceptable. But hopefully it was just a one-time mechanical error that won't happen again. At least for Columbus' sake.

When Will Boston Learn?

Really, Boston? Really?

Over my brief blogging history, I've had to talk about Boston many times. Partly because they won the Stanley Cup, and partly because one of their players did something stupid. And considering the Stanley Cup Finals isn't until June, guess what this article is about.

The Rangers and the Bruins were playing today in a matchup of the 2 first place teams in the Eastern Conference. The game went into overtime and in a game where gaining the two points mattered a lot, you wouldn't think a player will do something stupid in overtime, right?...RIGHT?!?!!

non biased commentary provided by NESN (Boston TV)

Before I get to this hit, let me remind you of the some of the dirty hits Boston has dealt over the past year or so:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0g7_pVqpB0&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn97tELtNTI&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffiQUe1tfqM&feature=feedu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC8PR4b_wk4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ7MWYYtZ8Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jimZ1tSdPY0

So clearly, these guys don't have such a great track record. It has become apparent to any hockey fan that these guys play hockey with a dirty attitude. So it amazes me how ignorant Boston fans are to the dirtiness of their team. 

Alright. Let's talk about the Ference hit from today.

Ference is chasing the puck full steam and hits a defenseless Ryan McDonagh, who's back is to Ference, right into the boards. This is a play that the NHL is desperately trying to get rid of. It is clear that this hit is something that the NHL has addressed directly, so, WHY THE HELL WOULD ANDREW FERENCE DO IT? There is simply no excuse for this dirty hit. The refs are on top of it, give the Rangers a 5 minute powerplay which they used to win the game and maintain first place in the east. 

So, that whole inexcusable thing? Someone should tell that to Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley (aka NESN announcers for the Bruins).

Andy: "He (Ference) thought that he had enough of an angle from the side to make a little" (yes, he said a little) "contact with McDonagh"

Andy: "Not a whole lot of contact, but it was the momentum" (yes, there was momentum...your point?) "Let's see if he got him by the numbers- he's trying to get a good angle" (he did, by the way, hit him "in the numbers" (from behind) which is illegal, something Andy never mentioned).

Andy: "Unfortunately, when you have that kind of speed in that situation, you almost have to avoid all body contact, because, hits like that will happen." Well yes, that's the point. You have to avoid contact in that situation because, otherwise, there'll be an illegal hit from the back. The whole point is to get rid of those hits.

So there was Andy Brickly and the Boston announcers doing what they do best, being extremely biased towards the Bruins.

So I saw a tweet today from Boston Globe NHL writer Kevin Paul Dupont that just enraged me:

Wrote Callahan by accident instead of McDonagh

Building?....Seriously?

This just shows how ignorant Boston fans are regarding their team. While most of the world sees them as they are, a team who, with all honesty, can play hockey pretty damn well, but a team that has to throw in a few cheap shots every now and then.

So that's why they pretty much always suspect opposing players of diving when they are down and injured, that's why their announcers, much like the fans, do the same (from the clip, I don't know if Jack Edwards ever watches hockey but players do that literally every game), and that's why the Bruins felt like this was the dirtiest hit of the century (questionable at best IMO) and this was an overreaction by Montreal. 

Hopefully Boston changes their way because, at this point, this is getting ridiculous.

UPDATE: Justice has been served. NHL disciplinary head Brendan Shanahan announced that Ference will face a 3 game suspension for his hit:

Rangers Score Goal on a Familiar Play

It isn't too often that we see a play happen twice. Not only is it tough for the same exact situation to come up again, teams now, with the help of televised replays, are able to crack down on specific plays by the opposition. Well to the Penguins defense, it was 417 days since the first play happened.

In November of 2010 in a 2-2 tie between the Rangers and the Penguins in overtime, Pittsburgh defenseman, Zybnek Michalek, turned the puck over at the point giving the Rangers a 2 on 1 with Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. That's when Brandon Dubinsky pulled one of the most patient toe drags I've ever seen, putting the puck right on Callahan's stick for the easy finisher.

Fast forward 417 days to January of this season. The Rangers are playing the Penguins in Pittsburgh again. A turnover on the powerplay by the Penguins gives the Rangers a 2 on 1 with who else but Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky (this time Callahan bringing the puck up ice). Callahan, in a vaguely familiar way, toe drags the puck by the Penguin defender and slides it to Dubinsky who's staring at the wide open net.

Oh and that was Marc-Andre Fleury in net for BOTH goals. Talk about Deja Vu.

stick tap to D. Fuchs for the idea

I Feel Bad for R.J. Umberger

Columbus forward R.J. Umberger has been a solid source of secondary scoring since starting his NHL career in 2005-2006. He has 274 goals in 474 career games and, just recently, was signed by the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 5 year extension. However, the former first round draft pick has had a dose of bad luck throughout his career.

Go onto www.youtube.com and look up R.J. Umberger. While most hockey players would have results of videos of highlight goals and good plays, Umberger has several pages of getting laid out by opposing players. And it all started with this famous hit:

"Flyers looking to respo-OOOOOOO"

R.J. Umberger was simply decked (legally) by Brian Campbell in the 2005-2006 playoffs in Game 1 against the Buffalo Sabres. Umberger did come back later in the series but that look on his face after the hit was priceless.

 Umberger did get his rematch though next season in a fight with Campbell.

Skip a few years. The 2009 NHL playoffs saw the Columbus Blue Jackets faced off against the Detroit Red Wings. Umberger was doing alright in Columbus but they were facing a 2 games to none deficit going into game 3. That's when he ran into Brad Stuart.

Another instance of Umberger skating with the puck up the ice with his head down. He was rocked by Stuart on a clean hit. Once again, Umberger came back later in the series. Now another lifeless image of Umberger filled our heads.

Skip another couple of years. Last season on March 15th, the Blue Jackets were playing the Boston Bruins and hello there Brad Marchand:

 Boston's Brad Marchand deliberately elbowed Umberger in the head. Marchand was suspended 2 games for this incident and once again, Umberger came out relatively unscathed as he was in the lineup the next game. However, Umberger called Marchand out saying "You got to think that's one of the hits we are trying to eliminate, whether it's inadvertent or not." Well Your not done dealing with these yet R.J...

This season, Umberger was abused even more, again against the Bruins.

After throwing a nice and completely legal hit on Milan Lucic, Umberger gets crosschecked, slashed, slashed, slashed, and then crosschecked again by the sticks of Lucic and Boston goalie Tim Thomas. They only called 2 penalties, both to Lucic, 1 for slashing and 1 for crosschecking. This was uncharacteristic Boston, who are usually amongst the most disciplined teams in the league. (http://tiny.cc/v3n9x ; http://tiny.cc/0n4b2 ; http://tiny.cc/qyh9x ; http://tiny.cc/j2n5e)

Alright. So we've seen huge clean hits. We've seen dirty cheap shots. We've even seen slashing. So what haven't we seen? Well, we haven't seen Umberger miss any games. But that just changed courtesy of a hit by Anaheim's Jean-Francois Jacques from January 9th:

Umberger finished the game AND played 2 days later in Chicago. However, he didn't feel right during a practice after the game in Chicago and was later diagnosed with a concussion. Jacques was fined and suspended 3 games for the elbow. Interesting stat though. Umberger is going to have his streak of 291 games in a row end. He has not missed a game since joining the Blue Jackets which is amazing for someone with a history like his.

So the question arises. Why him?

Well many people (just like the uploader of the Jacques hit (with the title "Jean-Francois Jacques hammers R.J. "I love to skate with my head down" Umberger")) feel that it has to do with R.J.'s tendency to skate with his head down (ehem ehem Eric Lindros). That may be true with some of the early hits laid out on Umberger. But at this point, I think it's just R.J. being in the wrong place at the right times. Kinda like that guy from "The Comebacks".

So I hope R.J. comes back soon and his luck turns a little. Rumor has it concussions can be tricky to deal with so we'll have to wait and see.