Month: February 2016

Dion Phaneuf: Getting Back to What He Does Best

In Calgary, Canada NHL hockey is now a major part of Calgarians lives. It was not always so and Dion Phaneuf was a big reason for that transition.
Calgarians can remember the days of rebuilding their team in the 1990’s and 2000’s in which the players were ostensibly referred to as the “Young Guns”. While that sentiment was good for the newspapers, the seats at the Saddledome remained mostly empty.  There was future-Hall-of-Famer Jarome Iginla and then there was the rest of the team. Slowly the building blocks of a great team started to come together and one of those blocks was a young Red Deer Rebel’s defenseman named Dion Phaneuf.
Dion Phaneuf was exactly what the city of Calgary needed to re-energized its love for hockey. He had a hard hitting style (and I mean HARD HITTING) that would shake the plexiglass in the Saddledome for years to come. He had a career high 60 points in the 2007-2008 season. He finished his rookie season by being named a Calder Trophy finalist behind two fairly mediocre and non-talented players named Sidney Crosby and eventual winner Alex Ovechkin.
He was beloved in Calgary for his scoring, his defence and putting opponents into the glass, but not so much for his off-ice attitude.
It was rumoured that his demeanour in the locker room left something to be desired from his teammates, yet his prolific scoring and bone crunching hits made him a fan favourite. His off-ice demeanour got him traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs when he was arguably at the peak of his career in Calgary and now the same reasons have been got him traded to the Ottawa Senators. That, and the fact that his huge salary cap hit is now off the books it looks like the Maple Leafs will now use that gap to try to get Steven Stamkos.
Dion Phaneuf is a great defenseman who has an amazing workout regimen and can be a leader in the locker room but he should not have been made the captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs; arguably the toughest job in the NHL. The media and the pressure of being the face of the most watched and most scrutinized hockey market in the world makes it infinitely harder to be the player you need him to be. When he was in Calgary and not in the white-hot Toronto spotlight, he played the best hockey of his career. He was fun to watch. He body-checked everyone. He blasted shots on the power play.  Players couldn’t get around him. Now that he doesn’t have the enormous burden of being Toronto’s captain, he should revert back to the great player he is, the player that should push the Ottawa Senators into the playoffs and form one of the best defences in the league alongside Erik Karlsson.
The best thing about this trade is that Dion Phaneuf has the pressure of the Toronto hockey world off his shoulders. To all the other players in the NHL, watch out. It should be fun to watch, just like in the good old days in Calgary.

NHL All-Star weekend stirred mild controversies

As far as professional all-star games go, the NHL affair is typically non-eventful since it isn’t really competitive when compared to the NBA and Major League Baseball. The main reason for this is because the physical aspect of the sport is absent as nobody wants to suffer an injury. NHL stars usually engage in a game of pond hockey and rack up the score on the poor goaltenders. However, the recent 2015/16 all-star encounter in Nashville proved to be somewhat different as it created a controversy or two.
For starters, the NHL drastically changed the game’s format from the regular five-on-five contest to a three-on-three tournament. Each of the league’s four divisions was represented by an 11-man team with each squad playing a 20-minute game. The two winners then met in the final with the victors being awarded a prize of a million dollars. In case you missed it, The Pacific Division edged the Atlantic 1-0 in the final. The million dollars was controversial in itself since many fans felt it should have been donated to a charity of the winning team’s choice.  
The new format had many purists up in arms since they believe three-on-three hockey is nothing but a novelty or farce and even some of the players appeared to agree with them. The NHL needed to do something to spice up the all-star event though as fans were getting a little bored with the high-scoring shinny games of the past such as last year’s 17-12 result. And what better way to do liven things up than changing to a three-on-three format, which is the same thing the league has done for overtime games this season.
Another ongoing controversy leading up to the game was the inclusion of enforcer John Scott. The NHL allowed fans to vote in the captain of each team and to the league’s dismay, Scott was elected as the skipper of the Pacific Division while he was still a member of the Arizona Coyotes. Now fans either took advantage of this situation to show the NHL it was a flawed system or they figured they’d just vote for Scott as a joke. Either way, he was nominated to the squad and the league was left with egg on its face.
The NHL tried to persuade Scott from playing the game and suggested he show up for the weekend with his family, but simply not dress for the tournament. Scott’s own team even tried to make things difficult for the six-foot-eight forward by placing him on Waivers on December 18th. Arizona felt one of its young stars such as Max Domi or Oliver Ekman-Larsson would be a better representative in Nashville.  Scott was then traded to the Montreal Canadiens on January 15th and sent directly down to the St. John’s IceCaps of the American Hockey League.  
This was another move which the NHL hoped would change Scott’s mind about attending the all-star contest, but it also failed. In the end, there was a fairytale ending for Scott as the career five-goal scorer netted a pair of goals and added an assist in the all-star tournament to help lead his team to victory. The fans also got their way again as they voted the 33-year-old the most valuable player and Scott took home a brand new Honda SUV as his reward.
But perhaps the most controversial event during the all-star weekend took place a day earlier during the skills competition. Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings set a new speed record after skating a lap around the rink in 13.172 seconds to break the previous mark of 13.386 seconds set by a 36-year-old Mike Gartner back in 1996. However, many fans believe the 19-year-old rookie Larkin received a decided advantage since he a started his lap at the blue line and was as at full speed when the stop watch began when he reached centre ice. Gartner’s lap started from a standing-still position at centre ice.
In addition,  it’s debatable whether or not the nets were moved forward further this year during the skating event, which made for a slightly shorter lap. Fans can judge for themselves by watching footage of both Gartner and Larkin as the skate their respective laps.  

The NHL Playoffs’ New Anthem May Be “No Canada

In 1969 a man named Gary Starkweather invented the laser printer. 1969 was the year the first Porsche 914s were ever produced. A band known as The Beatles released a little album called “Yellow Submarine” that same year as well. 1969 was also the last time the NHL playoffs happened without a Canadian team, something that is beginning to look more and more likely as the 2015-16 season unfolds.
Going into the All-Star break not one of the NHL’s seven Canadian teams held a play-off berth. In the Eastern Conference the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators were each at 52 points, putting them 3 away from playoff contention. The Toronto Maple Leafs lie 12 back with 43 points and a much harder task ahead of them if they plan to make a playoff spot.
In the Western Conference Winnipeg holds last place in the Central while Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton sit at the bottom three positions. The Canucks hold the top position for any Canadian team, sitting only five points out of contention but if the playoffs happened today it would be the first time in 36 years we’d have an All-American line-up.
Couple those sobering statistics with the fact that Canada hasn’t been home to the Stanley Cup for 21 years and there’s obviously cause for concern for hockey fans in the Great White North.
Blame is placed in several places. The falling Canadian dollar has put a tremendous amount of economic pressure on the league, the franchises, and the players. TV rights deals that were made when the “loonie” was near or on par with US dollar are now worth significantly less, which reduces the overall HRR or Hockey Related Revenues. If the HRR drops the players feel it in their salaries. All of which combines to mean tougher choices moving forward and tightening the belt becomes the norm. Not a great place to be with playoff hopes in mind.
Some attribute this year’s playoff drought to bad timing. With teams like the Oilers and the Maple Leafs undergoing significant changes in their organizations it’s no surprise they’ll need a few seasons to rebuild. Vancouver is trying to move quickly under second year GM, Jim Benning, and the Flames are in the midst of rebuilding their roster as well. It’s just a bad luck season for the Canadians right? Still others place the blame squarely on management making poor financial decisions and even poorer roster choices.
Whatever the reason the fact remains that this season represents a low point for Canada’s national pastime. All is not lost, however. There are still roughly 30 games left to be played and as fans everywhere know, a lot can happen in 30 games. Heck, maybe by the end of the season I’ll be driving a new Porsche 914 listening to Yellow Submarine.

The Case for Another Coronation

As we break into the second half of the season, NHL fans are preparing for the crescendo of their year – the race for the playoffs and a run to the Stanley Cup.
For the last four seasons the ping-pong match between the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks has made for good theater, if not great hockey. But will one of these teams once again be holding the Cup this June? While the rest of the league tries to catch up, it looks like it will be deja vu all over again.   The smart money is on the team that dominates even numbers like a Vegas card counter… the Kings.
Right now, LA is running Darryl Sutter’s system to perfection. The Kings fly under the radar because they lack the scoring, style, and finesse you see in Chicago, Dallas, or Washington. But make no mistake, this is a team nobody wants to see in the playoffs.
To understand why the Kings have hit such a groove, you have to look back to the off-season.
The team had hit its lowest point in the Sutter era. LA failed to make the 2015 playoffs, their second best defenseman Slava Voynov was deported after a domestic violence incident, and there were whispers that the coach had lost the locker room. So what did GM Dean Lombardi do? He doubled down on his coach.
After the Blackhawks third Cup in five years, every pundit with a microphone was screaming one word – speed. To match Chicago, you have to get faster. Lombardi and Sutter extended their collective middle fingers and went the opposite direction. The trade for Milan Lucic made the Kings slower, meaner, gritter, and tougher. The perfect foil for Sutter’s game. Lucic is on pace for about 20 goals and 50 points for the season. If you ask Sutter, he’s probably more concerned his winger hits the 100 penalty minute mark. Sutter loves how Lucic plays at the edge, an ingredient missing from last year’s squad.
Meantime, the blue line begins, middles, and ends with Drew Doughty. He’s favored to capture his first Norris Trophy as the game’s best defenseman, an honor that may be long over due. He’s never going to put up the blistering numbers of an Erik Karlsson or a P.K. Subban, that’s not part of the Kings’ system. He’s simply rounded into the best end-to-end blue-liner in the game, and the league knows it.
While the team is performing well, it’s well documented L.A.’s ace-in-the hole come playoff time is netminder Jonathan Quick. He’s proven over the last half-decade to be the best crunch time goalie in the game. He’s having another stellar campaign, currently notching 27 wins in 43 games with a 2.24 GAA. The only question for Quick and for the Kings is how the team manages his minutes down the stretch. Last season, the 2012 Conn Smythe winner was 2nd in the NHL in total ice time at a whopping 4,184 minutes played. One of the team’s goals in the second half of the season will be keeping Quick fresh, so expect to see a lot of Jhonas Enroth in the weeks to come.

With two cups in the last five years, the Kings have the experience and the system to win it all again. Wake me up some time in late May when they drop the puck for Game 1 against Chicago in the Western Conference finals. It’s going to be another titanic struggle. Winner gets the Cup. Sorry everybody in the East… you’re playing for second again.

3 on 3 Overtime: Thoughts, Winners and Losers

The NHL instituted the coaches challenge and the new 3 on 3 overtime format this year.  By most accounts, it seems that the latter was a very popular decision, even going as far as NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly saying that he expects the new format to return next year. The 3 on 3 is popular with most coaches and players. I say most accounts because some goalies might not be too excited to give up more shots and goals, even though it doesn’t count against their statistics.

While there is something to be said for the fun and flair of the shootout, the overtime has now become just as entertaining. Obviously, the shootout is just a breakaway pitting player against goaltender, but the great thing about the 3 on 3 is that there are still lots of breakaways along with everything else – including penalties, giveaways, passing and rebounds.  That being said more games are being decided in overtime this year than in the shootout. Last year, using the 4 on 4 format, after 740 games there were 186 games that went into overtime and only 84 ended there, that’s 45.2% of games. This year, in the new 3 on 3 format, 171 games have gone to overtime so far and 109, or 63.7%, were decided before the shootout.

As previously mentioned, with more games being decided in overtime so far this year, there will be some teams that will embrace the 3 on 3 format more than others. The Chicago Blackhawks are at the top of the list, and understandably so because they are one of the top teams in the league. However, they also have extremely talented open ice players which is key in the new overtime. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith all play very fast and very effectively in the open ice. This is key (as well as a good goaltender obviously) for success in overtime.  Other teams that are winning in overtime use these same principles. Teams like the Calgary Flames who have 8 overtime wins are using Sean Monahan and one-man-overtime-wrecking-crew Johnny Gaudreau in similar capacities on the open ice.

On the other end of the spectrum we have teams like Columbus, Toronto and Anaheim. Anaheim is a talented team that is in a scoring drought right now and they do have talented players such as Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler but they aren’t as dynamic. With bigger, slower players they cannot use the open ice in the way that other teams capitalize on. The same goes for Columbus and Toronto, however these two teams are at the bottom of the NHL standings as well.


The NHL’s new 3 on 3 overtime experiment seems to be passing with flying colors. The players get to stretch their legs and their passes to create lots of scoring chances.  If the format stays this way, and it looks like it will, then some teams may have to re-tool their roster to allow for faster, more offense-driven, skilled players.  For the fans, they get exciting end to end rushes, big saves and if no one scores, they still get the great entertainment of a shootout. Most players and coaches love the 3 on 3 overtime format, but let’s face it, the fans love it and that’s what it’s all about.

Dennis Wideman and the $500,000 Cross-check.

In what will surely go down in history as the world’s most expensive cross-check, Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman was slapped with a 20-game suspension for hospitalizing a linesman during the team’s final game before the All-Star break. The long stretch on the bench means the defenseman will forfeit $564,516.13 worth of his salary, a hefty sum for the 11-year veteran in his fourth season with the Flames.

The hit on linesman Don Henderson occurred during the second period of a game against the Nashville Predators as Wideman was skating back to the bench after taking a massive check from Predators’ right-winger, Mikka Salomaki. As Wideman approached the bench he hit Henderson square in the back sending him to the ice and against the boards. Henderson appeared injured but no penalty was called and both player and linesman finished out the game. Afterward Henderson was taken to the emergency room complaining of neck pain and nausea where he was diagnosed with a concussion.

There is some debate as to whether the contact was intentional or not. Wideman claims he was “woozy” and disoriented from Salomaki’s vicious knock and couldn’t avoid the contact. Others believe the cross-check was in retaliation for Salomaki’s hit not being called for a penalty. With the league rules dictating either a 10 or 20 game suspension depending on whether there was “intent to injure” it is clear the NHL and its commissioner, Gary Bettman, are treating the impact as deliberate.
Wideman has expressed regret about the situation insisting that the collision was unintentional and unavoidable. At the first stoppage after the incident he skated over to the officials grouped along the boards to apologize directly but that will have little effect on either the league or the NHL Officials Organization who are charged with protecting their personnel first and foremost.

Wideman can appeal the sentence directly to Bettman and perhaps even exercise his right to a neutral arbitrator if the appeal fails. It is unclear what Wideman’s intentions are at this point but it is likely the Flames will appeal any sentence over six games in an attempt to keep their Alternate Captain off the ice for as little as possible.

Wideman won’t don skates while his case is under appeal causing the Flames to recall defenseman Jakub Nakladal from their AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat, but the loss of a player like Wideman will likely be a blow to a team struggling to stay in 6th place in the Pacific division.

“Wides is a big part of our team,” said Flames Captain Mike Giordano. “He’s a great player on the ice but off the ice, too, he’s a guy who had a voice in this room. Hopefully, it all works out.”