Author: sportsjerseyscanada

The Future Is Bright For The Flames

           After overcoming a blown call by the zebras in Game 3 to win the contest and bring their series to 2-1 against the Anaheim Ducks, it appeared the Calgary Flames may indeed be a team of destiny. Johnny Gaudreau snapped a wrist shot over the glove of Frederick Andersen late in the third period to tie that contest, despite the fact the Flames had technically tied it just a few minutes earlier if not for the aforementioned blown call. Mikael Backlund then scored on a seeing-eye shot a few minutes into the first overtime period. Unfortunately for Calgary, the victory would be the only one the team would claim in the series as the Ducks’ Corey Perry scored in overtime last night to give the Ducks 4-1 series win.
           The loss was definitely disappointing for the Flames and their fans, especially considering the team filled with young guns had a chance to do something no Flames team had done since 2008… win a game in Anaheim. Still though, the future does look bright in Calgary. The team made the playoffs when nobody expected to and coach Bob Hartley instilled a sense of belief in the team’s young core group of players that seemed to carry the squad all the way through to the second round.
           And perhaps the most exciting aspect of the team’s run is that Norris Trophy caliber defenseman Mark Giordano missed the latter part of the regular season and all of the playoffs with an injury. The fact that he was out of the lineup allowed teammates Dennis Wideman, T.J. Brodie and others to step up their game and fill the gaps. The commitment to doing whatever it takes to win was evident throughout the end of the regular season and it spoke volumes as to the potential the Flames’ organization has moving forward.
          Gaudreau and Sean Monahan in particular produced way more than perhaps anybody would’ve thought coming into the season and the team also found a way to make it work between the pipes with former Duck Jonas Hiller playing extremely well early in the season giving his teammates added confidence in front of him. Even when Hiller struggled against his former team in Round 2, backup Karri Ramo Relieved him and showed up in top form giving the Flames every opportunity possible to claim victory against an Anaheim team who although will face its toughest test against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals, appears to be a juggernaut in its own right.

           So all in all there’s a lot to be grateful for and hopeful about now that the Flames are headed back to Calgary to clean out their lockers for the summer. It was a fun ride while it lasted and the team demonstrated that the future is indeed bright in Alberta, and not just because the rival Edmonton Oilers have their sights set on Connor McDavid.

Can Lightning Strike 4 Straight Times?

          Not for a knee injury to goaltender Carey Price during last year’s playoff run, the Montreal Canadiens may have found themselves in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Los Angeles Kings. Despite the fact that’s not how things played out, the Habs came into this season with high hopes of surpassing last year’s results in competing for hockey’s ultimate prize this time around. While the team may have been dying a rematch with the New York Rangers in the Conference Finals, the present order of business is to take care of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.
           If Montreal was taking Tampa Bay lightly, they now have cause for concern as the Lightning are now taking the series back to the state of Florida with a 2-0 lead, handily winning both games at the Bell Centre. To make matters worse, the team’s superstar Steven Stamkos appears to have finally awoken from his slumber. The sniper finally scored his first goal of the playoffs on Sunday night, forcing the Habs’ Hart Trophy candidate to do the splits in the crease to no avail as Stamkos deked around him and slid the puck in the net.
           And yet as much as experts around the NHL would gladly contend that Stamkos should be Montreal’s number one concern defensively throughout the series given the fact that a player of his caliber is bound to breakout sooner or later, it’s not Stamkos leading the charge early in the series for Tampa Bay.
          Thus far it’s actually been Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov who have caused the most damage. Kucherov scored twice in the team’s Game 2 win on Sunday, and Johnson leads the team in scoring in these playoffs with 7 goals and 3 assists. That’s 10 points in 8 games, and a lot of those points have come in key situations that led the team to victory, as is usually the case when it comes to offensive production in the postseason.
          Add to Tampa’s scoring a solid and healthy Ben Bishop in goal, and Montreal’s Brandon Prust publicly calling out the refereeing after Game 2, which will surely give the team trouble as the series moves forward and it appears there’s no stopping the Tampa Bay Lightning. That’s especially true considering the Lightning won every single game of the regular season series between the two clubs as well.
           The question now is not only whether Montreal can make a comeback in the series and keep it respectable, but whether the Tampa Bay Lightning actually have a realistic shot at sweeping the Habs. Conventional wisdom might say no just because Montreal is one of the top contenders for the Stanley Cup this year, but it appears that the Lightning are the hottest team in hockey outside of the Anaheim Ducks and no matter who has home ice advantage in the series, at the end of the day, it’s about who is playing better in the moment. And the Tampa Bay Lightning are definitely playing better right now.
          Without question, the end result of Game 3, scheduled for Wednesday in Tampa Bay will go a long way towards determining whether or not the Lightning can indeed achieve the improbable and sweep Montreal, not only from a practical standpoint given that they would obviously need a 3-0 lead to put themselves in position to sweep, but also from a morale of standpoint. A win on Wednesday gives the Lightning an opportunity to strike fear in all of the remaining teams in the playoffs and continue to build their confidence as they pursue bringing the Stanley Cup back to Tampa Bay for the first time since the franchise won its first ever title back in 2004 over the Calgary Flames.

           Whether or not Tampa Bay wins four games in a row however, it’s obvious the franchise is a force to be reckoned with and that’s a scary thought given that the team’ leading scorer just now decided to show up to the party, a party that could have the state of Florida preparing for a Stanley Cup parade by the middle of next month.

Saying Goodbye To Nassau Coliseum

It’s time to say “goodbye” to Nassau Coliseum. From afar, it might be difficult to feel anything for a rickety old stadium that was no longer fit for purpose in the National Hockey League. However, it’s worth remembering the history, tradition and loss of one of the league’s truly unique rinks.
While the movement of the New York Islanders from Long Island to Brooklyn is not being highlighted or discussed as a major movement of a franchise, for the residents and hockey fans living in Nassau County and Long Island, it is a big deal.
There’s nothing quite like attending a hockey game. It is more enclosed than football or baseball and has a higher intensity level than basketball. The cool crispness of the ice and the sharp scraping of skate on ice is contrasted with the heated intensity of the game action and the deepness of the crashing physicality.
Since 1972, fans have streamed into the Nassau Coliseum and they have seen some wonderful teams and some wonderful games. In 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983 the Stanley Cup came to Long Island. That Islanders team to this day is one of the NHL’s least heralded dynasties – a dominance where you win four consecutive championships in any major sport is virtually unheard of. Perhaps it’s because they were followed by the Wayne Gretzky led Edmonton Oilers who won five Stanley Cups in seven seasons.
Al Arbour’s team had one of the finest lines in NHL history with Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier and Clark Gillies, not to mention Bob Nystrom, Billy Smith and Denis Potvin. The Islanders had a deep, complete and simply unbeatable hockey team for four seasons.
Maybe moving to the better facilities of the Barclays Center is for the best for this franchise in the long-term, but the memories of those Stanley Cup runs will remain in Nassau. The 1980 team was also the very first NHL team to win a Stanley Cup with European players on their roster with Stefan Persson and Anders Kallur in the line-up of that team. Considering how much the league has changed over the last few decades, it’s hard to imagine a league where European players didn’t play a significant role.
It was fitting that after a period of mediocrity, the New York Islanders produced one of their finest seasons to date. They were a genuine contender in the Eastern conference. They dominated the Washington Capitals in what would be the final NHL playoff game at the Coliseum winning the game 3-1. Though they eventually fell in a tight Game 7, there’s a feeling that this franchise, led by one of the game’s elite players in John Tavares, is headed firmly in the right direction.
In many ways, Jack Capuano has coached this team to play the “Islanders way” over the last few seasons. They skate well, score goals and play with an edge and a little bit of nastiness.
It hasn’t all been rosy for this franchise. In fact, many of the final days of Nassau Coliseum have been a struggle with owner Charles Wang battling to keep the team where it was and speculation over its future.
The Islanders will proudly march into their relatively new and sparkling arena next September, but they were dragged there after commissioner Gary Bettman seemingly finally put his foot down and demanded something better than Nassau.
Neither should it be forgotten that Nassau Coliseum, for all its charm and for all the history that exists there, is a relic. Famously poorly maintained, leaking from the ceiling and in danger of falling down altogether. It is no longer fit to hold 15,000 screaming hockey fans two or three times per week. It was arguably becoming increasingly unsafe.
Wang’s attempts to develop the area around Nassau and to make the hockey arena the hub of a thriving district ultimately never came to fruition. Instead, the arena is one of the most difficult to get to in terms of transportation and feels “out of the way”. That won’t be a problem for the Islanders new home, which is located in downtown Brooklyn.
Still, hockey will not be the same in the Barclays Center. The arena is less intimate and the giant electronic scoreboard will reportedly make hockey viewing less than ideal. It wasn’t designed for hockey viewing.
Times will change and little lasts forever. The history made at Nassau Coliseum will be taken with the Islanders to Brooklyn, and new history will be made. The franchise’s time playing on Long Island and at the quirky arena has shaped its identity, and that will never change.

Nassau Coliseum will be missed. It’s easy to understand why there is so much rejoicing and celebrating that the franchise will be moving to a new home, and importantly for the fan base now has a secure future in New York. However, one of the NHL’s most characterful and special arenas in its long history.

Peter Chiarelli: From Boston To Edmonton

Nobody thought that Peter Chiarelli’s career as a General Manager was over when he was removed from his position by the Boston Bruins at the end of the regular season. However, few expected him to take up a new post so quickly.  Less than a month after his firing, Chiarelli has travelled from Eastern USA to Western Canada. It won’t be an easy transition.
When Chiarelli arrived in Boston in 2006, he took over a franchise and a fan base that was fed up with mediocrity. The Bruins hadn’t made any serious noise in the postseason for since the Ray Bourque era, despite having some pretty good teams, and an Original Six franchise had lost its way and its identity.
Chiarelli re-introduced an identity of being a physical, character driven and tough to place against team. The Bruins achieved that and eventually went on a remarkable run winning three game 7s on their way to a Stanley Cup championship in 2011.
For all the criticism that Chiarelli has received, he still built a roster that returned to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2013 only losing to the dynastic Chicago Blackhawks, and won the President’s Trophy as the regular season champion in 2013/14.
Ultimately, the Bruins fired Chiarelli for failing to draft and bring through young players and for failing to manage the salary cap.
Neither of those elements are immediate concerns for an Oilers’ team with three first overall picks on their roster and a fourth (likely Connor McDavid) this year. They’ve also got cap room to spare because of the number of young players on their roster.
One of the more interesting storylines related to Chiarelli’s move is the number of young forwards on Edmonton’s roster. Besides winning the Cup, Chiarelli garnered most attention in Boston for a pair of slightly controversial trades moving Phil Kessel to Toronto and Tyler Seguin to Dallas in blockbuster deals.
Those two players had a couple of things in common. Both are among the NHL’s most gifted offensive players in terms of their combination of skating speed, stickhandling and offensive ability. However, they both faced questions about their “character” and they both had deficiencies on the defensive end, which was out of character with the Claude Julien coached Bruins.
It’s probably worth noting that the trade involving Kessel is unanimously considered a great trade. Kessel has faced similar questions about his all-round in Toronto and the Bruins got a couple of first round picks that turned into Seguin and Dougie Hamilton in that deal.
However, it’s hard to see Chiarelli being successful in Edmonton unless he is willing to build a team around some dynamic young forwards that don’t necessarily play elite level defense. That probably rules out a reunion with Julien by the way.
There’s no Zdeno Chara this time. Shutdown defenseman isn’t the most glamorous role and perhaps that’s why Chara doesn’t always get the full credit he deserves. However, there’s no questioning that the veteran defenseman has made constructing a competitive blue-line significantly easier over the last eight seasons. Chara is also a natural born leader and a player who played a big part in that change in identity.
Of course, there could be far worse situations. There are a lot of teams that would love to have just one of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov to build an offense around. That’s all before the likely addition of McDavid, who is highest rated prospect since Sidney Crosby.
Finding the right balance will be Chiarelli’s biggest challenge. It starts with a blue-line that is currently led by Andrew Ference. Jeff Petry was arguably the best defenseman on this team and he was dealt for a second round pick at the trade deadline. There’s nothing wrong with Mark Fayne, Oscar Klefblom, Nikita Nikitin and Justin Schultz, but it’s obvious that the Oilers do not currently possess a well-rounded defensive group.
Dealing some offensive talent for a couple of pillars on the blue line might just be Chiarelli’s number one priority.
Adaptability was one of the other major criticisms of Chiarelli. He was accused of rewarding his cup winners too richly in terms of their contracts and for failing to adapt his roster to the changes in the NHL.
He’ll be forced to demonstrate that immediately in Edmonton with an unfamiliar core group and in a very different organization. The Oilers are a team associated with run-and-gun hockey – not that this fan base wouldn’t settle for a less exciting brand of hockey in exchange for consistent playoff appearances. Still, unexciting mediocrity definitely won’t fly in this city.
Besides the upcoming draft, Chiarelli’s first major decision will be selecting a head coach. Comments about the team’s effort level would already seem to doom interim head coach Todd Nelson. Since removing Craig MacTavish in 2009, Edmonton has had five head coaches in six seasons. There have been some bench bosses with good reputations among that group of coaches as well including Pat Quinn and Tom Renney, and some of the more promising rookie minds to enter the league in Ralph Krueger and Dallas Eakins.
No one has found the right combination for this team. Quinn and Renney tried to make a young group play tough and emphasized defense, while Eakins was supposed to utilize the strengths of the roster offensively.

Chiarelli arrived in Boston with a plan and a vision. He’ll need to bring the same plan and vision. Edmonton needs exactly that now. Just as the Boston fan base was re-invigorated in part thanks to Chiarelli’s work. For the sake of the NHL, we hope he can do something similar in Edmonton.

Chicago’s Captain Serious Leading Playoff Scoring

          If the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs has taught us anything so far, it’s that the game’s stars have come out to play. That includes the names we’ve already grown accustomed to showing up in the postseason over the last number of years, and the young guns who have emerged more recently.
          In one series we had the St. Louis Blues’ Valdimir Tarasenko continue to skate around opponents like pylons even as the stakes grew higher against the Minnesota Wild. Sure his team got bounced in the series, but a one-handed Peter Forsberg-style move in a big game is something nobody can do better than Tarasenko these days.
          In another series we saw Washington’s Alex Ovechkin outduel the New York Islanders’ John Tavares in a 7-game bout where both stars brought their best every night. While neither player finished in the top 10 in league scoring after Round 1, both played leading roles in making the Capitals/Islanders series the best of the opening round hands down.
          And yet, while Tampa Bay’s Tyler Johnson is on fire and could easily be the league’s leading scorer once Game 7 against the Detroit Red Wings is in the books later tonight, it’s the Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews who currently and quietly holds that title. Toews managed 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in the team’s 4-2 series win over the Nashville Predators.
          Doing things quietly is exactly how the Hawks’ captain prefers things. He did after all only score 28 times during the regular season, finishing with 66 points, two marks that are respectable but don’t garner Toews the individual regular season accolades that are often associated with the game’s elite.
          The playoffs however tell a completely different story. Consider that Toews is presently only 26 years old, yet he’s a two-time Stanley Cup Champion, captaining his team to the Promised Land in 2010 and 2013. He received the Conn Smythe Trophy following the 2010 victory as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Finals, becoming the youngest captain in NHL history to claim the award at the ripe old age of 22.
          What makes Toews so good is that he’s a true leader, leading by example and not by drawing attention to himself. He’s also a complete two-way player on the ice and does whatever is asked of him. The scary thing about all of his success is that he’s only 26. People forget that given how serious his demeanor is, and what a rich track record of success he’s already experienced in the game.
          Whether he’s the leading scorer in the league following tonight’s final game of Round 1 or not one thing is for sure, Jonathan Toews deserves more hype and credit for what he does for the Blackhawks than individual scoring numbers could ever get for him. That’s evident in the decorated career he’s already put together for himself just by being the ultimate team leaders.

          He’s a rare breed and someone that even more skilled players like Tavares, Ovechkin, Tarasenko and Stamkos can never really match. Toews proves that being Captain Serious can give a player plenty to smile and jump on plexi-glass about, even if he is the type of guy that prefers to put his head down, fist pump his teammates while gliding past the bench, and get right back to centre ice for the next puck drop when he is doing the scoring himself.

Craziest Hockey Fans

Hockey fans are not nearly as nuts as European soccer hooligans but there are still some puckheads out there that are still pretty nuts.
Here is my quick look at some hockey fans that will seriously start to make you wonder about their own well-being.

JOE LOUIS ARENA, Detroit:
When your hockey team is as good as Detroit’s, having made 19 consecutive playoff appearances, this team really does redefine the argument whether or not teams ‘deserve’ to make it this far. Watch out for flying octopi.

MELLON ARENA, Pittsburgh
Much the same as Detroit. When you have a team that can win like Pittsburgh does most of the time, the fans are going to come out in droves.

MTS CENTRE, Winnipeg
Since they were awarded their team back a year or so ago, the Jets franchise has resurfaced and has proven to be one of the noisiest arenas in the entire National Hockey League. This apparently is due to the roof being lower to the ice surface than in most rinks. One fan was pictured holding one of those guillotine ropes with a referee doll attached to the neck. It drew a bunch of complaints of course, still ranks high on the crazy list though. It’s too bad they couldn’t do a little more damage this year (as in win a game), had the Jets pulled off a couple victories, who knows what may have gone on in downtown Winnipeg?
ROGERS ARENA, Vancouver
After a stellar showing in every way, at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver fans really put on a show the following season during the Stanley Cup, a show in the worst kind of way. People in Vancouver are probably still paying for the mistakes of the soccer-style hooligans that trashed the downtown and other areas when their Canucks lost both Game 6 and 7 of the Stanley Cup final that season to the Boston Bruins. And here we probably all thought those people were saints….

AIR CANADA CENTRE, Toronto
The Leafs have missed the playoffs every year since the lockout, except for the shortened season in 2013. This does not explain why they/we continue to flock to the games like people who have nothing better to do. This even though the average ticket price last year was $123, which is the highest in the league by 50%. It is also more than 151% of what it was 10 years ago. Somebody get this team a good head coach and that 151 will double by 2016.

UNITED CENTRE, Chicago (the Madhouse on Madison):
There is a reason why the United Centre is nicknamed the ‘Madhouse on Madison’. When the Blackhawks win, and that has been usually what they do, it gets loud in there. Blame it on the long rich history of NHL hockey on Chicago, or you could put the blame on guys like Toews and Kane, but for whatever you credit for it being loud in there, the Blackhawks have been a winning team ever since they figured out how to draft properly. If Chicago was not known as a high gun-violence city, I would definitely make more trips to the Windy City.

NASSAU COLISEUM/TARDY CENTRE, NY Islanders
What continues to bring out hockey fans in Uniondale to Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum is beyond me. Their owner is whack, their team for the most part has been dysfunctional (except for this year of course), and the arena itself reminds me of something I recall visiting out in eastern Saskatchewan a couple years ago, an arena’s roof was made of tinfoil. The owner of the Islanders (Charles Wang) is the same guy who gave huge contracts to 2 players who couldn’t come close to living up to them (Rick DiPietro and Alexei Yashin). Based on what I have heard, Wang is moving his team to Brooklyn for next season and the team will play in the Barclays Centre.
CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE, Ottawa
The Sens Army has become better known since Alfredsson, Spezza and Heatley all played for them, in a market such as Ottawa, hockey has to be their #1 sport.

REXALL PLACE, Edmonton
A team like Edmonton that prospered through the 1980s and parts of the 1970s too, the passion from way back then still exists. Now the team is in much different shape but the fanbase is still clearly there. I don’t think there is another team in the National Hockey League with more 1stoverall draft picks that are still playing (Nugent-Hopkins, Yakupov, Hall, and you can add this year’s #1 pick to that list). Despite dismal performances year after year after year, how can these legions of fans continue to support the team?

PENGROWTH SADDLEDOME, Calgary
Whatever Calgary is doing to their team, the Edmonton Oiler seriously need to try, the Flames can win (they did it again last night when they eliminated Vancouver).

There is a good reason why they have been nicknamed the ‘Red Mile’. I have no idea how it got it’s name but they are out in full force right now, and the more the team wins, the bigger they get.

Why The Ottawa Senators’ Season Is About To End

The Ottawa Senators weren’t supposed to find themselves in the playoffs this season. Everyone knows that. But thanks the team’s powers that be finding some true diamonds in the rough and having the good fortune of watching them succeed really quickly, the team is heading into Game 4 of a first round series with the Montreal Canadiens.
Unfortunately for the Senators, the dream of hoisting the Stanley Cup is likely over at least for 2014 as the club finds itself down in the series 3-0. In all of NHL history, only a handful of teams have come back from a deficit that significant and won.
One reason in particular the Sens find themselves in this position is that Carey Price has outplayed Andrew Hammond in the crease. While the difference is minuscule with each game in the series being decided by just one goal, in the playoffs one goal is huge. The end result however doesn’t all fall on Hammond’s shoulders, Ottawa is simply getting beat by better opponents.
The Habs are after all one of the league’s top contenders for the Stanley Cup. It’s not just because they have stars like Price, P.K. Subban and Max Pacioretty however. Everybody on the team is stepping up when necessary. Winger Dale Weise is one prime example of that. He was particularly impactful in Game 3, scoring in the third period to tie the game at one apiece, and winning the game in overtime on a wrist shot from just inside the blue line.
In that game, Weise played the kind of hero the Senators could use right now. Maybe a guy that only scored 10 or 12 times in the regular season who finds a way to chip in a big goal or swing some sort of momentum in Ottawa’s direction. They need it now more than ever, and if the team doesn’t play like it in Game 4, they could be booking tee times at the golf course a lot earlier than they had hoped.
However, the fact is that nobody in the right frame of mind necessarily expected the Senators to continue their improbably regular season finish into the playoffs, so perhaps the season is already won in Ottawa. Could anybody really blame them with Mark Stone, player who was one of the league’s leading goal scorers in the latter part of the regular season, playing through a wrist injury and not looking anywhere near 100%? Odds are the team’s front office staff is more likely to get extended in the off-season rather than fired so the answer to that question is no.
That’s exactly how it should be, if only for the simple fact that the Habs are a few years further ahead in the growth of the team than the Senators are at the moment. Montreal is a team stacked with all-stars who would have made the Stanley Cup Finals last year if not for Carey Price getting hurt in Round 3 against the New York Rangers.

Aside from the clear reasons the Habs are outplaying the Senators, it’s important to keep in mind that the future really does look bright in Ottawa. It’s just too bad that the future isn’t now, as it is Montreal and not the Senators that has it’s eyes on a championship at the moment, at least for now.

PLENTY OF NHL TEAMS WITH WORK AHEAD OF THEM

It is supposedly the most wonderful time of year if you are a hockey fan, particularly of the NHL, but not every city in the league or their fans, are feeling the ‘festive season’.
My team/city is one of them, and has been for some time now.
Nobody in Toronto (or anywhere near the area) should be happy with the way things have gone this season but by no means are we the only ones who are left so badly out in the cold that we actually have to pick another team for whom to follow during the next 2 months or so.
Here is a brief list of some of those teams that need more work than a high-schooler’s resume.
SAN JOSE SHARKS: I thought my Leafs were a mess until I wrote a blog about how messed up San Jose is internally. The players on the ice seem to be fine (sort of), but when you start with the man behind the bench (for now), Todd McLellan, and then everybody behind him, or on top of him however you choose to look at it, the Sharks aren’t biting anyone these days. They did have Stanley Cup hopes last season when they had the eventual champs, LA, down 3-0; then the astonishing thing happened and they collapsed harder than a cheap tent. Some say GM Doug Wilson is the problem and he probably is, especially when McLellan apparently wants to get fired just so he can get out of the mess, which stems around Wilson and former captain Joe Thornton. Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski are just some of the other big shots on the team that has forgotten how to win.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: is this really what Brendan Shanahan knowingly signed up for? This is going to test him in every way imaginable, and it just got a little worse this past weekend, when the Leafs came 4th in the NHL draft lottery. This means they will not only get nowhere near Connor McDavid (Erie Otters OHL) in the summer, but they probably won’t get anywhere near next-in-line Jack Eichel (Boston University Terriers)….or even Dylan Strome (Erie Otters OHL), either.
All this mess is something Shanahan needs to fix up, then he probably needs to do something with 2 stellar netminders in the dressing room (James Reimer, who has actually won playoff games with the Leafs, and Jonathan Bernier), then he needs to trade a couple big-time contracts simply for the sake of doing so (Phaneuf and possibly Phil Kessel), AND THEN Shanahan needs to find someone who actually wants to coach this mess into something respectable again.
On top of all of that, Shanahan also has to replace the other guy he just fired, GM Dave Nonis, as well as most of Peter Hornachek’s assistant coaches, if not all of them.
The Leafs join the Sharks are being 2 teams that are probably going to both need a new head coach and GM.
BOSTON BRUINS: the Bs are probably the only team that I did not think they would ever make a list like this one. They aren’t that bad, are they? Four years following a Stanley Cup victory in 7 games, followed by being one goal away from another Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final (vs Chicago), Boston does not make the playoffs this year, it should be noted that making the playoffs at this level of the game, is never something that should be taken for granted, after all Boston missed on this year’s dance by 2 points, which means that going back to October or November, take one of those losses and turn it into a win and the Bruins are in…
Anyway Peter Chiarelli just got fired, there is a 50/50 chance that head coach Claude Julien will be next, half of the current roster is either broken down, or just tired (Zdeno Chara, Todd Marchand, David Krecji), they do not have the mental batteries to do this hockey-in-the-spring every year. There was plenty of speculation at the trade deadline that Chara may actually be on his way out. He is 37 or something, he’s already got a Cup so it’s been good for him, but he could probably fetch quite a bit in a deal to just about anywhere.
EDMONTON OILERS: where of where on earth does anybody, sane or insane go with this one? The Edmonton Oilers are as bad as the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, and I can’t think of a basketball team or baseball team that’s as comparably as bad at their sport as the Edmonton Oilers have been.
They have had 3-4 #1 draft picks at the Entry Draft and they are about to get another one! Taylor Hall was a #1 pick (2010), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was too (2011), and Nail Yakupov was in 2012….and now they are about to choose #1 yet again….when is this going to end? Ales Hemsky was their #1 draft pick in 2001. Jordan Eberle was a first-round pick too, but was selected 22nd overall.
BUFFALO SABRES: They will get what they want with a shot at the No. 1 pick but GM Tim Murray won’t sit still this summer.
They’ll most certainly have a new look behind the bench after coach Ted Nolan was fired less than 24 hours after the season ended. That had been on the table for a long, long time.
The Sabres have been listed as a team that will make a push for Coach Mike Babcock, if he goes to the free agent market.
They likely will because owner Terry Pegula isn’t afraid to spend money. Once a coach is in place, though, he needs some players. Binghamton’s Luke Richardson is another candidate.
Murray’s plan has always been simple: Get a top selection in the draft and then build around him. There are going to be teams — Boston and Chicago to name a couple — who are going to have cap issues and may want to move some top end players. If that’s the case, expect the Sabres to be a player.

The plan isn’t to finish last forever. Pegula and Murray want a winner in fairly short which means they’ll do what it takes to compete for a playoff spot. 

Marc Bergevin – Managing The Salary Cap and Chasing A Stanley Cup

It’s now difficult to recall, but the Montreal Canadiens had hit close to rock bottom at the end of the 2011-12 season. The franchise had finished dead last in the Eastern conference and a calamitous season had seen fan protests over the appointment of non-French speaking interim head coach Randy Cunneyworth and the firing of General Manager Pierre Gauthier before the end of the season.
In the wake of those controversies, Marc Bergevin stepped in and his task was perceived to be one of re-building an organization. 
A little less than three years on and it’s fair to say that Bergevin has been tremendously successful. The Montreal Canadiens are the top seed in the Eastern conference, in control of their first round series against Canadian rivals Ottawa and rightfully one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
Bergevin’s intelligent cap management, shrewd deals and talent management (and of course a little luck) have made him one of the most highly regarded general managers in the NHL.
A glance at some of the moves that Bergevin has made so far this season are a pretty good indication of the meticulous thinking that goes into his decision making.
November moves that sent Travis Moen and Rene Bourque away in exchange for Sergei Gonchar and Bryan Allen may not have caused too much of a stir at the time. Bourque and Moen were bottom six forwards (though Bourque did have eight goals in the 2014 postseason), while Gonchar and Allen looked like little more than veteran depth pickups.
However, it’s pretty apparent that Bergevin was carefully moving assets around. Allen is an expensive AHL player, while Gonchar was relegated to a reserve role later in the year. Both players come off the books at the end of the season, while Moen and Bourque have deals through the end of 2015-16. In its entirety that means that Bergevin is likely to have around $15 million to play with this summer with Alex Galchenyuk, Nathan Beaulieu and possibly Jeff Petry is only concerns in terms of re-signing. Galchenyuk and Beaulieu are both only restricted free agents.
If the Canadiens are stopped in the playoffs this season, then Bergevin might have an even better opportunity to build a championship contender in 2015-16 as he attempts to take advantage of the current championship window for the Canadiens..
That window is largely provided by goaltender Carey Price, whose rise from good young goaltender to one of the NHL’s elite net minders has also coincidentally coincided with Montreal’s return to prominence.

Meanwhile, P.K. Subban provides a package of elite physical, offensive and defensive play that is rare in the NHL. He is often at the center of controversy and his overall defensive game probably still needs refining, but he plays an electric brand of hockey that clearly ignites his teammates. He followed up a 53-point campaign in 2013-14 with a 60-point season this year and he’ll be the catalyst for any postseason success that Montreal enjoys.
Price and Subban are 27 and 25 respectively and Bergevin has been fortunate to inherit a roster with a pair of premier players at their positions. You can probably throw this season’s 37-goal scorer into that mix in Max Pacioretty as well. However, that’s not to dismiss the impact he has had on this roster. It is Bergevin who has filled this lineup and has made the “right” decision on a number of players.
All three of Montreal’s top centers have faced questions about their status in the roster over the past couple of seasons. David Desharnais struggled after scoring 60 points in his second season, but appears to have settled as a 50-point man with a gritty streak. Tomas Plekanec’s $5 million salary has been questioned, but a 60-point campaign playing largely with the team’s youngster Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher has put most of that to rest. Lars Eller’s role in the team has been up in the air before finally finding space on the third line as a physical player with some offensive skills and the ability to step up in the playoffs.
Devante Smith-Pelly felt like a better fit than Jiri Sekac, who Bergevin beat many teams to sign and then showed no hesitation in shipping to Anaheim for a bruising goal-scoring winger. Smith-Pelly has hardly set the world alight in a Canadiens’ uniform, but he is currently skating on Montreal’s top line.
Meanwhile, the steal of the trade deadline was picking up Jeff Petry from the Edmonton Oilers for just a second round pick. The trade is likely to do Petry’s new contract as a UFA a world of good too – in a Canadiens uniform Petry has established himself firmly as a quality shutdown defenseman. He has helped to balance out Alexei Emelin’s game on the team’s second pairing.
Bitter rivals the Boston Bruins made the first big offseason move of the NHL offseason firing GM Peter Chiarelli last week. One of the biggest reasons cited was Chiarelli’s failure to draft effectively and to bring Boston’s prospects through the system.
Whatever you may think of that (Chiarelli’s defenders are many and make a strong case), it is clear that in the salary cap era, managing young talent is a vital part of both the coach’s and GM’s jobs. Bergevin scores top marks there (though he has only been involved in two drafts to date) with the lineup reliant upon its core of young talent including Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Pacioretty, Subban, Nathan Beaulieu and backup goaltender Dustin Tokarski.
Bergevin has impressed with his approach and he has brought a stability and belief to the organization of the Canadiens’ franchise, which had previously been lost.
The Canadiens will have some tough competition to reach the Stanley Cup Final in the East potentially facing the President Trophy winning New York Rangers, or tough division rivals the Tampa Bay Lightning.
However, Montreal possesses a mix of speed, grit and depth that makes them a formidable postseason opponent. Bergevin surprised a few people by swapping out 10 players from the team that reached the conference finals one year ago, but the core of this team still carries over that valuable playoff experience.

The Stanley Cup winning window is wide open in Montreal and Marc Bergevin is the man who opened it.

The 5 Canadian Teams in the Playoffs

The Los Angeles Kings are out, the Flames are in.
Now I am thinking about the Blues or Flames final. Wouldn’t that be grand?
The team I have loved to hate for the past 4-5 years is officially no better than my Toronto Maple Leafs. Proof that in this wonderful league, anything is possible.
Reason to rejoice for every single team that does make it in, they won’t have to put up with those once-no-name kids from California who weren’t even that good prior to 2011.
I have always thought that pressure was never a problem for that Kings team, now apparently I am wrong. They don’t get a crack at their 3rd Stanley Cup in 5 years.
Rejoice.
Now it is officially time to take a look at the Canadian Stanley Cup playoff teams, along with a reason or 2 why each may do what those Kings were able to do, almost at will.
The Winnipeg Jets: where did the Winnipeg Jets even come from? At the start of the season, like Calgary, nobody ever gave them any respect. Now all of the sudden, they are looking like one of those teams that all of the experienced teams do not want to play against. Like the Kings the year they won the Cup in 2012 and 2014, they are going to be one of the teams with zero pressure on them. I think that all they have to do is go out and try and have fun, and they could be having fun all the way to the Final. Winnipeg is so pumped right now they have a playoff anthem recorded to the tune of Eminem’s ‘Without Me.’ Look it up on youtube. Count Winnipeg as one of the few teams with nothing to lose.
First round opponent: Anaheim Ducks
Prediction: Jets, if they don’t play afraid

The Ottawa Senators: the Sens are going to the playoffs. The best news for them? They won’t have to face my Leafs in the playoffs. Technically that means they could win it all. I don’t know much about Mark Stone or Mika Zibanejad, or even the burger guy, but they sure seem to have been playing well lately, plus they have a GM whose health lately hasn’t been great, and it actually seems to be serving as some kind of motivation. Ottawa’s recent tear has been absolutely ridiculous. Twenty wins and three losses and three OTLs is one of the most impressive late-season stretches ever.
First round opponent: the Montreal Canadiens.
Prediction: I don’t think the Habs could lose if they tried to lose. Hopefully the Sens will make an interesting series but I can’t see them beating Carey Price enough to win 4 games.

The Montreal Canadiens: not much more needs to be said other than Carey Price. He plays well, Habs win. Pretty simple. I would love to get a copy of the Senators’ game plan for Game 1.

The Calgary Flames: can we all recognize the season that former Red Wing Jiri Hudler is having? He’s 31 years old and he has the same number of goals. Hudler ranks eighth in the league with almost a point-per-game production (76 points in 78 games) and has been vital in helping the team clinch a playoff berth. Sean Monahan and Johnny Hockey have the ability to light it up. They are playing against a team that doesn’t have a whole lot of playoff success in recent years.
First round opponent: the Vancouver Canucks.
Prediction: a Canadian team is going to win this series, that is about the only guarantee right now, but I think the Flames have a slightly better-built team. It’s Eddie Lack, likely for the Canucks vs Jonas Hiller for the Flames.

The Vancouver Canucks: Whether or not Vancouver can survive this series will depend largely on whether or not goaltender Ryan Miller will be able to hold the fort; if he cannot, Calgary will win, maybe even easily. When Miller played for the Blues last year, he lost four in a row.
Vancouver has the Sedin twins but I think I like Calgary’s younger talent (Gaudreau, Monahan, Josh Jooris, Markus Granlund) can probably do more damage. I don’t think either of these 2 teams will have much pressure on them, especially considering how surprised I am that I am writing this at playoff time. I predicted early in the season that Canadian teams will definitely make the playoffs, just not these 2 teams.
Henrik and Daniel Sedin are going to have an impact on this series, if they do not, Calgary win cruise easily. Henrik has 69 points, Daniel leads the team with 72 points.
The last three times the Flames and Canucks have met in the post-season, the winner went to the Stanley Cup final.

Prediction: Flames.