Today we begin out previews of the entire league with a look at how the Atlantic Division will finish.
Showing posts with label Bruins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruins. Show all posts
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Time To Sign Iginla?
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| Photo: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images |
Monday, March 17, 2014
It's Been A While
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| Jarome Iginla is the all time leading scorer against the Wild with 35 goals and 30 assists. Photo: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images |
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Gary Bettman, Get Rid Of This Garbage
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| Photo: Matthew J Lee/Boston Globe |
We saw two despicable acts of violence in this game last night. The James Neal knee to Brad Marchand's head was just given a two minute minor. Seriously? A two minute minor for a blatant knee to the head of a player who is on the ice? That's just pathetic.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Meet The New Divisions: Atlantic Division
Today, we kick off our countdown to the beginning of the new NHL season by taking a look at each of the new divisions. The divisions are Atlantic, Metropolitan, Pacific, and Central. In these posts, we will predict the order of finish from the teams within the division while giving you a little rundown of each squad.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
NHL 2013 Preview: Northeast Division
5. Montreal Canadiens-Those who think Montreal has a chance to make the playoffs this year can quit reading this now. The Canadiens retooled their hockey operations staff (New GM, New head coach), but the on ice talent remains the same from last year's cellar dwellers in the Northeast. The only solid addition this team made in the offseason, was drafting Alex Galchenyuk #3 overall. The team has too many overrated and overpaid players on this roster (Plekanec, Gionta, Cole, Kaberle, Markov). They do have Carey Price, who is pretty solid betweeen the pipes, but when your offense can't score, its hard to win games. Montreal will be painful to watch in 2013, so please don't expect them to do anything but come in last in this division.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs-If Toronto had a halfway defense in 2011-12, they would of made the playoffs. But when you boast the second worst defense in the league (259 Goals Allowed), you won't be going anywhere. The Leafs brought in F James van Riemsdyk in a trade with Philly (Giving up D-man Luke Schenn in return), but did virtually nothing to help their suffering defensive core. Their top defenseman (Phaneuf, Liles) take more chances offensively, and find themselves finishing games with -1 and -2 next to their names. James Reimer will open the season as the #1 goalie again for Toronto, but he could very well be a backup by the end of the season (*cough* Luongo!). Barring any major moves, Toronto misses the playoffs again.
3. Ottawa Senators-Ottawa was picked to finish dead last in the East on this blog last year. And all they did was make the playoffs and took the #1 seeded Rangers to a 7th game in the East Quarterfinals. They were lead by ridiculous scoring on their top line (Michalek-Spezza-Alfredsson), they saw Erik Karlsson become the best defenseman in the league, and they got surprisingly stellar goaltending from Craig Anderson. But behind their top line, Ottawa did not have much to offer, so they brought in former Wild player Guillaume Latendresse to give some depth to their scoring lines. Ottawa brings back the same core of players from last year, so they should contend for a playoff spot, but will they have enough to make the playoffs?
2. Buffalo Sabres-Last year, Buffalo probably learned more about themselves, than any other team in the league. Problem was, it took them a while to figure that out. Because they were a very hot team from February on, and they just narrowly missed a playoff spot (Finished 3 points behind Ottawa for the 8th seed). Buffalo addressed a huge issue this offseason, by adding some tough guys to their lineup (Steve Ott, John Scott). Perhaps the biggest need for the Sabres heading into the season is at center, after trading away Paul Gaustad and Derek Roy in 2012. And in addition to Ryan Miller, the Sabres have Jhonas Enroth (After his breakout year, filling in for the injured Miller) as a back up, between the pipes, giving them one of the best goalie tandems in the league. Buffalo has potential to be a playoff team. But they too like Ottawa are on the bubble, and will leave us questioning whether they can get in the playoffs.
1. Boston Bruins-Please, just hand this division to Boston. They are essentially returning the same roster from their Stanley Cup team of 2 years ago, minus the outspoken goaltender Tim Thomas. Now that Thomas is gone, Tuukka Rask gets the #1 job, after being a stellar back to Thomas over the past few years. Boston is incredibly deep on their forward lines, and defensively too. They will be graced by the presence of star prospect Dougie Hamilton (Kessel trade strikes again), on the blue line this year, adding to an already solid core. Boston will win the division, and will once again be competing for the Stanley Cup. They just have to avoid getting upset in the first round of the playoffs again.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wild Announce 2012-13 Schedule
Today, the Wild, along with the rest of the NHL, announced their schedule for the 2012-13 regular season. The Wild are slated to open up their season at home against Colorado on Saturday, October 13th at 7 PM.
There are some ups and downs to this schedule. First, Nate from First Round Bust (Give his post on the Wild Schedule a read too!) pointed out to me that there are no 9:30 division road games this year. So when the Wild travel to Vancouver they will be starting no later than 9:00. Its not that big of a difference, but its an extra half hour so everyone wins.
Another positive to this year's schedule is that the Eastern Canadian teams (Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and Senators) all make appearances to Xcel Energy Center. The Leafs and Canadiens aren't exactly the gold standard of the NHL right now, but they have rarely visited St. Paul, so it is nice to see them come here.
But, the schedule does have some downfalls. The biggest being that Winnipeg (The Wild's new found rival) does not make a visit to St. Paul this year. The Wild do travel up to Manitoba on January 2nd, but the schedule was not so kind in sending the Jets back to Minnesota.
That is just about as big as a fail as you will ever see. I had the pleasure of being at the Wild-Jets game at the 'X' back in February. The building was packed, there were close to 3-4,000 Jets fans in the building, and the atmosphere was second to none for a regular season game that was almost meaningless. Hopefully, this issue will be fixed for future years (Or actually, the divisions realign like we all wanted and we play the Jets 6 times a year!!!).
You could make the same argument for East Coast teams like New York Rangers, Boston, and New Jersey not coming to St. Paul this year. It really does become kind of a drag to see the same useless West teams (Edmonton, Columbus) over and over again, and the better teams in the league we don't get to see.
Lastly, should the Wild be in contention late in the year, the schedule is definitely not in their favor. In April, the team plays their first 5 games in the month on the road against teams that are more than likely to contend (Chicago, San Jose, Colorado, Phoenix, Detroit) before playing the final two games at home. It will be rough, but lets hope the team is still in contention at that point (knock on wood!).
P.S. For those looking for a road trip opportunity this year (Much like I am), some good options would be Boston/New York Rangers November 8-10 or LA/Anaheim on December 8-9. Or one oculd simply just drive 7 hours north and see the Wild play the Jets!
There are some ups and downs to this schedule. First, Nate from First Round Bust (Give his post on the Wild Schedule a read too!) pointed out to me that there are no 9:30 division road games this year. So when the Wild travel to Vancouver they will be starting no later than 9:00. Its not that big of a difference, but its an extra half hour so everyone wins.
Another positive to this year's schedule is that the Eastern Canadian teams (Maple Leafs, Canadiens, and Senators) all make appearances to Xcel Energy Center. The Leafs and Canadiens aren't exactly the gold standard of the NHL right now, but they have rarely visited St. Paul, so it is nice to see them come here.
But, the schedule does have some downfalls. The biggest being that Winnipeg (The Wild's new found rival) does not make a visit to St. Paul this year. The Wild do travel up to Manitoba on January 2nd, but the schedule was not so kind in sending the Jets back to Minnesota.
That is just about as big as a fail as you will ever see. I had the pleasure of being at the Wild-Jets game at the 'X' back in February. The building was packed, there were close to 3-4,000 Jets fans in the building, and the atmosphere was second to none for a regular season game that was almost meaningless. Hopefully, this issue will be fixed for future years (Or actually, the divisions realign like we all wanted and we play the Jets 6 times a year!!!).
You could make the same argument for East Coast teams like New York Rangers, Boston, and New Jersey not coming to St. Paul this year. It really does become kind of a drag to see the same useless West teams (Edmonton, Columbus) over and over again, and the better teams in the league we don't get to see.
Lastly, should the Wild be in contention late in the year, the schedule is definitely not in their favor. In April, the team plays their first 5 games in the month on the road against teams that are more than likely to contend (Chicago, San Jose, Colorado, Phoenix, Detroit) before playing the final two games at home. It will be rough, but lets hope the team is still in contention at that point (knock on wood!).
P.S. For those looking for a road trip opportunity this year (Much like I am), some good options would be Boston/New York Rangers November 8-10 or LA/Anaheim on December 8-9. Or one oculd simply just drive 7 hours north and see the Wild play the Jets!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Can I Get Some Love For Chad Rau?
On Saturday afternoon, Wild Center Warren Peters delivered an illegal cross check to the head of St Louis Captain David Backes. NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan came down on Peters handing him a one game suspension, which left an open spot on the Wild roster for Sunday’s game against Boston. Enter Chad Rau, called up from Houston for Sunday’s game (His second stint with the Wild this year), and he did not disappoint.
In front of a national audience, Rau broke a scoreless tie with the defending champs in the second period as he broke out on a 2 on 1 with D-Man Marco Scandella and wristed a shot past Thomas just inside the left faceoff circle. It was Rau’s 2nd goal in 5 games played this season (His first came on Hockey Day Minnesota against Dallas). On the season Rau holds a line of 2-0-2 and is a +2. But stats don’t tell the entire story here.
If you watched Sunday’s game, you should of come away very impressed by Rau’s performance. He had just the one goal, but he was given nearly three minutes more of ice time than he averaged in his first stint with the club, due to his stellar play in both ends of the ice.
Mike Yeo was so impressed by Rau’s performance after the game he noted this to the media, “I thought his D-zone coverage was very strong. I thought his puck execution was very good. He knows when to make a smart play and when to make more of a skilled play. And I was impressed with his puck strength.” (Quote courtesy of Mike Russo)
As I mentioned on Twitter Sunday, Chad Rau was a breath of fresh air on a team full of dead air on Sunday. And with all that said, one has to believe that he would be sticking around for most of, if not all of, the remainder of the season, mainly as the fourth line center.
Rau does what Mike Yeo is looking for from the rest of his squad: He plays hard, he plays smart, and he takes care of the little things that helps the team win. If he can continue to do that, he will not only finish out the year in a Wild uniform, it should also help him remain in one for the next season as well. And with any luck, his hard play can rub off on his teammates too, and propel us back to those winning ways.
In front of a national audience, Rau broke a scoreless tie with the defending champs in the second period as he broke out on a 2 on 1 with D-Man Marco Scandella and wristed a shot past Thomas just inside the left faceoff circle. It was Rau’s 2nd goal in 5 games played this season (His first came on Hockey Day Minnesota against Dallas). On the season Rau holds a line of 2-0-2 and is a +2. But stats don’t tell the entire story here.
If you watched Sunday’s game, you should of come away very impressed by Rau’s performance. He had just the one goal, but he was given nearly three minutes more of ice time than he averaged in his first stint with the club, due to his stellar play in both ends of the ice.
Mike Yeo was so impressed by Rau’s performance after the game he noted this to the media, “I thought his D-zone coverage was very strong. I thought his puck execution was very good. He knows when to make a smart play and when to make more of a skilled play. And I was impressed with his puck strength.” (Quote courtesy of Mike Russo)
As I mentioned on Twitter Sunday, Chad Rau was a breath of fresh air on a team full of dead air on Sunday. And with all that said, one has to believe that he would be sticking around for most of, if not all of, the remainder of the season, mainly as the fourth line center.
Rau does what Mike Yeo is looking for from the rest of his squad: He plays hard, he plays smart, and he takes care of the little things that helps the team win. If he can continue to do that, he will not only finish out the year in a Wild uniform, it should also help him remain in one for the next season as well. And with any luck, his hard play can rub off on his teammates too, and propel us back to those winning ways.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
NHL 2011 Preview-Northeast Division
5. Ottawa Senators-I'm not really sure where to start with this team. They have little offense, their defense consists of old veterans or inexperience young guys, and their goaltending does not feature anyone who should be a starter in this league. Besides their top line, which features Jason Spezza and Daniel Aflredsson, don't expect this team to put up many goals. In fact, don't expect much from this team at all. The Sens battle for last place in the East this year.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs-Last year James Reimer started 28 out of the Leafs final 33 games. He posted a 16-7-5 record with a .921 save percentage. Now moving forward to 11-12, the Leafs are hoping the netminder can produce similar results throughout a whole season. The Leafs bring in a very young team this year (average age is 26), and look to build off their final two months of success last year. Offensively, I think they will still struggle. Defensively, you should see some big improvements, lead by the 21 year old Luke Schenn, who the Leafs locked up for the next 5 seasons. If for whatever reason, the Leafs can put the puck in the net, they should be in the hunt for a playoff spot. But right now, I don’t see that happening this year.
3. Montreal Canadiens-I really like Montreal. In fact, I even considered putting them ahead of Buffalo. But the fact remains is they lack a good scoring punch. They did bring in Erik Cole fron Carolina, but he is not the answer for the “lack of punch” they have. They look to have a real solid defense, lead by the 22 year old P.K. Subban, in front of G Carey Price who had a tremendous season last year. If Price can continue his winning ways, the Habs should be able to win many games, if they can score more than three goals. If Montreal gets someone to step up, or find a way to acquire a scorer this year, they could be a darkhorse playoff team. But until they do, all they will be able to do is battle it out for a playoff spot at seasons end.
2. Buffalo Sabres-The Sabres were, by far, the most active team this offseason. They signed free agents F Ville Leino and D Christian Erhoff to multiyear deals, and traded for D Robyn Regehr from Calgary. With these additions, the Sabres now boast one of the best defensive cores in the NHL. Scoring wise, they are led by former Gopher Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford, both coming off 30 goal seasons. Then add the fact they have all star Ryan Miller between the pipes, and Buffalo should have a contending team this year. But should they lose some players to injury, they have no cap space to make a deal, so they would have to promote from within. I believe this team will make a good run in the playoffs, but they will be looking up to the defending champs in the division standings.
1. Boston Bruins-The defending champs bring back essentially, the same team that won the Cup last year. In fact, their biggest offseason addition is Benoit Pouliot. That’s how quiet of an offseason Boston had. They have great depth in both their forwards and defense. That depth should carry over to another great regular season in Boston. The key for Boston is pretty simple: Goaltending. If Tim Thomas can remain solid, and Tuuka Rask can follow suit in his limited starts between the pipes, the Bruins should be in contention for the East’s top record this season. The Bruins are pretty much a lock to win this division. But the big question is: How far can they go in the postseason?
Tomorrow, I dive into the Western Conference and look at the Pacific Division.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs-Last year James Reimer started 28 out of the Leafs final 33 games. He posted a 16-7-5 record with a .921 save percentage. Now moving forward to 11-12, the Leafs are hoping the netminder can produce similar results throughout a whole season. The Leafs bring in a very young team this year (average age is 26), and look to build off their final two months of success last year. Offensively, I think they will still struggle. Defensively, you should see some big improvements, lead by the 21 year old Luke Schenn, who the Leafs locked up for the next 5 seasons. If for whatever reason, the Leafs can put the puck in the net, they should be in the hunt for a playoff spot. But right now, I don’t see that happening this year.
3. Montreal Canadiens-I really like Montreal. In fact, I even considered putting them ahead of Buffalo. But the fact remains is they lack a good scoring punch. They did bring in Erik Cole fron Carolina, but he is not the answer for the “lack of punch” they have. They look to have a real solid defense, lead by the 22 year old P.K. Subban, in front of G Carey Price who had a tremendous season last year. If Price can continue his winning ways, the Habs should be able to win many games, if they can score more than three goals. If Montreal gets someone to step up, or find a way to acquire a scorer this year, they could be a darkhorse playoff team. But until they do, all they will be able to do is battle it out for a playoff spot at seasons end.
2. Buffalo Sabres-The Sabres were, by far, the most active team this offseason. They signed free agents F Ville Leino and D Christian Erhoff to multiyear deals, and traded for D Robyn Regehr from Calgary. With these additions, the Sabres now boast one of the best defensive cores in the NHL. Scoring wise, they are led by former Gopher Thomas Vanek and Drew Stafford, both coming off 30 goal seasons. Then add the fact they have all star Ryan Miller between the pipes, and Buffalo should have a contending team this year. But should they lose some players to injury, they have no cap space to make a deal, so they would have to promote from within. I believe this team will make a good run in the playoffs, but they will be looking up to the defending champs in the division standings.
1. Boston Bruins-The defending champs bring back essentially, the same team that won the Cup last year. In fact, their biggest offseason addition is Benoit Pouliot. That’s how quiet of an offseason Boston had. They have great depth in both their forwards and defense. That depth should carry over to another great regular season in Boston. The key for Boston is pretty simple: Goaltending. If Tim Thomas can remain solid, and Tuuka Rask can follow suit in his limited starts between the pipes, the Bruins should be in contention for the East’s top record this season. The Bruins are pretty much a lock to win this division. But the big question is: How far can they go in the postseason?
Tomorrow, I dive into the Western Conference and look at the Pacific Division.
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