Posted - 03/21/2010 : 12:40:18 Top Ten Post Olympic Edition
We have now had time to come back to earth from the brilliance of the Olympic Men’s Hockey Tourney. After this kind of event it normally takes a few weeks to get used to the weaker play in the NHL comparatively. Here’s what has caught my eye in the past few weeks.
10 – Disappearing Acts – Ottawa and San Jose come out of the Olympic break on huge losing streaks. Ottawa has beaten only Carolina and Edmonton in their past 9 games. San Jose has won just 3 of 9 since the break. Take out the 8-6 game in Nashville, and they are getting outscored by more than a goal a game! Not the time to start sliding, especially for these two teams who have been known for weak playoff performances the past few years.
9 – Appearing Acts – Phoenix, Montreal, and Toronto– Phoenix has not lost a game in regulation since the Trade Deadline! Montreal has points in all but one game since the break and lost just 2(one in a SO to Toronto). Some may not agree with Toronto as 7-4 since the break is nothing really special. But for a team in 2nd last, it’s awesome. What’s that team going to be able to do with more than 1 top 6 forward???
8 – How much hype is there every single year for the trade deadline and 8 hours later nothing really exciting happens. Sure, a lot of players got traded and teams shored up for a run at the Cup while others sold some assets for draft picks. So what?? So unsatisfying and so overhyped.
7 – Biggest Hot Swing – Paval Datsuyk was no where in the first 50 games of the season?? In his first 51 games he had 11 goals and 37 points. In the last 20 games, he has 12 goals and 23 points. He’s stepped up his game to help his team make the playoffs.
6 – Biggest Cold Streak – Dustin Penner was so hot early on, and what lately?? Nothing. Sure, he has been without Hemsky for all but 20 games this year, but as anyone could attest, his early game was sharp, physical, and full of effort and he was rewarded. However, in the past 20-30 games, he is back to his old lazy self. He was on pace at Christmas time for a 40+ goal and 80 pt. season. Now, he’ll be lucky to get 30 and 60. What a waste. Although, nearly every Oiler could be on this list.
5 – Where did the 50 goal guy go??? At one time, people were talking about such high potential for this year’s goal scorers. Heatley with Thornton, Kovalchuk, Nash, Ovechkin, Iginla??? Crosby and Ovechkin are both on pace for a little more than 50 and that’s about it. It’s not like the goaltending has been amazing this year. What happened????
4 – I gotta talk about Phoenix again!! Did anyone have this team even making the playoffs let alone a win away from 1st in the West with less than 20 games left?? No one. If you say you did, you are lying!!! Nice job Don Maloney and Dave Tippett. With or without fans, it’s awesome to see!! 3 – No one has talked much about it, but the NHLPA still does not have leadership and is about to go into the last season of the agreement. This is a dangerous situation. Either some militant lawyer is going to get in and try to make his name by fighting the NHL head on or the NHL will walk all over the negotiations and the players will get jacked. There are some pretty big issues on the table, salary cap, player’s escrow, the competition committee, and NHL players in the Olympics to name a few. This better get fixed quickly or it will mean more trouble that people think.
2 – What is Jim Rutherford thinking?? His team tanks for the first 60 games, he fire sales away a handful of his roster, and then his team starts winning?? They went from a participant for the Hall/Seguin/Fowler Sweepstakes to looking at a 5-15 pick??? That’s not a smart way to rebuild.
1 – NHL players are professional athletes. It is so embarrassing to think that these guys are not smart enough to realize that pushing someone head first into the boards, hitting a guy with a shoulder directly into his grill, or hitting someone blindside is dangerous. So the NHL needs to get involved and try to fix something that should not need to be fixed in the first place. As we have found with brilliant ideas like the single point for losing in overtime, the shoot out, and the 2 min penalty for shooting the puck over the glass, the NHL rarely gets it right the first time. This is another example of something they will mess up too. What’s it going to take for something meaningful to be done to stop the dangerous plays that have no place in the game???
See you Next Week.
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