Polemic®

I was pretty convinced that Crosby was the real deal a while ago, but his recent performances have been clutch–and that’s the difference between a truly great player and a stat whore (like Jagr).
He would be well advised to shut his yap and let his play do the talking, but he’s apparently been working on [...]

There’s always something wrong with the Devils, isn’t there?
Forget that Marty Brodeur is having the best season of his career, a true MVP season, and that the Devils as a team are succeeding with, what on paper, appears to be a very very thin scoring forward and defense corps.

Just asking–have any of the Figure Skating Keyboardists (FSK) made a compelling case as to why the instigator rule decreases non-fight violence? Maybe I’ve been hoodwinked by the “Troglodytes” ($10 says no hockey columnist in North America can define that word without looking) but it does seem to me that fear of getting your [...]

The Darcy Tucker Leafs and their fighting keyboardists have reacted like abused Millhouses to the Kaberle hit. Here the intrepid David Shoalts, using the power of arithmetic complains that Janssens’s three game suspension wasn’t even a “slap on the wrist” because he’ll only miss a handful of actual minutes on ice.
Of course he blithely [...]

Souray for Carle, Pavelski, and a pick.
Even if the trade is made for Souray, the Sharks aren’t parting with that much. Of course, Garrioch caveats that it would be if the Sharks can get Souray to sign a 2 year deal. It’s still ludicrous. Souray won’t sign with them now.

Sakic to Anaheim.
This is the second ludicrous hockey rumor involving the Ducks and a member of the Divealanche championship teams. The price Nashville paid for Forsberg was a coup for interim/quasi/temp GM Holmgren in Philly. (That was a better trade than Bob Clarke ever made in his life.)
But Nashville made that trade for [...]

Forsberg to Philly reporter: situation will be resolved by the weekend.
UPDATE: It’s Nashville. They were gouged, but hand it to ‘em for the win now mentality. Bertuzzi’s price just skyrocketed, I bet.

Hockey Blogger “Eklund,” who is currently involved in a bit of a scandal, reported this last night:
“Rumor is the Ducks balked at 2 picks, Bobby Ryan and anothr [sic] roster player. “
Bobby Ryan was picked #2 behind Sidney Crosby. He is a top prospect. The roster player could be anyone, but let’s say [...]

Just some thoughts on the NHL rumors.
Darcy Tucker to Ducks. NFW. I don’t think Scott Niedermayer likes this guy.
Forsberg to Ducks. Of the few teams TSN says he’s willing to go to is the Ducks. If they make this deal (a mistake, IMHO) they have an inside line: the Ducks’ top prospect, [...]

The first hockey team I ever even pretended to like was the Montreal Canadiens. I never formed a real connection to them, but in the late 80s, they still seemed almost royal. Today they focus on the glories of the past, like Italians or Brits.
Throughout the century they dominated hockey, winning 25% of [...]

The NHL season is starting to take shape, starting have an identity. The race for the cup is wide open, and the deadline day deals will have playoff implications.
Here’s where I think we are.
Teams with a realistic shot to come out of the East:
Buffalo. They lack the long history of playoff experience that [...]

DJS is correct–all of a sudden, I’ve heard the Devils called boring again. That must mean they’re winning by keeping the other team from scoring. What a concept.
The Devils lack the depth everywhere except in goal that their championship teams had. There is no doubt about that. Thing is, no team [...]

That’s a powerplay goal. Fuck you, Sam Rosen. (Elias)That’s a powerplay goal. Fuck you, Sam Rosen. (Langenbrunner)That’s a powerplay goal. Fuck you, Sam Rosen. (Brylin)

I’ve known this for over 10 years. If you don’t give Canada affirmative action or subsidy, or whatever you call it, you aren’t watering the roots of hockey, and the farthest reaching branches will die no matter how bright their blooms may be.
The NHL blocking even the notion of the Penguins moving to Canada [...]

<br><a href=”included.html”>Hmm, you are using a very old browser.<br>Click here to go directly to included content.</a><br>This Google Spreadsheet looks at some of the stats (I haven’t figured out how to make it hot-sortable there yet) of the top teams in the NHL. I think it’s interesting to subtract power play goals and power play [...]

About this time 9 years ago, the Devils played a pivotal game at home against the Dallas Stars. At that point of the season, both teams were favorites to come out of their respective conferences in the final. The Devils lost that game, and I never felt they were the same for the [...]

A long time favorite of the Coaching Deadpool (see here (most recent), here, here, here, here, and here) has been Mike Kitchen. Today he got the axe, and the annoying and frumpy Andy Murray took his place.
He was off the list for a while, because I figured if JD was keeping him around, he’d [...]

So says Damien Cox of the Toronto Star.
I’m assuming like most talking hockey heads, he means scoring. He seems to be saying as much when he says, “[r]emember the days when the Western Conference was all about flow and speed and Gretzky and offence?”
Well, it’s true. Only 5 of the top 15 [...]