The Boston Bruins vs. the Salary Cap

The Boston Bruins vs. the Salary Cap 

Earlier on in the season, a scant six months ago or the day Henrik Lundqvist got his ass paid, I wrote about the potential struggle the New York Rangers management may face in the off season with pending free agents that need re-signing, and space becoming limited as a small amount of players would take over half the cap space. Then, a few days later, Rogers Communications made their monster $5bn deal for exclusive English language NHL game broadcasts in Canada to be shown on their SportsNet network. Making my whole New York Rangers vs. the Salary Cap post utterly and completely irrelevant. Thanks, Rogers. Thanks, Bettman.

Stanley Cup Playoffs - First Round Review

Stanley Cup Playoffs - First Round Review

The opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is the most exciting, most unpredictable round of the playoffs. For me it all starts with the opening montage Tim Thompson of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada puts together that airs before the first game of the playoffs. This year he went with Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls for the backing track to accompany the clip montage which I think doesn't hold a candle last years that featured The Who's Baba O'Riley. 

Trade Deadline - Who will be the movers and shakers on March 5th?

Trade Deadline - Who will be the movers and shakers on March 5th?

Whether you prefer the crew of Dreger, McKenzie, LeBrun, McLennan and Ward on TSN, or Marek, Kypreos, Millard, MacLean and Stellick on Sportsnet one thing we know as hockey fans is on March 5th (next Wednesday) we will all somehow be glued to one of those channels like we do every August and January 31st for football's (soccer to any Northe American readers) Transfer Deadline Day on Sky Sports News.

Sochi 2014: Tournament in review

Sochi 2014: Tournament in review

The dust has settled on yet another Olympic hockey tournament, and for the 2nd consecutive games the Canadians have taken the top prize. But first we're going to look at what happened in the knockout phase (The next logical step after last weeks preview).

The future of the NHL at the Olympics

The future of the NHL at the Olympics

 

A lot of reporters stuck in Canada or the US, with not much to report during this short period without NHL action, have been shopping around the fact that the NHL and NHLPA have no agreement with the IOC to allow it's players to play beyond the current Winter Games. An argument that may have gained serious weight when New York Islanders captain John Tavares left Canada's quarter final with Latvia after receiving a knee-on-knee contact from winger Arturs Kulda.

 



The incident happened during the 2nd period. Tavares went away for examination, he never returned. That evening it was revealed that after an MRI on his knee that not only would John miss the rest of the Olympics, he would miss the rest of the entire season. Something that puts the idea of pulling NHL participation away in the future firmly in Islanders GM Garth Snow's mind.

 

The 23-year-old Canadian's season isn't the only casualty, the Florida Panthers lost rookie Alexander Barkov to a knee injury playing for Finland, and veteran forward Thomas Kopecky to a concussion playing for Slovakia. Also, the Detroit Red Wings lost captain and Sweden player Henrik Zetterberg to a back injury. Although this was already a niggling issue with the bearded centre. Diagnosed with a herniated disc, Zetterberg had surgery today (Friday 21st February) and could return in time for the playoffs should Detroit qualify.

 

A few injuries, which are to be expected in such a sport, coupled one pre-existing injury rearing it's head again shouldn't be enough to make anyone come to a rash decision. The Islanders and Panthers can seek solace in the fact that, with or without their fallen stars in their line-ups, their season was already over.

 

The NHL and NHLPA like to give us some spiel like "There are potential negative impacts with participating midseason in the Olympics and that factors into the overall analysis of whether it's a good idea for us to go or not," which was said by NHL Deputy Commissioner and chief legal officer Bill Daly.

 

USA & Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane has been quoted that he would like to go to the next games, what would be the NHL's 6th games, in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Patrick also said on the inclusion NHL players at the Olympics "It's pretty obvious to say it's good for the game," and universally the players want to continue with this way. The players that go love the chance to be able to represent their countries, as players like Kane are busy with the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the IIHF World Championships come around, and the players that don't go love the two week vacation.

 

I believe the players will compete in the Olympics as long as they want to. As we know, once the players want something they can be really stubborn. The last time the NHL and NHLPA butted heads we lost half a season.

 

And here's a little secret, that pretty much everyone knows. The NHL and NHLPA didn't agree to send the players to these games until eight months ago.

Sochi 2014 - The tournament so far......

Sochi 2014 - The tournament so far......

Editorial note: I must apologise for only writing one half of the preview I promised. I have a real job in the real world. Who knew?

Today, 16th February, we come to the end of the preliminary round and start to see how the knockout stage will shape up. The first set of games start on Tuesday, the 18th, as the teams seeded 5th-12th fight for the right to join the top four seeds in the quarter finals.

GROUP A

The two shocks coning from the group containing host nation Russia is not that they've finished 2nd, but two defeats suffered by Slovakia. The 8th ranked team in the world were on the receiving end of two crushing losses at the hands of 6th ranked USA and 17th ranked Slovenia, Slovenia's first ever Olympic hockey win.

Americans dominate the top point scoring table with four different skaters in the top ten overall, Phil Kessel (4G 3A), T.J. Oshie (1G 3A), Joe Pavelski (1G 3A) and James van Riemsdyk (0G 4A). David Backes and Paul Stastny the only other players with more than one goal. Russia has five players on one goal (Kovalchuk, Malkin, Ovechkin, Belov and Nichushkin) and one player on two goals, Pavel Datsyuk.



GROUP B

No surprises in this group as the reigning Olympic champions top the 2nd ranked team in the world. It was always going to be Canada and Finland topping this group since the draw was made.

Canadian coach Mike Babcock has been busy shuffling line combinations about over the last four days. Montreal goalie Carey Price with two wins in net, including this evenings crucial overtime win over the Finnish. Defenseman Drew Doughty had four goals including both against Finland. All of Canada's goal scorers ply their trade in the Western Conference, Doughty (LA), Carter (LA), Weber (NSH), Benn (DAL) and Getzlaf (ANA).

Canada head into the knockout round as the 3rd seed and Finland as the 4th.

GROUP C

World number one and one of the strongest favourites pre tournament, Sweden, top the group with a 100% record and head into the knockout stage as the 1st seed.

One surprise that jumps out is the Czechs finishing in 3rd and that they could only manage a win against Latvia, the 2nd lowest ranked team in the tournament. Talking of Latvia, they will face the
Swiss again on Tuesday.


Scoring leaders after the Preliminary Round

KNOCKOUT STAGE PREVIEW

The qualification playoffs, or wildcard round, is on Tuesday. The four winners play against a team from the top four seeds on Wednesday. The semi finals are on Friday with the bronze medal game on Saturday, before the gold medal is contested for at the Bolshoy Ice Dome on Sunday.

These are the dates and UK times of the rest of the tournament.

Qualification playoffs (Tuesday 18th):

Russia vs Norway 8am
Switzerland vs Latvia - 12:30pm
Slovenia vs Austris - 5pm
Czech Republic vs Slovakia - 5pm

Quarter finals (Wednesday 19th):

Sweden vs Slovenia/Austria - 8am
Finland vs Russia/Norway - 12:30pm
Canada vs Switzerland/Latvia - 5pm
USA vs Czech Republic/Slovakia - 5pm

Semi finals (Friday 21st): Noon, 5pm

Bronze medal game (Saturday 22nd): 3pm

Gold medal game (Sunday 23rd): Noon

EDIT (17th Feb): The games for the first two rounds have been allocated to the time slots above.

Just the prospect of the Canada/US semi final is making my mouth water. This is where it really steps up a level. Unless Russia can cause an upset I can't see anyone other than the top four as the last four.

Hope all of you watching have enjoyed the games so far, and other sports. (GO JENNY JONES!!! GO LIZZY YARNOLD!!!)

Enjoy the rest of the games and the hockey.

Psst..... we're nine days from NHL action returning!!!

PODCAST - December 17th Edition

Between The Pipes - December 17th Edition

LISTEN HERE


Subscribe on iTunes!!!

First of all we'd like to apologise if any of our technical difficulties effect the quality of this weeks podcast.

In this edition Nick, Ross and Junaid go over the weeks headlines, including Shawn Thornton appealing his suspension, Stamkos skating a month after breaking his leg. We also give our picks for goals and saves of the week, and make our prediction league picks for this week. In "Four Teams" we talk about Boston, LA & Tampa Bay.

Saves of the week

Nick's pick - Josh Harding - Minnesota Wild vs Anaheim Ducks



Ross' pick - Kevin Poulin - New York Islanders vs Phoenix Coyotes



Junaid's pick - Martin Jones - Los Angeles Kings vs Montreal Canadiens



Goals of the week

Nick's pick - Matt Duchene - Colorado Avalanche vs Winnipeg Jets



Ross' pick - Benoit Pouliot (shootout goal) - New York Rangers vs Calgary Flames



Junaid's pick - Alex Ovechkin - Washington Capitals vs Philadelphia Flyers



Prediction League

TABLE

Nick - 14/18
Ross - 12/18
Junaid - 7/18

This weeks games/picks:
Nashville @ Tampa Bay
San Jose @ Los Angeles
NY Islanders @ NY Rangers
Detroit @ Toronto
Washington @ Carolina
Winnipeg @ Edmonton


Nick: NSH, LA, NYR, TOR, WSH, EDM
Ross: TB, LA, NYR, TOR, WSH, EDM
Junaid: TB, SJ, NYR, TOR, WSH, WPG



NEXT WEEK....... We are ACTUALLY doing our NHL themed 12 Days of Christmas. After neglecting it last week and our technical difficulties this week.



Email us any questions you'd like us to answer at betweenthepipespodcast@hotmail.com and we will answer them during recording. Also you can direct anything our way on twitter, @NickVarney90, @j_hussain & @MasonCooper4.

Podcast - December 10th Edition

Podcast - December 10th Edition

Between The Pipes - December 10th Edition

LISTEN HERE


Or subscribe on iTunes!!!

In this edition Nick, Ross and Junaid go over the weeks headlines, including the Orpik/Neal/Thornton incidents in Boston and the salary cap projections from the Board of Governors meetings. We also give our picks for goals and saves of the week, and make our prediction league picks for this week. In "Four Teams" we talk about Carolina, Minnesota, NY Islanders and Vancouver. Ross gives us his "Things that happened since the Red Wings last missed the playoffs" stat.

Saves of the week

Note: Junaid's pick wasn't on NHL.com or youtube. Another save from the same goalie and same game has been put in it's place.

Nick's pick - Jonas Gustavsson - Detroit Red Wings vs New Jersey Devils



Ross' pick - Craig Anderson - Ottawa Senators vs Philadelphia Flyers



Junaid's pick - James Reimer - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Ottawa Senators



Goals of the week

Nick's pick - James Neal - Pittsburgh Penguins vs Boston Bruins



Ross' pick - Rick Nash - New York Rangers vs Buffalo Sabres



Junaid's pick - Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders



Prediction League

TABLE

Nick - 10/18
Ross - 10/18
Junaid - 5/18

This weeks games/picks:

Tampa Bay @ Washington
Columbus @ NY Rangers
Minnesota @ San Jose
Pittsburgh @ Detroit
Boston @ Vancouver
Los Angeles @ Chicago

Nick: WSH, NYR, SJ, PIT, BOS, CHI
Ross: TB, NYR, SJ, DET, VAN, LA
Junaid: WSH, NYR, SJ, DET, BOS, LA



THINGS THAT HAPPENED SINCE DETROIT LAST MISSED THE PLAYOFFS
by Ross Chaplin

The 1st Gulf War didn't start until after the last time Detroit missed the playoffs.


NEXT WEEK....... We are ACTUALLY doing our NHL themed 12 Days of Christmas. Email or tweet us any suggestions. Our email address and twitter handles are below.

Email us any questions you'd like us to answer at betweenthepipespodcast@hotmail.com and we will answer them during recording. Also you can direct anything our way on twitter, @NickVarney90, @j_hussain & @MasonCooper4.

Bruins vs. Penguins: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Last night in Boston, two of the Eastern conference's elite went head to head, in what was as usual a feisty affair between the Pens and B's.

The game, unfortunately, was marred by a few nasty moments. Moments the majority of hockey fans felt sick watching. I'm talking about James Neal putting his knee into the head of Brad Marchand, and the Shawn Thornton "assault" on Brooks Orpik.

Let's set the scene. First we have what I believe was the incident that got Thornton's back up. At the twelve second mark of the 1st period Orpik lays a clean hit on Loui Eriksson, clean in the sense it was a shoulder to the chest. The only questionable part of the hit is, was Eriksson able to make a play on the puck before he was hit? It looks like he didn't, and judging on the speed and direction of the puck it could be called as interference on Orpik as at no point does Eriksson control the puck. The last player in possession prior to the hit was Patrice Bergeron. Now, Eriksson missed a lot of time this season with a concussion. On this hit he ended up hitting the ice with his head, struggled to get to the bench, and has another concussion (according to several reports). So, about five minutes later when Thornton, the Bruins enforcer, is on the ice at the same time as Orpik, he decides that Orpik should be held accountable and should not get away. He tries to engage in a fight and Orpik flat out refuses. Leading to a 2-minute roughing penalty on Thornton.

Next we move to later on, still in the 1st period, around five minutes after the roughing penalty, Thornton is coming off the bench for a line change when Pittsburgh winger James Neal skates through a prone Brad Marchand. Kneeing him in the head and shakes him up. He then proceeds to get to the bench to escape any Bruin retribution. The play is whistled for a penalty on Neal. Thornton, who didn't see the play, turns around and sees a teammate stricken. He then sees Orpik and another opportunity to make him pay for what he did to Eriksson. He slewfoots Orpik, who is already engaged with Gregory Campbell, then throws a couple punches in Orpik's face. Soft punches, but enough to knock Orpik out for a couple of seconds.

This is the video on NHL.com. It focuses more on the Thornton/Orpik incident but you see Neal knee Marchand at the start.

One common opinion I've seen brandished around about Thornton is that what he did was predetermined. Now, hold on a second. Isn't what Neal did worse than Thornton? The Bruins pay Thornton and expect the enforcer aspect of his game when it is needed. Neal's knee on Marchand was completely unprovoked, aside from the usual chirping that goes on in a hockey game. He skates in a straight line fom the "X" of the Xfinity sponsor board, makes no attempt to avoid contact, and runs away like a pussy.

 

I'm not condoning what Thornton did. It's a common part of hockey. Team mate gets hit. The enforcer wants to punish the hitter. In my opinion, Orpik was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The first incident with the roughing penalty should've been the end of it. The worst part about what Neal did is that he makes his getaway rather quickly. Well, I would too considering Zdeno Chara was on the ice behind Neal and most likely saw the whole thing.

 

Eriksson picked up a concussion. Marchand's status isn't known yet. Orpik was released from hospital and flew home on the Penguins team plane.

 

Thornton now has an in person with the NHL Department of Player Safety. Neal will just have a phone hearing.

 

The way I see it both incidents are as bad as each other. The only difference is the appearance of the stretcher. The fabled stretcher, making hockey injuries look worse than they are since the dawn of time.


You can email your opinion to betweenthepipespodcast@hotmail.co.uk and you can also tweet me @NickVarney90

Podcast - December 5th Edition

Podcast - December 5th Edition

Between The Pipes - December 5th Edition

LISTEN HERE


or you can subscribe on iTunes....


In this edition Nick, Ross and Junaid go over the weeks headlines, our picks for goals and saves of the week, and make our prediction league picks for this week. In "Four Teams" we talk about Ottawa, Philadelphia, St Louis and Washington. Ross gives us his "Things that happened since the Red Wings last missed the playoffs" stat.

Save of the week

Josh Harding - MINNESOTA WILD vs Philadelphia Flyers



Goals of the week

Darren Helm - DETROIT RED WINGS vs New York Islanders



Max Pacioretty - MONTREAL CANADIENS vs Toronto Maple Leafs




Prediction League

TABLE

Nick - 6/12
Ross - 6/12
Junaid - 3/12

This weeks games/picks:

Boston @ Montreal
Carolina @ Nashville
Phoenix @ Vancouver
Toronto @ Ottawa
New Jersey @ NY Rangers
Calgary @ Edmonton

Nick: MTL, CAR, PHX, OTT, NJ, CGY
Ross: MTL, CAR, PHX, TOR, NYR, CGY
Junaid: BOS, NSH, VAN, TOR, NYR, EDM


THINGS THAT HAPPENED SINCE DETROIT LAST MISSED THE PLAYOFFS
by Ross Chaplin

Australia cricket legend Shane Warne had yet to make his International debut. Sachin Tendulkar was yet to make his first International test match century.

And, finally......

A couple of the New York Rangers "Welcome to Rangerstown" commercials...

NEXT WEEK....... We are doing our NHL themed 12 Days of Christmas. Email or tweet us any suggestions. Our email address and twitter handles are below.

Email us any questions you'd like us to answer at betweenthepipespodcast@hotmail.com and we will answer them during recording. Also you can direct anything our way on twitter, @NickVarney90, @j_hussain & @MasonCooper4.

The New York Rangers vs. the Salary Cap

Today, the New York Rangers extended goalie Henrik Lundqvist through 2021, or, until "The King" is 39. Obviously, this wasn't a cheap move for the Rangers. It'll cost them $8.5m per year, or $59.5m over the next seven seasons. That's roughly $1.6m more than the current cap hit for the Swede. Going through his worst season in recent memory, this deal could lift a giant weight, allowing Lundqvist to hit the form that dragged the Rangers into last years playoffs, and help Sweden in the upcoming Sochi Olympics.

The King - aka The $59.5m Man

With Lundqvist signed, the Rangers now have nine players (two goalies) signed on for the 2014-15 season, at a pretty high approximate figure of $39.5m. This will leave them with around $25m to spend on 12-14 more players. Now comes the interesting part. Ryan Callahan, Derick Brassard, Mats Zucarello, Chris Kreider, Brian Boyle, Taylor Pyatt, Benoit Pouliot, Darroll Powe, Aaron Asham, Dominic Moore, Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto, Justin Falk, John Moore & Anton Stralman will all become free agents in July. Kreider, Zuccarello, Brassard, Falk, John Moore, and Del Zotto as RFAs that, in Kreider and Del Zotto, might fancy themselves a small pay rise. The rest will be free to negotiate with whomever they wish.

My guess is that Callahan, Kreider, Stralman and Zuccarello will most likely be Rangers next season. The problem starts with players like Girardi and Del Zotto, already on average size salaries for the quality of hockey they give. Anyone would be stupid not to think Girardi could be in for a nice pay day in July. Perhaps in the $5-6m per year range, possibly higher. At 29, there'll be plenty of clubs lined up for his services if the Rangers don't pay up.

The obvious thing that'll help take a load off the Rangers cap problem, is to buyout Brad Richards. That alone will open up an extra $6.66m on the cap.

So what do the Rangers do?

They probably buyout Richards and give themselves about $32m to spend on 14 players. If they plan to keep Callahan, Kreider, Girardi, Stralman and Del Zotto then I'd imagine at least half of that sum goes to those five players. Leaving the Rangers with six attackers, five defenders, and the Lundqvist/Talbot tandem. Then they can hope players like Boyle, Brassard, Pyatt and Moore take similar deals to their current ones. Adding small rises to current salary would mean all pending FAs mentioned in this paragraph could cost a combined total of $26-31m. Leaving $3-8m spare for 3-5 players.

What about trades? Only players I see being traded are Staal and Dorsett. Richards cap hit is huge, not many teams might want to take that punt. Girardi isn't the sort of player a team like the Rangers would trade to a fellow playoff contender. McDonagh just signed a big deal and Del Zotto would only fetch back a similar cap hit. But would be a rental. I can't see teams taking him on as a rental. On offense, they have Stepan, Nash and Hagelin signed beyond the current season. Three guys they must, and probably will keep.

Staal is currently a cap hit of just under $4m. Dorsett is a tidy $1.6m. Both become UFAs in 2015. If any player is traded away it'll be one, or both, of those two. If they manage to trade away Richards for a similar player with two thirds or even half the cap hit, give Glen Sather the key to the city.

Is it worth the Rangers trying to keep the majority of the current team together, minus Richards? Or should they go into the summer seeing who they can bring to NYC? Will Girardi remain a Ranger? Might Callahan take a hometown discount? Is there any scenario Richards is still around next season?

Definitely an intriguing July awaits for the Rangers and their fans.

How to solve a problem like overtime.......

It's no secret that overtime, and the things that come with it, is a big talking point in the NHL. Perhaps the most debated point is the shootout. The "non-shootout" years pre-date my time as a hockey fan. So I don't have a nostalgic feeling of the old days when teams could tie games. Although, I am a football fan, and the idea of a Premier League game ending level, then going to any sort of overtime or shootout is ludicrous.

One problem with the shootout is that, once in overtime, some teams may decide to play to the shootout rather than go all out for a win, like a team in the NFL might decide to "tank" once they know they're destined for a top 10 draft pick. The post 2004-05 lockout rules would (and still do) reward teams with two points for a regulation, overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss, and no points for a regulation loss. But the problem started from there being no difference to your league position, whether you won in regulation or overtime with "team" play, or via the "skills" competition, you had your two points. In an attempt to try and put teams in a more attacking mind, the NHL introduced a new statistic to the standings in 2010. The ROW column, or Regulation/Overtime wins. This means that teams are given priority in standings and playoff seeding tiebreakers if they have more ROW than a team they tied with on points. Emphasising the importance of winning in "team" play. But, the problem of teams settling for a shootout still happens.

Many believe, in particular Detroit GM Ken Holland, that the way to help reduce the chance of going to a shootout is once the five minute 4-on-4 period ends tied, that they should go to another five minute period, and reduce teams to 3-on-3. This is one option of moving forward. One we got a short preview of in a recent LA Kings-New Jersey Devils game, when the teams skated 3-on-3 for a full two minutes after Dustin Brown (diving) and Jaromir Jagr (holding) took penalties.

Another solution, posed by Jeff Klein of the New York Times, is to increase the amount of points awarded, further increasing the importance of the regulation 60-minutes. This would mean 3 points for a regulation win; 2 points for an OT or shootout win; 1 point for an OT or shootout loss; and zero points for a regulation loss. It's used in international hockey games and makes sense, because after all, shouldn't regulation be worth more than the five extra overtime minutes?

I'm quite in favour of going to a 3-on-3 and the adoption of the 3-2-1-0 point system, eliminating the current 2-2-1-0 system. As fun as the shootout is to watch, it isn't "team" hockey, it should be saved for the all-star game.

These would be the "new" 2013/14 standings (Reg W - OT/SO W - OT/SO L - Reg L), with the adapted points total, actual current record, and current points/position;

EAST

Atlantic	"New" Record	(3-2-1-0) Points - Change	Actual Record (with ROW)	Actual Points
Boston Bruins	47-7-9-19	164	54-19-9 (51)	117
Tampa Bay Lightning	32-14-9-27	133 - down one	46-27-9 (38)	101
Montreal Canadiens	33-13-8-28	133 - up one	46-28-8 (40)	100
Detroit Red Wings	30-9-15-28	123	39-28-15 (34)	93
Ottawa Senators	27-10-14-31	115	37-31-14 (30)	88
Toronto Maple Leafs	24-14-8-36	108	38-36-8 (29)	84
Florida Panthers	21-8-8-45	87	29-45-8 (21)	66
Buffalo Sabres	11-10-10-51	63	21-51-10 (14)	52

Metropolitan	"New" Record	(3-2-1-0) Points - Change	Actual Record (with ROW)	Actual Points
Pittsburgh Penguins	40-11-7-24	149	51-24-7 (44)	109
New York Rangers	39-6-6-31	135	45-31-6 (41)	96
Philadelphia Flyers	35-7-10-30	129	42-30-10 (39)	94
Columbus Blue Jackets	35-8-7-32	128	43-32-7 (38)	93
Washington Capitals	24-14-14-30	114 - down one	38-30-14 (28)	90
New Jersey Devils	26-9-18-29	114 - up one	35-29-18 (35)	88
Carolina Hurricanes	30-6-11-35	113	36-35-11 (34)	83
New York Islanders	21-13-11-37	100	34-37-11 (25)	79

WEST

Central	"New" Record	(3-2-1-0) Points	Actual Record (with ROW)	Actual Points
Colorado Avalanche	37-15-8-22	149 - down one	52-22-8 (47)	112
St Louis Blues	40-12-7-23	151 - up one	52-23-7 (43)	111
Chicago Blackhawks	39-7-15-21	146	46-21-15 (40)	107
Minnesota Wild	32-11-12-27	130	43-27-12 (35)	98
Dallas Stars	34-6-11-31	125	40-31-11 (36)	91
Nashville Predators	33-5-12-32	121	38-32-12 (36)	88
Winnipeg Jets	24-13-10-35	108	37-35-10 (29)	84

Pacific	"New" Record	(3-2-1-0) Points	Actual Record (with ROW)	Actual Points
Anaheim Ducks	44-9-7-20	157	54-20-8 (51)	116
San Jose Sharks	37-14-9-22	148	51-22-9 (41)	111
Los Angeles Kings	34-12-8-28	134	46-28-8 (38)	100
Phoenix Coyotes	27-9-15-30	114	37-30-15 (31)	89
Vancouver Canucks	24-11-11-35	105	36-35-11 (31)	83
Calgary Flames	21-14-7-39	98	35-40-7 (28)	77
Edmonton Oilers	20-9-9-44	87	29-44-9 (25)	67

Under the new idea the Metropolitan Division gets the largest change, whilst the Central Division doesn't change at all. The Atlantic and Pacific Divisions would just see Montreal leap over Tampa, and Anaheim jump ahead of San Jose.

Personally, having seen several short 3-on-3's and the two minutes between the Kings and Devils, makes me want both, obviously there's no way of telling how teams would play if there was an extra point for regulation wins. But, why not? Both ideas are great, in my opinion. I would be campaigning for both if I was a GM or on the NHL board of Governors.

Maybe the way forward was revealed in July when the AHL announced a few rule changes. From the 2014/15 season the AHL will feature a seven minute overtime period. Teams will skate 4-on-4 for the first three minutes, after the first stop in play after three minutes the teams will reduce to 3-on-3 for the remainder of the period. Before the period there will be a dry scrape of the ice and overtime will also be played using the long change, like currently done in the 2nd period.

The AHL is a test market for the NHL. Many of the rules implemented into the league find themselves in the NHL if successful, and many an NHL rule has been put on trial in the AHL before being used in the NHL.

This change is similar to the proposal by Red Wings GM Ken Holland of a ten minute overtime, half 4-on-4 and half 3-on-3 but shorter. The NHL likes to keep things as quick as possible. This change should be a success in what it's ultimately designed to do, creating space on the ice and prevent the shootout. I like the idea and would welcome the NHL adapting it in 2015/16. But limiting the amount of shootouts games go to is only half of the solution. There's still the problem of the points system. They still need to do something to make the regulation sixty minutes worth more than anything that comes after it. The current system is what makes the comparison to teams 3-2-1-0 records so lop sided. There isn't a stat more telling of the fact teams happily get to a point where they play for overtime, or settle for the shootout, than comparing the current points record to what it could look like with the IIHF scoring used.

The Night Ahead: December 2nd 2013

In "The Night Ahead" we take a look at the upcoming slate of games in the National Hockey League tonight. The NHL had a few games played last night, with the standout fixture of note being Daniel Alfredsson returning to Ottawa to face the Senators.

Eastern Conference

									Home			Away			Last 10			Eastern			Western
	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	Streak
1	Boston Bruins	27	18	7	2	38	75	55	12	3	2	6	4	0	7	2	1	16	6	0	2	1	2	Won 2
2	Pittsburgh Penguins	28	18	9	1	37	86	64	11	3	0	7	6	1	7	2	1	14	7	1	4	2	0	Won 3
3	Detroit Red Wings	28	14	7	7	35	78	73	5	4	6	9	3	1	5	2	3	10	3	4	4	4	3	Won 4
4	Tampa Bay Lightning	26	16	9	1	33	76	66	10	3	0	6	6	1	4	5	1	9	6	0	7	3	1	Lost 1
5	Washington Capitals	27	14	11	2	30	82	78	9	6	0	5	5	2	5	4	1	8	5	1	6	6	1	Won 2
6	New York Rangers	27	14	13	0	28	60	66	5	5	0	9	8	0	5	5	0	10	7	0	4	6	0	Won 1
7	Montreal Canadiens	27	15	9	3	33	73	57	8	5	2	7	4	1	7	1	2	9	3	2	6	6	1	Won 1
8	Toronto Maple Leafs	27	14	10	3	31	75	73	9	4	0	5	6	3	3	4	3	8	6	2	6	4	1	Lost 4
9	New Jersey Devils	27	11	11	5	27	59	64	5	4	2	6	7	3	6	4	0	8	5	2	3	6	3	Won 2
10	Philadelphia Flyers	26	12	12	2	26	57	63	7	7	0	5	5	2	7	2	1	9	9	1	3	3	1	Won 2
11	Carolina Hurricanes	27	10	12	5	25	57	78	6	6	4	4	6	1	4	5	1	8	7	2	2	5	3	Lost 2
12	Ottawa Senators	27	10	13	4	24	78	90	4	8	2	6	5	2	3	7	0	9	5	2	1	8	2	Lost 2
13	Columbus Blue Jackets	27	10	14	3	23	67	80	5	7	1	5	7	2	4	4	2	7	9	3	3	5	0	Lost 1
14	New York Islanders	27	8	15	4	20	72	93	5	6	4	3	9	0	2	7	1	5	11	3	3	4	1	Lost 6
15	Florida Panthers	27	7	15	5	19	59	91	4	6	3	3	9	2	4	5	1	2	9	2	5	6	3	Lost 2
16	Buffalo Sabres	28	6	20	2	14	48	85	3	11	1	3	9	1	3	6	1	4	11	2	2	9	0	Lost 1

Western Conference

									Home			Away			Last 10			Eastern			Western
	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	W	L	OTL	Streak
1	Chicago Blackhawks	28	20	4	4	44	102	76	9	1	3	11	3	1	8	2	0	7	0	2	13	4	2	Won 6
2	San Jose Sharks	26	18	3	5	41	92	60	10	1	2	8	2	3	8	1	1	7	1	1	11	2	4	Won 5
3	Anaheim Ducks	29	18	7	4	40	91	77	10	0	1	8	7	3	3	4	3	9	5	3	9	2	1	Lost 1
4	St. Louis Blues	25	18	4	3	39	89	57	11	1	2	7	3	1	7	2	1	8	2	0	10	2	3	Lost 1
5	Colorado Avalanche	25	19	6	0	38	76	52	10	4	0	9	2	0	6	4	0	8	3	0	11	3	0	Won 2
6	Los Angeles Kings	27	16	7	4	36	70	58	8	4	2	8	3	2	5	1	4	8	2	2	8	5	2	Lost 2
7	Minnesota Wild	28	15	8	5	35	68	67	10	3	2	5	5	3	5	4	1	8	3	2	7	5	3	Lost 4
8	Phoenix Coyotes	26	15	7	4	34	85	84	9	2	2	6	5	2	4	4	2	7	1	1	8	6	3	Lost 1
9	Vancouver Canucks	29	14	10	5	33	77	77	5	5	3	9	5	2	3	4	3	10	4	2	4	6	3	Won 1
10	Nashville Predators	27	13	11	3	29	62	75	6	4	2	7	7	1	5	4	1	6	5	1	7	6	2	Lost 2
11	Dallas Stars	25	12	9	4	28	70	73	4	3	4	8	6	0	5	3	2	5	3	0	7	6	4	Lost 2
12	Winnipeg Jets	28	12	12	4	28	73	80	7	6	3	5	6	1	5	3	2	6	2	1	6	10	3	Lost 1
13	Calgary Flames	26	9	13	4	22	70	93	4	5	3	5	8	1	3	5	2	5	2	2	4	11	2	Won 1
14	Edmonton Oilers	28	9	17	2	20	73	95	3	8	0	6	9	2	5	5	0	6	10	1	3	7	1	Won 1

There are four games tonight in the NHL, so lets get into them starting with......

Winnipeg Jets @ New York Rangers

The Rangers have been playing better as of late, being in nearly every game they played, winning more than their fair share against the eastern conference, and on Saturday night played the first game of eleven games in the next twelve at Madison Square Gardens, they come into the game off the back of a 5 to 2 victory over the Canucks, On the back of Chris Kreider's first NHL hattrick.  The Rangers are also injury free, and are set to start Henrik Lundqvist against an injured Winnipeg Jets, missing  Zach Bogosian who is on IR at the moment, alongside Paul Postma and Jim Slater there. Young Star Evander Kane is day to day with a lower body injury.

My pick for  tonight is the Rangers.

New Jersey Devils @ Montreal Canadiens

New Jersey come into this game having to have put Adam Larsson onto Injured Reserve with a lower body injury, joining Brian Gionta, Bryce Salvador, and Ryane Clowe, compared to just Davis Drewiske for the Habs. That right there is a little edge to the Habs, the Devils are missing some serious quality compared to the Habs.

For the Canadiens, Max Pacioretty is an inform man and may be the difference tonight. His battle with Martin Brodeur will be critical to the outcome of the game tonight. Carey Price will still need to have a big night as the Devils, and brodeur are still in some good form, going 6 and 4 over their last ten.

For once, (for those who listen to the podcast) I am picking the Canadiens at home, purely based on the injuries to the devils.

Philidelphia Flyers @ Minnesota Wild

The Flyers are hot going seven, two and one over their last ten. Problem is, Josh Harding has been outstanding this season. Since ditching their coach, (nick's pick for coach of the year) The flyers have been on a tear and upward curve, and now they sit just two points out of the playoffs, and if results go their way, potentially depending on tiebreakers, they could take the Rangers for the 6th seed.

Chris Pronger and Marc Andre Bourdon for the Flyers are both on ir with post concussion Syndrome. Mikael Granlund is the only Wild out with an upper body injury.

The Wild ideally need a win to keep up in the playoff race. Currently they are a wildcard, and would like to move ahead in the standings. Besides that I reckon The metro division will be going 2 and 1 tonight, somehow i see the flyers winning, He might not be liked/loved, but Claude Giroux is one skilled Son of a gun, and his skill set will be one of the many Keys to victory.

St Louis Blues @ Los Angeles Kings

 Go ahead, get comfortable, get ya popcorn and relax. This should be a cracker. The two teams that have faced off in the playoffs the last two years face again tonight and if previous games are any indication, its going to be all out war between these two.

L.A are missing Johnathan Quick but Ben Scrivens has performed admirably in relief so far. Jordan Leopold is the stand out injury for the blues.

This will go to overtime, if not penalties. This is really a close well matched teams, after tossing a coin, I am picking the St Louis Blues, why, because it isn't the playoffs, (lemme check the calendar, nope I can say it isn't the playoffs yet)

     

Don Cherry makes appeal to Rogers, Sportsnet on Coach's Corner

Hockey Night in Canada is a massive piece of Canadian family life on a Saturday evening, and included in HNiC is a little segment by Don Cherry called Coach's Corner. Since Rogers took every piece of the NHL broadcasting pie from 2014-26, CBC struck a deal to keep HNiC on CBC although all control is now in the hands of Rogers/Sportsnet. It soon became apparent that people are gonna lose jobs at CBC. Don is not thought to be one of them. But nonetheless, he felt the need to give his new bosses advice on what they should do with HNiC.

On this week's Coach's Corner, Don Cherry, wearing something that actually resembles clothes you could wear in public, does his usual thing of giving his opinion on certain things in the NHL. Then around the five minute mark he addresses Rogers.



So, basically, Don thinks of himself, or HNiC, but most likely just himself, as Bobby Orr and Rogers should leave him alone.

Do Canadian hockey fans want to lose the guy who tells his new bosses to leave him alone because he's the Bobby Orr of broadcasting?


Oh, and here is last night's opening montage....



Rogers should totally keep Tim Thompson too!

Stars - best of Saturday 30th November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.


FIRST STAR

 

Chris Kreider - NEW YORK RANGERS vs Vancouver Canucks

Kreider scored his first career NHL hat trick against the team now coached by his favourite man the man who dropped him to the AHL for much of last season, John Tortorella. As John was run out of town by the Rangers for the 2nd time in 2013.




SECOND STAR

 

Max Pacioretty - MONTREAL CANADIENS vs Toronto Maple Leafs

Max continued his recent goal scoring form picking up two more goals and an assist. His first was from an fantastic breakout pass from P.K. Subban. His 2nd was this awesome short handed effort.




THIRD STAR

 

Evgeni Malkin - PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs Florida Panthers

"Geno" had a goal, the game winner, and three assists in the Penguins 5-1 rout of the Panthers.




Honourable Mentions

Penguins backup goalie, Jeff Zatkoff, had 40 saves in the Pens win over Florida..... Semyon Varlamov had 37 saves in Colorado's 3-2 win against Minnesota.....

Subban had a nice goal.....



Tomas Plekanec also scored on a nice move.....



Alex Ovechkin scored, again.......




Look Away Moment of the Night

After all his brilliance recently, against Calgary, Ben Scrivens reminds us that he's just a man god damnit!!!

Stars - best of Friday 29th November

Stars is our daily look at the previous night's action in the NHL and who stood out amongst the rest.

FIRST STAR

 

Brent Burns - SAN JOSE SHARKS vs St Louis Blues

Burns picked up his first career NHL hat trick in the 6-3 win over the Blues. He also picked up an assist on Tomas Hertl's late empty netter.




SECOND STAR

 

Braden Holtby - WASHINGTON CAPITALS vs Montreal Canadiens

Holtby had a surprise start at the Verizon Center when Michal Neuvirth hurt himself pre-game. He saved 35 shots in the 3-2 shootout win.




THIRD STAR

Darren Helm - DETROIT RED WINGS vs New York Islanders

Darren scored the opening two goals in the 5-0 demolition of the New York Islanders. Ending the Wings losing streak against the Isles.



Honourable Mentions

Mikhail Grabovski had a goal, an assist and the shootout winner in the Caps-Habs game.......



Tomas Plekanec also had a goal and an assist but his miss in the shootout gave the winner point to the Caps......



The man mountain that is Zdeno Chara got himself a Gordie Howe hat trick. He fought with Brian Boyle, assisted on Brad Marchand's goal, and then scored the game winner in the Bruins 3-2 win against the New York Rangers......

 

Rick Nash also scored in that game. It was easy on the eye......