Kukla's Korner Hockey

Neal Suspended Two Games

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 03:16 PM ET
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via NHL.com,

Dallas Stars left wing James Neal was suspended two games by the NHL on Friday for a hit from behind on Columbus Blue Jackets right wing Derek Dorsett at 13:01 of the second period of Thursday’s game.

Dorsett was among a group of players battling along the wall for the puck when Neal came charging in. Neal appeared to leave his feet to deliver a blow to Blue Jackets defenseman Marc Methot, but instead he hit Dorsett in the back. The force of the blow drove Dorsett face-first into the glass. He fell to the ice and could not get up.

In case you missed the hit, watch it here.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Dallas Stars | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: James+Neal,

The NHL At The Quarter Mark

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 03:11 PM ET
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NEW YORK (November 20, 2009)—Fewer than five months after hearing their names called as first-round selections at the National Hockey League Entry Draft, John Tavares of the New York Islanders, Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche and Evander Kane of the Atlanta Thrashers have helped key turnaround performances by their teams in the first quarter of the NHL season.

As the 1,230-game schedule passes the quarter mark with tonight’s games, seven clubs that did not qualify for the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Playoffs currently hold a top-eight Conference position – four in the Western Conference (#2 Colorado, #4 Los Angeles, #7 Phoenix and #8 Dallas) and three in the East (#3 Buffalo, #6 Ottawa and #7 Tampa Bay). The Islanders and Thrashers are a whisker behind the Eastern pack through a first quarter-season that saw outstanding individual and team performances along with stunning last-minute, game-changing dramatics.

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Teams | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Paul Kelly Goes Back To College

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 03:00 PM ET
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from Kevin Allen of Mucking and Grinding,

Former NHL Players Association Executive Director Paul Kelly fulfilled his wish to stay in hockey by accepting a job as executive director of the newly-formed College Hockey, Inc.

The Hockey Commissioners Association created the organization for the purpose of raising the profile of Division I hockey. Kelly will be in charge of that mission.

continued

Filed in: NHLPA, Non-NHL Hockey, College Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Paul+Kelly,

Dater Quits Twitter

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 02:30 PM ET
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from Adrian Dater of All Things Avs,

I never liked writing things in under 140 characters anyway. Couldn’t stand writing abbreviated words like “abt” for about or “2″ for too or two. And I didn’t like the “na na, na na na” aspect of how many followers one had. Nobody in the media will admit it, but those who have lots of followers love to sit and feel superior to those with not as many. You can feel it creeping into the zeitgeist some.

Absolutely no one told me to do it, but I just deleted my twitter account and am done with it. Apologies to my dear 1,220 followers at the time of parting, but you’ll find other Pied Pipers of Puck, of that there is no doubt.

continued

Filed in: NHL Media | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Twitter,

Twenty Questions

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 01:40 PM ET
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from Phil Coffey of NHL.com,

But even with the season still relatively in its infancy, there still are plenty of questions, so let’s get to the answers now.

1. How come there have been no coaching changes?—A number of teams made their changes over the summer, and some teams that have gotten off to disappointing starts, like Carolina and St. Louis, are coming off playoff seasons, so there hasn’t been as much impetus to make a move. With this being an Olympic year, the guess is any changes will come prior to the Winter Games, so teams can hit the ice hard for the sprint to the playoffs in February.

2. Pick one—Chris Pronger or Dany Heatley?—No disrespect to Heatley, but I build from the goal out, so I’ll take Pronger, who as legendary Scottish announcer Hamish MacPherson once described Cam Neely, is “a beast of a man.” Any time you can add a proven defenseman who is playing over 26 minutes per game, you do it.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Sens Lose Donovan To MCL Injury

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 01:25 PM ET
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from Chris Stevenson of the Ottawa Sun,

The Senators will also be without fourth-line winger Shean Donovan tomorrow and maybe for the rest of the season. He sustained a right knee injury on a knee-on-knee hit by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke. The exact extent of the injury won’t be known until more tests are completed today, but Senators general manager Bryan Murray said it was serious.

“It’s his MCL (medial collateral ligament) for sure and he’s having an MRI to see if it’s the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), too. We won’t know until tomorrow,” said Murray.

He contacted NHL executive vice-president of hockey operations Colin Campbell to discuss the hit, but Murray said he didn’t expect there would a suspension coming for Cooke.

“If it was any other player, you wouldn’t say anything, but it’s happened several times,” said Murray of Cooke.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Ottawa Senators | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Shean+Donovan,

Calm, Calm, Then Boom

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 01:10 PM ET
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Dave Mishkin of the Lightning Radio Network with the call.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Phoenix Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL Media, Hockey Broadcasting | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Dave+Mishkin,

Twitter Ethics

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 12:28 PM ET
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from Stu Hackel of Slap Shot at the NY Times,

The line between journalism and gossip has become a very thin one in recent years (and with some in this business, it doesn’t exist at all), and there is an ongoing discussion about whether Twitter is or isn’t journalism. Regardless, when journalists tweet, those 140 characters can carry some professional authority that civilians’ tweets don’t.

Should journalists be held to a different standard of tweeting than the rest of the world? The answer to that is part of the larger discussion now taking place about Twitter and journalism (more on that here from the blog of the University of British Columbia’s Alfred Hermida). Suffice to say, when it comes to hockey journalism and Twitter, there are conventions, rules and ethics still to be worked out and instituted.

more

Filed in: NHL Talk, NHL Media, Hockey Bloggers | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Is Ovechkin The Best Left Wing In NHL History?

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 12:09 PM ET
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Adam Proteau of The Hockey News answers some email,

Adam – Gordie Howe has, for the past couple of years, expressed much admiration for Alex Ovechkin. So, even though he is just 24, I’m ready to put Ovechkin as the first team left wing on my all-time all-star team, which would have Howe at right wing, Gretzky at center and Bobby Orr at one of the ‘D’ positions.

The great Red Army goaltender, Vladislav Tretiak, strikes me as the all-time best goalie, but I could be convinced otherwise. Who would you put at goal and at the other all-time ‘D’ position?

Ovechkin would be on my all-time team as well, as would Gretzky, Howe and Orr.

However, I think your supposition that Tretiak is the best netminder would cause many a longtime hockey observer to wave his hands in the air as if he did in fact care and demand you consider Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur or Glenn Hall in that category instead.

Personally, I’d go with Brodeur. And my other defenseman would be Nicklas Lidstrom – although I could probably be persuaded to slot Ray Bourque in there.

more Q & A…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Alexander+Ovechkin,

Leafs Have Problems

by Paul on 11/20/09 at 11:49 AM ET
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from Damien Cox of The Spin,

Two things seem abundantly clear this morning.

One, this notion that sending big-money Leafs to the minors — Jason Blake is the most obvious target — will somehow fix what ails the club is just wrong. Blake may not be much use this season, but unless he is clearly a detrimental figure in the dressing room, just getting rid of him is essentially pointless and probably just symbolic.

Unless you have a replacement, dumping a player isn’t much of an answer.

Two, whatever is wrong with this team, Ron Wilson seems powerless to fix it.

The Leafs were the worst defensive team in the NHL last season and the worst penalty killing team. Today, they are the NHL’s worst defensive team and worst penalty killing team.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Toronto Maple Leafs | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

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