Mike Chen's Hockey Blog

Category: NHL

General NHL posts

Don Waddell’s Biggest Mistake

by Mike Chen on 01/09/09 at 10:00 AM ET
Comments (5)

How did it all go so terribly wrong for the Atlanta Thrashers? At one point there was a whole heck of a lot of hope and exciting surrounding this team. They could score, they had young goaltending talent, and they had a proven Stanley Cup-winning coach.

Since then, the Thrashers have been dismantled into a train wreck of a franchise, with accusations of apathy from the head coach and a star player getting more press for trade rumors than goal scoring. I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that the Thrashers only made the playoffs once in their existance or that their only playoff appearance was a pitiful four-game sweep at the hands of the New York Rangers.

Where did it all go wrong? I’m betting that Don Waddell’s biggest regret stems down to one transaction. That is, one transaction that didn’t happen.

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Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: Atlanta+Thrashers, Marc+Savard,

Bizarro All-Stars

by Mike Chen on 01/07/09 at 12:34 PM ET
Comments (3)

Patrick Marleau, Daniel Sedin, Mikku Koivu, Marian Hossa, and Henrik Zetterberg vs. Keith Tkachuk, Mike Modano, and Milan Hejduk. The first five guys are having some of the best seasons in the NHL. The last three guys are not, but they’re apparently All-Stars.

I know the league has to cater to TV networks and sponsors, but doesn’t it seem strange that those last three guys made the Western Conference All-Stars? I mean, Modano is fourth on his team in scoring, Tkachuk’s 27 points aren’t bad but certainly not great, and Hejduk isn’t much better at 29 points. From their own teams, Brad Richards, Brad Boyes, and Paul Stastny (injured) would have easily made better picks. From a league perspective, each of the guys I listed above is far, far more deserving.

Picking guys with name value is understandable but when there are a bunch of guys who are deserving, it seems like the criteria has changed from “Have an outstanding season” to “Have a decent season as an elder statesman on the downside of his career.”

All-Star Games are generally pretty useless to bitch about, so I’m not going to go much further with this. I think we all know that as great of players as Tkachuk, Modano, and Hejduk are, they don’t deserve to be there. In fact, I’m betting that if you asked them, they’d probably say the same thing (that’s why hockey players are such great stand-up guys).

Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: All-Star+Game,

Looking For A Hangover Cure

by Mike Chen on 01/06/09 at 12:58 PM ET
Comments (3)

With the Pittsburgh Penguins sliding out of a playoff spot after their recent shutout loss to the New York Rangers, it’s time to start talking Stanley Cup hangover. No, it’s not just teams that win the actual Cup that seem to have a hangover. Take a look at what’s happened to the finalists since the 2000-01 season—it ain’t pretty:

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Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: Playoffs,

The Perils of Sidney

by Mike Chen on 01/04/09 at 03:32 PM ET
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Since Saturday night, Sidney Crosby’s been called every name in the book – either positive (“What a leader!”) or negative (“What a dirty player!”), depending on your view of his bout with Florida’s Brett McLean. I’m guilty of it too, as I joked about Crosby’s pretty apparent lack of fighting skills. But stepping back from that and looking at the bigger picture, one could pretty easily see that the whole symbolizes just how frustrating this Pittsburgh Penguins season has been.

Where do the Penguins go from here? Let’s look at some of the burning questions facing the team, both from the outsider’s perspective and inside the locker room.

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Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: Pittsburgh+Penguins, Sidney+Crosby,

Planning Future Winter Classics

by Mike Chen on 01/02/09 at 01:59 PM ET
Comments (8)

I should start off with a disclaimer that I don’t think this idea will necessarily please everyone, nor will it necessarily bring the biggest ratings and/or revenue to the NHL. Heck, I’m not even sure I’d vote for it if I was on the Board of Governors but it’s an idea that got me thinking after it popped in my head, so it couldn’t have been the worst idea in the world. At the very least, it’s an interesting idea that tries to fulfill a few different things.

That being said, here’s a proposed way to spread the Winter Classic love around the league without getting into arguments about what’s a hockey market and what’s not (re: who “deserves” it and who doesn’t). It’s also a way to not kill the Golden Goose of the WC through overexposure.

What if the Winter Classic becomes an every-other-season regular season contest between the last two winners of the Stanley Cup? The team with the better the overall head-to-head record over the past two seasons has the option to host (and considering the revenue/publicity, who would turn it down?).

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 Tags: Winter+Classic,

Peace & Love, Hockey-Blogger Style

by Mike Chen on 01/01/09 at 02:05 PM ET
Comments (0)

What do some of hockey’s top bloggers wish for come New Year’s Day?

This may be a pipe dream, but I wish for the mainstream media to recognize the N.H.L. for the beautiful moments we all enjoy. An Alex Ovechkin goal, a Sidney Crosby pass, a Henrik Lundqvist save, that’s what we live for, so much more than the uncontrolled mouth of an idiot or a random act of stick-assisted violence.

Read more over at the New York Times Slap Shot Blog, and a big thanks to Jeff, Stu, and company for letting me be part of the fun for 2008.

Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: New+Year,

A California Classic?

by Mike Chen on 12/31/08 at 01:05 PM ET
Comments (16)

On the eve of the Winter Classic (oh, there’s something about a new calendar year happening tomorrow too), I took a look out the window to the gray skies and morning frost of this early Northern California day and pondered whether the NHL would ever bother trying something like that in Sharks territory. I know Sharks ownership actually inquired about it, including proposing a few feasible locations, but I imagine a California Winter Classic is way, way down on the NHL’s selection list. If it ever happened, I’m guessing we’d have already exhausted the Original Six and Canadian teams several times over.

Still, just like Jim Carrey said in Dumb and Dumber, the fact that the league actually listened to the Sharks means that there is a chance. Ok, but are the logistics feasible?

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Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: San+Jose+Sharks, Winter+Classic,

Who’s Still In It?

by Mike Chen on 12/23/08 at 05:36 PM ET
Comments (3)

I’ve often said that the Christmas break (or the days after Festivus, for you true believers) is the turning point in the NHL season. Before that time, teams still have a chance of making a come back. Come December 24-25, all teams are somewhere in the 30-35 games-played mark and large gaps in the standings become too much of a chore to overcome.

With that in mind, who’s still got hope? I used to say that .500 teams at Christmas are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. However, I’ve tweaked that a little bit this season because the log jams are so immense, especially in the Western Conference. Instead of being .500 (having the same amount of points as games played), I’ll change that to say that if your team is within two points of .500, you’re still in it.

Let’s look at the bubble teams with just a few hours to go before tonight’s games:

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Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: Standings,

What’s Motivating The Coyotes?

by Mike Chen on 12/22/08 at 12:51 PM ET
Comments (0)

You might have noticed that those pesky Phoenix Coyotes have risen up the standings and now have a precarious hold on a playoff spot. A big part of this is their recent surge in play, coupled with win-one-lose-one patterns of the Nashville Predators and the free fall of the Minnesota Wild.

But I know the truth. It’s not just Ilya Bryzgalov returning to form or the emergence of Martin “He’s So Hot Right Now” Hanzel or the leadership of Shane Doan.

No, Don Maloney motivated the Yotes with this simple threat: play well or Gretzky leaves and you get coached by this guy. (Sorry for not getting the embedded video, I could only find a link.)

Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: Phoenix+Coyotes,

The Waiting Game

by Mike Chen on 12/15/08 at 10:37 AM ET
Comments (1)

Still waiting for Jordan Staal to be a superstar? What about that Stamkos guy in Tampa Bay? Those two and guys like Kyle Turris have lofty expectations thrust upon them, but how long should fans wait to actually get a return on their investment?

I’ve taken a look at the top-drafted forwards dating back to 1997 and made note of how many seasons it took them to get over the .80 points-per-game (PPG) mark and what age they were when they began the season where they achieved it. There’s a pretty consistent through-line with these players. Check it out:

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Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
 Tags: Draft,

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