Make sure to check out the “fight-helmet” Pierre introduces.

added 11:10pm A recap of the Hotstove talk at CBC if you wish to read instead of watch.

update 10:15pm, Ward will spend the night in a Columbus hospital.

Wings TV crew just announced he has a broken right leg.

added 10:02pm, Video of Williams breaking his leg.

Early into the 2009-2010 season, it appears that history is looking to repeat itself as all four of those teams have winning records just over a month into the season. Even the New York Islanders are trying to get into the act as they are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games.

Let’s take a look at how the division is shaping up as we head towards the middle of November.

Continue reading "Atlantic Division Report"

Tonight, the Blueshirts look to beat the Calgary Flames at the Pengrowth Saddledone, an area in which the team has struggled over the last decade or so. If the Rangers can win tonight, they’ll increase their point total to 23 and be one point behind the Eastern Conference-leading Pittsburgh Penguins.

Every point is important in the “new” NHL. With shootouts being added to the game, any team (the slightly below average, average, and above average) has the ability to give themselves a chance to make the postseason. That certainly proved to be true for the Rangers last season as their month of October in 2008 really gave them a solid cushion.

Continue reading "Rangers Looking to Put out The Flames"

On the surface, the fight inside the NHLPA is all about Paul Kelly’s firing. But, it goes deeper than that. Right now, the union finds itself at a crossroads, in the middle of its most important decisions since the overthrow of Alan Eagleson. It’s not only about who will lead - it’s also about where to go with the next CBA, how to motivate a disinterested majority and how to rebuild an organization rife with distrust.

“I don’t know how it got this bad,” one player, active within the union, said this week. “We have a lot of work to do.”

read on (suggested reading)…

Continue reading "73 Men Sailed Up For This Live Blog and It Was 19 Who Led Them"

“For 15 years I’ve said that it should be mandatory and should never be the players’ decision, because you give us a choice and the chances are we make the wrong one. In saying that, I haven’t worn a visor my whole career and I’ve had no problem with it, either. So I think when it comes down to it we’re all men, we should have the choice, but for myself, if they tell me to wear a visor because I have to, then I have no problem with it.”

-Brad May of the Detroit Wings stating visors should be mandatory for NHL players.  More on this topic from May by Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press.

Less than 24 hours after coach John Tortorella declared that Henrik Lundqvist would start the final game of this three-game trip, he reversed gears and said backup Steve Valiquette would be in the nets for his second consecutive game. “Vally is going. It’s just rest for Hank,” was all Tortorella would say, but the Rangers No. 1 goalie is fighting a nagging injury.

Lundqvist (8-5-1, 2.52 GAA) mentioned the other day that the ice pack on his “stiff” right upper thigh/groin was for something minor, and indeed, both goalies participated in the skate at the Saddledome and Valiquette left the ice first while Lundqvist chatted at center ice with Sean Avery and other players. In the dessing room, Lundqvist removed his equipment and disappeared for treatment for more than an hour. When he emerged he said that was pretty confident that he would play against Atlanta on Thursday, a nine-day layoff.

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And check out who congratulates The Captain first in goal #2.  Irony.

Continue reading "“Celebrate The Stevie”"

For about six years now, Jonas Gustavsson has been skinny. Not slender, just skinny. His legs are skinny. His waist and chest are skinny. And even his face is skinny. Dress him in a skinny black tie and a skinny black suit and Gustavsson would not look out of place in a jazz club full of New York hipsters, circa 1955.

“It doesn’t matter how much I eat or how much I practise—I get stronger, but I just can’t get any bigger,” says the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender who begins each day with bacon and eggs, toast and an assortment of fruit, and ends it with a bedtime snack. “Everything I eat, I burn away. But I think this is the right way for me.”

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With the year 2010 less than two months away, it is natural to start looking at the results over the decade 2000-2009 (some might chose decades as 2001-2010 or to correspond with the start and end of NHL seasons but the results remain about the same).  It is clear that Joe Thornton will be the highest scorer in the NHL over the 2000-2009 decade.  He has 783 regular season points so far.  This puts him ahead of a Jarome Iginla and Daniel Alfredsson tie for second place with 712 points.  Jaromir Jagr is fourth with 671 points and is no longer playing in the NHL.  It is clear that Thornton will be the top scorer in this (2000-2009) decade and extremely likely that he will be the top scorer in the 2001-2010 decade (he currently has an 80 point lead).

Continue reading "I NOW Consider Joe Thornton A Hall Of Famer"

Washington puts Michael Nylander on waivers.

His salary cap hit is almost $4.9M and it runs thru the end of next season.

The NHL season is far enough along to get a feel for how teams are distributing their power play minutes.  In most cases, it’s obvious, or at least readily apparent, who is going to get that precious playing time, but here are some observations with regards to each team’s power play ice time.

ATLANTA
Despite little production, LW Vyacheslav Kozlov ranks third on the Thrashers with 3:57 of power play time.  D Tobias Enstrom is the mainstay on the blueline (4:48), with Zach Bogosian (2:00) and Pavel Kubina (1:59) splitting time.  Ron Hainsey (0:59) is pretty much on the outside looking in.

DETROIT
Removing an injured Johan Franzen from the equation, LW Dan Cleary ranks sixth on the Wings in power play time, with 3:10 per game, yet has just two points with the man advantage.  Jonathan Ericsson, who leads Red Wings defencemen with eight points, has a total of one second on the power play.

read on for a look at every NHL team…

More than two months after their contract ended, Versus and DirecTV remain at distribution loggerheads, their impasse showing no signs of subsiding.

However, a pair of external factors - negotiations toward a long-term expanded distribution package with Dish Network and the potential union of Comcast with NBC Universal - could exert pressures that facilitate a resolution.

Comcast’s national sports service has been off the No. 1 DBS provider’s air since their contract expired on Sept. 1. In the meantime, the parties have continued to negotiate a four-year deal, but remained locked in their stances over price and positioning, while Versus continues to ring up Nielsen advances.

The ratings amelioration has come without DirecTV’s 14 million-plus homes, as much of that subscriber loss has been made up by sneak previews on a number of cable operators and Dish Network, which has provided Versus a full berth of its homes. As such, Versus’ sub count has only declined to 71 million homes from 75 million, before the DirecTV drop.

The Dish free preview, though, is slated to end on Nov. 30. However, sources familiar with the negotiations indicate that Versus and Dish are moving toward a more permanent, expanded placement for the network.

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