Kukla's Korner (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
from Scott Cullen of TSN, 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...
Pension Plan Puppets (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
More photos » by Richard Lam - AP Lee Stempniak sees you. Do you see Lee Stempniak? Browse more photos » Look, it's Sunday and I've actually had to work today. It's late, and I love you all, but I need my sleep... Dr. Steve thinks the Leafs may not be a "Brian Burke team." TSM doesn't think the Leafs are 0-81-1 bad. They just may not be all that good either... Leafs247 has a few...
TML Fan Fury (Free subscription) | 10/25/2009
The Toronto Maple Leafs continue on their winless streak after losing yesterdays game to the Vancouver Canucks and setting the all time team mark for worst start in franchise history. Lets hope as fans that this is the only negative mark that we are part of this season but i wouldn't hold my breathe on this matter. The big question now is would the Maple Leafs be better off if they had kept Bryan McCabe...
St. Louis Game Time (Free subscription) | 10/24/2009
More photos » by Tom Gannam - AP 15 days ago: St. Louis Blues' T.J. Oshie gets past Atlanta Thrashers' Pavel Kubina, of the Czech Republic, in the second period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, in St. Louis.(AP Photo/Tom Gannam) Browse more photos » As Hildy noted in the FanPosts earlier, the Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford is reporting tweeting that T.J. Oshie underwent...
The Peerless Prognosticator (Free subscription) | 10/23/2009
Back in those dark days of 2005-2006 and 2006-2007, there were nights when the Capitals lost, and fans, coaches, and players alike yet could say that it felt like a win. Such was the relationship between expectations (not much) and results (occasionally playing elite teams close). Well, that was then. Now, the relationship of expectations to results has changed. Fans, players, and coaches expect big...
Bleatings From a Caps Nut (Free subscription) | 10/01/2009
So as you’ve probably noticed from our Season Preview looking at all the other teams, everybody has questions hanging over them heading into the season. Reading previews for the Caps heading into 2009-2010, most question the Caps goaltending and defense. The Caps are starting off the season with a 3-headed monster in net; Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore , Semyon "the Saviour"...
Pension Plan Puppets (Free subscription) | 09/29/2009
Editor's Note: This is an excellent Fanpost with a great breakdown of the issue at hand. For once my halfwit roommate does something good with his life. Enjoy! ps. Suck it Burnside we've got your number. ESPN's recent 2009-2010 NHL power rankings marks the umpteenth time the Leafs' supposed inability to light the lamp has been mentioned this off-season. Amazingly, this continues to happen even with...
From The Rink (Free subscription) | 09/28/2009
More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP Browse more photos » Who's in: Francois Beauchemin , Tyler Bozak , Garnet Exelby , Jonas Gustavsson , Christian Hanson , Phil Kessel , Mike Komisarek , Colton Orr , Wayne Primeau , Rickard Wallin Who's out: Boyd Devereaux , Martin Gerber , Ryan Hollweg , Curtis Joseph , Olaf Kolzig , Pavel Kubina , Brad May , Jaime Sifers , Anton Stralman Outlook:...
Hockey Plumber (Free subscription) | 09/23/2009
With so much hoopla surrounding ownership battles in Phoenix and Tampa Bay and the hype that accompanied the Dany Heatley and Phil Kessel deals, one story that has flown under the radar (no pun intended) has been the Atlanta Thrashers off-season. Atlanta has been embroiled in a longstanding ownership squabble which includes not only the Thrashers, but the NBA’s Hawks and Phillips Arena. This...
Pension Plan Puppets (Free subscription) | 09/17/2009
(Note: I didn't have a Pavel scan ready to go, so I took the closest approximation I had.) Well, (pre-season) Game 1 is in the books and the kids looked all right. When faced with the never-ending question of "who is going to score goals for this team," both Bozak and Stalberg raised a hand and said, "Maybe it'll be me." A good start. I've never fully understood the fear over this....
From The Rink (Free subscription) | 09/15/2009
More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP Browse more photos » Who's in: Nik Antropov , Pavel Kubina Who's out: Garnet Exelby , Eric Perrin Outlook: As with every off-season, there were challenges for the Thrashers . GM Don Waddell's budget comes in right around $48-million this season, making Atlanta one of the NHL's lower spending teams, albeit one with one of the bigger payroll rises over...
Kukla's Korner (Free subscription) | 09/15/2009
from Craig Custance of the Sporting News, After this season, Kovalchuk’s contract is up. If he gets to July 1, he’ll be the most sought-after free agent of the summer — a 40-goal scorer entering his prime. That’s the last thing general manager Don Waddell and the Thrashers want to happen. And, right now, they’re cautiously optimistic it won’t. Waddell told Sporting...
Down Goes Brown (Free subscription) | 09/11/2009
There's been some confusion over my recent post about NHL predictions that I'd like to clarify. While I argued that the endless predictions by so-called experts were generally pointless and almost always laughably wrong, I wasn't trying to imply that hockey predictions are never accurate. In fact, some experts really do seem able to predict the future with an almost creepy degree of accuracy. It's...
Kukla's Korner (Free subscription) | 07/28/2009
from Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun, By sending Primeau and his $1.4-million salary to the Maple Leafs, the only one-way contract that comes in return is Stuart’s $483,333 hit. And there’s no guarantee the energy forward will remain in Calgary. He’s spent the last couple of seasons splitting time between the Atlanta Thrashers and the minors—he was dealt to Toronto earlier...
Kukla's Korner (Free subscription) | 07/14/2009
from Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, It starts at the top. It always starts at the top. I’ve stated this before but it’s worth repeating now more than ever: The Atlanta Spirit should just go ahead and sell the Thrashers because they’re doing a disservice to fans. The owners have shown through their actions that they care about basketball but not about hockey. I know....
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