Random Thoughts: Volume I

After watching games 2 & 3 in the Western Conference Semi-Final between the Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks, and virtually all of the series they played last year, I’m left to wonder:

1) Why is the ice in front of the Canucks net painted blue?  Isn’t that kind of a waste of blue paint?

2) If pushing the goalie out of the way and tucking the puck into the empty net, or simply ramming the goalie and the puck into the back of the net are supposedly acceptable and legal ways of scoring goals…why doesn’t Dustin Byfuglien get 60 goals every year?

3) If every team employed this way of producing offense, and the league allowed EVERY team to do it we would probably have 30 or 40 goals every game and 60 or 70 goalies on the Injured Reserve List by the end of the season.

The Montreal Canadiens’ effort level is at least double that of any other team’s in these playoffs.

PK Subban is gonna be some kinda special player

Steve Nash is a beast…he is literally WILLING his team to victory…they are now calling him “Cyclops” for his one-eyed effort in eliminating the Spurs in game4…a team they have lost in the playoffs to 4 times since 2003…this might be his last chance at a championship and I wouldn’t bet against him–even against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers (as long as the refs stay out of the way…and thats a BIG IF)

Sami Salo has a reputation for getting injured easily…after taking a shot to the “nether regions” and reportedly having a ruptured testicle, I’m gonna give him a pass on that one as I would probably miss 8-10 weeks minimum if it happened to me…

The Boston Bruins were up 3 games to 0 over the Philadelphia Flyers now its 3-2 with Game6 coming up in Philadelphia…wow…if Boston can’t close it out in Philly, I don’t like their chances in Game7.  This could be historic.

The Sharks did get a LOT of help from the refs in the first 3 games against Detroit in my opinion, but they did deserve to win the series.  However, for the record Game 1: 2 VERY questionable calls in the 3rd period leading to a 2-man advantage that produced the game winner Game 2: 2 somewhat questionable calls in the 3rd period leading to a 2-man advantage that produced the game tying goal. Game 3: A crucial goal by Henrik Zetterberg called back on yet another baffling video review

Of course these are all coincidences and refs are human and make mistakes….but if I’m a Red Wings fan I’m thinking “couldn’t at least one of those mistakes be in our favour?” Just saying…

After seeing the Zetterberg  goal called back and the Daniel Sedin goal called back in the first round for much the same reason…I’m beginning to think someone at the NHL’s head office needs to buy a dictionary and look up the words “distinct” and “kick”…aw, hell…why don’t I help them out here:

distinct:  clear to the senses or intellect; plain; unmistakable

kick:  to make a rapid, forceful thrust with the foot or feet

Watch the video(s), read the definitions…nuff said.

Nobody knows what the NHL’s rules are from game to game.  They seem to change by the minute.  The NHL and its officials have been badly exposed, in my opinion, as inconsistent and directionless.  In one game, a player can skate by a goalie and slightly touch him and have a goal disallowed as we saw in Game7 of the Montreal v Washington series and in another game the goalie can be sat on, cross-checked, pushed into the back of the net and slashed resulting in multiple goals without even a second glance.   The fact of the matter is…NOBODY knows what the rules are anymore.  Since the “new NHL rules” came out EVERYTHING can be considered a penalty, but the refs don’t HAVE to call it…what? couldn’t that lead to a lot of confusion and inconsistency?  Well, it is Bettman’s NHL, so…

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Round 2: Here we go again…

With the Montreal Canadiens  Game7 victory, and improbable comeback from down 3 games to 1, against the Washington Capitals, the Eastern Conference playoff picture has been turned on its ear with the top 3 seeds being eliminated.  The Western Conference, however, has played out more to form with no upsets–unless you consider the 5th place Detroit Red Wings, who made it to the finals the last 2 years and won it all 2 years ago, beating the upstart  4th place Phoenix Coyotes an upset.

As we set up for the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it is important to point out a few things.  For starters, both of last year’s finalists, the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, are still alive and should be considered favorites despite the fact they finished 4th and 5th in their respective conferences…at least until someone beats them, which I don’t see happening in this next round.  I am pretty sure Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks will wake up and remember that they’re Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks and produce yet another epic playoff fail.  In the East, giant killers Montreal face another giant, but this time the giant sees them coming and knows how to handle them.

In the other 2 series I expect to see a couple of serious battles.  Boston Bruins v Philadelphia Flyers should be a physical battle with 2 of the biggest, meanest defensemen in the league in Chris Pronger and Zdeno Chara  patrolling their respective zones.  In the West we will see a grudge match that has been brewing since last year’s 6 game bloodbath that saw the Chicago Blackhawks dispatch the Vancouver Canucks in 6 games.  Look for the Canucks to do a better job this year of protecting the area around Roberto Luongo and be much better able to match Chicago’s scoring, thus returning the favour and knock out the Blackhawks in 6 games.  In the East, Marc Savard’s return to the Bruins should be enough to lead them to victory over the Flyers, but expect a long series in that one.

In about 2 weeks time we will be looking at an Eastern Conference Final between Marc Savard’s Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins as well as a Western Conference battle between the Detroit Red Wings and the Vancouver Canucks.

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Rollercoaster season sees Canucks fight injuries; score heavily.

The 2009/2010 regular season comes to a screeching halt after seeing the Canucks deal with all kinds of adversity and successes, expectations and disappointments, highs and lows, and one of the NHL’s highest total of mangames lost to injury.  Still, they persevered, and once the dust settled they found themselves repeating as Northwest Division Champions, 2nd in league scoring with Henrik Sedin leading the way as the Art Ross Trophy winner, a 1st round match with the young and dynamic LA Kings, and a lot of questions to be answered.

Will the team’s depleted defense keep them from reaching their potential?

Will Luongo shake off the post-olympic cobwebs and regain his masterful form in time to keep the Canucks rolling?

Will the Sedins continue rolling and light up the other team’s goaltender?

Can Kesler and Burrows continue to get under the skin of their opponents while continuing to put up points?

There’s a lot that needs to be answered going into Thursday’s playoff opener at GM Place.  It all depends on which Canucks team shows up.  The Canucks have shown that when they are interested, they can beat anyone in the league as evidenced by wins over Chicago, Detroit, San Jose, Washington and Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh.  They’ve also shown their ugly side with inexplicable losses to Columbus, Carolina, Edmonton, and the Islanders.

Their first round opponent, the LA Kings, provide the Canucks with a serious competition.  They are young, fast, and physical.  They have depth at forward as well as on defence and have been overlooked by many around the NHL as this year’s “one-hit wonder”.  In my opinion, this team is for real.  They will give the Canucks all they can handle and meet the Canucks hit for hit and shot for shot.  The Canucks will need to be disciplined and stay put of the box as much as possible and they will need to have the better goaltender.  If Luongo is Luongo, the Canucks will win this series.  If we see the same Luongo we’ve seen since after the Olympic break, things may not go as well for the Canucks.

All in all, I expect this series to be very entertaining and well-played.  I expect that the Canucks will defeat the Kings in 7 games (as long as the refs stay out of the way).

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One step forward, one step back for Canucks

The off-season for the Vancouver Canucks thus far has been, depending on who you ask, either highly successful or completely uneventful.  On the optimistic side of the coin, you could argue that in re-signing Henrik and Daniel Sedin at the last possible moment, that they were able to acquire not one but two top-line players who are both consistently in the top 25 in league scoring…and considerably under market value at that.  You could argue that Mathias Ohlund is long in the tooth, not as effective as he once was, and Tampa Bay’s offer was ridiculously over-priced.  The optimists will tell you that Mikael Samuelson and his Stanley Cup experience are the piece that is missing from the Canuck puzzle, and his 20 plus goal seasons of late on the third line in Detroit will translate to 30 plus goals if he gets a chance to play with the twins or gets even a bit of power-play time.

Then there is the glass half-empty set that will tell you that Mike Gillis has basically done nothing to improve this team that failed to get past the second round last year.  They will say “Congratulations on signing the twins, but didn’t we already have them before?”.  Matias Ohlund has been replaced by Aaron Rome….say what you want about Ohlund, but at least we’ve heard of him which is something we cannot say about his replacement.  Mikael Samuelson…nice pick up…but he just replaces Mats Sundin, Taylor Pyatt, Kyle Wellwood, or potentially all three…do we really have a net gain here?

It is easy to look at the glass either way with this team.  It just seems like one of those off-seasons so far where there are just as many questions in late July as there were when the season ended.  One can’t definitively say that this team is significantly better or, really, any worse.  It appears as thought the Vancouver Canucks will head into the 2009/2010 season with a team that is pretty much at the same level that last year’s edition was.  It will have a solid defense, adequate scoring and will depend on Roberto Luongo to take him as far as he is able.  One can say that not much has changed here….the problem is, much has changed around them.  The Calgary Flames, somehow, managed to stick it to the salary cap by signing all-star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, while Edmonton addressed their main weakness by putting Nikolai Khabibulin between the pipes.  The Chicago Blackhawks, the team that eliminated the Canucks, went out and added Marian Hossa.  So, maybe the status quo isn’t really the status quo.  Canucks Nation better pray that Roberto Luongo can walk on water for them.