After a red hot start to the 2009-10 season Anze Kopitar was the toast of the league. People everywhere were taking notice that the 2005 first round draft pick was having a breakout year.

Then, it happened. The Hockey News slapped him on the cover and poof, that was it. Instant slump.

Now, before you discount this theory, continue reading. The proof is here. Let it marinate for a minute or two.

When first tackling this issue in January we pointed out several examples of injuries (Joe Sakic, Luke Schenn, Roberto Luongo), poor playoff performances (Joe Thornton, Zdeno Chara) and slumps (Chris Pronger, John Tavares and Michael Del Zotto) linked to players soon after appearing on the cover of the popular magazine.

Sure, Kopitar eventually broke out of his post-cover slump (just five points in 12 games). In fact, about six hours after I wrote the original curse article he went on to post two points against San Jose – his first multi-point night in 23 games. That’s a quarter of the season!

The flood gates were open though. In the remaining 18 games leading up to the Olympic break he scored 21 points. Fine, case closed. Or so we thought…

With the Kings struggling mightily right now, excuses and reasons are coming from all angles. There’s the injuries to Willie Mitchell and Alexei Ponikarovsky.  You also have the missing LW issue, partially due to the absence of Scott Parse.  Then, just yesterday, Kings Goaltending Coach Bill Ranford tossed something new out there when being interviewed on NHL Live radio – the schedule.  Seems there may have been too many weeks recently where only two games were to be played.  Players don’t like time off, especially if they’re on a roll.  Makes sense to a degree.

Which brings me to something that’s been bothering me ever since October 20th.  Drew Doughty left the game that night with an upper-body injury (concussion)…the very same week he was featured on the cover of The Hockey News.

Curse or just another coincidence? How about the magazine’s issue immediately following Doughty’s cover – Mike Modano got the nod that time. And guess what? He wont be at Staples Center this weekend when the Red Wings face the Kings. He’s out for several months – maybe done for his career – after having his wrist cut by a skate last Friday. Curious timing to say the least.

Finding problems after gracing mailboxes and newsstands seems to be par for the course. At the end of last season Tampa Bay’s Steve Downie left a game due to a knee injury suffered during the same week he was on the cover of THN.

The very next issue featured Henrik Sedin. He followed-up his regular-season MVP (Hart Trophy) campaign with a modest three goals in 12 playoff games – and has netted only two goals this season…in 22 games. Ouch.

Things didn’t get any better for the next cover boy either. After showing up on the front of the late April mag, Daniel Alfredsson had just two goals in the first round of the playoffs. Oh, and his Ottawa Senators were bounced in six games by the hated Boston Bruins.

There was more over the summer. You may recall Chris Stewart and Wayne Simmonds shared the cover back in August. Stewart is out with a broken hand and Simmonds doesn’t look anything like the player he was a year ago at this time.

Enough already!  Please no more Kings on the cover of The Hockey News this season…or maybe any other season either.

Someday, when the Kings win the Stanley Cup, put the back-up goalie on the cover or something.

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RELATED ARTICLES:

Is There a Hockey News Curse? – originally published January 4, 2010

Wayne Simmonds – Attracting More Interest Everyday

10 Tidbits on Drew Doughty

Frozen Fury 2010 – Doughty’s Post-Skate Comments

Two Minutes in the Box with Wayne Simmonds

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Last Friday afternoon, the NHL approved the most recent iteration of a mega-year deal between the Devils and Kovalchuk.  The new contract is not radically different than the original one, totalling an even $100-million spread over 15 years for an annual salary cap hit of $6.667-million, up slightly from the $6-million yearly figure contained in the deal that was revoked by the league and arbitrator Richard Bloch.  The table below shows a comparison of the invalid contract (left columns) and the approved contract (right columns).

Sources: capgeek.com and Offside: A Sports Law Blog (Eric Macramalia)

What is obvious at first glance is that the structure of both the approved and rejected contracts are insignificantly different over the first eight seasons.  Both deals call for $6-million in years 1 and 2.  Both deals also stipulate earnings of between $11-million and $12-million in years 3 to 7 followed by a drop in year 8 to either $10-million or $10.5-million.  After 2017-18, when Kovalchuk will turn 35, he will have earned $79-million or 79% of the contract’s total value.  Under the invalid agreement, he would have earned $80-million or 78% of the total value after the same initial eight seasons.

The point of disagreement was clearly with what Bloch termed the “6-year tail” of the original contract, a period the arbitrator ruled that New Jersey would not actually have “hope that Kovalchuk will be playing, but rather the expectation that he will not”, essentially a time when the Devils could expunge the $6-million salary cap hit by demoting or waiving him or by simply watching Kovalchuk retire.  In the approved deal, instead of six final seasons with annual payouts of $750,000 or less, Kovalchuk will take home (in $-million) annual salaries of: 4,1,1,1,3 and 4.  Thus the 6-year tail has a slight ski-jump at the end to mollify the NHL office, with no single season dropping below $1-million.

With the matter now settled, what about the investigations into the possible cap-circumvention deals signed by Marian Hossa, Roberto Luongo, Chris Pronger and Marc Savard?  Those inquiries will not proceed; all four contracts will be allowed to stand, but they will be the last ones before this particular species of contract becomes extinct due to the supplements agreed upon by the NHL and NHLPA last Friday (see footnotes for specific details).  As I suggested over a month ago when the original contract of Kovalchuk was rejected, it was poor form for the NHL to invoke the Circumventions Article and threaten to use the De-registration Clause in the CBA without specific quantification of what makes a signed deal run afoul of the Agreement.  “Better to let those contracts stand, but use the Bloch decision on Kovalchuk as a beacon of warning for all future situations where a player and club attempt to circumvent the CBA,” this space declared on August 9, hours after the arbitrator’s decision.

And shine a loud beacon of warning they did.  The NHL and NHLPA should receive credit for bringing clarity into the CBA, at least until the next round of negotiations, and for making an effort to close off the most glaring and abused loophole in salary cap regulations.  With specific ages, years and salary figures now written in stone, the league will no longer appear to pick and choose which contracts to approve and which ones to reject; no longer will they have to pinch their nose – as they surely did when finally signing off on Kovalchuk – when a contract comes across their desk clearly attempting to defeat the salary cap.  The still-leaderless NHLPA can get back to the process of finalizing their executive director search and constitution ratification as opposed to preparation of endless grievances.

Lawyers often speak about following the “spirit of the law” not just the “letter of the law” in relation to a given statute.  For several seasons, certain NHL teams thumbed their noses at the salary cap sections of the CBA, making a mockery of the spirit of the law though they followed the vague letters, sentences and paragraphs of the law.  Hopefully, with new letters and numbers in CBA law, the spirit of the law – an attempt at creating competitive balance – will be followed more properly.

_________________________________________________________________________

Supplements to the CBA, effective immediately, per NHL.com:

1. While players and clubs can continue to negotiate long-term contracts (five years or longer) that include contract years in a player’s 40s, for purposes of salary-cap calculation the contract will effectively be cut off in the year of the contract in which the player turns 41.

2. In any long-term contract that averages more than $5.75 million for the three highest-compensation seasons, the cap charge will be a minimum of $1 million for every season in which the player is 36-39 years of age. That $1 million value will then be used to determine the salary cap hit for the entire contract. If the contract takes the player into his 40s, the previous rule goes into effect.

Please refer to the linked article for examples clarifying the new rules.

First things first.

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks and their 1st Stanley Cup championship since 1961. There is nothing sweeter than for a franchise to claw their way back to the promised land after such an excruciating drought.

The fact that the Stanley Cup curse was quietly approaching the half-century mark next season spoke volumes of how desperate the Hawks were to hoist a fresh banner to the rafters.

But with the Hawks Cup victory comes a great burden.

You see, when building a winner in the post-lockout NHL, there are always a few catches. Namely, the cost of building a winner.

The true championship formula is a balance of spending almost all the way to cap ceiling while taking advantage of talented young players playing at pre-UFA rates. This has been proven in recent years as the Hurricanes, Ducks, Red Wings and Penguins have all earned Cups yet have seen their championship teams become compromised due to cap constraints.

Although the Red Wings and Penguins held onto a two year stretch where it seemed that either club could have turned into a dynasty team, both succumbed to the Stanley Cup cold, forced into parting ways with key members while struggling through the crippling affects of fatigue from 2 extended seasons.

Of course fatigue may be the most tell-tale sign of how difficult it is for one single team to dominate the league anymore as the Wings and Pens both proved that 2 straight trips to the Cup Finals eventually catch up to you, but in the end, it is the cost of talent that eventually forces a team out of its window for success.

In the beginning of the salary cap era, the Carolina Hurricanes took advantage of two young superstars dominance and rode Cam Ward and Eric Staal to their first Cup championship in team history, but their long-term success was not to be as the Cup victory ultimately proved too costly. Eventually, the ‘Canes were forced to part with talents such as Erik Cole and became hampered by the cost of retaining their young and talented players.

The same story repeated itself the following year as the Anaheim Ducks fought their way to their first Cup victory on the strengths of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Along with a superb mix of uber-talented veterans in Scott Niedermayer, Chris Pronger, Teemu Selanne and JS Giguere, the Ducks out-classed everyone on their way to the Cup. That victory endowed Brian Burke with plenty of success and praise as everyone touted the new “Brian Burke way to build a team.” Yet again though, the magic formula for success cost the Ducks as they were forced to part ways with Dustin Penner and Joffrey Lupul among others. That eventual cost of winning also pushed the Ducks out of their window of opportunity and they have been rebuilding ever since.

Next came the Red Wings and their 4th Stanley Cup victory since 1996-97.

At the time, the Wings were the closest thing to a dynasty team that the NHL had seen since the 1980’s, yet even the well-built Wings couldn’t withstand the forces of the cap era. And, although they may be strongest perennial contenders thanks to the strength of their management and development system, they too have been victims of the cap/Cup crunch.

The long-term deals that Detroit provided its stars may serve as the best example of what a “home-town discount” truly is, especially Johan Franzen’s contract, but even those ‘discounts’ were not enough to leave the Wings lee-way in maintaining their hopes for a Cup. Their losses have been rather insignificant in comparison to other Cup winners in recent seasons, but the cap constraint under which Detroit placed themselves eventually led to the departure of Jiri Hudler and the forced trade of Flyers’ rookie playoff sensation, Ville Leino. Although Hudler will return next season, the loss of Leino is one that will clearly sting.

Although the Red Wings do happen to be a relatively rare exception as, out of the last 5 teams to win the Cup, Detroit is the only one to have made the playoffs every year since the lockout, they still manage to demonstrate that the Stanley Cup cold still has an affect on its winners.

The Penguins Stanley Cup victory was the first glimpse of a new breed of team under the new CBA regime.

Pittsburgh’s Cup came after a few years of rebuilding. A formula that now trumps all other methods of winning since the lockout.

By balancing the team with its 3 great centers, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, as well as young netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, the Pens took advantage of their youthful players while balancing the team by being able to maximize their cap space either on UFA’s or through trades.

This new balance of the Cup formula, which saw the Penguins succeed while balancing paying their young stars top dollars(for the most part) and their UFA’s at fair rates.

Yet, despite having taken the best advantage of the Cup formula to date, the inevitable X-factor of fatigue wound up catching the Penguins, just as it did to the Red Wings, and so Pittsburgh became the next casualty of the Stanley Cup cold.

The one difference that the Penguins bring to the formula is that their young and signed talent still have many years ahead of them. Although the same can be said for most of the other Cup winners in recent years, for the most part, the truth is that even with a balanced core like that on the Penguins, there still might not be room enough for all of their important pieces in the future. This timely dilemma of contract values versus the rise and fall of the salary cap truly hand-cuffs GM’s who have seen their teams succeed and win the Cup only to be stifled by the inability to reward all of their talent appropriately.

Since this is an open market system, where players can eventually earn the right to pick and choose where they want to go, not one single Cup winner since the lock-out has been able to withstand the perils of victory.

It can be construed as the irony of success, but with the Chicago Blackhawks having laid claim to Lord Stanley’s Cup only just last evening, the questions have already begun.

Will the Hawks catch the same Stanley Cup cold that has weakened all recent champions and inhibited them from repeating?

Or is there more magic to be found in the treasure chest of talent that is the Blackhawks farm system?

The truth is that, as Lyle Richardson has pointed out(aka “Spector”), even if the salary cap does go up to $58.8 million for the 2010-11 season, the Chicago Blackhawks stand no chance of retaining all of the talented players that combined for the team’s first Stanley Cup in 49 years.

The reality is that they too will fall prey to the cost of being the owners of successful players. Talent dictates a players value, but success is what makes a player enticing.

Now that the young Hawks can (eventually) wear their Cup rings with pride, you have to wonder how many of them will still be able to call the Windy city home for next season?

Although I am no odds-maker, I wouldn’t hesitate to bet against the reigning Cup champions repeating next Spring. Despite the strength of this young Blackhawks team, built in a similar fashion to last season’s Cup champion Penguins, it stands to reason that with the cash-calls that their RFA’s and UFA’s will demand, plus the likely on-set of the X-factor, fatigue, these Hawks just won’t be the same team.

Another level of irony lies in the fact that the Hawks franchise won’t have long to bask in the glory of their victory. The truth is that with the Draft only a couple weeks away, and the opening of Unrestricted Free Agency shortly there-after, Chicago’s management will barely have time to catch their breathe before deciding who to keep and who they must part ways with.

It will be an excruciating process and something that will likely shock fans in Chicago, but the same can be said for the Flyers as the reigning runner-ups will also have cap issues to deal with and roster spots to address.

It is becoming painfully clear that it’s getting harder and harder to build and maintain a winner in today’s NHL, yet despite the costs and possible negatives, one thing remains infinitely clear, no one team will ever stop trying and whenever a franchise sees the opportunity to win it all, they will do everything in their power-damned of the consequences- to bring home Lord Stanley’s Cup.

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Image from Photobucket: jules801

Interesting thing between these two teams is the fact that the Blackhawks allowed themselves to be bullied back on Broad Street. Meanwhile, it was Pronger who finally went flying for once, now 5 games in, letting him run the board for 4 of them.

While first three games were a back and forth toss up, it was game 4 and game 5 now that each team established a bit more to take it over. Yes, now Chicago is one win away, but as this series has shown, both teams have not quite been have the goods to provide the coup de grace.

What the Flyers lack in top tier talent is straight up resolve and poise. What Chicago has lacked is killer instinct and urgency, which might be emanating coach on down.

It is said that the Chicago assistant coaches are contradicting things handed down by their head coach in the locker room. There has aways been some slights on good guy Joel Quenneville that he might be too soft and nice to rally a team. If the Hawks can hold and take over in game 6, that criticism will disappear. If they falter, this talk will become louder than the United Center fans.

However, Chicago’s strange struggle this cup finals still might be perplexing, cup or not. After dispatching San Jose, they have faltered in goal, defense, physicality, and even on offense this final series. One issue might be that many are playing quite hurt.

Meanwhile, though Pronger going flying will be the overused image from this past game, the Flyers still threw tons of hits. Chicago just happened to still be able to punch through, and throw a couple of their own.

Meanwhile, the Flyers party boys who paved the way for the coaching change mid-year and the Upshall jettison, have gelled finally…providing a potent opposition to what was considered “the better” team of the Blackhawks. It helps that they have rallied around Pronger, their coach, and are performing beyond expectations.

Had Philly missed the playoffs, faltering in the shootout versus the Rangers, they were looking at a GM regime change, to be sure. Now Holmgren looks like a genius as pickups, coaching changes and last draft day trade comes up bonzo in a drag-out-knock-down cup finals fight where the last man standing might have their name on a cup.

However, they live or die now by their goaltending which has been anything but steady this series. Leighton’s best game was the last one in Philly. But, unless they can regroup and come out ready to exploit Chicago’s weaknesses and internal flaws, the home game swapping will fall to the Blackhawks favor.

So, can the Hawks finally be a predator in game 6? The Flyers have responded to any and all pressure this series. They have bullied the Hawks at home. Now they head there again to play in game 6…

Can the Blackhawks finish the job? Can either team break the home ice winning streaks?

Lots of questions, some scratched heads, but if Philly should force game 7, there is one team who might break the home stand advantage with nothing to lose and some tough play in Chicago.

If the Hawks want to bring the cup home to Chicago, they better come out with an A game for once for game 6. Otherwise, Philly fans who have been believing in this team who almost didn’t make the cut, might bring home the bacon.

Someone might want to tell Joel that nice guys finish last

There is no need for Quenneville to make any official lineup changes hours before start time. By not making announcing any changes  after the morning skate, Q. doesn’t have to answer questions about who Ladd would replace. Also there is no reason to give advance notice to Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette. It would seem if Ladd is in, Adam Burish will be out of the lineup.

Bobby Hull was on local sports radio this morning and his thoughts about the Blackhawks performance versus the Flyers were very similar to mine. The Golden Jet’s comments indicate he has been watching the Hawks closely during the playoffs. Hull always has an opinion and he is passionate about this young Hawks team.

Hull doesn’t like the way the Hawks have been playing back on their heels and collapsing around their own net. He says they have been playing the same way all through the playoffs and now it has caught up to them.

The Golden Jet is rooting for the young kids to win the Cup as he did in 1961. Obviously Bobby didn’t want to chat about how the Blackhawks blew a 2-0 lead to Montreal during the 1971 Stanley Cup Finals, when he was also a participant.

Hull did bring up a great point concerning Chris Pronger and Dustin Byfuglien, plus it does tie into my Phil Esposito model.

Hull mentioned big Buff should move away from the front of the net a bit. Esposito did his best work near the hash marks, not on top of the crease as he was able to snag rebounds and shoot accurately from there.

According to Hull, Byfuglien would have more success by not standing still at the top of the crease. By Byfuglien moving toward the hash marks he will also create some space for Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane or whoever can get to the net. The Hawks scored goals by pressuring Michael Leighton in Chicago and need to play harder around the Flyers net tonight.

There isn’t a need for Blackhawk fans to panic yet, but with a loss the Flyers will have captured all the momentum. 

Although the winners of both Games 1 and 2 succeed in winning the Stanley Cup 91% of the time, there is cause for concern. As reported in the Daily Herald, 24 of the last 27 Cup champions have won Game 4. I don’t know what the odds would be of the winner of Games 1 and 2 losing Game 4 and still winning the Cup. I need some aspirin just thinking about it.

Even though two of the final three games in the series will be played at the United Center, the Flyers have shown they can deal with playoff pressure. Chicago could be in trouble if their power play stays dormant and they aren’t able to attack the Flyers with speed. 

Tonight is not a must win for the Hawks but it is close to being one. If the Blackhawks go down in defeat, Game 5 would be a must win. The effective play of the Flyers has been the main reason the Hawks haven’t been able put it all together.

Tonight is the time for the Blackhawks to play the way they have almost all season and…. Attack.

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We here at HockeyIndependent strive to investigate thoroughly any and all issue or NHL scandal. When Pronger stole the Stanley Cup game pucks, we here snapped into action. We have conducted a thorough investigation into Mr. Pronger and this is what we discovered in his Philly suburb house…

The Brinks Job:

If one looks closely, you can see that Pronger still has the Brinks sacks of money, using them as pillowcases in his guest bedroom. Back in the 70’s a brazen gaggle of robbers made off with some sacks of cash, embarassing the Brinks company with a successful brazen attempt on their armored truck.

It also made a godawful 1978 flick directed by the Excorcist director, William Friedkin, starring Peter Falk.

A Goodfella?

Chris Pronger might have been the mastermind behind the infamous Lufthansa Heist. Little did you know that the famous cargo heist from Goodfellas really happened. A women seduced and distracted JFK guards, and the robbers made off with wads of cash. Basically, they walked right into the Air France cargo terminal at JFK and left with USD $420,000. A nice tidy sum, or as Pronger calls it: Stripper Money.

The 2010 Crosby Olympic Gear Heist

You might think that Crosby got his gear back. But little do you know, they are just cheap facsimiles. The real original stuff sits in Pronger’s den along with  several other great lost treasures like a Picasso painting.

Mystery Solved!

Biggest of all is this sketch we uncovered. Chris Pronger is none other than DB Cooper? This might explain a lot, including his whisking away late in the night from Edmonton.

Whoever wins the cup, they better hold onto it for dear life. Pronger is in town.

(this satire was done live from the Wachovia Center, Philadelphia

There is two extreme sides of the Chris Pronger coin that we saw flipped yesterday. With it, in that metallic shimmer, we got to peer beneath to see the true Flyer psyche in these Stanley Cup playoffs.

First it was the post-game 1 loss that had him dropping jokes, remaining light, if not full to the brim with bravado and confidence. By the end of game 2, we saw what it really was…a facade. A sham to mask the fear that the Flyers are outclassed, time is running out, and they do not have what it takes to hold on in this most desperate hour.

Pronger acting as if he's in an Old Spice commercial (image - PhillyFanForums)

You’d think, losing the two games in Chicago, would be livable, heading back to the city of brotherly love. Several factors argue that this is not the case, including Chris Pronger’s unraveling and his Cybil-like turn on the press after game 2. That mask of fase bravado was sheared away by reality…

They faced a beatable and flawed Hawks team who has not settled in, and failed to grab even one game. There was anger in Pronger, the kind of anger that bespoke of missed opportunity, that he…for all his leadership skills, is not in control, and the Flyers head home with a heap of pressure on their shoulders.

If the Flyers drop either of their home games later this week, it is over for them. They will not recover.

The problem here, despite Neimi’s stalwart turn in game 2, the Flyers have faced a Chicago team who is not firing on all cylinders. Kane, Toews and Byfuglien have been MIA.

Both third periods saw the Hawks settle in enough to take over and seal deals. In Philly, they come two games up and a thrown towel to indicate Pronger is melting into a pile of elbows and attitude. Flyer fans can spin this all they want, but Pronger has a history of playing off his emotional reactions. Last night was raw as it gets, and no amount of fan-propelled spin is going to make it all part of Pronger’s nefarious plan. He simply can’t play all positions on the ice.

Instead, much like Jack Nicholson at the end of A Few Good Men, he snarled at the CSN reporters … some of which hold Pultizer Prizes for investigative journalism. Pronger has a well-established history of blowing his cool, a far cry from his oily uber cool persona from earlier that day. He has a good recovery and sly wink after-the-fact, but in the heat of the moment, he is volatile, raw and can blow his top. Last night, he cracked more than the Liberty Bell.

Byplay with Tim Pannacio (hat tip to the always excellent new daddy, Puck Daddy)

What happened?

“I couldn’t hear him, I don’t speak gibberish,” said Pronger, who picked up a misconduct penalty at the very end and got into it with Eager.

Where’s the puck, Pronger was asked.

“It’s in the garbage,” Pronger replied. “Where it belongs.”

You shot a towel at Eager when he complained?

“So what,” Pronger replied.

You’re collecting pucks now?

“Why not? What’s wrong? It’s sitting there. What else is gonna happen to it? It’s sitting there. Sure, why not. You got a problem with that?”

Are you gonna sell it on eBay?

“I don’t know. Apparently, it got him upset. So I guess it worked, didn’t it? It’s too bad. I guess little things amuse little minds.”

Pronger is a small basket of emotional eggs, and last night they cracked for all to see…in game and outside the game.

Now, can he and the Flyers can be glued together again?

Emotion is always part of the playoffs, naked and palpable, it is plastered beneath playoff beards with the blood and sweat. It rides beneath the careful words and canned answers that come wrapped in team ribbons back to the press.

Last night, there was nothing but naked truth snarling and dismissing questions in Chicago. Naked truth that rides heavy upon the shoulders of a team headed home to open up their last stand as the Hawks, of course ever-the-predator, smell the blood besides the cheese steak.

Well, the pendulum swing to the side of the Montreal Canadiens lasted for exactly one game.

The Flyers came out pissed off, mostly at themselves, and played a near perfect road game.

The Flyers limited the Habs to just 17 shots-just ONE in the second period-as Michael Leighton recorded his third shutout of the series. That’s a first for the Flyers.

Michael Leighton got the shutout, but Chris Pronger and the Philadelphia defense were the true story of game four of the 2010 ECF

For Montreal, being in a 3-1 hole is nothing new. They trailed the Washington Capitals by a 3 games to 1 margin and roared back to take that series. The Flyers will need to be sharp, disciplined and smart in Monday night’s game five in South Philly.

The level of gamesmanship has been elevated, too. The hall leading from the visitor’s dressing room to the ice was apparently strewn with a gritty, sand like substance. Several Flyers players experienced trouble with their skates throughout the game-Mike Richards and Kimmo Timonen both required multiple trips to visit Harry Bricker, the Flyers trainer for some work on their blades.

By the third period, the hall was covered by towels to keep further honing to a minimum. To their credit the Flyers players didn’t point fingers at anyone in particular.

After a scoreless first period, where each team had spurts of offensive pressure, the Flyers took control in the second. The Canadiens couldn’t generate shots, let alone any kind of sustained forecheck to create chances against Leighton-who really wasn’t forced to work hard at all.

At the 5:41 mark, Claude Giroux took a pass from Kimmo Timonen and bulled his way to the net, flipping a nifty backhander over Jaroslav Halak’s shoulder to open the scoring.  Halak rebounded to deny several good Flyer scoring chances, but a breakdown in coverage and a poor decision by rookie defenseman PK Subban inflicted a fatal wound on the Habs ten minutes after Giroux’s tally.

Chris Pronger grabbed a puck, and when nobody challenged him, he found a breaking Ville Leino, who got behind Subban. Leino deked Halak and stuffed the puck under the Montreal goalie’s right leg for the 2-0 lead. Leino said after the game he wanted to go top shelf on Halak, but caught the goalie “cheating”.

Figuring the Canadiens would come out strong in the third the Flyers employed an effective trap that stymied the home team. Even though Montreal managed 9 shots in the third, none seriously challenged Leighton. Giroux capped the scoring with an empty netter after working through some hard checking along the right wing boards.

For the third time in 10 years, the Flyers stand one playoff victory from the Stanley Cup finals. In each case, they fell in game seven to a team that went on to win the Stanley Cup(2000 Devils, 2004 Lightning). Montreal will not roll over and the Flyers will need to work as hard as they did this afternoon to claim the Eastern Conference title.

The Philadelphia Flyers dominated the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals, holding the Montreal Canadiens scoreless for 120 minutes.

When the series shifted to Montreal, the shoe was on the other foot.

In front of a raucous crowd of partisans the Canadiens blew the doors off the Flyers, to the tune of a 5-1 victory. In the Habs credit, they came out of the gate full of fire, drove to the Flyers net and made life Hell for Flyers goalie Michael Leighton. They created opportunities and cashed in on them, and had the Flyers chasing their tails for most of the first two periods.

The Canadiens played a near letter perfect game three. Some of the media types even suggested that Jaroslav Halak had reacquired his Conn Smythe swagger and was back in the insane zone he was in for the first two rounds.

Call me a Flyers fan being a homer, but I didn’t see just a dominating Montreal performance.

The Flyers simply didn’t show up. Halak wasn’t forced to make a save in traffic, or stop a second chance with Scott Hartnell’s ass in his face or even stop a shot through a screen for the first 40 minutes. He saw every shot, and a good NHL goalie is going to stop 95% of those kind of shots-if not more.

Chris Pronger might have played the worst game of his life. He took two ill timed penalties, had a dreadful turnover that led to the second Montreal goal and was a -3. His partner, Matt Carle was equally bad-especially when he tried to bat down a lofted puck and missed-leading to the 4th Montreal goal. Braydon Coburn seemed to be taking a mental vacation with two bad penalties of his own.

The ferocious Flyer forecheck was non existent until late in the game. Guys like Danny Briere and Mike Richards were non-entities. Simon Gagne scored the lone Flyers goal, but was otherwise invisible. The Flyers looked as if they were taking the ice for a pre-season game, made bad decisions with and without the puck and had little discipline.

Flyers captain Mike Richards-usually controlled and cool in speaking with the media was visibly angry. Richards said, “They handed to us right from the get-go. I don’t know if we thought we could throw our sticks on the ice and it was gonna be easy. Give them credit. They played hard, they were all over the ice. They won every puck battle. Obviously, it shows by the score.”

Peter Laviolette, who has expressed disappointment over the team’s starts in game one and two, agreed with Richards’ comments.  Laviolette, also looking quite furious told the media “Well, I guess, you can run with that. That’s good. It’s one game. That’s all it is,”

“It’s definitely my experience in the playoffs that it’s never about momentum — it’s always about desperation. I haven’t been around in a long time, but that typically seems to be the way it runs when I’ve been in the playoffs. Desperate teams are tough teams,” Laviolette concluded.

“That’s not our best one,” Simon Gagne said. “We were hoping for 0-0 after 20 minutes and it was 2-0. From that point on, they kinda took over.”

Leighton was under siege in the opening twenty minutes. One bit chunk of solace Flyers fans can take from tonight’s debacle is that Leighton had virtually no chance on at least 4 of Montreal’s goals. For a guy that had five get past him, he played as well as he could have. He also saw a bit of levity in the Canadiens fans chanting his name, noting they did so after he made a save, too. “Guess they liked that save, ” joked the goalie.

The bottom line came from Richards, Pronger and Gagne, though.

“We got a little cocky, a little full of ourselves just thinking we could go out and play,” Richards said. “This was a long way coming. We didn’t play all that well over the first couple games and relied heavily on our power play … Our five-on-five play wasn’t the greatest either.”
“We’ve got to understand it’s going to be an emotional series,” said Pronger, “We have to play with controlled emotions. Play with fire and enthusiasm and passion. For the first 40 minutes, there wasn’t a whole lot of that.”

“In playoff hockey, you have to be ready. That’s something that’s not up to the coach,” Gagne said. “We were well-prepared by him, but it’s up to each one of us to get ready for the game. And right now, we don’t do it. We have to find a way.”

In fact, the last time the Kings made the playoffs another former Oilers captain was wearing black and purple, Kelly Buchberger. And that 2002 team was coached by Andy Murray, a guy who had a reputation for working players hard in practice. Murray’s Kings teams even set the NHL record for man games lost in a season.

Interestingly, Buchberger went on to become the strength and conditioning coach in Edmonton for awhile before moving on to become the team’s assistant coach. By the time the Oilers made a run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2006 – with a team that featured Ryan Smyth, Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene – their strength and conditioning coach was Dr. Chad Moreau. The older brother of Oilers captain Ethan Moreau, Chad is an LA based specialist who previously had worked with the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the ECHL.

After the disastrous season the Oilers had this year – including losing a franchise record 530 games to injury – people are looking for answers…and one area being looked at closely is the fitness of the players.

This is actually an issue facing all teams, including the Kings. So, we sat down with Chad to talk about the science of hockey. In this exclusive Mayors Manor interview he responds to criticism form Oilers coach Pat Quinn, tells some interesting stories about Chris Pronger, speculates on what the next generation of fitness will be like in the NHL and goes into quite a bit of detail about what it’s like trying to balance the needs of the players and the demands of management.

Just to set some context, tell us a little about your background and how you got involved with NHL players…

I had been training with my brother Ethan in the summer time – even back around the time he was drafted by the Blackhawks and I was at the University of South Carolina on a track scholarship. The mindset at that time for most players in the NHL was just ride the bike and work on your aerobic fitness and the rest will sorta take care of itself. I talked him into doing some training with me, the explosive lifts and squats and all those types of things. I think he really enjoyed what it did to his body. That snowballed into training a few more hockey players along the way, as I matured from an athlete myself to more of a strength and conditioning guy…then I went through the chiropractic program.

Coming into the 2005-06 season the Oilers head coach at the time, Craig MacTavish, was really impressed with Ethan’s test results in camp and his overall level of fitness. He called me and said ‘We’d like you to come in and evaluate some of our players.’ When I met with him and the GM at the time, Kevin Lowe, they liked what I had to say about where they should go with the strength and conditioning of their players, so they brought me in as a strength and conditioning coach / consultant. I was there from 2005 through the end of the 2008-09 season.

You were replacing a former player – with both the Kings and Oilers – in Kelly Buchberger. Is that right?

Yes, Kelly was there when I came in during 2005 and he was a great guy. I think they hired him mostly because he was always in good shape as a player. After putting him in that role, at some point, they must have decided they wanted to bring in somebody who had more of a a background in kinesiology, like I have.

I came in and I organized all the strength and conditioning programs, the nutrition programs for the team and Kelly did the day to day operations my first year there. I was usually in Edmonton a week to two weeks a month. I always tried to come in to town when they didn’t have a really busy home schedule, so that I could spend as much time as possible with the players and run some good workouts.

Kelly was known for being a great teammate. What was it like to work so closely with him in that role…a role where he isn’t a player – but now part of management, so to speak?

Kelly was a great assistant for me. He kinda taught me the ins and outs of working with the players and working with the training staff there, the medical staff and so on. He was an awesome guy to have as a liaison between myself, the players, the management and the training staff.

When you took over did you keep any of his practices in place or did you blow the whole thing up and start from scratch? Walk us through the transition a little…

We kinda blew things up and started over. When I came in. the weight room they had was horrible. When I spoke with MacTavish he told me “Hey, just to warn you, what we have here as far as equipment is really antiquated and I dont think you’re going to be terribly impressed.’ And believe me, I wasn’t. The weight room was very small, I’d guess maybe a 500-750 square foot room. It had a very low ceiling with a bunch of pipes overhead.

For example, Chris Pronger couldn’t even push a bar over his head without crashing the plates into a pipe overhead. We would even tease the guys and tell them the pipes are filled with oil, so they better be careful.

So, we had this horrible – tiny, tiny – training room. We couldn’t even put the whole team in there at one time. We had to work out in shifts, with half the guys working out before practice and the other half after because we just couldn’t fit everybody in the tiny room we had. I even had to bring equipment in for them, just so we had enough stuff. Ironically, the only thing they had enough of were stationary bikes.

The team wanted to catch up to where some other teams were with strength and conditioning, so we started purchasing new equipment. They really wanted to turn over a new leaf, so the team was great. I know the Oilers were really excited at the time about getting a new program and getting their players on board with it…and getting some of their guys maybe a little stronger and improving their fitness level.

Your first year with the team the Oilers made a run to the Stanley Cup Finals…with a team that featured three guys now with the Kings – Ryan Smyth, Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene. What do you remember about that team and their fitness level overall?

The Oilers are the big show in town, they’re the main attraction. It’s not like Los Angeles where the Kings are competing with so many other things for attention. Everybody in Edmonton is interested in how the team is doing. So, even as a strength and conditioning guy, I would get questions from the media. When they would ask ‘What do you think is going to happen here as far as changing the strength and conditioning program? What’s it going to do to help the team?’ I would explain that if we trained the right way and we do it efficiently, I’m hoping we’d be a good team down the stretch. In the second half of the season I was hoping that all the work we put in throughout the season would give us, even if it was a 1% advantage…it would give us a slight edge when we needed it.

And that season it did. The team was awesome in the third period and awesome in overtime…they never really seemed to fatigue or breakdown against other teams. You could almost just count on a guy scoring a big goal to turn a game against teams like Detroit, San Jose and Anaheim in the playoffs…and even against Carolina in the Finals.

That first year with that team – you mentioned Stoll, Greene and Smyth – but the guy that helped me the most in doing my job was Chris Pronger. He obviously commanded a lot of respect from the coaches and the locker room. He was pretty confident in his on ice abilities. So, one of the things he liked to do is spend time off the ice training – just to maintain his level of strength and endurance.

He would always talk to the coaching staff and ask that we could get days off to spend time in the weight room and train. I really learned through that process that there is such an emphasis in the NHL on putting the guys on ice and spending time on positional play, power plays, penalty killing and everything else they work on…however, they end up spending so much time on the ice – including the actual games – that they end up having very little time for off ice training.

So, having Pronger almost demand that he gets time in the room to train and work on his fitness benefited the whole team because the coach would say ‘Look, if we’re going to give Pronger the day off the ice, why dont we do the same thing for some of our veteran players?’ So, sometimes I’d have 9 or 10 guys in the weight room. The only thing they would do that day was train in the room. They wouldn’t go on the ice, so we’d get some really good training days in. And this would happen frequently during each month. Organizing training programs was an easy thing to do at that point because the coaching staff gave me so much leeway to get the guys fresh – either on the bike or in the weight room doing strength lifts.

I thought my whole tenure in Edmonton would be really similar to that, but it wasn’t. Little did I know what a huge ally Pronger was and what the impact of him leaving would be for somebody like me and my ability to do my job. As a result of our efforts that year I think we were a great finishing team, coming so close to winning the Stanley Cup. It was a real learning experience to see how things would evolve over the next three years.

I would assume that one question some people raised back then was ‘How much hands on training did you actually do?’ – with you based in LA and the team all the way in Edmonton. From a players perspective or even from management…was that ever an issue?

I told MacTavish from the very beginning that I wasn’t going to move to Edmonton and they were fine with that. They always made sure they had an assistant strength and conditioning coach who would do all the day to day stuff. Basically, I was available to come in every month and if they had questions or an injury that needed to be addressed, I was always available by phone or email to discuss things. During the first year I would sometimes spend 14 days a month in Edmonton. I also saw them for days at a time on the road – in cities like LA, Phoenix and Dallas. So, they got their money’s worth.

Looking back on things, beyond Pronger leaving, what other changes did you notice?

When they lost some of the veteran players starting in around 2007 they wanted to spend more time on the ice with their younger players. I would talk with MacTavish – who I always had a great working relationship with…we needed to spend time in the weight room like the first season I was there. One of the things people forget sometimes is the off season for a team that doesn’t make the playoffs is four months. But, the season is eight months – that’s 2/3 of the year. If you don’t do proper training for that period of time, your players are going to decondition. I don’t care how hard you’re skating players in practice, there’s no substitute for the work we do in the room, working on all the different areas with players.

So, I think one thing that happens when a team starts to panic, when they start losing some games – especially if they have a younger line-up…they start spending so much time on the ice the players start to lose some of that strength base that they built up in the off season. You really start to see this in the second half of the season and into the playoffs. In fact, I saw this with the Oilers. When I was with the team we would do mid-season testing and their testing scores would be significantly lower than when they first came into training camp on day one. I would express my concern to the training staff…that this could not only lead to decreased performance, but higher injury potential.

It’s not to pick on the coaching staff in Edmonton. They were great to work with. And I think it’s probably an issue that strength and conditioning coaches across the league have to deal with.

You mentioned test scores. For the average fan out there, obviously it’s physical fitness, but what types of testing are we talking about?

Every team is slightly different. But, there are some standardized tests, like what they put guys through before the NHL Entry Draft. In Edmonton it was actually a little bit of a sore spot. The University of Alberta had been doing their testing before I got there. I looked over what they had been doing and liked some of it, but I thought we needed to be a little more hockey specific. So, I wanted to include a lot of different on ice tests, which I think is important. Off ice we looked at things like vertical power, horizontal power through the legs, balance, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance – which is probably the most popular test in the hockey world…and we looked at anaerobic tests, like the Wingate Test on a stationary bike.

There is another issue there with the stationary bike and the anaerobic tests that are done on a bike. For the most part, hockey players are conditioned to do a lot of work on a stationary bike.

In season they do a lot of work on the bike because it’s a low impact method of getting a cardiovascular response. They don’t have to beat up their joints as much as running would do. Off season I dont like to use the bike as much because I think it feeds into those tight hip flexors that hockey players get from the position they skate in. So, I like to get them off the bike in the summer time and do more back based stuff, where we open up their hips for the first month or so. Then, we do some track and speed work. It ends up being a very athletic environment on the track…and it also gives their hips a break, by not having them in that flex position like they are on the bike.

But, the disadvantage to this is that when you go back to camp and they test you on the bike…if you haven’t been working out on the bike all summer, you’re not going to test as well. Some guy that are actually not as fit as you overall will kick butt when tested on the bike, like in the 2Max or the Wingate Test. I’ve put a lot of time into studying this area. I’m actually working on a research paper right now, looking at the correlation between preseason testing and on ice performance. The testing itself is usually up to the team, but a lot of it is open to conjecture because there is very little literature available on the testing.

Now the Oilers had a terrible season, a league low 62 points for the year. They also lost over 500 man games to injury. This has caused the organization to say they’ll be reviewing all of their conditioning practices and changes will be coming. Head Coach Pat Quinn was quoted in the Edmonton Sun as saying “Four years ago they made a change in the person that leads training and since that time, the spike started to come in the injury levels.” That statement points to your time with the team, so how do you respond to that?

First off, let me say that I’ve never met Pat Quinn or had a chance to speak with him about this. However, to criticize the strength and conditioning coaches I think is unfair. The coach needs to share some of the blame in that because a team that isn’t fit by the end of the year…the coaching staff has the ultimate control over how much time a player spends in the weight room. So, I somewhat look at that with a grain of salt.

After a couple of other people pointed that comment out to me though I went back and did some research. It’s pretty interesting. I looked at the stats for man games lost to injury, which I think could be a slightly over stated statistic. For instance, this season (2009-10), the least injured teams – based on man games lost to injury – were Tampa Bay and the Rangers. Neither team made the playoffs. Edmonton led the league in man games lost and obviously they didn’t make the playoffs either. Yet, the team with the second most games lost to injury was Detroit. And they’re in the playoffs. So, this might be a little bit of a misleading statistic.

But, let’s go back to 2005-2006, when I felt like I did a great job of convincing the coaching staff that it was important to have the training in the weight room, not just during the off season – but, in-season as well. Obviously we had success that year, almost winning a Stanley Cup. We only had 134 man games lost to injury according to my statistics. I also looked at goal differential in the third period and overtime. We were a +20 in the regular season. That’s pretty significant to me because it means we were a good team at the end of games, which was always my goal. From a strength and conditioning standpoint, I wanted the team to still be strong at the end.

To be fair, that was one of your four years with the Oilers. What about other years you were with the team?

Good point. There were lots of personnel changes over the next few years, with a mass exodus of players. The team dynamics changed quite a bit, with the focus of training being more on the on-ice drills. For 2007-08 we had over 300 man games lost to injury. We were also a -20 in goal differential for the third period and overtime portion. So, I think there was actually a correlation between how many injuries we had and how poorly we were playing at the end of games.

In 2008-09, my last year with the team, we had fewer man games lost to injury than the season before and we were a +3 in that late-game goal differential. This year was just a disaster with a -36 and over 500 man games lost. So, when I see Pat Quinn say ‘We must be doing something wrong with our off season training,’ I dont totally agree with him. I think for a lot of these players in-season training might be even more important than what guys are doing in the off season. Remember, the season is eight months long, so coaches need to help find the time for guys to get into the weight room and do their training.

What about the off season workouts though, when the coaches aren’t around…

It’s a battle. Even if you have the greatest strength and conditioning coach in the world…these players go back to Toronto, to Prague…to all their different places around the world. You might give them a packet or a plan, but when they get home they throw it in the trash or set it on their desk. A lot of players go back to working with the guy that helped them get where they are. They work with ‘their guy’ for a few months. So to say as a group that the Oilers have a problem with their off ice training program is a bit short sided.

I think a lot of these players go home and train on their own anyhow. It’s different than in other sports, like the NFL. Football players will go and train on their own for a short period of time, but then the team brings them back in and they have a very controlled strength and conditioning program that they’re integrated into. Hockey has a very different set up. When I was in Edmonton the guys were brought back into camp around September 12th and they’d start playing preseason games like a week later. So, there’s really no such thing as a training camp where you work on getting these players back into shape. You hope they’re already in shape when they get to camp and then it’s your job to maintain that fitness level throughout the season as the strength and conditioning coach.

So you were a strength and conditioning coach in the NHL and let’s flip it around…now you do off season strength and conditioning with various NHL players. Does that make you the ‘other guy’ you were just making reference to?

Well, I do run programs in the summertime and I get guys from a variety of different teams. I know they all have strength and conditioning programs with their team and if they want, I’ll look at what their coach wants them to do in the summertime. But, for the most part, I run my program the way I want to run it. And for the players that like it, they train with me. If they want something else, that’s fine too. That was always my approach in Edmonton as well. I would design programs for guys in the off season and if they wanted to consult with me all summer and even come out to LA and train with me, awesome – let’s do it. If they wanted to train with some guy in their hometown instead, that was fine. As long as they came back to camp in what we considered elite shape for a hockey player.

One specific area the Oilers are supposedly going to address is how their workouts are coordinated around travel schedules. Teams like the Kings, Sharks and Ducks – playing in the Western Conference – they’re no strangers to the rigors of travel in the NHL. Some coaches like to practice before boarding a plane and traveling. Other guys, like Pat Quinn, like to skate after flying. What role does travel play on a professional athlete’s body?

Well, travel is certainly a bigger factor for teams on the West Coast. And it’s an even bigger factor this season, where the schedule is so condensed because of the Olympics. It’s hard to find enough days to get training in when you factor in the travel schedule and changing time zones. When a team goes on a losing streak it’s even harder to get that time in the weight room. Coaches tend to want to put their players on the ice and rightfully so.

In terms of which strategy works better, I haven’t seen any studies one way or the other. It may depend on the age of your team as well. Travel takes a lot out of you either way you do the practices, before or after you fly.

How about nutrition…we hear a lot about the foods that athletes eat nowadays, compared to the beer and cigar diets of prior generations…

Nutrition is a big part of recovery. When I first came to the team I was shocked at what they were eating on the planes. I couldn’t believe what guys were eating, so I went to work right away with some changes. It didn’t make me the most popular guy though…especially with the staff guys, believe it or not. We did away with the processed meats and garbage…we were doing more fruits and salads. We still had a few snacks here and there, because some of the players started complaining about not having chocolate bars on the plane. At some point you have to concede a little bit. If you try to change too much too fast, you’re going to be met with a ton of resistance. We tried to get the guys to eat healthier overall though because nutrition is one of the underutilized and overlooked areas of human performance and recovery.

Talk about that point a little more…making small changes can make such a huge difference sometimes to an athlete’s performance – both positive and negative. Yet, getting some to make the change can be a daunting task. Without naming names and just looking at it broadly, do athletes complain a lot or are they as mentally tough off the ice as they are on the ice?

The way I see it, these guys in the NHL are like Formula 1 race cars. Now, I’m no mechanic – but I bet you those cars are pretty finicky. I have a funny feeling that if you have four or five mechanics working on those cars…and one guy tightens one screw a little too tight, one way of the other, you’re going to have some problems when it comes to performing at a high level on the track. So, the elite athletes I’ve trained are like these cars. They have all these little things that they want to have situated just right to make sure they perform at the highest level. I just accept that as the truth. I expect them to be picky and question everything I have to say. Guys that have been in the league for awhile didn’t get there and stay there by accident. So, yes they complain. And they should. They should get what they need to perform at a high level. If they’re not getting it, they should be squeaky wheels. A lot of them know what they need.

Injuries are certainly part of the game. However, in a recent Edmonton Journal article looking at all the injuries with the Oilers this season, it was reported that defenseman Sheldon Souray claims he was rushed back into the line-up before his shoulder was fully healed from surgery. The idea of guys being forced back on the ice in hockey…or the field, it’s a controversial topic in many different sports. How often does it really happen and how do you handle it when a coach or GM doesn’t agree with your assessment of a player’s health?

Just speaking from what I observed, I was theoretically never part of the medical staff. I was under contract as the strength and conditioning coach…and I’ve had conversations, even recently, with other strength and conditioning coaches around the league…and the line is pretty blurry between conditioning and medical health care assessments of players. I blur it everyday. My training for athletes is blurred by the fact that I’m a health care professional, being a chiropractor too.

I always look at injury prevention first, ‘What are we going to do to keep this guy in one piece?’ And once we have him in one piece, ‘What are we going to do to have him perform better?’ While a player may have the ultimate decision about when he returns to the line-up, I think I know where Sheldon was coming from. I’ve had a relationship with him for the last several years and he is one supreme athlete, he’s at a whole different level when it comes to overall athletic fitness.

You have to remember that when he signed with the Oilers he was coming off of major shoulder surgery. It’s a tough situation for players. You know you’re not quite healed all the way, not quite 100%. In the perfect situation, you’d probably spend another two months rehabbing the shoulder and getting yourself stronger…so when you do go back and start taking impact on the ice, you’re ready for it.

But, the off season isn’t quite long enough for these guys to heal up all the way sometimes. Again, for a team that misses the playoffs, they only have four months to get ready for the next season. Theoretically, anybody that gets a major shoulder reconstruction should probably rehab that shoulder for at least five or six months. So, there’s no way when the season starts that a lot of these guys are actually fully ready for battle again – but, they’re kinda thrown back out there.

Part of it also is the players need and want to go out there for their teammates and play. And the other part is the team is paying them a lot of money and they want to see them play. Even though the guys should be treated like humans, sometimes they’re treated like commodities. Part of it is unfair because the players are asked to do things that I wouldn’t ask an average Joe in my office to do. If I had a guy that wanted to go back and work on the docks after spending just a couple of months rehabbing his shoulder, I’d say ‘No way. You can’t go back and handle heavy equipment. You need to do more rehab. We need to get you stronger before we send you back out to the docks.’ Unfortunately, I dont think we do always the same things for athletes.

If I look closely at what you just said though, when a guy points the finger back at the organization – that can be a little bit of a cop out. Are you saying that in a lot of situations the athlete is just as much to blame because he’s in a hurry to get back out there with his teammates too?

Well, that’s part of it. I always think the athlete is in a hurry. They’re trying to get back out there before they’re ready. That’s where the decision of the trainer is so important. He’s the guy that assimilates all the information from the strength and conditioning guy, the orthopedic surgeon, the chiropractors and whoever else they have working for the team. He’s the keeper. He has to be the guy that determines if a player is ready. If he clears you to play and the player goes back to competition too soon and he ends up getting hurt again, it just hurts the whole team because now you have to go through the whole process again.

You have to take the decision away from the player. I haven’t talked to Sheldon about this specific situation, but I know him well enough to know his mindset – that is, he wants to be out there contributing to his team. The medical staff has to be the one making these decisions though, not the player. If you have that, it will keep everybody in a relatively safe situation.

Some of the guys you trained in Edmonton are now here in Los Angeles with the Kings (click here for a video link with some comments from Jarret Stoll about working out with Chad). Has that allowed you to develop any relationships with the Kings training staff and maybe augment some of the stuff they do with their players?

I’d say I have a great relationship working with some of the training staff in LA. They want to do what’s best for their players and they do a lot of their own work. But, if they see an injury that they think I may be able to help them with, they’ll use me for the services I provide. So, it’s a pretty easy relationship. We have an open line of communication. I think some of the players like coming to my office because it has sort of a hockey feel when they come in the door. So, we can talk hockey and we can get them fixed up and back on the ice.

At this point are you looking to hook up with another team or are you looking to stay in private practice?

For the last year I’ve been focused on private practice. If the right opportunity comes along, I’d do it. But, I learned a lot from the Edmonton job. I think most teams have a lot of work to do when it comes to performance training. I think they need to have somebody that oversees – almost like a Director of Sports Performance…somebody that brings in the people these teams need to start working with.

Many teams are still understaffed. I’m not sure most teams are willing to go that extra mile and put money into this area. One of the things I’d like to do with a team is bring in a whole performance training team. Bring in a crew of specialists – like a soft tissue guy, a sports psychologist, the right strength and conditioning people and so on. Working with a team again would be a real blast. If you do it right, you can really influence the performance of the team. It would have to be the right circumstance though. If my hands were tied and I just got to run two weight room workouts a week and nothing else, that wouldn’t be for me.

From what I’ve read, one of the other things you’re involved with right now is a training website called HOCKEYOT.com. It looks like you started this to cater to players of all ages, right – even kids as young as like 12 years old. Is that right?

We even have some players younger than that. Ethan and I put the idea in motion with a guy in Edmonton. It helps to automate some of the training programs I was putting together for each individual athlete I was working with. One of the things I love to do is customize each workout for each person. If I’m giving the same workout to everybody, it’s pointless to hire me. It needs to make sense for the individual, regardless of if they’re 15 or 52 years old.

Ethan suggested I talk to this guy Chris, who became my business partner. He helped me take everything that was in my brain about what should be done for an individual athlete and automate it with this routine generator. It’s unbelievable what this application can do. It’s taken four years to perfect it, but we have a nice base of subscribers. We have a number of pro guys that use the site and we also have a ton of adult rec guys too. The pros are mainly ECHL type of players or guys in Europe that dont have a strength and conditioning foundation for their team. So, they’re using our program to make sure they stay in shape.

What about the adult rec guys… If I’m a 30-something guy reading this and I play in my local rec league, how would I use the site?

First, you would sign up to use the site. It’s a pretty low commitment, it’s month to month so you can cancel anytime. Then, you would go through a testing sequence, a fitness testing battery. With that information we’ll have a pretty good insight into what type of athlete you are. And we’ll make recommendations on the things we think you should work on. You can pick different fitness goals. We want to know the type of equipment you’ll be using too, say you have a membership to the local fitness club. The program will basically generate a workout for you for four weeks. After that cycle, the program will ask you to retest and evaluate you based on what the expected achievement would be. The cool thing about it is, the program is always giving you feedback on what it thinks you should work on to get up to a high level of performance for somebody your age, whether that’s a 30 year old guy or a 12 year old girl that just started training with us.

We’ve actually had a ton of emails from guys that play on their local adult rec team saying ‘Hey listen, I’ve used your site for two months and guys are saying my game has totally changed. People are asking me if I’m taking private lessons, why I’m so fast, etc.’ So, it’s pretty cool. It motivates me to keep training and to keep updating the site.

Last question – the link between the Oilers and the Kings continues in June. The Kings will be hosting the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, where the Oilers are scheduled to pick first. The debate throughout Alberta right now is Taylor vs Tyler. Do you have an opinion on who the Oilers should take first overall – Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin?

I don’t know. I don’t see how they can go wrong though. It sounds like both those guys are a possible franchise player. Who knows, maybe they’ll try to get the second overall pick too. I’ve heard some rumors about that, getting both of the top two picks. I dont know what they’d have to trade for that – hopefully, not the whole team!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, rumors like that should keep things interesting after the playoffs are over and as we head towards the draft in late June.

The Mayor
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OTHER OILERS RELATED ARTICLES from the Mayor:

The Mayor interviews Oilers captain Ethan Moreau

High / Low (and Word Association) with Ethan Moreau

Kings-Oilers Rivalry:  What Shoulda Been…

Forwards

Patrice Bergeron, L’Ancienne-Lorette, Que. (Boston Bruins)
Sidney Crosby, Cole Harbour, N.S. (Pittsburgh Penguins) Alternate captain
Ryan Getzlaf, Regina, Sask. (Anaheim Ducks)
Dany Heatley, Calgary, Alta. (San Jose Sharks)
Jarome Iginla, St. Albert, Alta. (Calgary Flames) Alternate captain
Patrick Marleau, Aneroid Sask. (San Jose Sharks)
Brenden Morrow, Carlyle, Sask. (Dallas Stars)
Rick Nash, Brampton, Ont. (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Mike Richards, Kenora, Ont. (Philadelphia Flyers)
Corey Perry, Peterborough, Ont. (Anaheim Ducks)
Eric Staal, Thunder Bay, Ont. (Carolina Hurricanes)
Joe Thornton, St. Thomas, Ont. (San Jose Sharks)
Jonathan Toews, Winnipeg, Man. (Chicago Blackhawks)

Defence

Dan Boyle, Ottawa, Ont. (San Jose Sharks)
Drew Doughty, Ottawa, Ont. (LA Kings)
Duncan Keith, Penticton, B.C. (Chicago Blackhawks)
Scott Niedermayer, Cranbrook, B.C. (Anaheim Ducks) – Captain
Chris Pronger, Dryden, Ont. (Philadelphia Flyers) – Alternate captain
Brent Seabrook, Tsawwassen, B.C. (Chicago Blackhawks)
Shea Weber, Sicamous, B.C. (Nashville Predators)

Goalies

Roberto Luongo, Montreal, Que. (Vancouver Canucks)
Martin Brodeur, Montreal, Que. (New Jersey Devils)
Marc-Andre Fleury, Sorel, Que. (Pittsburgh Penguins)

- official roster posted HERE

While there were a few surprises when Steve Yzerman announced Team Canada’s 2010 entry into the Vancouver Olympics yesterday, the reality was that every single player selected to the roster was a viable candidate to represent Canada and while we can squabble over who was left off of the team, there’s no turning back now so we might as well get used to this lineup over the next 6 weeks as we get ready for the most anticipated Winter Games in history.

The deliberations were long and thought out and the group of men in charge of creating a winning team did their best to bring us, what they think, will be the best Hockey team in the world. Amen to that.

Canada is the money tree when it comes to hockey players and, although we lay claim to many records and winning teams, Canada always wins due to the strong work ethic that is instilled in young Canuck hockey players at the age of 3. Every single member of this Team Canada squad would hands down make any other roster submitted for the upcoming Olympic competition.

The reality is that Canada could very well have two elite squads participating in the Olympics. But that’s not how it works.

But if it did, this is how Pierre Lebrun of ESPN would have chosen Team Canada’s “B” Squad:

Forwards

Brad Richards
Ryan Smyth
Marc Savard
Vincent Lecavalier
Jeff Carter
Mike Cammalleri
Steven Stamkos
Martin St. Louis
Derek Roy
Jordan Staal
Dustin Penner
Mike Fisher
Patrick Sharp

Defensemen

Jay Bouwmeester
Mike Green
Dion Phaneuf
Stephane Robidas
Robyn Regehr
Dan Hamhuis
Francois Beauchemin

Goaltending

Cam Ward
Marty Turco
Carey Price

- For more of Pierre’s breakdown of Canada’s “Shadow Squad”, click here.

As interesting as it would be to see Mr. Lebrun’s team participate in the Games in Vancouver, that is obviously not a possibility.

What is certain is that with little to no practice time available for Team Canada, it is going to be up to the coaches and management to decipher which combinations will yield the greatest results.

So, with that in mind, let’s play the job of Mike Babcock and Steve Yzerman.

Below are my line combo’s as well as special team units, feel free to counter my lineup with one of your own.

Line 1:

Nash-Crosby-Iginla

- Crosby and Iginla…just seems right. Adding Rick Nash to Sid’s other wing could make this the most ferocious line in the tournament.

Line 2:

Staal-Getzlaf-Perry

- Eric Staal is a center, but he is also a left-handed shot and will provide an incredible compliment to one of the most solid duo’s in the NHL since the lockout. Staal will also compliment Getzlaf as a backup option at center, shoring up the line’s ability to win key face-offs. Oh yeah, and there’s all that offense…although Eric has had a slow start with a rocky Hurricanes team, his play of late has been nothing short of Olympian and it was clear to see why Stevie Y & co. chose the Thunder Bay native.

Line 3:

Marleau-Thornton-Heatley

- Yes, yes. This could very well be your first line, second line or the absolute best line in the tournament. They are, after all, the best line in the NHL this season. The versatility of this line will be in its ability to set the tone for Team Canada as well as provide them with 3 legitimate lines that could double as some of the strongest power play units ever assembled. Place this line wherever you want, the reality is that this is one combo that the coaches won’t have to worry about when it comes to chemistry.

Line 4:

Morrow-Richards-Bergeron/Toews

- Your ultimate checking line. Morrow is a solid two-way forward and may be the grittiest player on Team Canada. He will guide the trio of youngsters in Richards, Bergeron and Toews as they will combine to make Team Canada’s 4th line. With 3 centers on this line, it is plain to see that management focused on bringing in capable defensive minded forwards who can win key draws. Canada will not make the mistake of leaving their team vulnerable on the draw, so this 4th line will provide Coach Babcock with a tremendous arsenal of centermen.

Defense

1st Pairing:

Pronger-Boyle

- I personally would have loved to have seen a pairing of Pronger and Mike Green, but since Boyle proved the better offensive candidate to compliment Pronger(mainly because of his defensive awareness), it will be Danny boy skating with the nastiest defenseman in all of the tournament. The dynamic of the hard-hitting Pronger and smooth skating Boyle will force opponents to second guess their approach into Canada’s zone and will also force the opposition’s D-men to stay on their toes due to both Pronger and Boyle’s incredible ability to make brilliant stretch passes.

2nd Pairing:

Weber-Niedermayer

- Again, 1st or 2nd pairing, this combination of Shea Weber and Canada’s captain only makes sense. Weber is a younger version of Chris Pronger and given Chris and Scotty’s former chemistry with the Ducks, it’s a safe bet that if Neidermayer and Pronger do not end up as a regular combo that it will be Scott playing with Shea. Weber is an explosive hitter who possesses an incredible shot. Neidermayer, of course, is the ultimate defenseman, capable of performing every on-ice task that could be demanded from a premiere defender. Avoiding pairing Pronger and Neids together for awhile will help Canada have better balanced and quicker defensive pairings.

3rd Pairing:

Seabrook-Keith

- Although many people suggest that Seabrook got to ride Duncan Keith’s coat-tails onto Team Canada’s blue line, the truth is that the Tsawwasen, B.C. native is exactly what Babcock is looking for in a stable but dynamic 3rd pairing. Seabrook may lack in a few areas, but that can be made up by inserting Drew Doughty into the lineup occasionally.

Alternate:

Doughty

- Drew is the youngest member of Team Canada, but plays like a veteran. He, along with Patrice Bergeron and Jonathan Toews will not necessarily be regular fixtures in Team Canada’s lineup in February, but they will play their fair share and will be relied upon to provide their team-mates with excellent play when they do get their shot. Doughty is phenomenal shooter and one of the most defensively aware D-men in the NHL. The scary part is that this is only Doughty’s second year as a Pro and yet, his play has not suffered one iota from a “sophomore slump”, but rather only improved. His selection basically to this team basically denotes how much the play of guys like Jay Bouwmeester and Dion Phaneuf has fallen off in the last 2 seasons. Both are still tremendously capable and would have made fine additions to Canada’s roster, but not compared to Doughty. Drew is likely being groomed to take on a “Scotty Neidermayer-like” role in the future for Team Canada which also makes his selection a logical move. He will learn and mature in leaps and bounds this February so LA Kings should be very grateful for what Steve Yzerman has done for their hope for the future!

Power Play:

Unit 1:

Nash-Getzlaf-Heatley

Pronger-Neidermayer

- This trio has been a lightning rod for success for Team Canada in the World Championships in the past and should/will scare the hell out of the opposition.

- As for your top PP duo, the logical choice would be to play it safe and go with the greatest chemistry offensive chemistry on your blue line.

Unit 2:

Staal-Crosby-Perry

Keith-Boyle

- Smooth skating and quick, this power play unit is chalked full of slick passing and sniper shooting. Many people may suggest that Corey Perry isn’t much of a sniper, but I beg to differ. Pairing Crosby with Perry will confuse opposing coaches as this unit will not be able to contained through physical play. Eric Staal is a sniper and a play-maker and would be the ultimate ‘front of the net’ player. Using his size and hands, Staal is magical in close and blocks a lot of the goaltender’s view. With Keith and Boyle manning the points, I expect the tic-tac-toes to fly.

Unit 3:

Marleau-Thornton-Iginla

Doughty-Weber

- Marleau and Thornton have a strong connection on the power play and Jarome Iginla is the most dominant power-forward on the roster. Capitalizing on Thornton’s incredible passing and Marleau’s pin point accuracy, it only makes sense to have someone like Jarome Iginla manning the high slot or causing absolute havoc in the crease. Doughty and Weber may be a bit ‘green’ for an Olympic power-play unit, but Weber is a rock on defense and Doughty’s blasts from the point make him an obvious candidate to see some power play time.

Ok, so the I mixed and matched a lot of the top lines to create some new(and old) PP combinations. One thing I tried to do was to stay away from repeating the same combinations as the regular lines. In order for Canada to keep their opposition on their toes at all times, I feel that it would only make sense to move players around based on their specialties.

Of course it is easy to start with this types of combinations because with so many dynamic pairings on the team already, the coaches can always revert back to the safety of some predetermined power play units. For example, playing the Marleau-Thornton-Heatley trio together would make tons of sense, if it didn’t already make a lot of sense to use them together as a regular line combination.

The same can be said for keeping Perry and Getzlaf together as well as using Nash-Crosby-Iginla as a power play unit, but, in the end, if my proposed mixed power play units didn’t work, they could always revert to that.

As for the D pairings, I feel that it would be wise to use Neidermayer and Pronger together on the top unit. They have the chemistry, leadership and responsibility to handle the load of playing on the top PP unit. Team Canada also boasts a secret weapon in terms of chemistry if they want to pair Getzlaf and Perry together with Neidermayer and Pronger as they won a Stanley Cup together.

Boyle and Keith offer a near complete contrast of what Pronger and Neidermayer bring to the table as they are all about puck control and management. Both are adept stick-handlers who boast a bag full of tricks. Both are spectacularly quick on their feet and can win almost any foot-race you could think of. They are accurate shooters, but most of all, they have incredible vision on the power play and will compliment a Power Play General like Sidney Crosby, perfectly.

Finally, pairing Doughty and Weber together is a way of including these two into the offensive mix. As I mentioned, Doughty is an up and coming offensive juggernaut. He has the shooting and passing instinct to make him a dangerous addition to a power play unit while Weber’s shot is even more powerful and frightening than Doughty’s. Both play large and do a great job of stepping up at their own line to shut a play down, something that is very condusive to helping the Team capitalize on turn-overs and their ability to create odd-man rushes.

Penalty Kill

Unit 1:

Morrow-Richards

Pronger-Neidermayer

- Morrow and Richards are perhaps the two best shutdown-power forwards in the game and will create an incredibly antagonistic combination. Richards and Pronger have chemistry playing in Philly together, while Neidermayer is just as impressive on the penalty kill as he is on the power play.

Unit 2:

Crosby-Bergeron

Keith-Seabrook

- Yes, Sidney is all about the offense, but he and Bergeron share a chemistry from back in their days of Gold Medals with Canada’s World Junior squad. Bergeron is a fierce defender and excellent face-off man so by playing two centermen together who boast prior chemistry simply shores up the PK. Keith and Seabrook share chemistry from their time in Chicago and, although Seabrook doesn’t necessarily figure into the power play plans, he will be key in helping keep the puck out of Canada’s net when they are down a man.

Unit 3:

Staal-Toews

Neidermayer-Weber

- These three youngsters all boast excellent defensive skills, so it would not surprise me to see Babcock give them the occasional chance to kill off penalties together under the careful watch of Team Canada captain Scott Neidermayer.

Expecting chemistry on the penalty kill is always the hardest thing to do as a coach and it always takes a fair bit of time to put together succinct units that can be relied upon, but with so much defensive aggression in the bottom half of the lineup, Canada will likely have no problem mixing and matching combinations as the tournament progresses.

Oh yeah! My goaltenders rank in this order:

1. Brodeur
2. Luongo
3. Fleury

That’s it.

Those are my proposed line combinations for Team Canada as we bid adieu to 2009.

Of course, many things can change between now and mid-February, so we will re-visit this issue as we sit and watch these recently named members of Team Canada battle it out in the NHL.

Have at it folks!

Create your Team Canada combo’s and we’ll see who makes the right call.

Have a very Happy New Year everyone! Be safe and enjoy yourselves.

I will be back with full Capitals coverage over the next couple of days. There is beyond plenty to talk about so we will be sure to dig deep into a bunch of issues that have reared their head over the last 2 weeks.

This article was originally posted on Hockeybuzz.com and can be found HERE.

Go Canada!!!!!
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Go Caps!!!!!

Collectively the Blackhawks are a very good hockey team. Individually they are not a group of battle tested veteran, all star caliber players…..yet. Now that they are 0-3 for the preseason there are some who may consider giving up their seats on the Hawks  bandwagon. Three preseason losses in a row doesn’t  mean very much, but if you are considering grabbing an available seat be cautious if your expectations are unrealistic.

This group with better than avaerage goal  keeping and some good luck can win the Stanley Cup. Without either it could be  a difficult task to even make the playoffs,  and the same can be said for almost every NHL team. Although the Hawks overcame a few serious injuries last year they were lucky to be almost completely healthy at the start of  the playoffs. They were able to beat the Flames and the Canucks because they were the deeper healthier team. They swarmed both oppononets with all four lines and  the goal tending was  decent, as everyone matters on this club.

Losing Marian Hossa for the first twenty five games or so will matter. Losing a fourth liner like Adam Burish will also matter. Burish could be at the bottom of the depth chart but he was a key factor in the playoffs. Actually the Hawks fourth line was very important all of last season. In my view they were the best set of grinders  in the NHL.  Burish is a strong penalty killer, his speed will be missed and can’t be replaced by any of the younger boys competing for a roster spot.

The path to the Stanley  Cup is not like getting on the escalator in the lower level at Macy’s and staying on until the top floor.  Before jumping off the bandwagaon, even if the Hawks start off this season slowly be careful. Until proven otherwise I won’t sell their chances of another very good year short. Last year this group responded better when they were under pressure, and they may have to show that strength in this campaign.  Don’t be too high or too low, as this is still somewhat a work in progress.

The Hawks should be loaded up for a victory on Friday night. If they don’t win again stay in line for your bandwagon seats, some could be opening up shortly.

Here are my answers to the questions presented a  few days ago.

   1. Would you rather have Marty Havlat under contract at $5 million per season for five years, or Marian Hossa at $5 million per, for each of the next 12 years?

Not meant to be a trick question but this isn’t an apple for apple issue. It isn’t even an apple for an orange issue.

I do believe the Hawks could have signed Marty Havlat to a five year contract, in the $4.5 -$5.0 million range. If Havlat stays healthy he could have comparable numbers to Hossa over the next five season. Although Havlat is a couple of years younger he has been injured more often. If we were comparing similar terms I would take Hossa over Havlat, even if Marian’s contract was 30% more per season over the same five year period.

The heart of the issue comes into play because Hossa is two years older and in essence the Hawks are going to pay an additional $35 million over the extender seven year term of his 12 year agreement. One must realize in so many instances the point production for all players, even superstar caliber snipers declines significantly past their early 30’s.  Havlat’s contract is a better value,  although he has not yet proven to be better player.

So to the question as stated, I would take Havlat. Although I would rather have Hossa on a five year $6.5 million contract compared to Havlat at $5 million for the same period. Front loaded contract or not, Hossa in his mid to late 30’s most likely will have significantly less point production  than today.

Lastly, the NHL investigation surrounding the Hossa, Pronger and Luongo contracts is a joke. There is no way to prove wrong doing unless the discussions were taped, or the parties involved actually said they were trying to circumvent the CBA. It is smart business to find a way to handle salary cap consequences in the most effective way, and no rules appear to have been broken. A question for the next CBA negotiations would be if there should be rules in place to restrict long term front loaded contracts, based on age and other considerations.

As I have written in the past, this investigation is more of a smoke screen.  The real focus should be about the continued sorry financial state of many franchises. Seven of the ten least profitable teams before the lockout were the same as in 2008. It is not like the CBA was thrown together over a long weekend, both sides had a season or longer to have difficult issues buttoned up, and they failed.

Don’t mistakenly compare parity with regards to the standings in the same way as financial well being throughout the league. In 2008 seven of the 10 least profitable franchises were the same as in the year preceding the lockout.

I am being nice when I say least profitable, because in the NHL being in the black is not within reach for many teams. In the NHL the bigger issue is how much red ink some franchises continually drown in.  Until more revenue sharing is created or different team locations are realized, little will change. Most of the weakest franchises will stay that way regardless if long term front loaded contracts are not allowed someday.

   2. What player will make the cut….Fraser, Skille, Dowell, Bickell or Beach?

It is put up time for Jack Skille. He does some good things on the ice, but watching him trying to stick check Havlat the other night shows his weaknesses. On Havlat’s first score he went right by Skille near center ice, way too easily. If Skille has a solid 20 game NHL audition he will be far more attractive on the trade front, if that is the end game. Either way it is his time, and if he doesn’t make it out of camp I doubt he will finish the year in the Hawk organization.

Now with the injuries, Skille, Dowell and Fraser may all stick around.

* Forwards Bryan Bickell and Rob Klinkhammer have been recalled from Rockford and could be back into the mix.

   3.  What goalie will start the season as a back-up….Crawford or Niemi?

Strictly a guess based on there being more urgency in finding out if Antti Niemi is the real deal. Corey Crawford is on a two year contract while Niemi is signed only through this season. Because of that Niemi could get the first sink or swim test. As far as trading either one, that is highly unlikely unless an NHL goalie is coming back in return. I did not speak to anyone who thought that the Hawks have another future NHL caliber goalie waiting in the wings besides this pair, and they are  aren’t a lock.

   4. What player will lead the Hawks in scoring?

Last season I was right and really wrong, as I picked Havlat and Dustin Byfuglien. I do think big Buff will be in the top group of scorers this season as well. My pick is Jonathan Toews, who as Joel Quenneville has commented, just keeps getting better. I think Toews will have more power play goals with the addition of Hossa.

  5.Will the Hawks make a trade to acquire a physical defenseman to replace Matt Walker before the season opener?

Walker being going gone is a problematic issue which I have spoken about with former NHL players and coaches. The conclusions reached by them is always the same, Walker’s toughness will be missed and somehow has to be replaced.

BD Gallof wrote a nice piece the other day following the Dion Phaneuf head shot to Kyle Okposo. BD’s comments pointed out the Islanders lack a player who will instill fear into the hearts of opponents. Hockey is about fear and intimidation and Walker was the one who had the veteran moxie to stop opponents from taking unnecessary liberties.

In total the Hawks are a tough bunch but even Coach Q. has made comments Walker’s prescence  will need to be replaced. If not, a player like Brent Seabrook will spend a lot more time in the penalty box, which will not be a good thing. In addition Cam Barker and Brent Sopel as a defensive pair means two slower footed players will be on the back end together….also not too good. I still think the Hawks will make a trade to acquire another defenseman either by the opener or before the first month of the season has ended.

Will the Adam Burish injury  open the door for a career minor league hard nose player like Danny Bois to make the roster and fill in for Walker’s toughness?   Unlikely…..until proven otherwise Bois still appears to be AHL material.

* Bois and  defenseman Richard Petiot have been put on waivers Thursday afternoon…..not a surprise.

    6. Do you think  Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker or Patrick Sharp are being shopped?

If Hossa wasn’t hurt there probably would have been a good chance Patrick Sharp or Kris Versteeg would have been dealt for a crease clearing defenseman. The trick would be to fill a current  need and  tie up less salary cap space in the future.

If this is the load up for the Stanley Cup year, which wouldn’t be my game plan, most likley none of the three can be dealt. It is more likley Skille and picks could be used for trade bait. That said, Barker, Sharp and Versteeg may not be held in the same high esteem as they were in the Dale Tallon administration, at least whispers have indicated as much.

Barker can not be traded unless a different type of defenseman is coming back in return. Which in essence means the Hawks would sacrifice Barker’s passing and power play ability for a big, tough, faster crease clearer, who is signed for less money and for a shorter term than Barker.

     7. What do you feel the Hawks are lacking?

Realistic  expectations for the future.

When the team was awful fans were fed the mantra  the franchises was building for the future. Dale Tallon said many times the Hawks wanted to make the playoffs for not just one season, but year after year. They wanted to become an elite franchise and in many ways they are on their way….But has the franchise over shifted gears? With the Hossa signing and the fact  the Hawks will have to create significant cap space after this season, this appears to be a Cup or bust year. Just maybe the exectations have swung too far.

There were comments last year that  it was a playoff or bust season, and for this season Patrick Kane said it is  Cup or bust. It is a natural progression for him to speak that way, after all the team was eliminated in the Western Conference championship series. So Kane has the right attitude….But does the franchise have the right plan for continued success?

The re-signing of Duncan Keith, Toews and Kane have to be a priority as well. In my view two out of three won’t do. That said at least $7 million dollars of cap space will have to be created for next season, if so it is prudent to believe the 2010-2011 group will not be as talented to begin with as this season’s club. That would indicate  a rush to succeed with not a strong likelihood for continued success.

   8.  Where will the Hawks power play rank at the end of the season?

They will finish ninth as Hossa won’t hit stride until the second half of the season.

    9.  Where will the Hawks penalty killing unit rank at the end of the season?

The penalty killing unit could have been top five, but the Burish loss will hurt. They will finish ninth, which is a solid  improvement over last year. 

   10. What will be the total amount of points the Hawks will accumulate for this season?

Last year the Hawks were one of the least injured teams, I have the feeling that won’t be the case this season.  I am afraid the Burish and Hossa injuries are a foreshadowing of the future. The Blackhawks will finish with fewer points than last season…. 99 points… although on paper the team is better. The key will be hitting the playoffs healthy and in full stride.

*Hawks press release  came out after blog was originally posted.

Ray Emery's Return Is The Biggest Key For The Flyers

“We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us.”
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

The Philadelphia Flyers spent the 2008-09 season spending every possible cent allowed by the NHL’s salary cap, and fell far short of their expected goal, losing in the first round to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

The season saw inconsistent play from most of the roster. Captain Mike Richards was criticized for not being a more forceful leader, and for seeming to have a ho hum attitude about late season losses. Goaltender Martin Biron never managed to find a groove and struggled off and on all year. GM Paul Holmgren was forced to make some questionable moves due to the team’s high payroll.

Yet, this is the team that The Hockey News has selected as the 2009-10 Stanley Cup Champions. On paper, the Flyers look to have the talent to break the franchise’s 35 year drought.

However, as the old canard goes, they don’t play the games on paper. The Flyers have some serious questions to answer.

The most important will be in goal. Ray Emery has returned from his Russian exile, doing and saying all the right things. He’s looked sharp in team scrimmages, and seems to have lost none of the amazing quickness and athleticism that made him a key piece of Ottawa’s finals run a few years ago.

Of course, we’ve only had a few months to look at here. So long as no trainers get near Emery with a hat, we should be fine. Emery realizes he has a golden opportunity to not only win a Stanley Cup, but also re-establish himself as a top NHL goalie.

Almost as important as how well Emery plays is how the new puck attack system head coach John Stevens installed works out. The Flyers often were guilty of playing 40 minutes of very good hockey last year, instead of 60. A high pressure system based on guys skating more would, at the very least, eliminate the perception that the Flyers are a team that feels they can throw a switch whenever they need to and win games.

Hand in hand with that will be the line combos. Stevens is a coach that has adopted the philosophy of pairing guys, rather than adopting concrete three man lines.

From camp thus far, it seems the pairs will be Danny Briere and Claude Giroux, Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell and Richards and Simon Gagne.

The guys who will fight to join those duos are Ian Laperriere, Darroll Powe, Dan Carcillo, Blair Betts, Mark Bell, James van Riemsdyk, Miika Pyorala, Patrick Maroon, Andreas Nodl and Jon Kalinski. They are a mixed bag of agitators, top prospects, veterans on try out deals and kids that came out of nowhere to make an impact.

One guy who seems to be a lock to make the roster is enforcer Riley Cote, although he won’t be playing with any of the above pairs, unless he gets caught on a long shift.

Finally, the defense is probably as deep as it has ever been. Chris Pronger was a big addition. Not only does he remain an elite defenseman, he’s also a veteran who has a Stanley Cup ring, plays 30 minutes a night, can provide leadership, offense, physicality…he’s the complete package.

One of the more understated things Pronger brings is the ability to properly slot the rest of the defensemen. Kimmo Timonen is more suited to being a number two defenseman. Developing guys like Braydon Coburn and Matt Carle will get the benefits of the experience and solid play of Pronger and Timonen. Second year man Ryan Parent can settle in as a third pair guy who sees time on the PK, while Randy Jones can remain a very solid third pair guy, who won’t get exposed by playing too many minutes on a regular basis.

Even if the Flyers had not been tabbed by THN, it would have been a season of great expectations from the team and it’s fans. The Flyers are a very talented team, that should grow from last year’s disappointment, and also be playing with a nice big chip on their shoulder.