Czech It Off

Brayden Schenn celebrates a goal with his teammates in Team Canada's 7-2 romp over the Czech Republic during the 2011 World Junior Hockey Championships in Buffalo.

          Brayden Schenn scored a goal and added four assists while Ryan Ellis had four points to lead Team Canada to a 7-2 victory over the Czech Republic Tuesday afternoon.

            For the second consecutive game, the Canadians got off to a very slow start. Goaltender Olivier Roy gave up the first shot he faced, which was a pretty weak goal from a netminder’s perspective. However, Canada battled back to take a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Schenn and Jaden Schwartz. The turning point of the game occurred midway through the second period. Czech forward Antonin Honejsek seemed to have a sure goal, but was robbed by Roy’s left pad. The action quickly shifted to the other end of the ice, where Schenn feathered a saucer pass to Montreal Canadiens prospect Louis Leblanc who made no mistake.

            Although Team Canada dominated much of the game, the victory came at a high price. Defenceman Calvin de Haan left the game in the first period with an apparent leg injury. The New York Islanders prospect is one of four returning players from last year’s squad. Jaden Schwartz twisted his knee in the first period. Although he didn’t leave the game, it was evident that the injury was hampering him dramatically. The team also lost forward Zack Kassian, but for a different reason.

            Kassian crunched Czech forward Petr Senkerik with a controversial open ice hit midway through the second period and was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The analysts on TSN believed that it was a clean hit, but I strongly disagree. Kassian’s shoulder clipped Senkerik’s chin, which caused his head to snap back. To add to it, the puck was not near the collision. As a result, Kassian will be suspended for Canada’s game against Norway, and possibly more, pending a hearing with IIHF officials. Kassian has garnered the reputation as being an overly physical presence on the ice. While playing last season for the Windsor Spitfires (OHL), he was suspended for 20 games because of a vicious open ice collision. If you missed it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAcGSbrEi-c

            Team Canada will look to continue their perfection Wednesday against Norway. Phoenix Coyotes prospect Mark Visentin will make his first start of the tournament, replacing Olivier Roy.

Building or Tweaking - Which Comes First?

Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke has gone against conventional wisdom and has chosen to tweak his roster rather than building it through the draft.

        History would suggest that Stanley Cup contenders are a result of a number of characteristics - patience, player development, good luck and staying healthy - just to name a few. But more importantly, championship squads are built over time from a core of draft picks augmented by the timely addition of experienced players to fill the gaps.

 

        There are many examples to support this, but let’s take a look at the past two Stanley Cup champions and one up and coming team. The Pittsburgh Penguins struggled mightily in the early part of this decade. At one point, it even appeared that the Pens might be moving out of Pittsburgh. They started laying down the groundwork for their future in 2003, when they selected goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. In the next three drafts, they picked Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal. Then they tweaked their lineup by adding Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, Sergei Gonchar and Ruslan Fedotenko, who led them to the Stanley Cup in 2009. 

            The Chicago Blackhawks nearly went bankrupt and missed the playoffs seven times from 2000-2007. Their poor play was rewarded with high draft picks. This resulted in the Hawks being able to select Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The Blackhawks added Patrick Sharp, Brian Campbell and Marian Hossa to complement their young core, winning the Stanley Cup in 2010 for the first time since 1961.

            The Washington Capitals also received top-end draft picks after consecutive seasons in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. They used those picks to select forwards Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and defenceman Mike Green. They were upset in the first round of the playoffs last season to the Montreal Canadiens. Arguably, they are only one tweak away from being an unstoppable team. The missing link is in between the pipes.

            So what approach has Brian Burke employed during his time as General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

            Since being hired in November 2008, Burke has made a number of player transactions. He started building the foundation by drafting Nazem Kadri seventh overall in 2009. He then appeared to deviate from the proven successful strategy by trading his 1^st round picks in 2009 and 2010, plus a 2^nd rounder in 2009, to the Boston Bruins in exchange for 23-year-old Phil Kessel.

            He then tried to compensate for his lost draft picks resulting from the Kessel trade by signing undrafted players from US Colleges in 2008. These included Victor Stalberg, Tyler Bozak and Christian Hanson. Burke has made several other tweaks, including the additions of Dion Phaneuf, Francois Beauchemin, Mike Komisarek, Kris Versteeg and J.S. Giguere

            It would appear that Burke’s plan is to ignore conventional wisdom and tweak his roster first, and then build. Why has he done this? Well, that is all he knows and what he did when he was the General Manager in Anaheim.

            When Burke first joined the Ducks in 2005, the foundation was in place as the hockey club had already drafted three up and coming prospects in Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Chris Kunitz. Burke’s role was to add the missing pieces to their puzzle to build a championship contender. He tweaked the roster by adding added the likes of seasoned veterans including Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Francois Beauchemin. All of these players were key contributors to the Ducks winning their first ever Stanley Cup championship in 2007.

           

            The fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks had to endure a lot of hardship throughout their years of trouble. Now that the young players who they originally drafted have developed into stars in the NHL, their teams are poised to be formidable for years to come. Can Brian Burke change his philosophy to build first and then tweak? Does Leaf nation have the patience to wait for a rebuild?

Only time will tell.

NHL Quarterly Report

           The NHL season is approximately one quarter completed and there have been many surprises and disappointments league-wide. Below, I will highlight three surprises and three disappointments that have transpired to date.

Surprises

Under the Radar Rookies

            Heading into the 2010/11 season, the only talk regarding NHL rookies focused on 'Taylor vs. Tyler', or for those of you who don’t regularly follow hockey -  Oilers’ Taylor Hall and Bruins’ Tyler Seguin. Both of these players have had slow starts in their professional careers. On the other hand, two other rookies have come out of nowhere and have shined for their respective teams.

            Jeff Skinner was the seventh overall selection in this past June's draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. I can't really comprehend why teams ahead of the Hurricanes overlooked this impressive player. In 84 games for the Kitchener Rangers (OHL) last season, he had 70 goals and 53 assists. A former national level figure skater has shown that he is dynamic both on his feet and when he fires the puck. The Markham ON native leads all rookies with 19 points in 23 games this season.

            The Philadelphia Flyers were coming off a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they were backstopped by journeymen Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton. When Leighton went down with a seemingly innocent back injury in the pre-season, no one knew who the Flyers would rely on in net. Their answer?  Sergei Bobrovsky, a no-name Russian training camp invite. The teammate they call ‘Bob’ doesn't speak much English, but his lateral movement more than compensates. The former Novokuznetsk Metallburg starter in the KHL has been a revelation for Philadelphia. He currently boasts a 12-3-2 record with 2.19 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. Bobrovsky has been an integral reason that the Flyers are in 2^nd in the Eastern Conference.

Netminders with Something to Prove

            Tim Thomas was the Vezina Trophy winner in 2009. Many expected that he would lead the Boston Bruins to the promised land in 2010. However, Tuukka Rask achieved a 1.97 goals against average and substantially outplayed Thomas, who dealt with a hip injury throughout last season. The 2010/11 season has been a whole different story. Thomas underwent surgery to correct the problem in the offseason and it has made a huge difference. He has been absolutely lights out this year to date with his healthy hip, as evidenced by his 11-2-1 record with 1.56 goals against average, a .950 save percentage and four shutouts. The Flint, Michigan native is definitely back to his old Vezina form.

            In the offseason, the Montreal Canadiens decided to trade Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues, thus putting all their faith in Carey Price. Price has proven to all of his doubters that he isn’t ‘past his prime’ (even though he’s only 23).  The Anaheim Lake, BC native leads the league with 14 wins and is tied with Thomas with four shutouts. He has been the Montreal Canadiens’ MVP to date and undoubtedly a key factor contributing to the Habs’ third place ranking in the Eastern Conference.

Upstart Teams

            The Atlanta Thrashers made a flurry of deals in the offseason. They acquired what seemed to be half of the Chicago Blackhawks’ championship roster, and goalie Chris Mason, who twice represented Canada at the World Championship. Dustin Byfugilen and Ondrej Pavelec have become the two best Thrasher players. In fact, last week they were the #1 and #2 ‘NHL Stars of the Week.’ The Atlanta Thrashers are 7^th in the Eastern Conference, four points clear of the 9^th spot. I guess it really was a good idea to trade Ilya Kovalchuk!

            The Columbus Blue Jackets have made enormous strides from last season. Their main offseason moves were on the bench, where they hired Scott Arneil as head coach and former NHLer Bob Boughner as his assistant.  Boughner coached the Windsor Spitfires to back-to-back Memorial Cup championships, so winning is in his blood. Steve Mason has been a revelation this year and Mathieu Garon has been sharp when called upon. Columbus is in 5^th in the Western Conference and is poised to become the Phoenix Coyotes of last season.

Disappointments

Superstar Struggling

            When thinking back to the free agency period in the summer, Ilya Kovalchuk is likely to be the single player that dominates one’s mind. The NHL rejected his original 17 year $102 contract with the Devils. The two sides finally agreed to a 15 year $100 million deal. Was it all worth it? The Devils gave up Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, four first round picks (2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 or 2014), a 2011 third round choice and the $3 million dollar fine for the contract being rejected. Kovalchuk hasn’t been really impressive so far. He has only 10 points in 23 games. He’s been a healthy scratch and completely ‘whiffed’ on a game-deciding shootout attempt. I guess he’ll have 14 more years to improve his record.

Mainstay Teams on the Downfall

          Two teams expected to be division leaders have been the complete opposite to date.

            I’ve already mentioned Ilya Kovalchuk’s struggles, but his performance parallels that of the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey is having a very difficult time scoring goals and a hard time keeping pucks out of their net. This is the ideal recipe for failure. The Devils have made the playoffs for 13 consecutive seasons. They will need to ‘hike up their socks’ if they want to make it to the dance floor again this year.

            The Buffalo Sabres finished with 100 points last season, good for third place in the Eastern Conference. However, they were easily beaten in six games by the Boston Bruins in the playoffs. That kind of performance has continued into this season. Ryan Miller has not been himself and has been hampered by injury. Tyler ‘Zdeno Chara Jr.’ Myers has had a harsh case of the sophomore slump. He has a -10 rating thus far this season. Buffalo is currently 10^th in the conference and 10 points behind the division leading Montreal Canadiens.

Attendance

            Is it just me, or does it seem that NHL arenas are noticeably vacant this year? Eight teams have experienced significant drops in attendance, with Atlanta (36.2%), Columbus (31.9%) and Dallas (26.5%) leading the descent.  All three of these teams are performing much better than last year, which makes this whole situation quite odd. Even the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks (1.9%) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (0.3%) have noted decreased attendance. Come on fans, it’s not ‘dress up as an empty seat day’ every time you go to games!