SB Nation - Tom Kostopoulos

Ex-Hurricanes Update

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:00:43 -0000

by Rick Silva - AP

17 days ago: Florida Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun steers aside a shot as teammate Dennis Seidenberg pushes Toronto Maple Leafs' Lee Stempniak around the net during the third period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Nov. 27, 2009, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rick Silva)

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Not only are the Carolina Hurricanes wallowing in last place in the NHL, but many of the team's players have put out less than acceptable individual statistics. For instance, Rod Brind`Amour has 8 points and is -19 in 31 games, Chad LaRose has 6 points and is -14 in 28 games, Tom Kostopoulos has 5 points and is -3 in 32 games, Scott Walker has 4 points and is -1 in 22 games, and Stephane Yelle has 3 points and is -1 in 30 games.

On the other hand, there are some familiar faces no longer on the Canes doing all right for themselves and for their new teams.

Last night, Patrick Eaves scored a shorthanded goal for Detroit and was given first star honors for the game as the Red Wings defeated the Coyotes, 3-2. Eaves has battled injuries this year as he always seems to, but he has scored more goals (3) and has more points (9) than any of the players listed above and has done so in fewer games, (22).

Remarkably, he is also +7 on a Detroit team that has struggled this year. In comparison, Todd Bertuzzi is -6, Dan Cleary is -8, Jason Williams is -5, and Valtteri Filppula is -6. The Hurricanes do not have a single player in the plus column at this point in this season.

Eaves was a throw-away in the Aaron Ward deal during the summer. After the trade, Boston immediately bought the forward out, making him a free agent. He signed with Detroit and looks to be making a name for himself again.

Of course the Hurricanes just put Ward on waivers Monday, but the defenseman who he replaced, Dennis Seidenberg, is having a great year so far in Florida.

Seidenberg is second in the NHL with 96 blocked shots, something he also excelled at when he was with the Hurricanes. His 84 hits lead Florida and he is third on the team averaging more than 21 minutes a game on the ice.

The German native has scored one goal, has 12 assists for 13 points, and is a +4. He has played in all 34 games for the Panthers and presently has better stats than any of the Hurricanes' defensemen.

____

Fans were pretty happy last March when the Hurricanes re-acquired Erik Cole from Edmonton and the winger was certainly instrumental in the team's successful run to the post season. But Justin Williams was sacrificed in the process.

Both of these forwards have had plenty of injury issues in the past, but let's compare how they are doing so far this season.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Erik Cole	20	6	2	8	-9	17	1	0	1	0	39	15.4

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Justin Williams	29	8	15	23	3	27	1	0	1	0	87	9.2

Williams has a better supporting cast to play with, but he has been the healthier of the two so far this year. One thing for sure, Cole needs to shoot more.

_____

Anton Babchuk decided to play in the KHL, but he's also having a good year. He leads all Avangard defensemen in scoring with 5 goals, 9 assists, 14 points and a +12 rating in 27 games.

Will the ex-Hurricanes continue to do better than their counterparts who were retained by the team?

85 Reasons to Hate the Canadiens

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:57:01 -0000

More photos » by Winslow Townson - AP

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The Bruins will be in Montreal tomorrow night to face-off against the Canadiens. The Habs will be celebrating their 100th anniversary tomorrow night, which is weird because they have been milking this 100th season thing for 2 years now. Instead of doing my typical game preview, I thought I would do something ~~completely unoriginal and hacky~~ different. TSN recently came up with a list of 100 reasons to love the Canadiens, so I decidedly to come up with a rebuttal. The following are 85 reasons to hate the Montreal Canadiens (in no particular order) to celebrate 85 years of Bruins hockey.

1. Almost all of their Stanley Cup wins were a direct result of an unfair player allocation system

2. 2008

3. 2004

4. 2002

5. 1989

6. 1987

7. 1986

8. 1985

9. 1984

10. 1979

11. 1978

12. 1977

13. 1971

14. 1969

15. 1968

16. 1958

17. 1957

18. 1955

19. 1954

20. 1953

21. 1952

22. 1947

23. 1946

24. 1931

25. 1930

26. Their lame fans that flood the streets of Boston

27. Their fans celebrated a first round win over an 8 seed by set their own city's police cars on fire

28. One of their greatest players ever has a nickname that sounds like a sex toy

29. One of their former "coaching masterminds" can't even read a children's book

30. Their fans are living in the past.

31. Ken Dryden F__ that guy!

32. Patrick Roy Just a poor man's Marty Brodeur

33. They are a bunch of purse snatchers

34. They have better diving form than Rodney Rangerfield in "Back to School"

35. Guy LaFleur His son is a creep and the old man isn't much better

36. Ole! Ole! Ole! Ah how cute. You got a little song you sing.

37. I feel guilty every time I order a Molson

38. Who calls for a stick measurement in the Stanley Cup Finals?

39. Their dumb fans that would rather have a team of French Canadians than a competitive team

40. Their jailbird throwback jerseys

41. I hate any team that has a Gionta on it

42. The Habs couldn't give the B's much of a series last year and I think it hurt the B's in Round 2

43. They love to play chippy, but rarely answer the bell

44. Maxim Lapierre's gutless late hit on #81 last year

45. Mike Komisarek's eye gouge on Matt Hunwick

46. George Laraque's idle threats

47. They are the NHL team of choice for Vermont's dirty hippies

48. Most of their forwards aren't tall enough to ride most of the rides at the amusement park

49. Their fans think it is classy to boo the American national anthem

50. They undeservedly got a bunch of their players in the All-Star Game last year.

51. To quote Bill Burr: "their silly little fans who act like they live in Paris even though you can see the place from Vermont"

52. Celine Dion almost bought the team and nobody in Montreal seemed to be embarrassed about this

53. Habs fans boo Chara every time he touches the puck and even the most die hard Habs fan couldn't tell you why.

54. I need to use a passport and my poor high school French to see them play in Montreal

55.

56. They used to employ Mike Ribiero (Timmy's pick)

57. They used to employ Shayne Corson (Timmy's pick)

58. Ryan O'Byrne's turtle move

59. Claude Lemieux gutless puke

60.

61. Guy Carbonneau looks like a movie villain

62. They won the majority of their Stanley Cups in the Original 6 era

63. They thought Hal Gill was a solid off-season pick-up

64. "Too Many Men on The Ice"

65. Red, White, and Blue used to respectable colors

66. The Habs 164 different retro jerseys they have used to commemorate

67. This has been the longest "year" ever

68. Youppi That thing is just flat out creepy

69. They are own by a Brewery, but they can't figure out how to control their team like Doug and Bob McKenzie in "Strange Brew"

70. They hate Michael Ryder

71. They are the only team to get Patrice Bergeron to drop the gloves

72. They cut Mr. Kathryn Tappen

73. Carey Price's haircut

74. Kovalev faking an injury in the 2004 playoffs

75.

76. 1 beer per person limits at The Garden for B's-Habs games

77.

78. The Habs went to a Christian retreat called "Teen Ranch" for team bonding

79. This Guy who took his wife's name and wears a personalized Habs jersey with his new last name on it.

80. Their confused fans

81. Tom Kostopoulos' flying elbow

82.

83. Glen Metropolit used to be a guy you could root for

84. No matter where the B's finish they always seem to draw the Habs

85. Because they are the Habs. You are supposed to hate them.

Epic Fail: Thrashers 6, Canes 4

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:15:03 -0000

More photos » by Gerry Broome - AP

17 days ago: Atlanta Thrashers' Ilya Kovalchuk (17), from Russia, shoots past Carolina Hurricanes' Joe Corvo and goalie Manny Legace to score during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, Nov. 27, 2009. Atlanta won 6-4. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

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The Carolina Hurricanes dominated the first two periods, jumped out to a 4-1 lead, and were cruising heading into the third period before they totally collapsed, allowed five consecutive goals, and lost to the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday night by a score of 6-4.

The Canes looked about as good as they can look in the first 40 minutes. They generated scoring chance after scoring chance. They peppered Atlanta goalie Ondrej Pavelec with a variety of shots. They played solid in their own end. But that effort was all wasted.

Instead of remembering the great play of Erik Cole, the perfect pass by Tom Kostopoulos to Matt Cullen for a shorthanded goal, and the hustle play by Stephane Yelle, fans will probably only remember how the team folded like a mighty mite team in the third.

Is it even worthwhile to talk about the first two meaningless periods?

The breakdown in the third period was about as bad as one could be. Most of the players after the game were speechless. Paul Maurice blamed it on turnovers in their own end, lack of skating, and a feeling like they had already earned the two points after the second period.

When asked about the turnovers the coach said that maybe it was "arrogance". But this is not the first time it's happened and seemingly absolutely nothing has been done about it.

While the coaching staff and players won't call anyone specific out by name, there does seem to be one common theme to most of the goals that were scored tonight. Number 4.

Here are the players who were on the ice for each of Atlanta's even strength goals:

4, 13, 16, 34, 41, 59
4, 13, 16, 34, 41, 59
7, 8, 15, 34, 36, 77
4, 7, 12, 14, 26, 34
4, 6, 12, 14, 26, 34

What number do you see most often? Aaron Ward.

Most were pleased when Jim Rutherford was able to "steal" Ward from the Boston Bruins for Patrick Eaves. Most of us wondered why Peter Chiarelli put Eaves on waivers afterward, making it look like they got rid Ward on purpose, just for a salary dump. And many of us wondered if their acquisition of Derek Morris in his place was really an upgrade.

The early return is that the Boston GM knew exactly what he was doing when he dumped Ward for nothing. And Jim Rutherford did him a huge favor by picking up Ward's 2.5 million in salary cap. But that's all water under the bridge now. The only remedy is to wait things out and hope he improves, or put him on waivers.

In his defense, Ward has been injured and it's hard to blame any loss completely on just one player. But there are some defensemen in Albany who would have had a much better game. Ward's -13 so far this year is the worst on the blueline, and that is probably no surprise to anyone.

For a complete rundown of the game, check this link.

Game Notes:

Erik Cole had his best game of the year and looked like the Erik Cole of old. He had new found "jump" and created several opportunities.
Tom Kostopoulos also played well, as did Matt Cullen. They teamed up for a perfect shorthanded goal, the team's second of the year. TK scored the first of the season.
Joni Pitkanen was injured again and left the game after the second period. To say he was missed would be a gross understatement.
The powerplay looked better and showed much more movement and purpose.
The Canes allowed two goals in less than a minute again, the 12th time they did that this season. They also allowed three goals inside of three minutes.
Rod Brind'Amour was called for hooking about midway through the second period and barely saw the ice after that. He finished with 6:06 of ice time, low on the team.
Stephane Yelle scored a goal and continued to block shots on the PK.
The team as a whole was not as physical as usual and only had 14 hits for the game compared to 30 for the Thrashers. Aaron Ward led the team with four.
Eric Staal led the way with six shots on goal. Erik Cole and Matt Cullen had five each.

There is no rest for the weary as the Canes travel to Buffalo for a match with the Sabres Saturday night.

Road Troubles Continue for Carolina: Ducks 3, Canes 2

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:23:04 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

19 days ago: Anaheim Ducks center Todd Marchant, left, tries to score on Carolina Hurricanes goalie Manny Legace during the second period of an NHL hockey game Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

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The Carolina Hurricanes are now all alone in the NHL basement with the worst record, (5-14-5), and fewest points, (15), in the league, as they dropped yet another road game on Wednesday night, this time to the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 3-2.

The Canes are doing a great job of tying franchise records this season, but unfortunately, they are records of the wrong type. After previously tying a franchise worst 14 consecutive games without a win, they now have started the season with 12 consecutive road games without a win, (0-9-3), tying a franchise record dating back to the 1981-82 season.

To the team's credit, they jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, but then watched the Ducks control the puck most of the rest of the game, as Anaheim cycled, cycled, and cycled some more, and put on a clinic in front of their home crowd.

Tom Kostopoulos got Carolina off to a good start as he put a Matt Cullen pass in at just 1:23 into the game. This was TK's 400th career NHL game and second goal of the season.

The Hurricanes had some jump in the first period and continued to control play for a bit after the goal. They drew an interference penalty about five minutes in, but the ensuing powerplay failed to generate anything worthwhile and the momentum shifted Anaheim's way.

Even though Anaheim controlled the puck for long periods of time in the Carolina zone, Manny Legace was once again excellent in goal. For the most part, the Canes were able to keep the Ducks to the outside during their relentless cycling, but when they did get shots, Legace was like a man possessed in net. He made diving saves, post-to-post saves, and glove saves galore.

But late in the second period, Eric Staal was called for high-sticking right off of a faceoff, and the Ducks would take advantage of their powerplay with the help of a nice pass by Teemu Selanne and shot by Scott Niedermayer. The shot by Niedermayer looked like a mis-hit, but he got under the puck just enough to send a floater over Legace's head to tie the score.

The Hurricanes had two more powerplay chances in the second period, but failed to capitalize. As a matter of fact, the second one looked horribly out of sync as they could barely gain possession of the puck in the Ducks' zone and were called for offsides on three occasions while trying to enter the zone. It was not a pretty sight.

The Ducks were out-shooting and controlling play again in the Hurricanes zone when the team finally broke down in the third. Sergei Samsonov was pushed off the puck by Todd Marchant, who flipped a backhanded pass to Kyle Calder, who flipped another backhanded pass to Petteri Nokelainen. The Finn out-hustled Andrew Alberts and chipped the puck over a surprised Legace to make the score 2-1.

That was another fluky goal, but one well deserved because of the hustle involved.

Later in third, both Carolina defensemen pinched, the puck got behind them and Saku Koivu fed a wide open Teemu Selanne who easily made the score 3-1 and put the game out of reach.

The Canes tried to make a game of it though as they finally got some possession time in their own zone. Brandon Sutter would score with less than a minute left as Eric Staal got the puck through the crease to him, but it was too little too late and the Canes would face another long flight home as losers.

Their next game is at the RBC Friday night against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Game Notes:

The lines were like a "Land of Confusion" as Maurice mixed and matched them all night long. The defensemen were not left out of the quagmire either as different pairings were tried throughout the game as well. The good news is that there were not any "too many men on the ice" calls this game.
Brandon Sutter, who is tied for most goals scored on the team, (6), had just 12:46 of playing time. He was moved off the first line after the opening period or so and did not get as much powerplay time (52 seconds) as he was getting previously. Usually very good on the penalty kill, he got zero shorthanded time. Maurice complimented him after the game, but apparently forgot about him earlier.
Eric Staal led the team with six shots on goal but looked rusty and was undisciplined at times. In the third period, he was frustrated as a Duck was hooking him and he grabbed the stick and tossed it, which could have easily resulted in another penalty against him. Somehow, he needs to control that frustration and not lose his temper when things are not going his way.
Legace was diving and sprawling all night long to make his saves, while Jean-Sebastien Giguere barely broke a sweat. Was that evidence of a difference in goaltending style, or the quality of shots each goalie faced? Giguere hardly moved, blocking shots easily with his chest or blocker most of the night. Great positioning on his part and poor shot selection by the Canes.
The team had 25 hits led by Tim Gleason's six.
Staal and Cullen took the majority of faceoffs with 17 each, while Sutter took nine, Yelle took eight, and Brind'Amour took four. None of them won over 50%.

Habs vs Former Habs at the Quarter Point

Robert L — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:24 -0000

I haven't taken a look at this since the 10 game mark (October 27), but it seems that the former Habs players are now gaining a slight edge on their current counterparts.

At the quarter season point, it is still too soon to draw much of a conclusion, especially considering how unstable the Canadiens' lineup is these days

Most of the players on both sides have kept up their early season pace going, with exceptions being Tanguay, Lang and Koivu, who have picked it up for the former Habs and Marc-Andre Bergeron, who now leads all Canadiens' D in scoring. Tailing off somewhat, are the Bruins' Michael Ryder and Steve Begin.

Most notable among these statistics may just be the save percentages - added to this list for the first time here. I chose to include them for obvious reasons, that being the Canadiens duos numbers as compared to the former netminders now tending goal for stronger clubs.

The Habs much maligned duo of Halak and Price take a beating a little too often, but as it appears here, they could just as well be the team's saving grace.

*Players below are ranking by points and not in comparison.

Jaroslav Halak 8-5-3-0 2.62-9.04 / Jose Theodore 13-5-3-4 3.24-8.83 (Capitals)

Carey Price 13-5-8-0 2.99-9.06 / Cristobal Huet 15-9-4-1 2.25-9.02 (Blackhawks)

Marc-Andre Bergeron 14-3-4-7 / 21-4-7-11 Mark Streit (Islanders)

Roman Hamrlik 20-4-2-6 / 19-0-8-8 Craig Rivet (Sabres)

Jaroslav Spacek 21-1-5-6 / 19-2-5-7 Francois Beauchemin (Maple Leafs)

Paul Mara 21-0-6-6 / 15-2-4-6 Ron Hainsey (Thrashers)

Josh Gorges 11-1-1-2 / 6-0-2-2 Sheldon Souray (Oilers)

Hal Gill 14-1-0-1 / 16-0-0-0 Mike Komisarek (Maple Leafs)

Totals - Defense　

Habs: Total GP: 101 / Goals: 10 /Assists: 18 / Points: 28

Former Habs: Total GP: 96 / Goals: 8 / Assists: 26 / Points: 34

Tomas Plekanec 21-4-15-19 / 20-6-10-16 Mike Ribeiro (Stars)

Mike Cammalleri 21-8-8-16 / 19-3-9-12 Mikhail Grabovski (Maple Leafs)

Brian Gionta 19-8-5-13 / 18-4-8-12 Alex Tanguay (Lightning)

Scott Gomez 21-2-9-11 / 20-5-6-11 Robert Lang (Coyotes)

Glen Metropolit 15-4-6-10 / 18-4-6-10 Alex Kovalev (Senators)

Travis Moen 21-4-3-7 / 20-2-7-9 Steve Begin (Bruins)

Andrei Kostitsyn 21-2-4-6 / 15-2-6-8 Saku Koivu (Ducks)

Maxim Lapierre 21-1-4-5 / 20-4-3-7 Michael Ryder (Bruins)

Max Pacioretty 21-2-2-4 / 20-2-5-7 Sergei Samsonov (Hurricanes)

Guillaume Latendresse 21-2-1-3 / 14-3-2-5 Arron Asham (Flyers)

Georges Laraque 8-0-1-1 / 20-2-3-5 Christopher Higgins (Rangers)

Matt D'Agostini 11-1-0-1 / 20-1-0-1 Tom Kostopoulos (Hurricanes)

Totals - Forwards　

Habs: Total GP: 221 / Goals: 38 /Assists: 58 / Points: 96

Former Habs: Total GP: 224 / Goals: 38 / Assists: 64 / Points: 102

Totals - Team

Habs: Total GP: 322 / Goals: 48 /Assists: 76 / Points: 124

Former Habs: Total GP: 320 / Goals: 46 / Assists: 90 / Points: 136

Incidentally, I'm not much of a video gamer when it comes to such things as NHL 2010 or EA Sports and stuff. (I used to joke that X-Box sounded like a former girlfriend!) A reader of this site has been looking into aligning the teams above against one another for a series of games. That sounded like an interesting offer, and I took him up on it. Once the results come forth, you'll read about it here.

New Streak Starts Tonight? Canes at Habs Game Day Preview

Bob Harwood Waeghe — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:10:27 -0000

The Carolina Hurricanes, (3-12-4), put an end to their franchise tying worst 14 game winless streak on Sunday with a shootout win over the Minnesota Wild. Will they start a new streak tonight? The team is in a building where they have had a lot of previous success as they face the Montreal Canadiens, (9-11-0).

The Canes are 7-0-1 at the Bell Centre and have not lost in regulation in Montreal since December, 2003. Erik Cole usually enjoys much personal success against the Habs as well and averages a point a game against them in the regular season, (21 points (13G and 8A), in 21 games).

Tom Kostopoulos and Sergei Samsonov will return to their former haunts as both served time playing for the Canadiens, but with different fanfare. Samsonov is looked upon with disdain by many of their fans for being a perceived bust, but Kostopoulos was a fan favorite.

The Hurricanes announced that Michael Leighton will start in goal for them for the second straight game. The goalie has Montreal ties himself as he was claimed off the waiver wire by the Habs in 2007. But he never played a single minute for the franchise and was eventually acquired by Carolina for a 7th round draft pick on draft day in the summer of 2007.

Here is an interesting article about Leighton's brief stint in Montreal.

Carey Price will be in net for the Habs after making a record tying 53 saves for them against Nashville on Saturday. The team still lost, 2-0.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Michael Leighton	4	205	1	2			16	4.68	96	80	.833	0

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Carey Price	13	739	4	8			38	3.09	395	357	.904	0

The Canadiens have several new faces after trading away or walking away from old mainstays like Saku Koivu and Alex Kovalev. But big name acquisitions Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta have not exactly worked out as planned. Gionta is presently out with a lower body injury. (Habs Inside/Out)

They are led in scoring by Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Tomas Plekanec	20	4	13	17	3	10	1	0	0	0	48	8.3

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Mike Cammalleri	20	8	8	16	7	12	2	0	1	0	68	11.8

Ray Whitney and Jussi Jokinen lead the lowest scoring team in the NHL in points.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ray Whitney	17	6	7	13	-2	6	1	0	0	0	33	18.2

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Jussi Jokinen	19	4	7	11	-6	12	1	0	1	0	31	12.9

The Canes are still suffering through a number of injuries. Eric Staal, Cam Ward, Scott Walker, and Joni Pitkanen did not make the trip. Stephane Yelle and Aaron Ward are both expected back in the lineup.

The team will probably slide Tim Conboy in the fourth line with Yelle and Kostopoulos and continue to play Bryan Rodney on defense in place of Pitkanen. The lines should look like the following:

Sutter, Whitney, Cole
Cullen, Ruutu, Jokinen
Brind'Amour, Samsonov, LaRose
Yelle, Kostopoulos, Conboy
Gleason/Corvo
Ward/Wallin
Alberts/Rodney

Habs Inside/Out reports the Montreal lines as following:

Cammallari-Metroplit-Gomez
Pacioretty-Plekanec-Kostitsyn
Latendresse-Lapierre-Moen
Stewart-Pyatt-White

If you are interested in even more in depth information about the Canadiens, check out Habs Eyes on the Prize.

Peter Laviolette might be gone, but one of his traditions apparently was deemed worth keeping. The Hurricanes will have some extra incentive as several fathers joined the team for the road trip and will hang out with the boys over the course of their two-day adventure. We will link to more information about the trip as the Hurricanes release photos and related information.

There is no local television for the game tonight, but you can tune in to Center Ice for the French feed. Or of course you can listen to Chuck on 99.9 The Fan. We will have the open thread going here starting at 7. The puck drops at 7:30.

Fighting: Just like Chess

Hawerchuk — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:15:19 -0000

by Chris Young - AP

2 months ago: Toronto Maple Leafs' Colton Orr, right, fights with Montreal Canadiens' Georges Laraque during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

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So how do we figure out who the best fighter in the NHL is? First, we need to know who won every fight that takes place in the league. Hockey-fights.com is an absolutely indispensable resource in this regard - its users vote on who won and lost every fight. But it's not enough - a heavyweight who fights only in his weight class might have a .500 record despite being one of the better fighters in the league.

As usual, chess has the answer we're looking for: the ELO rating system, which handicaps players based on their past performance. Using ELO, the loser of a bout between top-ranked fighters will be penalized far less than if he lost to an unknown or a poor fighter. Here are the rankings for serious fighters using all fights during the 2006-07 through 2008-09 season:

Player	Ft	In	Wt	Fights	W	L	T	GP	Fights/82
Georges Laraque	6	3	253	30	24	3	3	177	13.9
D.J. King	6	3	229	22	16	2	4	89	20.3
Derek Boogaard	6	8	257	29	21	6	2	133	17.9
Donald Brashear	6	3	234	37	23	9	5	220	13.8
Wade Belak	6	5	225	28	17	7	4	165	13.9
Milan Lucic	6	3	228	24	18	4	2	149	13.2
Aaron Downey	6	1	215	15	9	1	5	81	15.2
Raitis Ivanans	6	4	256	39	21	11	7	215	14.9
Colton Orr	6	3	222	52	31	16	5	209	20.4
Eric Godard	6	4	214	44	20	15	9	164	22.0

No matter how you slice the data, Laraque was going to be #1. His 24-3-3 record against no-one but tough guys is unmatched.

And what about the less-frequent fighters?

Player	Ft	In	Wt	Fights	W	L	T	GP	Fights/82
Zdeno Chara	6	9	255	7	5	0	2	237	2.4
Sheldon Souray	6	4	233	8	7	0	1	188	3.5
Gary Roberts	6	2	215	6	5	1	0	137	3.6
Kevin Bieksa	6	0	205	15	13	1	1	187	6.6
Craig Rivet	6	2	210	13	10	0	3	209	5.1

This group definitely includes some solid fighters who've made the highlight of the night with their fists. Just missing the top five were Robyn Regehr and Rick Rypien, who fight less often but have had good success against serious fighters.

And who have been the worst fighters in the league? Presumably, legitimately bad fighters will stay away from fights! But among those who do fight repeatedly, Corey Perry (0 wins in 7 fights), Greg Campbell (1-16), Brendan Witt (1-9), Alex Burrows (0-15) and Tom Kostopoulos (1-23) stand out as particularly poor. Those decisions come from Hockeyfights.com users - if you watch the fight videos yourself, your mileage may vary.

Habs vs Former Habs - October 27

Robert L — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:15:37 -0000

The Canadiens players made some interesting gains on their former counterparts this past week. A pair of 5 goal games didn't hurt matters.

A pair of quick clarification notes for starters.

I've flipped Markov for Bergeron and Bouillon for Hainsey for no other reason than it is more interesting to follow players who are actually pointing. By mid-season or later, depending on Markov's return date, I might just list 7 defensemen per side.

Additionally, the players ranked side by side aren't neccessarily being compared to one another. There's been some confusion or misunderstanding about this. Players on both sides of the columns are ranked simply by points. If that happens to align one against another, you can draw your own conclusions on that note.

Now onto the interesting bits:

The biggest jumps on the Canadiens' players side were made by Cammalleri, the NHL's second star of the week, and Glen Metropolit, who returned from his rib injury and has posted consistently in three games played. Gionta, Gomez and Plekanec have had some multi-point games to shore up their totals as well. Among the depth players, there's a few added digits alongside the names of Moen, Lapierre, Pacioretty and D 'Agostini.

Among the former Habs, most have had a quiet week with just a point or two through three games. Perhaps the biggest surprise continues to be Steve Begin, who potted a couple of goals this past week, to add to his 4 assists. The same goes for Arron Asham, who's an anomaly on this list, as the sole player not cast off during the Gainey regime.

The six Canadiens defensemen have 7-11-18 totals through 11 games. The former Habs D comes in at 3-9-12 in roughly 9 games played on average.

Mara, Spacek and Bergeron have 3-9-12 on their own, while defensemen the Canadiens let go last season, Komisarek, Bouillon, Schneider and Dandenault are pointless.

On the surface, Canadiens forwards have 22-36-58 totals, while the former Hab forwards come in at 22-29-51. The former guys have played a few games less each, so it is still pretty much an even draw in that category.

Here's where it gets a bit more revealing:

Gomez - Gionta - Cammalleri: 11-14-25

Koivu - Tanguay - Kovalev: 4-5-9

A second tier of reel ins versus castoffs would look like this:

Moen and Metropolit: 4-7-11

Kostopoulos and Begin: 3-4-7

The removal of Lang (1-3-4) from the Canadiens center position seems to have helped Plekanec (2-8-10) return to a form shown two years ago.

Here's the rundown on all players:

Jaroslav Halak 5-4-1-0 2.28 / Jose Theodore 7-2-2-2 2.55 (Capitals)

Carey Price 6-2-4-0 3.36 / Cristobal Huet 8-4-2-1 2.49 (Blackhawks)

Paul Mara 11-0-5-5 / 10-1-3-4 Mark Streit (Islanders)

Roman Hamrlik 10-3-1-4 / 9-1-2-3 Francois Beauchemin (Maple Leafs)

Jaroslav Spacek 11-1-3-4 / 8-0-3-3 Craig Rivet (Sabres)

Marc-Andre Bergeron 4-2-1-3 / 8-1-1-2 Ron Hainsey (Thrashers)

Josh Gorges 11-1-1-2 / 3-0-0-0 Sheldon Souray (Oilers)

Hal Gill 11-0-0-0 / 9-0-0-0 Mike Komisarek (Maple Leafs)

Mike Cammalleri 11-5-7-12 / 11-3-6-9 Mike Ribeiro (Stars)

Tomas Plekanec 11-2-8-10 / 10-3-3-6 Michael Ryder (Bruins)

Scott Gomez 11-2-5-7 / 10-2-4-6 Steve Begin (Bruins)

Brian Gionta 11-4-2-6 / 9-2-3-5 Mikhail Grabovski (Maple Leafs)

Glen Metropolit 5-1-5-6 / 9-3-1-4 Alexei Kovalev (Senators)

Travis Moen 11-3-2-5 / 10-1-3-4 Robert Lang (Coyotes)

Andrei Kostitsyn 11-1-3-4 / 10-1-3-4 Sergei Samsonov (Hurricanes)

Maxim Lapierre 11-1-2-3 / 6-3-0-3 Arron Asham* (Flyers)

Max Pacioretty 11-1-1-2 / 10-1-2-3 Saku Koivu (Ducks)

Guillaume Latendresse 11-1-0-1 / 12-0-2-2 Christopher Higgins (Rangers)***

Georges Laraque 8-0-1-1 / 9-0-2-2 Alex Tanguay (Lightning)

Matt D'Agostini 9-1-0-1 / 10-1-0-1 Tom Kostopoulos (Hurricanes)

Habs Total GP: 179 / Goals: 29 /Assists: 47 / Points: 76

Former Habs Total GP: 160 / Goals: 25 / Assists: 38 / Points: 63

Week Three / After 7 games: F 112-15-26-41 / 117-15-31-46

Week Two / After 5 games: F 80-12-20-32 / 67-8-22-30

Week One / After 2 games: F 33-6-11-17 / 23-4-13-17

On the former Habs front, a player I always appreciated was Chris Higgins. A reader asked about him on Saturday, suggesting a parallel between him returning to Montreal and the similar storyline of Kovalev's return a week earlier. Sadly, Higgins storyline never quite materialized. He took an untimely penalty and found himself in John Tortorella's dog pound for the third period. Rangers' fans are seriously worried about him.

Tidbits: Looking At The Hurricanes Through Five Games

Cory Lavalette — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:15:37 -0000

More photos » by Gerry Broome - AP

Scott Walker, center, leads the team in plus/minus at plus-4 through five games. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Browse more photos »

I had the pleasure of escaping to the beautiful North Carolina mountains this past weekend, and not only was the four-day hiatus from the bustle of daily life refreshing, but also devoid of all things hockey. So Sunday evening I hunkered down to catch up on the Friday and Saturday games I missed, unaware of the results for both games. So after a DVR-paced four hours of hockey (finishing a little after 2 a.m.), I came away with a few observations, plus I have some statistical tidbits from the early season's happenings. A little bit of this overlaps with Bob's Early Season Stat Check — great minds think alike.

I questioned the inclusion of Tom Kostopoulos in the penalty killing rotation at forward, but his strip of Bryan McCabe and subsequent shorthanded goal in Friday's game against Florida showed why he belongs in the mix on the PK. While the Canes are rotating six forwards on the kill, Kostopoulos is seeing the fourth-most shorthanded ice time of any forward on the Carolina roster (3:06). Part of this, of course, is because of the abundance of penalties the Canes are taking. But it is still more than the less than two minutes his previous three seasons. In 2005-06, he averaged 3:03 of shorthanded ice time with the Kings in the penalty-happy first year following the lockout. Regardless, he and Stephane Yelle have settled in as a reliable pairing on the kill and on the fourth line.
I felt bad for Alexander Salak, who stepped in for a shell-shocked Tomas Vokoun in Florida's 7-2 loss to the Canes Friday. With Scott Clemmensen away from the team for personal reasons, the 22-year-old rookie was forced into his first NHL action on a night when the team in front of him was clearly overwhelmed. He didn't help himself much, either, allowing a softie to Rod Brind'Amour and another — on a blistering, perfectly placed shot — to Jay Harrison on just seven shots. With Vokoun looking shaky at best — he single-handedly blew the game against Tampa Bay last night — Clemmensen's return can't come soon enough for coach Peter DeBoer.
I understand that the schedule was thinning out this week, but it seems Paul Maurice is already lacking confidence in backup Michael Leighton. On the second back-to-back sequence of the season, Maurice again looked to Cam Ward in both games. The team's record in those four games? 1-3. Ward played very well, but there's something to be said for letting Leighton getting a chance to play early in the year. Instead, he'll likely ride the pine for another week — or more.

Time for some statistical tidbits ...

The plus/minus statistic can oftentimes be misleading, but in the case of Scott Walker, I think it tells the story perfectly. Walker is a team-best plus-4 in the early going (T-16th in the NHL) and has been a visible presence on every shift he's jumped over the boards.
Like we mentioned, penalties have been a problem. Shockingly, the Canes have four players in the top 25 in PIMs: Tim Gleason (19, T-6th); Kostopoulos (14, T-18th); Andrew Alberts and Harrison (both 13, T-23rd). Granted, all five have fighting majors on their resumes early in the season, but that's still way out of character for Carolina.
Eric Staal hasn't registered an even-strength point yet this season, but his two power play goals — his only points — are good for a 20-way tie for fifth in the league.
On the flip side, Kostopoulos' shortie makes him one of 14 in the league to register one so far this season.
Tuomo Ruutu, not Staal, leads the team in shots with 21 (T-13th in the NHL). Staal is one behind (T-17th), but his 13 missed shots are second in the league.
Joe Corvo, while not yet contributing on the scoresheet, has been an absolute minute-muncher through five games. Only transplants Jay Bouwmeester (28:05) and Chris Pronger (27:47) are averaging more minutes than Corvo's 27:13, and he's also No. 1 in the league in power play ice time with 7:23 per game. Staal ranks 10th among forwards at 21:39 a night.
Staal, Matt Cullen and Ray Whitney have also seen lots of time with the man advantage. Cullen's 6:15 on the PP is fifth in the NHL and second among forwards (even though he plays the point). Only Alex Ovechkin averages more among forwards (6:51). Staal is seventh/fourth at 5:57 and Whitney is seventh/12th at 5:40 per game.
Aaron Ward has played only one game with expected partner Joni Pitkanen, and the shuffling around might be the reason he leads the team in goals allowed while on ice with nine — tied for 11th most in the league. On the flip side, departed Dennis Seidenberg is tied for worst in the league in goals allowed on the PK with seven for Florida. Vancouver's Ryan Johnson has also been on the ice for as many.
Jussi Jokinen leads the team in scoring with five points (two goals, three assists) through five games, and he's doing it in just 14:53 ice time per game. All five of his points were scored in the division, good for a tie for third in the NHL, while his four points at home are tied for 18th in the league.
Conversely, the Canes have gotten just six points from their defense, and no one has more than one point. Alberts is the only d-man of the seven who have played to be held without a point thus far.
Alberts' 20 hits at tied for fifth in the league, while Aaron Ward's 13 blocked shots are good for a tie for 12th. Ruutu leads all forwards in hits with 13 (27th among forwards in the NHL).
Cam Ward's been busy in October. He's faced 150 shots (sixth in the NHL), made 137 saves (T-fifth) and has a 2.86 goals-against average (28th, but ninth among goalie who have played at least four games). His .913 save percentage is tied for 19th in the league.
Carolina is tied with five teams for 20th in goals scored at 2.4 per game, while they are tied for 23rd with Vancouver in goals allowed (3.4).
The Canes 5-on-5 play is below par, with them managing 0.88 goals per one goal scored by opponents (20th).
The power play sputtered early in the season but is starting to show some signs of life. Carolina is currently at 12.9 percent (26th). The big problem has been at home, with the team scoring just once on 16 chances (6.2 percent, 26th). On the road, the Hurricanes are 3 of 15 (20 percent, T-19th).
The penalty kill has improved dramatically after a horrible start. At 75.8 percent, the Canes currently rank 19th in the league. They have allowed just three goals on 19 kills at the RBC Center (84.2 percent, 11th), but have given up five goals on 14 road kills (64.3 percent, 25th). Mark that up to the debacle in Boston.
Not to beat a dead horse, but at 24.4 minutes per game, the Canes are last in the league in PIMs.
The team has stumbled some in the faceoff circle, winning just 48.8 percent of their draws (17th).
Finally, one totally random fact: the Minnesota Wild — the team from "The State of Hockey" — is the only team in the NHL yet to play a U.S.-born player this year. The Canes are one of several that have played seven, while Los Angeles and Buffalo lead the way with eight each.

Habs Versus Former Habs - October 12

Robert L — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:47:36 -0000

In week 2 of the Habs vs former Habs matchup, the Canadiens players have put in a cumulative 47 games played versus only 44.

The biggest gains on the Habs side were Paul Mara with three assists in three games, Tomas Plekanec with a goal and an assist, and Mike Cammalleri with two assists.

For the fomer Habs, Mike Ribeiro posted a goal and two assists in two games, and Saku Koivu with one and one in four games made the most significant point jumps.

In the more direct forward matchups, the Habs line of Gomez, Gionta and Cammalleri look good against Ribeiro, Kovalev, and Tanguay, outpointing them by a 10 to 5 margin.

The Canadiens three best forwards thus far (Gionta, Cammalleri and Plekanec) have 11 points versus 10 for the trio of Grabovski, Begin and Ribeiro.

On the blueline, Paul Mara has more assists than any former Canadiens defensemen has points.

Carey Price 4-2-2-0 3.53 / Cristobal Huet 3-1-1-1 2.87 (Blackhawks)

Jaroslav Halak 1-0-1-0 3.58 / Theodore 4-1-2-1 2.90 (Capitals)

Andrei Markov 1-0-0-0 / 3-0-0-0 Sheldon Souray (Oilers)

Jaroslav Spacek 5-0-1-1 / 3-1-2-3 Mark Streit (Islanders)

Roman Hamrlik 4-1-1-2 / 4-0-0-0 Mike Komisarek (Maple Leafs)

Paul Mara 5-0-4-4 / 4-0-2-2 Francois Beauchemin (Maple Leafs)

Josh Gorges 5-1-1-2 / 3-0-1-1 Craig Rivet (Sabres)

Hal Gill 5-0-0-0 / Francis Bouillon 3-0-0-0 (Predators)

Scott Gomez 5-1-2-3 / 3-1-2-3 Mike Ribeiro (Stars)

Mike Cammalleri 5-0-4-4 / 4-1-0-1 Alex Kovalev (Senators)