SB Nation - Brad Stuart

Price / Halak - The Stats - November 2009

Chris Boyle — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 05:13:39 -0000

What a difference a month makes.

Thirty days ago the Canadiens were in the middle of a goaltending controversy. Jaroslav Halak's agent was NITWITTERING Carey Price's won/loss record, the fanbase had placed the bus in reverse and were attempting to leave a fresh set of treadmarks on Price's back and the Canadiens were plodding through their schedule at .500.

Outside of the Canadiens still flirting with the .500 mark, the attitude regarding the goaltending situation has changed dramatically. Since this article is a retrospective on November, it is heavily weighted towards Price. Halak's one start didn't offer enough of a sample to legitimately track his monthly progress. What began as an even split in October, turned into a clear separation as Price started 11 of 12 games in November, almost rendering the title of this article, and its point, moot for at least the time being. A solid performance by Halak in Ottawa suggest that the busy month of December may tell a different story.

Surprised by the turn this has taken, maybe you shouldn't be. This has been typical of the story that Price has written over the first two and a half seasons of his career. Somehow, instead of the fanbase observing the roller coaster ride from afar, recognizing that as the roller coaster descends, a peak exists for it to climb, they jump on the roller coaster eyes closed screaming for dear life on its mad descents only to extol the virtues of the ride when they disembark.

Should Price struggle in February again, it is likely that the fresh imagery that exists in everybody's minds right now will once again dissipate in a mad panic

Panic in Montreal is generally followed by the rewriting OR ignoring of history. Even with Price's strong November this controversy is not over, it will continue to bubble just below the surface. Should Price struggle in January, the detractors who are silent right now will re-emerge with the same arguments, their memories will once again be wiped clean. While the starting goaltender in Montreal is one of the most heavily scrutinized positions in sports, the easiest may be the backup goaltender in Montreal. The backup's flaws are always concealed under the their baseball caps, their past transgressions completely ignored. This will never change.

At Eyes On The Prize, we continue try to look past the surface level blame and analyze what is really going on. This month we will compare Price's performance in November to October and also look back and try to clarify the factors that contribute to a team based stat like a win / loss record and how it relates to Price and Halak.

One of the main arguments against Price in October was his inability to win games. With Halak sporting a 5-2 record and Price at 2-5, the most simplistic argument was "Price doesn't make the big saves when he needs to" and "Halak wins games". That argument ignored plenty of factors, most importantly that wins are a team based stat.

While perusing the internet I came across an interesting perspective at Brodeur is a Fraud. While trying to debunk the myth of Brodeur's career, he came up with an interesting statistic that he refers to as Win Threshold. It essentially projects out what a goaltender would have had to do to earn a point (.500) by including the teams performance in front of him. In a 3-1 victory, the assumption would be that to earn a point the goaltender would have to allow no more than 3 goals. Inversely, in a 3-1 loss the goaltender would need to have allowed no more than 1 goal.

We can calculate what I'll call the "win threshold" for the goalies on each team by taking (shots against - goals for) / shots against. This gives us the save percentage that would result in the team ending up with an equal number of goals for and goals against over the course of the season. If the goalie's save percentage is above that number, the team is likely to win more than the lose, while anything below the threshold means that the team should end up sub -.500 (or sub -.550 in the shootout era).

This simple statistic beautifully illustrates the career of Chris Osgood AND his playoff run that allowed the media to begin the "Chris Osgood is a Hall of Famer" nonsense.

In 2008-09, Detroit's win threshold was .873, which was the lowest in the league. The Islanders' win threshold was .928, which was not only the highest mark in the league but also the highest of any team since the lockout......Naturally, comparing win totals on goalies playing on the Islanders to goalies playing on the Red Wings is completely senseless.

Using this as a starting point, I compared how this statistic affected goalies on the same team. Was the Canadiens offense responsible for Halak's inflated win total, or was it his superior goaltending? What would Price have had to do to compensate for the woeful offense in front of him? Was it that Halak was receiving an easier ride?

(Let me preface this by stating that this is judging wins and wins alone. If a goaltender was fantastic and had a .960 SV%, but only needed to produce a .895 SV%, it is not devaluing his performance, only stating that his margin for error was very high. I also understand that early saves can keep a team in a period. Teams play to the score and loosen up when they are up big and that some goals are scored late in a game and alter the margin for the threshold. It is obvious that providing replacement value will never replicate the actual performance that history has provided. This theory is being used only to illustrate that wins are a team statistic and that they are heavily influenced by not only what you save, but what offense your team provides).

To put this in perspective, the league average in save percentage is .910.

In order for Price to gain the majority of his wins, he has had to offer above average goaltending.
His margin for error was slim and when he failed to balance on the high wire, he was open to criticism.
A .915 save percentage is currently good to place 20th in the league.

Halak on the other hand was allowed to navigate with a greater margin of error. He only needed to offer a save percentage of .865 to register his 5 victories. Vesa Toskala's save percentage on the season is .863. So any goaltender slightly more competent than Toskala MAY have registered a similar number of victories as Halak.

Both goaltenders would have had to provide Hall of Fame type performances to avoid the majority of their losses.

How would those statistics translate if you offered up average replacement value? If Jimmy Howard and his .910 SV% replaced Price and Halak, the Canadiens would be in deep trouble. The Canadiens would likely be in the hunt for Taylor Hall, not talking about the importance of their December schedule.

Looking at Price's losses below, it is unlikely that an average goaltender makes any impact on his losses, hell, it's unlikely that Roberto Luongo would have made much of a difference.

Price's threshold in his 11 losses is a SV% of 0.944 and a GAA of 1.69. Numbers that would place him above Ryan Miller as the number one goaltender in the league. Six of those starts would have required a .940+ SV% just to procure a shootout. If the team continues to struggle offensively to this capacity, then it is going to require Jose Theodore 2002 MVP type performances to drag them into the playoffs. With Price and Halak entering their RFA season, THAT is a scary and expensive thought.

You would think with Halak's lack of activity in November, that his stat line would remain unchanged, but with only an 8 game sample, one strong start against the Flames resulted in an 11 point improvement on his save percentage and lopping 1/5th of a goal off his goals against average. In October, Price statistically lagged behind in all the major categories, but with a strong month has lessened the paper gap between himself and Halak. I made the argument in October that Price had a higher ceiling, but was prone to wild swings of inconsistency and the 2009 season has proven that out so far.

Through two months, what has been proven, is that the Canadiens goaltending is in good hands. With the transition of turning over half the team, and the numerous injuries to key personnel, the fact the team came through November at .500 is miraculous. At this moment, Halak's consistency offers the perfect compliment to Price, but due to the idiotic actions of his agent (Halak, Halak it a lot?), it is clear that Halak is eyeing a starting assignment, and will not likely find that in Montreal. You may be reading "Price / Sanford: the numbers" by ~~March~~ December. (note: as I am writing this, Sportsnet has reported that Halak has been placed on the trading block).

The fact that I can even mention a 2002 Theodore-like season is based on the strong November showing by Price. Playing behind an injury ravaged defense that produced roughly the same amount of shots as the previous month, from roughly the same areas, Price's numbers improved across the board. Price also managed to avoid a major meltdown like the Vancouver game, as well as producing a couple of 40+ shot gems against the Bruins and Predators.

With Halak pushing Price for the starting job in October, by all accounts Price responded to the challenge with hard work, which resulted in plenty of positive signs over the last month. With hard work Price's confidence level soared and his return to a hybrid style has allowed his athleticism to re-surface, because of this, Price managed to produce some miraculous saves during November. His patience has also been on display, particularly in shootouts and breakaways where once again he is using his huge frame to his advantage and refusing to commit before the shooter. With his gap control improving, he has been extremely hard to beat in 1 on 1 situations. This is a huge improvement on the tentative approach he used in late 2008-09. Add in his aggressive puck handling and his tenacity in battling to track the puck and the hope in Montreal is that Price has begun turning the corner.

Price's save percentage's also improved in almost every category in November, with his biggest improvement coming in shorthanded situations where his save percentage improved by over .200. His woefully low special teams percentage in October masked the fact that he was producing an elite level even strength percentage. With an improvement to mediocre powerplay standards, Price's statistics all experienced a significant jump across the board.

The question remains, what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the Canadiens penalty kill improve in November because of Price, or did Price's numbers improve because of the penalty kill? Halak did not suffer the same special teams meltdown. Could that have had anything to do with the power of the opposition, or his own play?

With so many new faces and the loss of Markov, it is no surprise that the PK got off to a slow start. With the return of O'Byrne and Gill and the emergence of White and Pyatt, the October implosion by Price should be avoidable moving forward.

Interesting to note if Price had managed to produce an .878 powerplay SV% in October, his overall SV% would have improved from .889 to .920.

Price and Halak continue to get bombarded by shots and the Canadiens have once again regressed into becoming over reliant on goaltending to win hockey games. With the early season injury to the Canadiens best player (Markov in 2010, Koivu in 2002) and the continual 30+ shot barrages, this season is becoming eerily reminiscent of the 2002 season when Theodore needed to provide the difference every night.

With Price's numbers improving in November, the assumption would be that the Canadiens settled down and began to limit shots and scoring opportunities. The Canadiens actually surrendered an extra two shot attempts per game. Price still is averaging over a shot attempt against per minute on the ice, a trend that will either lead to a statistical regression or an MVP award.

In 8 of his 11 starts in November, Price faced 30+ shots, including a team record tying 53 saves against the Predators and a 42 save gem that was seconds short of his 1st shutout of the season. Only once in his 11 games did he have less than 50 shots directed at him. Price continued to excel on shots outside of 20+ feet as he only allowed 7 of 257 shots to beat him. His SV% below 20' feet drastically improved and is pushing towards the league average.

Price offered up plenty of spectacular saves in November, but also had some concentration lapses that resulted in some questionable goals, something that had been absent from his game in October (only 5 of 25 came in as questionable, with zero registering at fault). Although his statistics drastically improved over the month of November, with the Canadiens lack of scoring ability (25th in the NHL) and his unbelievably tough win threshold (see above), his margin for error was slim. This can be witnessed by his 0-4 record in the 4 games I credited a bad goal. In two of the games (Detroit and Atlanta) the margin of victory was one goal, the other two (Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh) were decided by two goals. As he matures, these goals should occur less frequently allowing him to become even more of a game changing player. He isn't yet ready to carry a team, but it seems the Canadiens have given him little to no choice in the matter presently.

Looking at the zones where Price has given up goals, his glove hand continues to be much maligned even though he has only been beaten high glove side 11 times through November (11/53). The reason for the questions lies in the amount of bad goals high glove side. Out of the 12 goals categorized as suspect or bad, 6 have been high glove side, making it much easier to understand AND defend the criticism.

Looking at his November chart also gives the impression that he is very vulnerable low stick side, but looking at the video below shows that a lot of those goals came as the result of cross ice passes in which Price was not able to square up and were the result of him in transition. A small concern for me through two months has been his vulnerability through the 5-hole, an area he has not been able to cover with his stick either in transition or static and squared up.

Goals deemed questionable or bad are marked in bold.

26. Rich Peverley feeds it in front and it deflects off Bryan Little by a moving Price beating him 5-hole. 10 ft.
27. Pass from behind the net to a wide open Peverley in the slot, snaps a shot by Price low-stick side. 14 ft
28. Point shot by Mark Popovic that knuckles by Carey Price beating him high glove side. 59 ft.
29. 5 on 4 PP. Cross crease feed to a wide-open Pavel Kubina who directs it pass Price into an empty net. 5 ft.
30. Kane cross crease pass to a wide open Colby Armstrong who beats Price low stick side. 8 ft.
31. 6 on 5. Point shot. Price makes the initial stop, Patrice Bergeron rebound beats Price low-stick side. 5 ft.
32. 5 on 4 PP. Scramble. Price makes 2 saves but cannot stop Ryan Malone as he beats him five-hole. 11 ft.
33. Price, big rebound and Alex Tanguay alone, chips it over Price beating him high glove side. 14 ft.
34. 2 on 1. Scramble. Wright beats Gorges to the puck and slides it into an empty net. 6 ft.
35. Price highsticked in the throat by Mara falls down leaving an open net. Robert Lang puts it top shelf. 15 ft.
36. Point shot wide deflects into an open net off Bissonnette's skate beating Price low glove side. 12 ft.
37. Price makes initial save, Steve Sullivan all alone finishes off his rebound beating Price 5-hole. 7 ft
38. 5 on 3 PP. Point shot stopped, Sullivan at the side of the net beats Price low stick side. 14 ft.
39. Odd man rush, cross ice feed to the slot. Brandon Sutter chips it over Price, high glove side. 14 ft.
40. 3 one 2, cross ice feed one timed by Jussi Jokinen beats Price low glove side. 32 ft.
41. Eric Fehr snaps a shot from the face-off dot beating Price high-glove side. 25 ft.
42. Morrison takes a pass in front and moves opposite to Price's momentum beating him low glove side. 6 ft.
43. 5 on 4 PP. Brad Stuart point shot handcuffs Price and trickles in. 55 ft.
44. 5 on 3 PP. Brian Rafalski point pass tipped home by Pavel Datsyuk at the side of the net. 12 ft.                         45. Nash behind the net finds Vermette who one-times it past Price beating him high blocker side. 11 ft.
46. 5 on 4 PP. Rick Nash centers it, Stralman cheating off the point beats Price low blocker side. 24 ft.
47. 5 on 4 PP. Antoine Vermette's shot stopped, rebound back to him, beats Price low blocker side. 20 ft.
48. Sidney Crosby snap shot from the top of the faceoff circle beating Price high glove side. 38 ft.
49. Bill Guerin from the corner. Price makes initial save, doesn't hold the post as he beats him 5-hole. 8 ft.
50. Crosby with a beautiful pass to a streaking Sergei Gonchar who beats Price 5-hole all alone. 8 ft.
51. Point shot deflected in front by Brooks Laich beats Price low blocker side. 18 ft.
52. Alex Ovechkin one timer from the top of the faceoff circle beats Price low blocker side. 38 ft.
53. 6 on 4 PP. Price stops a one-timer by Ovechkin, Fehr slides home the rebound beating Price 5-hole. 10 ft.

The November verdict: You have to be encouraged by the performance of Price and Halak through November and the improved penalty kill is a positive sign and a factor in Price's improved numbers. The volume of shots and scoring opportunities remain a major concern. In October I preached patience because of the integration of 10-12 players and the introduction of a new system. With injuries creating a revolving door of players it is likely that this team has still not properly gelled. The Canadiens have fallen into a pattern of struggling to produce offense and relying on Price and Halak to bail them out, and this is a dangerous game to play with developing goaltenders. They have been able to provide some fantastic results through November, but if this continues they will struggle to make the playoffs. To provide room for improvement moving forward, the goaltenders get a B+ for November.

To view the October Price / Halak analysis, click here.

December 8 :: Numbers and Awards

mpetrella — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:25:56 -0000

More photos » by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

Even in a draft-centric team re-creation, here's your backup goaltender. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

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Much is made of the Red Wings' ability to built a championship team while never selecting very high in the draft (**cough**Pittsburgh**cough**). People point to Jonathan Ericsson (the 291st and final selection of the 2002 Draft), Henrik Zetterberg (210th in 1999), and Tomas Holmstrom (257th in 1994) are glowing examples of a draft science that has been perfected by the organization. Sometimes, they pick up guys that haven't lived up to their draft pick, like Dan Cleary and Patrick Eaves, but have you ever wondered what the Red Wings would look like if the team was formed -- and the line combinations were made -- based solely on their draft selection? Well, it would look like this:

Cleary (13) -- May (14) -- Bertuzzi (23)
Eaves (29) -- Ferraro (32) -- Emmerton (41)
Abdelkader (42) -- Tatar (60) -- Draper (62)
D. Axelsson (62) -- Maltby (65) -- Nestrasil (75)
TOP CALL-UPS: Joakim Andersson (88), Valtteri Filppula (95), Johan Franzen (97)

Stuart (3) -- Kindl (19)
B. Smith (27) -- Kronwall (29)
Lidstrom (53) -- Lilja (54)
TOP CALL-UPS: Doug Janik (55), Gleason Fournier (90), Max Nicastro (91)

McCollum (30)
Osgood (54)
TOP CALL-UPS: Jimmy Howard (64), Daniel Larsson (92)

AFTER THE JUMP, some more numbers and award updates

Justin Abdelkader is going to get the opportunity to center the second line against the Blues, but he's the only Red Wing faceoff-taker with a percentage below 50 (minimum 100 faceoffs). He's currently winning only 42.8% of his draws.

The Red Wings have only scored the first goal of a game ten times this season, with Tomas Holmstrom and Dan Cleary each netting that goal twice. Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Brad Stuart, Drew Miller, and Justin Abdelkader each have the distinction once.

Kris Draper and Niklas Kronwall co-lead the team in goals against division opponents (3 each). Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom co-lead in goals against opponents from other divisions (9 each). Henrik Zetterberg leads the team in points at home (16) and on the road (14).

The only players to have negative +/- both at home and on the road are Dan Cleary, Derek Meech, Brett Lebda, and Todd Bertuzzi. On the contrary, the only players to be positive both at home and on the road are Kris Draper, Patrick Eaves, Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom.

Kirk Maltby is the only Red Wing with a point while shorthanded -- an unassisted goal.

Justin Abdelkader leads the way with 78 hits, followed by Brad Stuart (75), Darren Helm (73), Dan Cleary (50) and Patrick Eaves (50).

CHRIS CHELIOS AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings defensemen with the fewest goals scored in the most games played. The player must have played in at least 3/4 of the team's games. The award is named for Chris Chelios, who scored 23 goals in his final EXACTLY 600 games as a Red Wing (regular season and playoffs).*
1. Nicklas Lidstrom (1 goal in 29 games)
2. Brett Lebda (1 goal in 26 games)
3. Brad Stuart (2 goals in 29 games)
4. Brian Rafalski (2 goals in 26 games)
5. Jonathan Ericsson (3 goals in 27 games)

DANNY CLEARY "SACRAFICE YOUR FACE" AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most blocked shots. Award is named for Dan Cleary, who is used to becoming synonymous with "black eye" and/or "broken jaw."*
1. Darren Helm (20)
2. Danny Cleary (15)
3. Henrik Zetterberg (14)
4. Pavel Datsyuk (13)
5. Justin Abdelkader (9)

DEREK MEECH AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wing with the most games spent in the press box. Award is named for Derek Meech, who was a healthy scratch 35 times last season.*
1. Derek Meech (15)
2. Brad May (8)
3. Patrick Eaves (7)
4. Kirk Maltby (5)
5. Brett Lebda (3)

GREG STEFAN AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings goaltender that makes you question how they're in the NHL and you aren't. Award is named for Greg Stefan, who played nine seasons for the Red Wings, but only three that had a goals against average under 4.*
1. Chris Osgood (6-5-4, 2.75, .896)
2. Jimmy Howard (8-5-1, 2.55, .910)

MIKAEL SAMUELSSON AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most shots to miss the net. Award is named for Mikael Samuelsson, who literally must have been aiming for the 11th row.*
1. Henrik Zetterberg (52)
2. Todd Bertuzzi (29)
3. Tomas Holmstrom (28)
4. Ville Leino (27)
5. Pavel Datsyuk (21)

PAST AWARD WINNERS
Patrick Eaves Goodfellas Award: Patrick Eaves (last player to be penalized)
Aaron Downey Award: Derek Meech (last player to score a goal)

New Jersey Devils Give Up 2 Goal Lead, Pull Out Win over Detroit Red Wings in Shootout

John Fischer — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:09:07 -0000

More photos » by Bill Kostroun - AP

Patrik Elias showed up in the shootout and scored the shootout winning goal to give the New Jersey Devils the win. Chris Osgood is frozen at this point in time. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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Last Saturday, the New Jersey Devils snowballed their way to a huge 6-1 win over the New York Islanders. As the game went on, the Devils played better and went on to dominate on the ice and on the scoreboard. Tonight, the opposite happened as the Devils hosted the Detroit Red Wings. The Devils started off great, slowed down a bit in the second period, and then reverted to how they looked last night in the third period. In the process, the Devils conceded a two goal lead and the game was forced into overtime and followed by a shootout. The Devils won there, the final became 4-3, and so NHL.com has your recap complete with the relevant stats.

The Devils prevailed there, but I can't honestly say I'm pleased with the performance. I know, I know, it's a results-oriented business and the Devils just picked up 4 points in 48 hours. Fine. But the Devils could have and should have done better tonight, especially because they played so well and worked so hard in the first period. Credit the Detroit Red Wings for responding after being beaten on first twenty minutes, they eventually took the game over and made it a game.

Winging it in Motown has their recap up and joehass wonders why Patrick Eaves wasn't used in the shootout for Detroit given that he had a goal and an assist. Read on my extended thoughts on tonight's game.

Let's talk about the goaltenders first. Martin Brodeur and Chris Osgood, I felt, played well. Both goaltenders had to come up huge at various points. Brodeur bailed the Devils out of the third period, whereas Chris Osgood robbed the Devils a few times earlier - most notably Ilkka Pikkarainen's backhand. A bit odd to say given that both gave up 3 goals each. However, only one of the six goals scored in regulation was really a soft - Johnny Oduya's individual effort sliding right through Osgood's legs. The other goals were off rebounds where the goaltender had no chance on (Jamie Langenbrunner, and one deflection by Patrick Eaves. Here's a video of the game's highlights from NHL.com. See for yourself:

Now, you can see where the momentum lied in the shots by period. The Devils' first period was very strong. They bossed the Detroit skaters around, they moved the puck up ice at will, they owned the neutral zone, and outshot the Wings 11-7. They were doing what I said I wanted them to do in the game preview - be aggressive on offense. If you had seen that period, then you became increasingly amazed at how the Devils took their foot off the proverbial pedal. In the second period, Detroit pulled one back (Kris Draper on a rebound), the Devils responded with a goal of their own (Rob Niedermayer on a rebound created by Vladimir Zharkov), and then Detroit capitalized on a power play near the end of the period (Thomas Holmstrom on a tip). Sure, the Devils were leading after the period, 3-2; but the Red Wings clearly made adjustments that the Devils didn't have many answers for and so outshot the Devils 11-9. No longer was Detroit being outworked, no longer was Detroit constantly giving away the puck in the neutral zone.

And then the third period came and it reminded me so much of last night, it was sick in retrospect. It started off well enough. Jay Pandolfo nearly had a goal when his shot from the high slot was stopped by Chris Osgood. The puck bounced up, over Osgood, and was about to slide in only for Brad Stuart to swoop in and clear it off the line. From that point on, Detroit took over in pinning the Devils back, forcing them to clear the puck right back to Detroit, and repeat. Patrick Eaves got the equalizer off a deflection and Martin Brodeur should be thanked for keeping the score tied. After all, the Devils only put 3 shots on Osgood in the third (11-3 Detroit in terms of shots). Where were the Devils of the first period? Where was the aggressive offense? Truthfully, the Devils escaped the third period and were fortunate to earn a point with that kind of "offense."

Overtime saw the Devils actually make an effort to score a goal and came close when a deflected shot by Travis Zajac beat Osgood, but was denied by the post. Alas, this game needed a shootout and the Devils pull out a win. The fans (it was a very good and loud crowd at the Rock) were real happy with the win, nearly everyone standing for every shot and Devils attempt. Exciting stuff, but I can't help but think that most would have liked to have seen the Devils continue to do what they did in the first period and put the game out of doubt. But Detroit responded real well and the Devils wilted. I also can't help but think of the following cliche: good teams know how to win games that they perhaps shouldn't have. The Devils did just that in the last two games. So I guess they are a good team.

A few Devils stuck out tonight, in my opinion. I felt Jay Pandolfo (17:58, 1 A, 2 SOG) and Johnny Oduya (21:01, 1 G, 3 hits) had good games. I was a bit concerned with how they would look after not playing for at least a month, and my concerns were quickly erased. Both hustled pretty well and didn't make too many noticeable mistakes as they played significant minutes. Well, Oduya did jump up on offense, got caught, and didn't really recover well as Darren Helm unloaded a shot that Kris Draper eventually knocked in. But Oduya was just a part of that, the other Devils should have helped out in recovery; so I wouldn't kill him for that one. Rob Niedermayer had a good game, he had 3 shots on net and went right to the net at the right time for the Devils' third goal. He played just over 19 minutes (19:17) and statistically I can only fault him for going 5 for 13 on faceoffs. I also felt Colin White (21:00) and Mike Mottau (24:57) had a solid game on defense. This is especially good news for White as he left Friday's game early due to "lower body soreness." Tonight, he stayed in and feels pretty good afterward according to Gulitti's postgame report.

In terms of Devils who stuck out for not being noticeable (this makes sense, hear me out), I'd have to point the finger to Patrik Elias and Brian Rolston. Last week, they were a dynamite duo. Tonight, they weren't really there. Rolston had 3 shots on net and played 14:57. None of those shots were of particular importance and he managed to get blocked twice and miss the net three times. I didn't think he had an impact. Elias got the win-clinching goal in the shootout, but he did little else in the game. He also played far less than I thought, only 14:05, put 1 shot on net, and was thoroughly beaten at the faceoff dot (3 for 11). The offense has a whole suffered as the game went on, and these two really do need to take more initiative to prevent this from happening in future games.

I do have to credit Detroit's defense in part of stifling New Jersey's offense. Nicklas Lidstrom is an absolute joy to watch on the blueline. He knows where to position himself, when to step up on a player, when to drop back, and he is so slick with the puck. A few times in the game, a Devil forward would have the puck and carry it over the blueline only to just dump it away because he knows he can't beat Lidstrom in a one-on-one battle. It's no wonder he's known as a dominant defenseman. Naturally, he played 30:48 for Detroit because he really is that important. Jonathan Ericsson also came back from injury and put in a good (not perfect, but good) effort in playing 28:24 (!!), often along side Lidstrom. Overall, the Red Wings' D cleaned up a lot of rebounds and Lidstrom alone made things difficult for the Devils' offense after the first period. Not that the Devils' offense was particularly interested in attacking them by the third period.

So what's next? The Devils have four games in the coming week and they really need to be more consistently positive on offense. That means putting shots on net through all three periods. That means not allowing the opposition to dictate the play when up with a lead. That means not giving up a two goal lead in a game. I think it'll get better, hopefully by Monday when they go up to Buffalo. Thanks to Steve and commenters in the GameThread, as well as all of the readers. Feel free to leave your thoughts, questions, complaints, stats I missed, and anything else you feel about tonight's shootout win in the comments.

Wings down Habs 3-2 in SO

MrNorrisTrophy — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:26:31 -0000

More photos » by Graham Hughes - AP

24 days ago: Montreal Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price, right, is scored on by Detroit Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk, of Russia, during an overtime shootout during an NHL hockey game in Montreal, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Graham Hughes)

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Detroit got back in the win column after a loss to Dallas and an overtime loss to Florida as they beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in a shoot-out.

Brad Stuart started the scoring for both teams on a power-play goal at 12:41 of the first period. Stuart put what seemed to be a rather innocent shot past Montreal netminder Carey Price for a 1-0 Detroit lead. Price was screened by Todd Bertuzzi and his own defender, leaving little chance to find the puck until it was already in the net. Dan Cleary and Brett Lebda assisted on Stuart's second goal of the season. The powerplay resulted after Montreal's George Laraque took six penalty minutes on one shift, including a tripping call that put Niklas Kronwall for the remainder of the game and possibly a long stretch afterwards.

"You know it's something that shouldn't happen in hockey," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "A guy shouldn't hang his leg out there and hurt another guy. It's unacceptable and it's disappointing, obviously. We just lost a good player for a period of time. Our doctors will look at him, but he's out for a chunk for sure."

Pavel Datsyuk would add another Red Wings power-play goal as he tipped a Brian Rafalski shot past Price for a 2-0 Detroit lead, only 2 minutes after the first goal by Stuart. Datsyuk scored his sixth goal of the season as he was camped out to Price's right before Rafalski's shot from the blue line. Datsyuk's goal came on a five-on-three as Laraque was still in the box, now joined by Paul Mara.

Jimmy Howard, starting his 5th game in the past 6 stopped numerous quality chances from Montreal during the second period en route to his 4th win of the year. Howard stopped 16 shots in all as Detroit out-shot Montreal 35-18, making Price work all night and leaving Howard with a much more manageable work load.

Mike Cammalleri scored his tenth and eleventh goals of the season as he lead the Canadiens back to a tie in the third period. Cammalleri's first goal came just nine seconds into the 3rd period as he fired a drop pass from Andrei Kostitsyn into the net behind Jimmy Howard. Cammelleri's second goal was the result of a beautiful pass from Kostitsyn, who blazed the puck across the goal mouth from the sideboards to the tape of Cammelleri's stick; tying the game at 2 with under 9 minutes gone in the 3rd period. Howard has little hope of stopping the shot and the pass was near perfect as the Canadiens capitalized on a rare miscue from Nicklas Lidstrom.

Overtime ended with out any goals being scored so the teams prepared for the shoot-out. Cammelleri was stopped by Howard on the first attempt of the shoot-out. Pavel Datsyuk did one of his patented "Datsyukian dekes" to beat Price and ultimately win the game. Henrik Zetterberg sealed the win with a pretty special move of his own as the team departs Montreal with a 3-2 win and 2 more points in the standings.

Detroit's next game is on Monday against Nashville, a game that will be seen on Versus.

MrNorrisTrophy's Wing of the Game: Pavel Datsyuk. Pavel scored the second goal of the game and had an incredible move to beat Carey Price and win the game. He added 6 shots to his 20:35 of ice time and 81% success rate in the faceoff dot.

Meet the Enemy: 5 Questions with the Blue Jackets

MrNorrisTrophy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:00:36 -0000

Continuing the "get to know your central division opponent" feature, here is a five question and answer piece that Mike MacLean of The Cannon, the Columbus Blue Jackets SB Nation member, was nice enough to fill out for us. Take some time to read his responses and visit The Cannon in anticipation for the game.

1. Recently you wrote an article about the potential exodus of the Blue Jackets from Columbus. In short, how realistic is this?
The Cannon: In reality, it is unlikely that the Jackets will move from Columbus. The recent events in Phoenix show that the NHL is dead-set against relocation. I am confident that something will be done to stop the operating losses that the Jackets are suffering right now, whether that's through public taxation or a restructuring of the arena lease with Nationwide Insurance.

2. Rick Nash is, in my opinion, one of the least appreciated guys in the league. How good is this guy really and how does he carry the team night in and night out?
The Cannon: Rick Nash, in a market like Toronto, Montreal, New York, Philadephia or Chicago would be a superstar. He is a threat in all facets of the game, whether it's five-on-five, power play or on the penalty kill. Under Ken Hitchcock he has become the total package, a player who can score, set up plays, and even check and defend. He has the ability to change the tempo of a game himself. When the Jackets need a play to change momentum, Nash is the guy to do it. He is a great penalty killer, using his positioning and anticipation. He also has the ability to keep players around him grounded, while he's not a rah-rah guy, he has a calming influence and is a fantastic leader. By doing the small things night-in and night-out, the players see this and follow his lead.

3. What's the biggest difference between last year's Blue Jackets and this year's Blue Jackets team?
The Cannon: The biggest difference between last year's squad and this year's stems from the two key free-agents the Jackets acquired this past summer. Mathieu Garon gives the team a trustworthy backup to Steve Mason, who can go out and win games himself. The team didn't have that luxury last year with Wade Dubielewicz. Sammy Pahlsson gives the Jackets a legitimate checking line, something they lacked last season. Also, there is a bit of a swagger this season, after finally getting the playoff monkey off their back.

4. Last year Steve Mason took home the Calder Trophy for top rookie. How feasible is it that he could take home the Vezina this year?
The Cannon: Mason had a fantastic season last year, but he is only now-a month into the season- rounding into form. There is added pressure on him because of the Calder, and perhaps that was affecting him early. The Vezina is a long-shot, mainly because of his disappointing star but also because there are a handful of other goalies out there (namely Marc-Andre Fleury) who are looking fantastic right now.

5. For the casual fan looking at the Columbus roster, with a few exceptions there are mostly a lot of names that you don't hear on the highlight reels that often. How has this team emerged as the division leader? From great team play or is it the Mason & Nash show?
The Cannon: I think the Jackets early success is due to the team game. The scoring is spread out amongst all four lines, but at the end of the day Rick Nash is their scoring leader and his best start to a season factors in heavily to the team's early success. Team defense is also a strong point.

BONUS! What are the chances that RJ Umberger knows where Brad Stuart is at all times?
The Cannon: I'm sure RJ wll be on the lookout- and maybe Derek Dorsett or Jared Boll-the Jackets' tough guys-has a short memory and gives Stuart some "payback"!

Once again, thanks to Mike MacLean for participating.

FUN WITH MATH! (Not really, though...)

mpetrella — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:37:29 -0000

More photos » by Gerry Broome - AP

2 months ago: Carolina Hurricanes' Scott Walker (24) is congratulated by Joe Corvo (77) and Tim Gleason (6) after Walkers' goal as Atlanta Thrashers goalie Manny Legace (29) falls to the ice at right during the first period of an NHL preseason hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

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Yesterday, Manny Legace signed a contract with the Carolina Hurricanes, and will become the 17th former Red Wing (or Red Wing draft pick) to play for another NHL team this season.

The Canes are one of three teams to have TWO former Red Wings (Legace and Ray Whitney). The others are Chicago (Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa) and Vancouver (Mikael Samuelsson and Mathieu Schneider).

On the other hand, the Red Wings have two former players from each of the following teams:
ANAHEIM (Todd Bertuzzi and Brad May)
CALGARY (Bertuzzi and Brad Stuart)
CHICAGO (Dan Cleary and Jason Williams)
EDMONTON (Cleary and Kirk Maltby)
FLORIDA ( Bertuzzi and Andreas Lilja)
NEW YORK ISLANDERS (Bertuzzi and Chris Osgood)
PHOENIX (Cleary and May)
VANCOUVER (Bertuzzi and May)

The current Red Wings have played for all but FOUR teams. No current member of the squad has played for the Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, or Washington Capitals. (Sort of... Doug Janik played for the Stars, Canadiens, and Lightning. Andy Delmore played for the Predators and Flyers. Otherwise, these teams are not represented, either).

The Red Wings have lost 43 man-games to injury. At this point last season, the Wings had lost 34 man-games to injury.

Nicklas Lidstrom leads the team with a +8 rating. Interestingly, his partner, Brian Rafalski, is -1. Funny how that works... Dan Cleary is the low plus/minus man at -7.

Brad Stuart leads the team with 2.9 hits per game. Justin Abdelkader (2.7), Brad May (2.6), Darren Helm (2.4), and Patrick Eaves (2.1) follow. Johan Franzen was averaging 3.7 hits before his knee injury. Ville Leino is at the bottom of this list, averaging 0.21 hits per game.

Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, and Steve Yzerman became the 7th, 8th, and 9th Red Wings to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this decade. The others are Igor Larionov (08), Paul Coffey (04), Larry Murphy (04), Mike Ilitch (03), Bernie Federko ('memba him?! 02), and Viacheslav Fetisov (01).

And now, onto the Fake Awards Updates:

GOODFELLAS AWARD
Darren Helm
Patrick Eaves
*named by Winging it in Motown's Mr. Norris Trophy, given to the Final Red Wing to be penalized this season. Award will be renamed in honor of one of these two gentlemen, whoever is the last man standing*

LAST RED WING TO SCORE A GOAL (name under advisement...feel free to suggest a name)
Brad May
Derek Meech

MIKAEL SAMUELSSON AWARD
1. Henrik Zetterberg (17)
2. Todd Bertuzzi (15)
3. Jason Williams (14)
4. Ville Leino (13)
5. Tomas Holmstrom (12)

*Given at the year’s end to the Red Wing forward with the most shots to miss the net*

DEREK MEECH AWARD:
1. Derek Meech (10)
2. Patrick Eaves (6)
3. Brad May (4)
4. Brett Lebda (3)
T5. Kirk Maltby (2)
T5. Justin Abdelkader (2)
*Give at the year's end to the Red Wing with the most games spent in the press box*

GREG STEFAN AWARD:
1. Jimmy Howard (1-2-1, 3.42 GAA, .879sv%)
2. Chris Osgood (6-3-2, 2.77 GAA, .902sv%)
*Give to the Red Wings goaltender that makes you question how they're in the NHL and you aren't*

CHRIS CHELIOS AWARD:
T1. Brad Stuart (1 goal, 15 games)
T1. Nicklas Lidstrom (1 goal, 15 games)
3. Brian Rafalski (1 goal, 14 games)
4. Brett Lebda (1 goal, 12 games)
5. Niklas Kronwall (2 goals, 15 games)
NOT QUALIFIED: Derek Meech (0 goals, 5 games)
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings defenseman with the fewest goals scored in the most games played (at least 3/4 of team games played)*

DAN CLEARY "SACRAFICE YOUR FACE" AWARD:
1. Dan Cleary (9). Surprise, surprise
2. Pavel Datsyuk (7)
T3. Todd Bertuzzi (6)
T3. Henrik Zetterberg (6)
T5. Justin Abdelkader (5)
T5. Valtteri Filppula (5)
T5. Darren Helm (5)
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most blocked shots*

2009-2010 Red Wings Season Preview

MrNorrisTrophy — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:00:38 -0000

More photos » by Carlos Osorio - AP

Maltby, Rafalski, Datsyuk, and Osgood are all crucial parts of the 2009-2010 team in their own roles(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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Gearing up in anticipation for the 2009-2010 NHL season, the folks at SB Nation have been running a series of season previews for each team. Today, you guessed it, is the day for the Detroit preview to be up. We here at Winging It are running our own preview and James Mirtle over at From the Rink will have his Detroit preview up. Be sure to check his out as well as ours and of course link them to your friends--yes, that was a shameless plug.

2008-2009 Season Review: After winning the Stanley Cup in 2008, the Red Wings were pretty much an automatic favorite for winning the 2009 Stanley Cup after adding Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin from the Penguins. I guess that's why they play the games then huh? Hossa was one of the key players throughout the regular season, scoring 40 goals and 31 helpers. In contrast to those high numbers during the regular season, Hossa's skills went missing in the playoffs and it hindered the rest of the team's success. I don't pin the whole loss of the Cup on Hossa because it is a team sport after all. Last year's team seemed to go through the motions at times, seemingly disinterested in what was going on on the ice. There were two games in which the opposition put up 8 goals and several games that slipped away for unknown reasons. Call it the Stanley Cup hangover if you want but I call it lack of chemistry and inexcusable complacency. I think the mindset of "offense offense offense" was deadly for the defensive focus and created lapses in good play.

Oh, there were good times too. I mean how can you go to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and call it a bad season? There were so many times I felt the team was unstoppable and they looked so quite often. How else would they have garnered the number 2 seed? The Winter Classic was an incredible game in an incredible atmosphere at Wrigley Field. Or the 6-0 demolishing of the Sharks at the hands of Pavel Datsyuk's 2 goals and 2 assists was pretty incredible too. I've already done two posts on the great moments from last year's season so let's get to the rest of the preview shall we?

The remainder of the preview follows the jump...

Who's In (or back for seconds): Todd Bertuzzi (RW, Calgary Flames), Jason Williams (RW, Columbus Blue Jackets), Patrick Eaves (RW, Carolina Hurricanes)

Who's Out: Chris Chelios (Free Agent), Jiri Hudler (Moscow Dynamo, KHL), Marian Hossa (Chicago Blackhawks), Tomas Kopecky (Chicago Blackhawks), Mikael Samulesson (Vancouver Canucks), Ty Conklin (St. Louis Blues)

Team Strengths:

In net: Chris Osgood showed last season, the season before, and both playoff runs that he still has what it takes to be a top goalie. Yeah, sure he's had his spotty moments but that's the nature of the position. He still has the skills and Howard has shown enough in Grand Rapids to get the chance to split time. We could be witnessing the passing of the torch in the Motown net.

Defense: Chris Chelios is no longer on the team and Andreas Lilja will start the year on the long term injured reserve. But if it wasn't for these two circumstances Jonathan Ericsson wouldn't have gotten the chance to start the season with the Red Wings. Ericsson is an up and coming defenseman who shows too much skill and mental awareness to have just had "fluke success" in his time last year. His big frame is a much needed presence in the defensive end and he should work well with the speedy and energetic puck chaser Brett Lebda. Lidstrom and Rafalski are one of the best pairings in the league and Kronwall and Stuart have a perfect chemistry since both are skilled but physical defensemen. The key to the success of the 09-10 team lies in the defense. If they keep the pressure off of Osgood and feed the playmakers, the Red Wings can continue to play their trademark puck possession hockey.

Offense: The success of this offense lies with two guys-- Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are ferocious forecheckers and create opportunities in the offensive zone that shouldn't be there. By controlling the puck, they are able to feed their linemates or fire on goal themselves. Although we will probably see them paired together at some point, they are both great anchors for the top two lines. They both have similar lines with Holmstrom/Bertuzzi in front of the net and Franzen/Cleary as shooters so their point production should be high again. Johan Franzen will likely continue his high level of play but look for guys like Valtteri Filppula and Ville Leino to break out as secondary scorers in the absence of Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson. Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves could play great roles within the offense but I don't expect incredible seasons out of them just yet. Scoring depth and puck possession have been the main focus of the Red Wings in the past and there's no reason for it to change now.

Team Weaknesses:

In net: Last year, Osgood was backed up by a solid and proven netminder in Ty Conklin. This year, Jimmy Howard finally makes the move from Grand Rapids to Detroit but will it be a good run? The only reason I even speculate on this is because of his limited experience in the NHL. The former college stud waited his turn down in Grand Rapids and proved he was worthy to take the number 2 spot finally in Detroit. This is more of an uncertainty rather than a weakness in my opinion. The difference between the scorers AHL and the NHL is clear as day and it's hard to predict how a goalie will adjust. Hopefully, Howard will find the pace of the game very quickly because he will be called on often to fill in for Osgood to rest.

Defense: Last year's defense was pretty horrid at times and it showed in two 8 goal games and several 6 goal games. There was very uncharacteristically poor play by Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, and Stuart far too often for my taste. Pinching in the offensive zone at the wrong time created breakaways, confusion with assignments created shooting lanes, and sometimes just flat out bad defensive play were common during games last year. With the loss of the a lot of the offense from last year, there has to be a new focus on defense. Ericsson showed his knowledge of the game and skill; hopefully this translates to a cohesive third pairing and the top two lines are more likely than not to return to their former level of play.

Offense: Well the loss of 88 goals, or nearly 30% of last year's production, is nothing to overlooked by any means. Hossa was an elite scorer for the Red Wings and Hudler/Samuelsson were great playmakers. I don't know if the addition of Bertuzzi, Williams, and Eaves is enough to make up for that departure but they also may not need to if the identity of this year's team is focused on better defense rather than trying to outscore everyone. Another thing running through my mind is whether or not Tomas Holmstrom will be back to top form or somewhere close. If he's not close, the offense might sputter for a while before finding a new alternative. Good thing there's great scoring depth all the way down to the 4th line right?

Depth Chart: Here's a quick take on the depth chart, based on what the lines have been during camp. Babcock is the king of mixing it up so these lines likely won't stick for the whole year.

Tomas Holmstrom	Pavel Datsyuk	Johan Franzen
Dan Cleary	Henrik Zetterberg	Todd Bertuzzi
Ville Leino	Valtteri Filppula	Jason Williams
Kris Draper	Abdelkader/Helm	Maltby/Eaves

Nicklas Lidstrom	Brian Rafalski
Niklas Kronwall	Brad Stuart
Jonathan Ericsson	Brett Lebda

Chris Osgood

Jimmy Howard

Note: Abdelkader/Helm, Maltby/Eaves are double listed because of the likelihood that Babcock will frequently sit one for the other or in the event of injuries--such as Helm's.

Players in the minors that could make appearances: Jakub Kindl (D), Kris Newbury (C), Evan McGrath (C), Ryan Oulahen (RW), Daniel Larsson (G).

WIM Predictions:

Predictions are a tricky and sometimes risky business. One minute you can look like a genius, the next like a pure idiot. Part of me wants to say the Red Wings will be right back in the Stanley Cup while the other part of me isn't even sure we'll win the division. Chicago took gigantic steps towards re-establishing itself in the division over the past few years and took an even bigger step this past year signing Hossa. The rest of the division has drastically improved too but I still think it is a two horse race for the Central. That being said, I think Detroit has the goaltending, coaching, and team chemistry to still make a deep run into the playoffs. Bertuzzi, Williams, and Eaves all bring a certain hunger and grit to the team that can help protect the star players--something missing from last year's team. In the end, I think the only thing that will hinder the team's success could be injuries.

I'll say that Detroit will finish no worse than 3rd in the Conference in terms of points (not necessarily 3rd seed) and make it to the Conference Finals again.

Let's get your take on things!

Poll

Where will the Red Wings finish in the Western Conference?

1

310 votes

2

295 votes

3

74 votes

4

28 votes

5

7 votes

6

1 votes

7

1 votes

8

0 votes

9 or worse

7 votes

723 votes | Poll has closed

Opinion: Gillis Will Not Add A Puck-Moving Defenceman Until After Training Camp

Sean Zandberg — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:32:22 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

Mattias who?

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The talk of Mike Gillis adding another puck-moving defenceman derived from 3 different factors:

1. The exit of Mattias Ohlund

2. The Jay Bouwmeester sweepstakes

3. The painful schooling by the Blackhawks in Round 2 of the 2009 Playoffs.

Or a combo of all three. I'm sure Gillis took a stab at Bouwmeester this summer but let's be sensible here: Bouwmeester's salary would have been too much of a cap hit on a team that needed to sign it's top 2 forwards in the Sedin brothers, plus adding another top 6 forward, which eventually turned out to be Mikael Samuelsson. Consider the holes filled at the forward position with plenty of extra fish in the tank.

But is Gillis looking for another top 4 puck-moving defenceman? Is that even realistic at this point, cap-wise? Names like Darryl Sydor and Anton Babchuk are being tossed up (from what's left) all over the web.

While I would welcome either of those 2 players onto our roster, Sydor was making $2.5 million before hitting free agency this summer. Babchuk made $1 million last season and had a great campaign in Carolina. He is going to seek a raise that perhaps no NHL team is willing to pay him. Both players have not been signed yet and there is a reason for that. They are most likely commanding too much, or, in Sydor's case, are too old.

So why do Canucks fans keep insisting that we need this type of defenceman? Why wouldn't Mike Gillis wait until he gets a good gander at guys like Evan Oberg (for example, who IS a reliable puck-moving defenceman) at training camp? More importantly, why can't we expect to see Alexander Edler and Kevin Bieksa thrive in expanded roles?

Allow me to finish this post in point form to throw some stats and what-not at you:

-How many puck-moving D-men do you need to win a Stanley Cup? Pittsburgh's Sergei Gonchar scored 3 goals and 14 points in 22 playoff games this past spring. Coming in at 2nd for the Penguins was Kris Letang at 4 goals and 14 points in 23 playoff games. 3rd was Mark Eaton at 4 goals and 7 points in 24 playoff games.

-As for the runner-up Red Wings: Niklas Lidstrom had 4 goals and 16 points in 21 playoff games. Brian Rafalski had 3 goals and 12 points in 18 post season games. Brad Stuart scored 3 goals and 9 points in 23 playoff matches.

-What is my point? There were not a lot of points scored beyond the 2nd offensive defenceman for either team. Comparatively, Edler scored 8 points in 10 playoff games. Sami Salo scored 7 points in 7 games. Bieksa had 5 assists in 10 playoff games. (I know he can do better than that.) Mattias Ohlund had 1 goal and 3 points in 10 playoff games, but he did rank tops on the Canucks in +/- at a +5 rating.

-Are Bieksa and Edler that bad at moving the puck? I say NO.

-So if I'm saying we don't necessarily need another slick-skating, puck-controlling, well-known defenceman what am I saying? I personally think that we need a TEAM that doesn't collapse in their own end, like what happened in Round 2 against Chicago. Yes, I'm chalking that dreadful 7-5 finale to a collapse as a TEAM. It doesn't scream "get a damned speedy defenceman like M-A Bergeron or who-the-hell-ever-else."

-Why do I think that Mike Gillis will wait until after training camp to possibly acquire the aforementioned d-man? Because he has had plenty of opportunities to acquire one through free agency already and has stood pat. I think he's waiting to see if a player emerges out of training camp. And why wouldn't he? He has limited cap space left, and he'd have to flog too much cap space to acquire the defenceman that all these internet gurus think he needs to get.

If you think Demitra and his $4 million salary is getting traded to make room for a quality D guy, you need to lower your standards. That is wishful thinking. We are left with the cluster of players that will be vying for a top 9 spot at training camp, and none of those players would free up enough cap space via a trade route in order for Gillis to get a big-named defenceman and still fit his salary under the cap.

I know I'm kicking a dead horse here, but this issue keeps getting brought up.

Am I losing you yet? OK, I'll stop now. End rant.

Season Review: Kyle Quincey

RudyKelly — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:39:03 -0000

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Kyle Quincey	72	4	34	38	-5	63	2	0	2	0	150	2.7

Most Frequent Linemate: Matt Greene (even-strength), Jarrett Stoll (pp)

Best Moment:

Last Season: Well, that worked out pretty well. The Kings get Kyle Quincey for free, use him to stabilize their 2nd power play unit for a year, then trade him and some scraps for the left winger we've needed for while.* Kyle Quincey was found money. He was exactly the type of player a bad team needs to get good. Utilizing assets like Quincey is a great way to become a good team in the NHL.

*I'm rationalizing the trade now by repeatedly reminding myself how much the Kings needed someone to play on that left side. Also, I've started referring to Ryan Smyth as Captain Cocknose in my daily correspondence.

Kyle Quincey became available at the beginning of the year because the Detroit Red Wings felt that Quincey was a little bit of an injury risk and also because they had Derek Meech and Jonathan Eriksson ready to go on defense. I don't want to say it was a bad decision, so all I will say is that Kyle Quincey outplayed Brad Stuart this year and Brad Stuart is making $3.75 million dollars while Quincey makes $500,000.

Quincey walked onto a team that was badly in need of defensemen. At that point, the Kings had an 18-year old rookie in Drew Doughty, an aging greybeard in Sean O'Donnell, a guy that had never been more than a 5th defenseman in Matt Greene, and the guy that was supposed to soak up most of their minutes, Jack Johnson, was out for a while. Quincey immediately began playing upwards of 24 minutes a night in some games and played in all situations: power play, penalty kill, and even strength. He was a godsend because he allowed the rest of the defense to do whatever they did best. Quincey is a guy that can do whatever is needed of him and that is surprisingly rare in the NHL.

Quincey's ice time decreased once Jack Johnson came back from injury and decreased further as the Kings dropped out of contention and Quincey's back flared up. He mostly lost his penalty kill time and was a 4/5 power play guy by the end of the year. Quincey did a great job on the power play, teaming up with Jarrett Stoll and Alex Frolov to give the Kings one of the best 2nd units in the game. They were a big reason the Kings had a respectable power play this season, owing much to Quincey's low, accurate shot. (Ironically, Quincey would have benefited most from the acquisition of Ryan Smyth and vice versa.)

Overall, Quincey is not as good as the minutes he played last year. He is a good player, but he's not a guy that should be getting the 2nd most minutes on defense. But that's OK, mostly because he's not on the Kings anymore. I will have fond memories of Quincey because he swooped in, played great for about 30 games when the Kings really needed it, and then got out before the bloom was off the rose, so to speak. If he had stayed with the Kings, Quincey would have likely played about 16 minutes a night and been our 2nd unit anchor on the power play. Not bad, but probably not what he would have liked. Now he gets to go to a Colorado team that could really use him and he'll likely play a lot. Good for him.

The Future: Kyle Quincey has a place in the NHL. Where, I don't know. His gift to play in every situation is kind of a curse, because he doesn't have one dominant skill that he can use to sell himself. GM's look at filling needs and they like players that fit their little boxes. Quincey doesn't, really. He doesn't do anything great, but he does everything fairly well. Quincey seems destined to play big minutes on teams that miss the playoffs. I think he'll do a great job in Colorado and will likely play the same 2nd fiddle to Jon-Michael Liles that he did to Drew Doughty. After the season, he'll get a nice deal and will be a disappointment to whatever team signs him because he's not quite good enough to be a 1/2 defenseman in the NHL. No matter what, though, I think Quincey will always receive a warm welcome in LA for what he did last year.

Toronto Maple Leafs Trade Pavel Kubina, Tim Stapleton to Atlanta Thrashers for Garnet Exelby, Colin Stuart

PPP — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:00:23 -0000

More photos » by Gregory Smith - AP

Exelby's already read Burke's "How To Hurt the senators" manual.

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Yesterday the Toronto Maple Leafs traded defenceman Pavel Kubina and minor leaguer Tim Stapleton to the Atlanta Thrashers for defenceman Garnet Exelby and forward Colin Stuart. The Leafs do free up some cap space this season as all of the contracts save for Stapleton's expire at the end of the year. With this move, the Leafs cleared up about $3.124M in cap space according to NHL Numbers which they then promptly turned around and used to sign Mike Komisarek. However, the biggest consideration is probably a desire to have Kubina's minutes go to defenders that will form the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs rather than a player at the end of his contract. Steve thinks that the overloaded blueline means that the Leafs might still be looking to make more trades.

To tell you the truth, this deal doesn't pass muster in terms of what we previously expected from a Kubina trade. Part of that is likely that we saw Glen Sather dump salary and receive the Habs' top prospect. Now, obviously not everyone can be a terrible GM (Habs still suck no matter what you say) but Burke was trading with Don Waddell. DON WADDELL! He gave away Braydon Coburn for a shot at getting swept out of the playoffs. Adam Gretz points out just how rare it is to see Waddell come out on top:

As for the Kubina-to-Atlanta aspect: It's not everyday that we get to say this, but it's a hell of a trade by Don Waddell and the Atlanta Thrashers. To land a legitimate, proven top-four NHL defenseman, while only giving up, essentially, a couple of spare parts/fourth-liners is nothing short of a steal.

Not to mention that the Leafs didn't really need to give away salary. They had tonnes of cap space but what they did not have in spades was roster spots. This trade opens up a spot on the Marlies top two lines. We'll see what the Leafs do with the extra cap space since Burke said that he would be spending to the cap AND make the playoffs.

Looking around the league there are a number of teams that are close to going over the cap while still needing a number of signings. There are still three months until training camps open which means that Burke has a lot of time to look for trading partners that need to do some cap manoeuvring. The Leafs are still very well positioned to act as a salary dump for a team looking to free up some space in order to improve their team. The question is which teams are running out of cap space and still have roster spots to fill? Here's a list based on numbers courtesy of NHL's Cap:

Team	Cap Space	Players Needed
Philadelphia	$1.83M	3
Calgary	$2.06M	4
Boston	$2.27M	4
Pittsburgh	$4.76M	4
San Jose	$4.85M	7
Edmonton	$6.64M	4

Let's take a look at the individual pieces of the trade after the jump. Share your thoughts in the comments.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Pavel Kubina	82	14	26	40	-15	94	9	0	4	0	184	7.6

Pavel Kubina leaves the teams three years after being one of John Ferguson Jr.'s marquee free agent signings. Though Pavel had a no trade clause there was a window open where it was voided because of the Leafs' failure to make the playoffs. As he makes his way to Atlanta he will likely think back to the vetored/rumoured trade to San Jose that never happened. Then again, maybe he'll like his reunion with the Southeast Division. Over the past season Kubina faced the 4th toughest competition at even strength and still managed to finish -15. Maybe we were just overrating him a tad? Not knowing the market for a defender making $5M a year perhaps a salary dump was the best deal that Burke thought that he could make.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Tim Stapleton	4	1	0	1	-3	0	0	0	0	0	9	11.1

Stapleton is 5'8" and used to run the Finnish SM-liiga for Jokerit Basically, for him to play for Brian Burke he had to fulfill one of the top six forward spots with the Leafs or the Marlies. He was never going to do it for the Leafs so why bother having him clog things up with the Marlies?

To get to know the players coming from the Atlanta Thrashers I asked The Falconer of Birdwatchers Anonymous to provide us with some insight on the newest Maple Leafs:

Colin Stuart

#49 / Left Wing / Atlanta Thrashers

Height: 6-2

Weight: 205

Born: Jul 08, 1982

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Colin Stuart	33	5	3	8	3	18	0	3	0	0	54	9.3

Colin Stuart: Brother of Mark Stuart and Brad Stuart. Father works at Mayo Clinic and will be a doctor for Team USA at Olympics in 2010.

Stuart has ++ speed and +size. Not much in the way of hands so he's a checker. He scored a couple of shorthanded goals but don't be fooled, he basically just threw the puck at the goalie's feet and each SH goal allowed was an ugly goal.

Already 27 he's as good as he's ever going to be right now but he should make the Leafs roster out of camp as a checker. He could be a serviceable PK guy for the next 5 years.

So he sounds like a player that could replace Jamal Mayers at the end of the year.

Garnet Exelby

#2 / Defenseman / Atlanta Thrashers

Height: 6-1

Weight: 210

Born: Aug 16, 1981

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Garnet Exelby	59	0	7	7	-2	120	0	0	0	0	42	0.0

Garnet Exelby: I'm not a fan at all. Even at his peak he tended to get out of position going for the bit tattoo hit and created a lot of 2-on-1s for the opposition in the process. You're not going to intimidate many teams if they're celebrating a goal after you ran over their teammate along the boards.

He's toned down the hitting lately and reduce the odd man rushes against but lacks NHL passing skills. If he has the puck in the neutral zone he will just dump into the offensive corner. If he has the puck in the defensive zone he usually just chips it out allowing the opposition to re-group in netural and attack again. Did I mention that he's a poor penalty killer.

I can't tell you how happy I am to see him depart. My wife was laughing at how insanely pleased I am tonight. Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news.

Oh brother. I wish there was a video that could make me feel better about this trade...oh, here's one:

Obviously no one is going to be encouraged by seeing this trade. We all had hoped that Kubina would bring back a decent return and two players that could fill out the team's fourth forward line and the third pairing for the next few years isn't as bad of a return as draft picks that might turn into nothing. Then again, at least they'd have a chance to be something better. In the end, Kubina was taking up far too much ice-time that could have been better used for developing other players.

Poll

What was your original reaction to the Kubina-Stapleton for Exelby-Stuart trade?

We got who?

134 votes

This'll teach players to exercise their contractually agreed rights

35 votes

TRUCULENCE!

108 votes

When do the Marlies get sent to Charlestown?

12 votes

289 votes | Poll has closed