SB Nation - Brent Seabrook

Who Should Be Canada's Olympic Defenders?

Chemmy — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:29:45 -0000

The question is simple; who are your seven guys to play defense for Team Canada at the Olympics? The defenders invited to the Canada camp are:

Francois Beauchemin, Jay Bouwmeester, Dan Boyle, Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Dan Hamhuis, Duncan Keith, Scott Niedermayer, Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger, Robyn Regehr, Stephane Robidas, Brent Seabrook, Marc Staal, and Shea Weber. Click a player's name for stats.

I discussed my picks with Godd Till of Zambonic Youth and PPP, check out our picks after the jump.

Chris Pronger

#20 / Defenseman / Philadelphia Flyers

Height: 6-6

Weight: 214

Born: Oct 10, 1974

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Chris Pronger	4	14	18	9	41

Pronger can score points, shut down talent even at age 35 and has a documented mean streak. Pronger's the grit and the jam that dominant teams need to make playing against them no fun at all.

Shea Weber

#6 / Defenseman / Nashville Predators

Height: 6-4

Weight: 230

Born: Aug 14, 1985

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Shea Weber	6	9	15	-4	4

Nashville's Shea Weber is an excellent defender in his own end who can also put up points. He hits as hard as your January credit card bill and isn't afraid to drop the gloves.

Duncan Keith

#2 / Defenseman / Chicago Blackhawks

Height: 6-1

Weight: 196

Born: Jul 16, 1983

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Duncan Keith	5	18	23	6	16

Fresh off of inking a lifetime deal that was well earned Duncan Keith is having a fantastic season. Another guy who can put up points and plays well in his own end Duncan Keith is an obvious lock for this team along with...

Brent Seabrook

#7 / Defenseman / Chicago Blackhawks

Height: 6-3

Weight: 218

Born: Apr 20, 1985

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Brent Seabrook	3	10	13	8	15

... his defensive partner Brent Seabrook. In addition to being an excellent player on his own, having Keith's defensive partner will give Canada an elite d-pairing that are familiar with each other. This is a huge advantage in a tournament where players are hastily thrown together.

Robyn Regehr

#28 / Defenseman / Calgary Flames

Height: 6-3

Weight: 225

Born: Apr 19, 1980

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Robyn Regehr	0	10	10	5	23

The definition of defensive defenseman, Regehr hits good hockey players hard and often. He's on this team to hit Ovechkin, Kessel and Parise.

Dan Boyle

#22 / Defenseman / San Jose Sharks

Height: 5-11

Weight: 190

Born: Jul 12, 1976

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Dan Boyle	6	19	25	4	20

Dan Boyle's our pick for puck mover / PP specialist on the back end. If you'd prefer Bouwmeester or Mike Green go ahead, I'm not too concerned with any of the three.

Drew Doughty

#8 / Defenseman / Los Angeles Kings

Height: 6-0

Weight: 211

Born: Dec 08, 1989

	G	A	P	+/-	PIM
2009 - Drew Doughty	7	15	22	9	18

Is Drew Doughty the seventh best Canadian defender in the league? Honestly he might be, but what's important here is the future. Doughty will be the seventh guy and only see action if guys get hurt. Obviously you could do a lot worse than Doughty as an injury fill in which speaks to Canada's enormous depth at defense.

I picked Doughty looking forward to 2014. Doughty will be 25 and about to hit his prime. He got an invite to Olympic camp this year based on his ability as a player and I think bringing him along to Vancouver would be a big step for a young kid in the NHL. Let him have a taste of the team he's going to need to be a big part of in four years.

Those are our picks, let us know yours in the comments.

Blackhawks defeat Pens 2-1 in OT

Hooks Orpik — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:14:06 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Niemi was in the zone and saw the puck all night long.

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Blackhawks vs Penguins coverage - SB Nation blog Second City Hockey

Sans Sidney Crosby, the Penguins had to dig deep when they faced a Chicago Blackhawks team that used much of the skill and style that Pittsburgh's gameplan.

Much of the night featured a lot of skating, a lot of fast-paced hockey going in both directions and stellar goaltending play by Marc-Andre Fleury (29 saves on 31 shots) and Blackhawks' backup Antti Niemi (32 saves on 33 shots). Old "friend" Marian Hossa opened the scoring when he went hard to the net, collected the puck and put it past Fleury.

The score would remain 1-0 Chicago for most of the game, neither team could solve the defenses of their opponent. Until Dan Bylsma called a timeout with about 1:40 left and let assistant coach Mike Yeo draw a play up. They pulled the goalie and stationed Jordan Staal all the way out against the far boards on the blueline, in an ominous lurking position. Recent call-up Mark Letestu won the faceoff, Evgeni Malkin wheeled the puck around and threw it to the net. Staal swooped in and beat Niemi on the second chance.

It wasn't to be for Pittsburgh on this night. In OT, Kris Versteeg got to a loose puck in the crease before Tyler Kennedy could neutralize him and ended it.

Without their leading scorer, Pittsburgh struggled to generate points, but it wasn't for a lack of effort or shots. 33 shots on goal were fired at Niemi, led by Bill Guerin's 6 and Kennedy's 5. While taking nothing away from Niemi, who was solid, a bunch of the Penguins shots were coming from low percentage angles and distances.
Minus Crosby (one of the top faceoff men in the league), the Penguins used nine different forwards for at least one faceoff. Out of all of them, only one had a better than 50% night.
And that was Crosby's lineup replacement of Mark Letestu. Letestu had a solid night, in addition to his clutch offensive zone faceoff win, he did win 56% of his 16 draws, he had 4 shot attempts (1 getting through, 1 hit a post) and a hit in 13:52 of ice-time. Acquitted himself very well on this night.
Speaking of, it showed some stones and intuition by the coaching staff to use a guy in his 3rd career NHL game in an important faceoff against old veteran John Madden, who's made a career out of doing things like winning defensive draws. Mike Yeo is an easy (and reasonable) punching bag for Penguins fans....But the unusual and creative play he drew up for the last moment worked exactly to perfection. So you have to tip your cap to him tonight.
Chicago also earned a cap tip for their hard fought win. They're a good young team with a lot of skill up front, but some of their defensemen shined tonight: Brent Seabrook has 9 hits and 2 blocked shots, Duncan Keith frustrated Pens all night and skated a game high 31:24. Brian Campbell had the primary assists on both goals.
For teams that don't see too much of one another, unpleasantries were exchanged early and often; highlighted by Keith getting a shot on Matt Cooke that upset Cooke. The hit was to the head, away from the play, and from behind; similiar to what just got Cooke suspended for two games. If the league is truly serious about policing shots to the head, they need to review this tape.

So in a somewhat disappointing fashion that the Penguins claw back into the contest with time running out, just to have Versteeg unleash the dagger in OT. First OT/shootout lose of the year as well. Against a goalie in a little bit of a groove -- Niemi was working on 150+ minute scoreless streak -- it's a night where you have to get out taking what you can get. It's only one point against a similiar team.

Get Rich or Die Tryin' - Toews, Kane, Keith Officially Locked Up Long-Term

McClure — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:47:32 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

Phone bill about 2G's flat, no need to worry, my accountant handles that. And my whole crew is loungin', celebratin' everyday, no more public housing.

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After months of speculation, hand-wringing, and gnashing of teeth, Hawks general manager Stan Bowman did what many involved in the NHL thought would be nearly impossible to do - he got his prized talent to extend their contracts, and avoid restricted free-agency.

The numbers that were widely reported were indeed the official ones, and here they are:

Duncan Keith - 13 years, $72 million (Cap hit of $5.53 million)

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews - 5 Years, $31.5 million a piece (Cap hits of $6.3 million each)

So what does this all mean?

Well, first and foremost on a positive note, the Hawks have wrapped up what they believe to be their core for the next 5 years, that core being Kane, Toews, Hossa, Keith, and Campbell. Not a bad starting 5 skaters by any standards, and every one of them an all star at at least one point in their career, and likely many more to come. Additionally, they've saved themselves the headache of letting other teams potentially offer far more than the Hawks would be capable of in the form of an offer sheet during next June's off-season. While the phalanx of picks the Hawks would receive in return would definitely be an asset (one the Hawks could have traded as soon as they were theirs), it would have stunted the growth of this maturing juggernaut on the ice, and been a big P.R. blow, something the braintrust is far more conscious of these days.

Keith's deal is far and away the most palatable cap hit of the three, and provided he stays healthy, we are all now likely watching the last man to ever wear #2 in the Indian Head. Given his size and the speed at which he plays the game, he could wear down toward the end of that deal, something that's not out of the question after what was shown during last year's post season run. But overall, this is a fine deal. The only major problem with this deal is that much like Toews and Kane, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook have become inextricably linked with one another, and their play feeds from that, and Seabrook is due for a new deal at the end of next year. While it's different skill sets, it's a reasonable argument that Brent Seabrook is just as valuable to this team as Keith, and should be paid accordingly.

Kane and Toews are a far more curious case. Their identical deals appear to be far less than the hometown discount many thought they'd give, and they also did not receive the "Blackhawk For Life" deal that had been hypothesized. Not only that, but the two of them will be completely unrestricted in their primes, at 26 and 27 respectively, and their salaries are likely to skyrocket even from their current lofty amounts.

From a wider perspective, these deals show that a) Stan Bowman believes his Cup window with this core is 5 more seasons, and b) Bowman is betting the house on his drafting ability. As mentioned above, when Kane and Toews are due, they will likely have a lot deeper resumes than they do currently, and will be expected to be paid as such, with potentially even harder cap hits. And it's possible that at that point that one of the golden children does decide to take his services elsewhere.

To the second point, with all of these big-hit contracts now on the books for quite a while, that means Bowman and the Hawks will have to divest themselves of some of the mid-range contracts currently on the ledger, and get younger and CHEAPER. We've all discussed the candidates to be sent packing for the sake of cap relief, and fuck knows those are our favorite discussions to have in the comments, but realistically, it stands to reason that not much will happen until the conclusion of this season. But, for those interested, keep an eye on the farm and in junior (which the Fifth Feather does a great job of doing for you- read them), as they will be replacing a couple of the Men of Four Feathers you are currently watching- particularly with now-a-priority Niklas Hjalmarsson and Andrew Ladd also restricted this summer. If you're not paying attention to the numbers that Kyle Beach and Shawn Lalonde are putting up right now, you'd be well served to- because Stan Bowman and his crew are.

While we were a little shocked at how high the numbers were at the SCH offices, particularly in comparison to some other names and their respective salaries elsewhere in the league, rest assured that we're thrilled to finally see the Hawks reward and retain such valuable assets and excellent hockey players. And now that this is finally done, it'll be nice to focus on the on-ice product, one that we're all seeing has the potential to produce something very special this spring and into the summer.

Hawks 3, Blow-Jays 3 (Hawks win staring contest after 11 arduous rounds)

McClure — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:45:18 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Was it ever in doubt?

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I apologize for not getting this up sooner, but I was out enjoying myself before, during, and after the game last night because a very prolonged period of unpleasantness finally came to a close at work.

Last night's game was a little bit more wide-open than we've come to expect out of Columbus, which one would think would play into the Hawks' favor. And for the most part it did (from my perspective), with the Hawks dictating the play, despite being severely outshot in the first period. The first period also contained a slick shorthanded goal from VERSTEEG!, who performed the same toe drag move twice and managed to fake out three Blue Jackets, including goaltender Steve Mason.

Columbus took the lead on two unanswered goals in the second, neither of which was as pretty as VERSTEEG!'s, but they certainly got the job done. The second goal is one Cristobal Huet would undoubtedly like to have back, as a weak shot from a fading-away Sammy Pahlsson eluded him. Patrick Sharp would even the score on the man advantage, however, off of a feed so sweet from Patrick Kane that he actually had time to flub the pass, shank the shot, and still bury it.

I didn't get back to my seat in time to see Kris Russel's goal, so if you need a description of it, I'm sure you can find it elsewhere on the intertubes. However, the power play once again equalized things about four minutes later when Jonathan Toews redirected a Duncan Keith shot from the point. There were never any real threats going either way for the remainder of the game, both in regulation and OT.

Once again, the Hawks found themselves involved in a marathon shootout, mostly due to their own ineptitude. With Coach Q electing to defend first, Huet rose to each challenge, giving the Hawks a chance to end the spank-fest with the puck on their stick. However, the Hawks, for all the skill they possess, look like a dachshund dry-humping a throw pillow in the shootout. Only Marian Hossa dented the twine before Brent Seabrook, who is starting to have a knack for OT theatrics, mercifully ended things with a backhand that got past Mason.

Observations

I like beer

Player of the Game

While he did let in a softie against Pahlsson, stopping 10 of 11 in the shootout is quite fucking impressive.

The NHL's top defensive defencemen

James Mirtle — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:56:24 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

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As with the top defensive forwards list, this is the same Rod Langway Award business I've been putting out for a couple years now. It ranks players defensively based on (a) quality of competition at even strength, (b) goals against per minute played at even strength and (c) goals against per minute played on the penalty kill.

Players also have to have played at least 15 games and fill a significant role on their team's shorthanded unit. Credit, as always, to Behind The Net for the data.

Here are the top 25 a little past the quarter-way mark:

	NAME	TEAM	GP	QCMP	EVGA/60	SHGA/60
1	CHRIS PRONGER	PHI	24	0.12	1.38	4.41
2	DUNCAN KEITH	CHI	25	0.14	1.59	4.12
3	JAY BOUWMEESTER	CGY	26	0.08	1.39	4.51
4	ROMAN POLAK	STL	24	0.12	1.71	5.06
5	PAVEL KUBINA	ATL	23	0.06	1.71	3.38
6	MIKE MOTTAU	N.J	23	0.09	1.69	5.00
7	COLIN WHITE	N.J	24	0.11	2.06	4.63
8	JEFF SCHULTZ	WSH	20	0.09	1.38	6.08
9	NICK LIDSTROM	DET	26	0.08	2.15	3.83
10	MIKE WEAVER	STL	23	0.03	1.12	4.38
11	BRENT SEABROOK	CHI	23	0.17	1.50	6.84
12	M-E VLASIC	S.J	28	0.13	2.51	3.01
13	ROB BLAKE	S.J	17	0.18	2.58	3.85
14	ED JOVANOVSKI	PHX	18	0.08	2.35	1.24
15	MILAN JURCINA	WSH	20	0.16	2.26	5.60
16	NIKLAS HJALMARSSON	CHI	25	0.04	1.56	5.02
17	ANDY SUTTON	NYI	26	0.08	1.60	6.26
18	ZBYNEK MICHALEK	PHX	17	0.07	1.92	5.53
19	ZDENO CHARA	BOS	26	0.23	2.65	4.97
20	RADEK MARTINEK	NYI	16	0.10	1.81	6.47
21	DARRYL SYDOR	STL	18	0.05	1.19	6.75
22	CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF	VAN	26	-0.06	1.31	3.52
23	GREG ZANON	MIN	24	0.06	1.81	6.31
24	JOSH GORGES	MTL	26	-0.05	1.39	3.91
25	WILLIE MITCHELL	VAN	26	0.15	1.85	7.85

Pronger, Keith, Bouwmeester — sure, those are all names synonymous with tough defence. But how about Mike Weaver? Or Pavel Kubina?

It's early, but all of these players are playing significant defensive roles on their teams. Some benefit from having a great goaltender behind them, but there are a lot of blueliners here from weak teams, too.

Someone like Weaver, who has a really low profile, is considered by his coach a pretty big part of shutting down top opposition:

"I'd say Weaver is one of our best puck-movers," Murray said. "He's not a finisher, but in terms of moving the puck out of our zone and putting it in the hands of our forwards, he's pretty good. He's not a guy that contributes on the offensive side. But what is an amazing stat, he's plus-5. And for quite a while there, he and Roman (Polak) were playing the top line on every team. He's a plus-5."

Those are the sorts of guys I'm trying to highlight here, and for the most part, I think this works — even if there are some surprises. The real test is which guys can maintain play like this all season.

Game 27 Preview: Jackets head to the Windy City to face the Hawks

Mike MacLean — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:03:19 -0000

by Jay LaPrete - AP

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After snapping a five game losing streak, the Jackets are in Chicago to take on the 'Hawks. On paper, this doesn't look good for the Jackets. It's the second game of a back-to-back, Rusty is out of the lineup with a groin tear (Mathieu Roy will play tonight, he's up from Syracuse on emergency recall), and tonight is the home debut of Hossa.

That said, the boys should still have some momentum from last night. It was a gutsy performance, and maybe the victory against the Blues was the tonic needed to get the Jackets back on track. Chicago is a great team from top to bottom. Their one question mark heading into the season-goaltending-seems to no longer be an issue with the strong play of Huet.

In my opinion, and likely many other share this opinion, the Hawks have the best defense in the NHL. It will be tough to score tonight, but the Jackets do have the weapons needed. Umby is playing his best hockey of the season, and Brass is looking better and better each game. If Voracek can build off of the strong game he had last night, look for that line to produce tonight. That would allow Nash and Juice to do their thing offensively-Huselius has been putting up serious points lately as well.

This is an imprtant game for the checking unit. I haven't seen much from Chimmer all season, and he needs to bring a physical element tonight. Mike Blunden hits everything that moves, and he'll need to continue doing that tonight against the 'Hawks potent forwards. Sammy was a Blackhawk for a brief period last season, and I look for him to have a strong game matching up against either Toews or Versteeg.

Fearless Prediction: Goal from a CBJ defenseman.

Game Time: 8:00pm ET

Opponent's Blog: Second City Hockey

Game Page: Blue Jackets vs Blackhawks Coverage

TSN Preview: Blue Jackets vs Blackhawks Preview

TV: FSN Ohio

Radio: WBNS-AM (1460); WWCD-FM (101.1)

More after the jump...

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The Blue Jackets snapped a five-game losing streak last night with a 5-2 win over the Blues. It should be a loud crowd tonight in United Center. The Blackhawks are back off a six-game trip, Marian Hossa makes his Chicago debut and coach Joel Quenneville goes for his 500th victory.

Jackets Links:

Columbus Blue Jackets / Columbus Blue Jackets Schedule

Columbus Blue Jackets Roster / Columbus Blue Jackets Stats

Here are the lineups for tonight's tilt:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kristian Huselius	Antoine Vermette	Rick Nash
R.J. Umberger	Derick Brassard	Jakub Voracek
Jason Chimera	Samuel Pahlsson	Michael Blunden
Raffi Torres	Derek MacKenzie	Jared Boll

Fedor Tyutin	Anton Stralman
Mike Commodore	Jan Hejda
Kris Russell	Mathieu Roy

Steve Mason

Mathieu Garon

EXTRA: Alexandre Picard

INJURED: Fredrik Modin, Andrew Murray, Derek Dorsett, Rostislav Klesla, Marc Methot

Chicago Blackhawks

Patrik Sharp	Jonathan Toews	Marian Hossa
Dustin Byfuglien	Kris Versteeg	Patrick Kane
Andrew Ladd	John Madden	Troy Brouwer
Ben Eager	Colin Fraser	Tomas Kopecky

Duncan Keith	Brent Seabrook
Brian Campbell	Cam Barker
Niklas Hjalmarsson	Brent Sopel

Cristobal Huet

Antti Niemi

Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Olympic Preview

Matthew Dirt — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 19:00:13 -0000

by Jeff McIntosh - AP

I don't think it's possible to take a picture of Toews on the ice without some stupid look on his face

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We've covered the Olympics on here a few times before and it's safe to say we're all a little concerned about them. All of the SBN Hockey blogs have once again teamed up though to give everyone a good glimpse at who on the teams they cover could be heading to Vancouver for two weeks in February to play for their countries. Please check out the other sites info on this page - it's a good read

We here are SCH are already pretty late with this preview so here we go..

Pack Your Bags

Patrick Kane (USA) - Kaner is an absolute no-brainer to play for the Americans. Kane is just one of the many young stars like Phil Kessel, Bobby Ryan, T.J. Oshie, Erik Johnson and maybe even James van Riemsdyk that could be leading the Men's team back to glory (or at least relevancy). As we've seen throughout this season, few players in the NHL (and therefore the world) can match Kane's vision and IQ out on the ice. It'll be an uphill battle for the USA team to get to any medal rounds but it's players like Kane that will give them a chance.

Marian Hossa (Slovakia) - According to NHL.com - there are only 12 skaters in the NHL from Slovakia that have played this year so my knowledge of who is going to be on this team is pretty damn limited. Regardless, from what we've seen in just 2 games, Hossa would be a lock to make any team in the country so Slovakia is sure to love having him.

Tomas Kopecky (Slovakia) - As I said above, there are very few players from Slovakia who have made it to the NHL - so somebody like Kopecky is pretty much a lock. While he wouldn't make other power house teams, or most teams really, he's a pretty good lock for the Slovak team.. so good for him.

Nearly A Lock

Jonathan Toews (Canada) - I debated putting Toews in the "pack your bag" category but since he's not a 100% sure thing, I thought he should go here. There's very little doubt that Toews will make the team, especially given Yzerman's fondness for Captain Marvel. The fact that Toews might not crack Canada's top 4 centers tells you how deep their team is going to be. With Toews' injury earlier in the year and not exactly lighting the world on fire so far, his stock may have dipped slightly but there's still very little chance we don't see Toews on the team.

Duncan Keith (Canada) - Keith is almost certain to join the team in Vancouver as well - we know that Keith is one of the best defenseman in the league and I'm sure Yzerman does too. Keith is 4th overall in points for d-man and 3rd overall if you take out the Czech Tomas Kaberle.. Keith logs big minutes against tough competition in all situations. It'd be surprising to see him miss the games.

Work To Do

Dustin Byfuglien (USA) - Buff rode an outstanding end of the regular season and even more impressive playoffs to get himself an invitation to the Men's Olympic Hockey Camp this summer. However it was pretty clear to anyone who went there that Buff was at least a step behind every other player in that camp. Brian Burke has an unexplained soft spot for tough guys who can't do much else (read: The current Maple Leafs) - so there's an outside shot that Buff makes the Men's squad. If he had played with the same intensity we saw late last year I think he'd be much closer to making the team but instead we've seen him revert to the player who takes games off at a time, only to have a shift or two of interest. Probably won't be enough for him to make the team but weirder things have happened before..

Brent Seabrook (Canada) - I don't know if Biscuit actually has much "work" to do but he's a dark horse at this point to make the squad. If he could be assured to play with Keith I think they'd obviously be a force during the games. It's not a stretch to say those two are at least in the top 5 of defensive pairs in the league and having a pairing with that level of familiarity could give the Canadian squad a major leg up over players that rarely ever get to play with their teammates for any extended periods of time. I'd think it'd be foolish not to take him but I'm biased...

Patrick Sharp (Canada) - Sharp got off to a red-hot start this year - 9 points in his first 6 games. He's settled down a lot though with only 12 points in the games since that start. Canada's absolutely loaded with snipers that are better than Shooter. He'd pretty much be a lock to make the US squad but the Canadian squad might just be a bridge too far.

Niklas Hjalmarsson (Sweden) - I don't really know much about Olympic hockey squads - I enjoy watching it when it happens but don't follow the build up too far beforehand. So I don't know what Hammer's shots are but in my slight research on the issue, I've only seen Hammer's name thrown out there on message boards so I'm thinking he doesn't have the greatest shot to make the team for Sweden. The Swedes won the gold last year so their team is going to be tough to crack but we've seen how Nintendo has upped his game from the start of last year, especially in the playoffs. If he can play there I don't see a reason why he wouldn't be a great addition to the Swedish team.

Columbus Blue Jackets 2010 Olympics Preview

Mike MacLean — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:30:34 -0000

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SBNation is doing a series of Olympic Previews, taking a look at each team and which of their players may be suiting up for their countries in Vancouver. As a baseline, we are going to give an indication of their chances of making their team by using these arguments: "Pack Your Bags", "Nearly a Lock", "Fairly Safe Bet", and "In a Battle". The Jackets have a few players who could become Olympians, here's a look at them:

Rick Nash (Canada) - Pack Your Bags
There is almost no way, outside of injury, that Nash will not be a member of Team Canada. In fact, he is penciled in by most as the man riding shotgun to Sidney Crosby. Nash has plenty of international experience in his young career, including being a member of the 2006 Olympic Team, which failed miserably. He is a more mature and complete player now, and will look to be an offensive leader for the Canucks at home in Vancouver. My favourite Nash goal at an international tournament didn't take place at the Olympics, it was at the World Championships, but here it is anyway:

Steve Mason (Canada) - In a Battle
At least he was at the beginning of the season, that is. Before the start of the regular season this year, many experts thought that when it came to Canada's goaltenders, Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur were locks. The battle was for who the third goaltender was going to be. The three main contenders were Mason, Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Ward. With Ward's injury, that made it a two-horse race. The problem is, Mase never showed up. His play this season has been downright awful. I'm not a believer in sophomore slumps, but the proof is in the pudding here. Look for Fleury- who is coming off of a Cup win and is playing great right now-to get the third goalie nod.

Kristian Huselius (Sweden) - Fairly Safe Bet
The man we call Juice may not be on the top of the list of skilled Swedish forwards, but he is a strong candidate to be on the Swedish team. His last international exoerience was at the 2002 World Championships, where the Tre Kroner won the bronze medal. He has never played in an Olympics, but he is on the Swedish short-list for 2010.

Samuel Pahlsson (Sweden) - Nearly a Lock
Sammy will almost definitely be on the Swedish team in 2010. He helped the Swedes win the Gold Medal back in 2006 in Torino, playing on a line with Freddy Modin (more on him in a minute). A dedicated checking center like Pahlsson will be very important this time around, with the Olympics being in Vancouver, the games will be played on NHL-sized ice, meaning tighter checking.

Fredrik Modin (Sweden) - In a Battle
I saw that Freddy is in a battle, not necessarily with other players trying to make the team, but with his own body. After being lauded for his amazing durability, the last couple of seasons have been near write-offs for Freddy as he has been hit with injury after injury. That said, if he is healthy I can't imagine him not playing for the Swedes, even in a fourth line role. He is after all, one of the very few players who are a member of the Triple Gold Club.

Anton Stralman (Sweden) - Nearly a Lock
Stralman is off to a great start since joining the Jackets, putting up good point totals. He is one of the main reasons the Jackets' powerplay has gone from last in the league a year ago, to best so far this season. He has played in three straight World Championships for Team Sweden, from 2007-2009. The Swedish defensive corps are a talented group, with Anton fitting in nicely. With the injury to Kronwall, Stralman may see top line duty with Nick Lidstrom.

Jakub Voracek (Czech Republic) - Nearly a Lock
The Czechs are a team that always seems to surprise at international tournaments. Look no further than the '98 Olympics, where they took home the Gold based on the amazing play of Dominik Hasek. In 2010, the Czechs are a good team, and Voracek should be a member. He likely will play a third or fourth line role, with the top six wingers likely being Jagr, Hemsky, Prospal and Hejduk/Havlat.

Rostislav Klesla (Czech Replublic) - In a Battle
Rusty is a fringe player in terms of the Olympic team. He does have international experience, but he is in tough this time around. He has to beat out the likes of Kaberle, Kubina, Rozsival, Hamrlik, Spacek and Kuba. It's not completely impossible though, and with the smaller ice a rugged player like Rusty could shine.

Jan Hejda (Czech Republic) - In a Battle
Like Rusty, Jan is fighting for a spot. He's defense-first, which may help him because the guys he is fighting for a spot against are generally puck-moving types. He has international experience, his most recent was at the 2008 Worlds. Given the play of Jaro Spacek, one of Hejda or Klesla could make the squad.

Fedor Tyutin (Russia) - Nearly a Lock
The Russians have scary forwards, plain and simple. They are the most dynamic group in the world, hands down. That said, they don't have spectacular defense. A hybrid defenseman like Tyutin will fit in very well on the Russian squad, and he could see powerplay duty with Sergei Gonchar.

Nikita Filatov (Russia) - In a Battle
Filatov wasn't at the Russians Olympic came this past summer, but he is no doubt still very much on the radar of the National Team. With his recent return to Russia, his stock has certainly risen, but he is still in tough to make the squad, given their amazing talent and depth up front.

R.J. Umberger (United States) - In a Battle
I wanted to include Umby mainly because I believe that it is wrong that he wasn't invited to the Team USA camp. He is a much better player than a handful of guys who did get the invite, but it all has to do with his history with USA GM Brian Burke. Umby didn't sign with Vancouver, who drafted him in the first round when Burke was the GM. This led to bad blood, which has clearly carried over to the Olympics. RJ's play hasn't done much to convince Burke otherwise either.

To finish things off, being a Canadian I am excited as hell to have the Olympics here in my home country. After the disappointment of Torino, I, like every other Canadian, want to see the Gold come back to Canada. Here's my prediction of the Team Canada Olympic Roster:

Rick Nash - Sidney Crosby - Jarome Iginla
Dany Heatley - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Brendan Morrow - Mike Richards - Shane Doan
Patrick Marleau - Joe Thornton - Martin St. Louis
Steven Stamkos

HM: Jonathan Toews, Jeff Carter, Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards

Chris Pronger - Scott Niedermayer
Dan Boyle - Duncan Keith
Shea Weber - Jay Bouwmeester
Drew Doughty

HM: Brent Seabrook, Mike Green, Stephane Robidas

Roberto Luongo
Martin Brodeur
Marc-Andre Fleury

HM: Marty Turco

Mark It Eight, Dude: Blackhawks Crush Sharks 7-2 for Their Eighth Win in a Row

Matthew Dirt — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 07:09:50 -0000

More photos » by Marcio Jose Sanchez - AP

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In the history of Second City Hockey, we've probably had some pretty terrible game recaps - this might be one of them. McClure and Fels are obviously still over at the Whirlaway plowing down drinks and eating whatever delicious food Maria has made for the horde that made it out to the bar.

Meanwhile, I got back to my parent's home just in time for the second period to watch the Sharks game go absolutely down the toilet. Of course, I had to watch the game on a shitty internet connection and Yahoo's feed kept fucking up so I don't have any great insight as to how the game actually went - as if I ever do anyway though, eh? I've had several Yuengling's though - so I'm good to go.

Since the feeds out here sucked, all I've really got to go on are the stats and the game thread... and by the way the game thread had over 700 comments - I'm very fucking proud.

There are two things that obviously stand out - the Hawks scoring 3 short handed goals and Hossa netting two goals in his return to the ice... Honestly - I'm not sure which is more impressive. Short handed goals are always a mix of great play and a bit of luck. Due to the poor feed, I can't remember who but I remember seeing Sharks D-men falling down allowing at least one of the shorties. It was almost the bizzaro version of the game against the Flames where the Hawks scored their goals on the power play. This time they got them with a man feeling shame in the box - word is Brouwer, Sharp and Hossa all grew goatees too... Regardless - awesome. Hossa immediately making his presence felt, that could be even sweeter. This team is scary good at the moment, hopefully it's this fun for a lot longer.

Hossa ended the night with 2 goals on 4 shots in 16:35 minutes of ice time - Quenneville obviously didn't have any problems pushing Panda (alliteration!) tonight, only Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews had more ice time among the forwards.

On the Sharks side of things - it didn't look too good. Danny Boyle, Dany Heatley, and Joe Thornton were all -4 tonight. Patrick Marleau had a team leading 4 shots (one less than John Madden and a few other Hawks) on goal but was still -3. Speaking of shots on goal - The Sharks only managed 11 through the first period, though they did more than double that total in the third once the Hawks foot was clearly off the gas and settled into cruise control.

Scoring a touchdown (the extra point is good!) on the road is good - doing it against a team that hadn't lost in regulation at home, that's better. If you read the Power Rankings post I had yesterday, you saw that this was had the potential to be a statement game. These are two of the best teams in the NHL - and the Blackhawks absolutely dominated the Sharks. Happy Fucking Holidays.

Don't know how the other two are going to be feeling tomorrow but if they're not too annihilated they may have a few more thoughts before settling into a traditional American food coma. If not, let this be the Second City Hockey message to all of you saying we're very thankful to have all of you as readers and we hope you have a great day. Enjoy.

Player Of The Game:

Once again, this could have gone to a lot of players. Troy Brouwer had a goal, an assist and two hits. Duncan Keith had another 3 assist game. Both Patrick Sharp and Brent Seabrook had goal and assist games - Biscuit also had 5 hits. Cristobal Huet had another great game - he came out with only a .917 SV% but deserved better since the Hawks got sloppy in the waning moments. I think we've got to go with the new guy though. 2 goals on 4 shots in just over 16:30 minutes TOI.

Thanks again to GMH for the image - which is slightly terrifying but awesome at the same time.

Murph's Law

Arthur from Anaheim Calling — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:39:54 -0000

More photos » by Damian Dovarganes - AP

I make all my decisions on logic. Note my Vulcan ears as proof of that. Editor's Note: seriously, look at those ears! He looks like the illegitimate son of Legolas and Gollum. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Gameday thread is below this post

ARTHUR:

Anaheim calling to the hockey world...

Since Brian Burke's departure, the hockey media has generally marveled at Bob Murray's management of the Ducks' assets. Like Burke, many of these opportunities came to him: Anaheim was a natural consideration for Koivu after being shut out of Montreal, and who doesn't want Chris Pronger? But Murray showed he could make some major deals at last year's trade deadline, calling in some old Blackhawk favors, unloading pending free agents and picking up quality prospects and RFA's. Still, for whatever reason, Murray has built a team much less stable than that of his predecessor. And just as the media wondered if Carlyle would be fired because Murray didn't hire him, because Carlyle wasn't Murph's choice, should they now wonder if Henry Samueli will fire Bob Murray for not being the recently reinstated owner's choice?

Daniel, I've recently made the joke that it's time for Samueli to fire Murray and give him some backdated stock and an autographed 8x10 glossy of Wendel Clark as a severance package. But assuming that longtime Duck figure (and one of last year's most popular GM job interviewees) David McNab would take his place, should Samueli fire Bob Murray before the general manager moves more of the Ducks assets this season?

DANIEL:

I think we should consider getting rid of Murray. As you just said, Koivu was pretty much going to come here no matter what. All Murray did was recycle Burke's first Chris Pronger deal. And the additions of Wisniewski and Whitney, in my opinion, pale greatly to the potential of Nick Bonino. Looking at today's roster, Murray's work has led to the acquisition of Nokelainen, Wiz, Whitney, and Christensen, as well as potential assets Bonino and Pielmeier, while losing Tangradi, O'Dell, the entire 2007 stopper line, and Beauchemin. Why we can pay Wisniewski's crazy string of penalty killing mistakes 2.75 million and not pay Beauchemin 3.8 is beyond my powers of comprehension. My main problem when looking at Murray's body of work is he was so hell-bent on getting something that he seemed to take anything. Look at the trade with Chicago. Pahlsson was still a terrific defensive asset. A little more effort and maybe we get a sturdier Cam Barker or Brent Seabrook.

When you look at the defensive situation this year you see a little bit of the same problem. Murray took a shotgun approach, and decided that if he brought enough D-men to camp, then Carlyle would just pick the right one. Eminger has been a pleasant surprise and Boynton is working out...I guess, but would it have killed him to get some size on the blue line? I would have liked a proven stay at home stopper. Yes, the man was aggressive and did seize a few good players. The problem is, I'm not sure they are the right players. Murray has put Carlyle into a bad situation by just acquiring players instead of acquiring key players who fit the system. As a result, Carlyle has been scrambling to make this golem of a team function.

I shudder to think what Tampa Bay will get with our 3rd Round pick after we let Artyukhin walk for taking a record 8 million penalties in the offensive zone. If I felt like there was some plan to what Murray was doing, then I'd be willing to give him a little more time to work it out, but right now, I say bring on McNab and let's see if we can get the team going in the right direction.

ARTHUR:

I realize that while Murray wasn't Samueli's choice, McNab was no one's choice. He's just a part of the Pond at this point, grown into it like Bootstrap Bill Turner into the Flying Dutchman. But I really think he's earned this job. He's respected in the league for what he's done and for what his father did, and he's respected amongst the players for having been a part of the Ducks organization since the supplemental draft. He deserves this shot, and not just because so many organizations seemed willing to give him one last year.

Now if we go to McNab, then we'll probably have to say goodbye to my dreams of acquiring Duncan Keith, not to mention the advantages of having a GM with at least SOME ties to an NHL organization that is not Anaheim, but we'd be making some effort to turn this ship around. I've said before that despite Murray's years as a pro scout, we've pretty much gotten Beauchemin, Bertuzzi and Morrison from his experience. One out of three IS bad. The players McNab has given us are too numerous to mention (but let's say Rucchin, Trnka, Tverdosky, Lecerlc, Salei, Cullen, McDonald, Kunitz, Penner, and Carter for starters). One could argue that this team has always been McNab's team, helplessly imbued with his vision for the hockey club, and now that we're getting a taste of Murray's vision, I think we need to give the ship back to its rightful captain.

Can McNab sign Bobby Ryan on the cheap? Can he make a deadline deal? I would think that after 16 years holding the proverbial clipboard, he can run a play or two. One thing is certain: there is a lot of rebuilding on the horizon. With so much of this team's future riding on how we manage this year's assets and acquisitions, I don't see how Samueli can leave this team in the hands of a man who has managed to miscalculate us into last place in the West in just one year.