I just wanted to throw in my two cents on Murray's comments on the 05-07 Drafts.

First off, I seriously doubt that Murray is in any way questioning Brian Burke with those comments. The '05, '06 and '07 drafts were the tail end of Alain Chainey's decade at the helm of the Anaheim draft boards as the organization's Director of Amateur Scouting. The club demoted Chainey in 2008 in favor of former Hurricanes scout and QMJHL specialist, Martin Madden. Murray's statements are likely an indictment of Chainey's performance at the end of his tenure as Director, as well as a reinforcement of the notion that the general manager's office made the right change by installing Madden.

It's cute to go back and look at NHL games played and, with the value of hindsight, refer to drafts as "bad." And I'm sure that's what Murray's doing, but I thought I would give a few of my notes on some of the players Anaheim drafted in those years, especially the good picks.

2005

Bobby Ryan - Burke was vocal about the fact that this pick belonged to Chainey and company. And rightfully so, because Bobby Ryan is not a "Burke-pick." Should the organization have gone with Jack Johnson, who came to the Draft in his maize and blue necktie to reinforce the message that he was playing for Michigan and NOT an NHL team in the coming season? Meh. Ultimately, Ryan was the only star forward in the cupboard between the NHL debut of Getzlaf and Perry and the moment the Ducks picked Emerson Etem.

Brendan Mikkelson - Who did I like? Future WCHA forwards Ryan Stoa, Mason Raymond and Paul Stastny. But the Ducks were looking defense. The blueline diamond in the rough of that second round turned out to be Vlasic, who had a good year and playoffs prior to the Draft but nowhere near the level of his breakout year the following season. Ultimately, the Ducks went with talent (a common tiebreaker), as Mikkelson was the best skating defenseman available at that point.

Jason Bailey and Bobby Bolt - The forward depth had thinned considerably at this point, but I think what's notable about these picks is that, in these rounds, Tim Burke of San Jose picks Alex Stalock and the Kings find Jonathan Quick in Avon Old Farms. Francois Allaire had been lauded for providing irreplaceable goaltending evaluation and scouting, and these were rounds where, if the Ducks weren't insistent on forwards, there were gems to be had, especially at a position where Anaheim seemed to sleep in the Allaire years.

Brian Salcido - Despite playing at Shattuck St. Mary's with his more famous draft classmates and having a good career in Colorado, Salcido was probably drafted for the city on his birth certificate (Los Angeles). He was ushered into and out of the Anaheim system rather quickly, and it felt like a PR stunt.

Jean-Philippe Levasseur - and then they picked a goalie.

2006

Mark Mitera - I interviewed Mitera after his first year in the pros, which sadly found him in Bakersfield. The 2006 Draft class saw a lot of bad luck, but Mitera got the worst of it. He blew out his knee at the beginning of his senior season. Then, to make matters worse, after an entire year away from hockey, he was sent to the ECHL while the Ducks scrambled to address their lack of a minor league affiliate.

This was a great pick, as the Ducks went shopping in a program that had done wonders for Matt Hunwick and Jack Johnson, and plucked the team's sturdiest shutdown defenseman and a player whose character put a C on his chest. A healthy Mitera who got to start his pro career in the AHL might have been quite the NHLer.

Bryce Swan - A physical forward, I would definitely call this a "Burke-pick," as far as the GM's guidelines for the pugnacity and truculence that he wants in his cupboard. Swan suffered a laundry list of injuries after being drafted, but the Ducks still liked him. He just refused to sign a contract. Not everyone wants to play in the NHL. It would have been nice to draft Milan Lucic, the physical forward that Draft buzz had sneaking into the top two rounds, and I'm surprised neither Burke nor Chainey was swept up in Lucic-fever, but they liked Swan more.

John de Gray - There were scouting reports that said that, but for a lack of offensive production from the blueline, John de Gray was a first-rounder. That's not the kind of player you can really regret picking in the third round, especially when all of ONE of the subsequently picked defensemen in that draft has managed a multi-season NHL career.

Matt Beleskey - Definitely a Burke-pick. Bulls captain, plenty of grit, plenty of character. His skating ability kept him available in the 4th Round, but you figured he could work on that, and he did. The Ducks got exactly what they hoped here.

Petteri Wirtanen - The Ducks took a shot in the dark with a small-ish forward. They might have seen a better return with even smaller forward Benn Ferriero, who Tim Burke and the Sharks took in the seventh round. But Wirtanen was a reasonable shot in the dark and a late rounder that the organization liked enough to actually sign and develop for a season. It's worth noting that current Ducks Director of Amateur Scouting Martin Madden has gone with college players as his final picks in the last two seasons, which is why I made specific note of Tim Burke's approach, as that has worked out for the Sharks on numerous occasions.

2007

Logan MacMillan - This was a bad pick, but it was also a pick that Burke created. Anaheim did not have a first round draft pick. Burke packaged together 2003 8th rounder Shane O'Brien with a third round pick to get a first rounder out of Tampa. Does the fact that the Ducks weren't even supposed to be there that day mean that they should have wasted the pick? No, but you can certainly imagine parallel dimensions where this scouting failure never came to light. Also, we can all imagine a scouting staff that had no problem saying they liked Logan MacMillan more than Max Pacioretty or David Perron.

He had a run-in with the law at the start of his pro career, but MacMillan's ultimate failing was that he was never as good offensively as his numbers indicated. With his stats inflated by linemate Jakub Voracek, MacMillan made it into the first round discussion, but he was just never going to be a first-round player.

Eric Tangradi - If the Ducks never picked in the first round, I think Burke still would have gotten his man in Tangradi. I said it was a mistake to trade him when Murray shipped him to Pittsburgh, and most agree that Murray was thoroughly fleeced in that deal. A Tangradi concussion on a suspension-drawing hit may keep the spotlight from ever thoroughly shining on Murray's mistake, but despite Murray's failure to properly VALUE Eric Tangradi, the power forward was a second round steal. (read the link for details on him, and look up the DiDomenico video if you can...priceless)

Maxime Macenauer - A little bit of speed, a little bit of scoring ability and a whole lot of gamble. There were no guarantees with Macenauer, but the fact that he's still in the cupboard-- and the team's first rounder from this year isn't --bodes pretty well for the scouting department's performance in this draft.

Justin Vaive - As far as gigantic players, whose fathers played the NHL game and were attending good college programs, Justin Vaive was a good pick. Might he just as easily have come to nothing and ended up in the ECHL. Well, yeah, but Anaheim had three more picks that round (the 4th), and the thinking was sound.

Steven Kampfer - One of the greater tragedies in Ducks' draft history, Kampfer suffered a criminal injury on the ice and a criminal injury off the ice. The physical toll alone could have ended his hockey career, but each injury came with mental effects as well. Still, he followed through with his NHL dream and got a Stanley Cup ring, even if his name wasn't engraved on the trophy. A good pick, and a player teams still wanted despite the tragedies that derailed his development.

Sebastian Stefaniszin and Mattias Modig - The Ducks finished the 4th round with two netminder picks. Goalie development is akin to pitcher or quarterback development. There is no science, and the mental aspects of the position can bust even the most talented players. Still, it's worth noting that Modig is good; he just didn't want to play for us.

Brett Morrison - Fun fact: Brett Morrison and Bryce Swan played together at St. Francis Xavier University last year and for the two years prior to that. Sometimes you blow a second round pick on a guy, and he ends up in the same place as a fifth-round throwaway.

The draft is a funny thing. I don't know if you ever really have 'good' or 'bad' ones. Bad things certainly happen to your players. Luck strikes both ways-- on draft day and in the subsequent developing years. Were there bad investments in the '05, '06 and '07 Ducks drafts? Yes . . . and for every draft before and after that. But there was very little in the way of Ponzi schemes and investment in Buggy Whip futures. Possibly nothing that would alleviate any blame falling on the current regime, especially when the current regime shipped many of the tangible and still valuable assets of the prior regime out-- Tangradi, Gardiner, etc.

ARTHUR:

The Good: Saku Koivu. I was actually within three feet of a man who refused to throw his hat. Who knew the sans-culottes were allowed to sit that close to the glass?

In lieu of a recap, I want to direct everyone to the next couple of posts by Kristen. Thanks to an overactive Spam folder, Kristen missed some much deserved front page time while I was at the helm (and apparently asleep at the wheel) of this blog. My apologies, Kristen. And I agree about Subban.

Don't sleep on Sleek's BoC cartoon angle-- it's an 8-panel-er.

ARTHUR:

I won't lie. My gameday chops are rusty, and this site has changed quite a bit since you guys were stuck with me describing 82 games a year. I like to think of those as the RKO days:

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ARTHUR:

Anaheim Calling to the hockey world...

I have the conn while Jen is out of town, and I thought I would use my brief time back at the AC helm to finish a thought on Bob Murray, whose job security will most likely be re-evaluated at the conclusion of this season.

I guess I have a problem with stamping "WOOPS" on an entire season, or every game between the preseason and trade deadline. And I guess that's the same problem they had in Chicago. Too many deals, too many attempts to overhaul the team every year, only to get it right, if at all, when it was too late. - February 2011 editorial on me eviscerating Murray as vehemently as mainstream media eviscerated him in Chicago

That gets to the heart of my frustration at the beginning of this season. As a sports fan, I long for the hope of a new season, its new-season smell and the promise of starting anew. But, at some point, Bob Murray took that from me. Instead of a blank slate, I came to expect that this season would look like its recent predecessors: an ill-conceived roster met with almost-scheduled adversity, then empty threats of major trades, then inexplicable job security for the coaching staff and its system, then finally, a barely successful or unsuccessful drive to make the postseason in a sport where over half the teams are guaranteed playoff games. Oh, to be unpleasantly surprised.

But let me start with a defense of the job Bob Murray has done.

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[Ed. Pro Tem Note: Jen has asked me to prepare a eulogy for the duck that met its end at the hands of a Sharks fan recently]

"...He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good."

-W.H. Auden

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I said this at the beginning of the season, but now I'm serious: the Ducks should trade Teemu Selanne to the Winnipeg Jets. I won't ask you to hear me out (as all of you have fast forwarded to the comments to complain), but I'll keep typing as though you're reading.

In short, Teemu deserves better. He didn't come to training camp to go through this. Hell, Cam Fowler didn't come to training camp to go through this. And while Selanne may have an equal chance of missing the postseason with either the Ducks or the Jets, I can't imagine he could regret playing one more season in front of the good people of Winnipeg-- win or lose. Another discouraging season in Anaheim? I think he could do without that.

And make no mistake, this isn't trading him back to the Jets organization that betrayed him (i.e. the Coyotes). This is much purer than that. This is sending him home to his first love, the fans that witnessed 76 goals and the second coming of the Finnish Flash.

You could complain about what the Ducks would get (probably not much without the increasingly valuable Anaheim picks coming into play), or the value of making such a purely sentimental trade. But I would argue that Selanne avoided quite a few logical complaints in deciding to come back at age 41 following another knee surgery (not to mention each year before that). He never asked for anything more than the promise that this organization was not rebuilding. But as this squad turns in more and more beer league efforts, with no major changes to the team or higher-ups, the Ducks are getting dangerously close to breaking that promise. Maybe it's time they matched Selanne for sentimentality and offered him the best bang for his buck in his last NHL campagin.

I had hoped that my first post returning to the Ducks blogosphere would be an expletive-laced rant on BoC, but alas, Earl doesn't call, he doesn't write.

Unlike Sid The Kid, I don't really have a virtuoso performance to offer you (unless you count the fact that I've managed to compose a post that ISN'T about Crosby-- good luck finding one of those over the next two weeks). So, this is just a post, continuing on a very simple idea thought I brought up in a comment on Robby's last post: shot distance.

Now, I'm NOT one of the folks who believes that shot distance, as a statistic, is tied to shooting percentage. Any of a number of posts at Arctic Ice Hockey will dispel that nonsense. But, on a very basic level, I think shot distance says something about shot selection and how a player chooses to attack a defense. From that, you may be able to deduce that the defense is playing that player very well or that the player is 'settling' for shots. It's an anecdotal conclusion that I have no problem drawing from years of being told how important it is to keep forwards shooting from the outside i.e. the long distances and bad angles outside of 'the house.'

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KRISTEN:

All the Ducks news that’s fit to link!

· The Ducks have signed former Oilers winger Jean-Francois Jacques to a two-way contract (it will pay $650,000 in the NHL, and $105,000 in the AHL). [OC Register], [On The Duck Pond], [Quackalackin’]

· We’ve also signed Charlotte Checkers (AHL) captain Bryan Rodney to a one year, two-way deal. [Quackalackin’]

· Dan Sexton has filed for salary arbitration. [LA Times Blog]

· DSP discusses his Memorial Cup experience. [NHL.com]

· Is Ray Emery a good fit for the Oilers? [Oil on Whyte]

· Evaluating Cam Fowler. [SK’s Blog – Ducks and Pucks]

· The Ducks Towel invades Canada. [Anaheim Ducks Towel Invasions]

· Wysh grades each team’s performance during the Free Agent Frenzy. We got an incomplete for free agency, but the Sutton –Foster trade gets a B+. [Puck Daddy]

Around the NHL

· The Blues have signed Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner. [TSN]

· According to Dean Lombardi, it might take the Kings ‘a while’ to sign Drew Doughty. [LA Times Blog]

· Steven Stamkos is still a RFA, but apparently, it’s not a big deal. [St. Petersburg Times]

· Are the Caps shopping Alex Semin? [SB Nation DC]

DANIEL:
I think everyone who reads Anaheim Calling knows that I am a huge fan of Paul Kariya. I was holding out high hopes that taking a year off would do him well, and that Selanne would show him the location of the Fountain of Youth, so we could all see the old magic one last time. I wanted to be a better hockey fan, so that I could truly appreciate the brilliance of Kariya. That was what I hoped for this offseason, to have vibrant memories of Kariya and Selanne, the way my father remembers Koufax and Drysdale.

In the late 1990s there was nothing more terrifying than Kariya coming down the left wing with speed. If he was allowed to cut across the crease on the backhand, anything could happen. He was so skilled with the puck that Selanne could go anywhere he wanted, wait for the puck, and shoot the lights out. He was everything a skilled hockey player should be: fast, agile, patient with the puck, a phenomenal passer with a deceptive shot. He used to work the point with Fredrick Olausson on one of the best Power Plays in the league.

He'll walk away as a point per game player for his career, but no one will remember that.

They will remember concussions, lots of them, from Gary Suter, Scott Stevens, Patrick Kaleta and others. Reading the article in the Globe and Mail made my sympathize with Kariya in a way I never had before. It's true that we are oblivious to the full impacts of concussions on athletes. One more bad hit could have turned Kariya into Muhammad Ali, and that is painful to think about.

I am probably one of the few fans who can sincerely say that he was never angry at Kariya when he left for Colorado. I was upset at the first holdout, but I had yet to read any Marx then. My first thought when Bryan Murray made him a free agent was, "What the hell are you thinking?" Kariya endured so much playing in Anaheim. No one went after Gary Suter. He always played hard when he was here, and for a few years, he was the only legitimate star on a team that was a Disney-owned joke. His reward for over a decade of loyal service was ridicule at the hands of a fan base that probably never appreciated how talented he really was.

Kariya is a Hall of Fame player. I'll never forget jumping off my couch when he scored that goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He deserved better than he got, and I'm very sad that he could never get that last year with the Ducks that Selanne offered. He was a Duck, through and through. I always believed that the fans' irrational hate is what kept him away. I'm confident that he always wanted to come back, and he needs to be welcomed back in some capacity by Bob Murray.

Every time we talk about retiring jersey numbers, I think of something Arthur said "When you close your eyes and think of a player, what jersey is he wearing?" Every time I close my eyes, I see Kariya in a Mighty Ducks Jersey. The organization needs to do the right thing and retire his 9. Bobby wears it now, and he can be the last one to wear it, because it is Kariya's. If it wasn't for Kariya, this organization would be long gone. I'm sorry I never got to welcome you back, Paul. You are one of the greatest to ever wear a Ducks jersey and now that it's over, everyone will remember how much they loved you when you played here.

Paul Kariya Retires

ARTHUR:
In The Tenth Inning, Ken Burns' recent addendum to his Baseball documentary, a sportswriter compares his relationship with the lovable-loser Red Sox to the relationship he shares with his kids. At the end of the day, they won't love him and respect him for the awards he won and the accolades he amassed, but just for the time they spent with him, the moments that make up that relationship, both fulfilling and disappointing.

And that is the relationship we all share with a bad team, sometimes a bad franchise. We mark time through them, but not in a negative way-- not unless we insist upon it.

Through seemingly interminable seasons of so-so Ducks teams, many fans marked time through Paul Kariya. The Kariya-Selanne show was reason, in and of itself, to show up at the Pond. You just never knew what they were going to do, but you knew you were going to see some s*** you've never seen before. The Dynamic Duo made the seasons worthwhile, as the team built (and sometimes rebuilt) toward the playoffs.

My own time as a fan is easily marked through Paul Kariya. When I first started watching hockey, he was the main event of the NCAA ranks. I still have not seen a better college player. Through the Dead Puck era, he and Selanne gave me a reason not to do homework in high school. In college, when the Ducks made their run to the Stanley Cup Finals, I called in sick to one of my three jobs to sit in front of the television. After the latest Lockout, when the rules would supposedly bring offense back to the ice, Kariya found 85 points (in Nashville, of all places), and got me to turn hockey back on, despite a rather busy first year in law school.

For any sports fan, there is some player career hero or team that marks the times of their life; Kariya just happens to be mine. Paul Kariya's battles with concussions, through a series of independently reprehensible incidents, became the story of his career. Still, it's not without some shock that I approach the announcement of his retirement. Perhaps, in Doc Emrick's call: Off the floor, on the board, Paul Kariya!!!, I began to wonder if headshots had any effect on number 9. You could apparently damage his brain quite severely, but the part that knew how to play hockey would continue unharmed.

A Gretzky fan once told me that he had a hard time accepting Gretzky in a suit, if only because it reminded him of his age, the fact that he no longer lived in a time when he could turn on a television and see The Great One swinging a hockey stick. I have no idea how that guy marks time now; I'm tempted to call him and ask.

KRISTEN:

• Breaking news! Jaromir Jagr is currently on a plane from the Czech Republic to New York (expected to arrive as early as 3:30 EST). The Pittsburgh Penguins have offered him a 1 year deal, and he is also fielding offers from the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens. He should announce his decision this afternoon, even if he can’t sign with a team until July 1^st. [SB Nation]
• Apparently, the Red Wings want former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Christian Erhoff to replace the recently retired Brian Rafalski. At this point, it’s purely speculation. [SB Nation]

Now, all the Ducks (and NHL) news that’s fit to link….

• The Ducks conditioning camp begins tomorrow (at THE RINKS – Anaheim ICE), and runs through Tuesday. Highlights include a scrimmage at 9 am tomorrow, which will feature prospects Emerson Etem and DSP (and all seven players drafted last week in Minnesota). [OC Register Ducks Blog] and [Anaheim Ducks]
• "Did I Do Good, Part 2." The Anaheim Ducks Report and On The Duck Pond grade our performance at the NHL Draft. [Anaheim Ducks Report] and [On The Duck Pond]
• The OC Register also weighs in, analyzing every first round draft pick. [OC Register]
• Where will all the UFA’s go? Fox News predicts that Ray Emery will sign with Florida. [Fox News]
• After the Ducks lost to Nashville in the quarterfinals, many questioned Ryan Getzlaf’s leadership. Bleacher Report likes what he does for the Ducks, but argues that Corey Perry would also make an effective captain. [Bleacher Report]
• "What if Jonas Hiller doesn’t recover?" Our friends at Battle of California discuss the Ducks’ offseason game plan. [BoC]
• Ryan Getzlaf held the 1^st annual Getzlaf Golf Shootout last weekend, and raised $160,000 for Talk About Curing Autism (TACA). [OC Register Ducks Blog]
• Profiles of first round draft pick Rickard Rakell: [Quackalackin’] , [Anaheim Ducks, Article 1], [Anaheim Ducks, Article 2]
• Second-rounder John Gibson: [Quackalackin’], [Anaheim Ducks], [The Game – Michigan Sports Blog]
• Aaand…third-round defenseman Andy Welinski: [Anaheim Ducks]

Around the NHL!

• Kevin Howe, Doug Gilmour, Ed Belfour, and Joe Nieuwendyk have been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Notable snubs include Pavel Bure and Pat Burns. The ceremony will be held on November 14 in Toronto. [TSN]
• Not to rub salt in the wound, but Brooks Laich is going to be a Cap for a long time. [Russian Machine Never Breaks]

ARTHUR:
Jen and I are getting set up in the media work room at the Awards. If you're watching the red carpet, I offer you these links to kill the time before any kind of actual ceremony begins.

I essentially cancelled our writer tryouts, so the only new member of the staff will be Kristen, who's going to round up some Ducks stories for you every week. She's linked one of her own stories at the end. Enjoy.

KRISTEN:
All the mid-week Ducks news that’s fit to link….

· Corey Perry, 4^th Blue Man Group Member. [Zimbio]

· Could Pears win the Rocket Richard AND the Hart at the NHL Awards tonight? The LA Daily News thinks he should win, but gives the edge to Daniel Sedin. They expect that Ray Emery wins the Masterton, though, and offer predictions about the other awards. [LA Daily News]

· This is old-ish, but the OC Register provides an interesting overview of Ray Emery’s season. [OC Register]

· Ex-Duck Chris Pronger is a fantastic defenseman, but his future in the league is in limbo. [NHL.com]

· Nicklas Lidstrom on Corey Perry: "He was very hard to defend." [Fox News]

· According to the OC Register, the Ducks can only succeed next season if Teemu returns and Hiller is healthy [OC Register].

· Hits and misses at the Draft by Pacific Division teams. Remember Stanislav Chistov, Michael Holmqvist, and Alexei Smirnov? [NHL.com]

· Sheldon Brookbank answers random questions in the Register’s new "Duck Takes" series. [OC Register]

· Devante Smith-Pelly has been invited to Canada’s National Junior Team Summer Development Camp. [CHL]

· The Ducks bought a roller rink at 3150 Barranca Parkway in Irvine. The club already operates a roller rink in Huntington Beach [OC Register].

· Defenseman Nate Guenin has been signed to a two-year contract extension. [Anaheim Ducks]

· And finally, check out my piece "What Hockey Fans Think About Basketball" on the excellent pop culture blog Racialicious. (DISCLAIMER: This piece is not a reflection upon Anaheim Calling or its readers. It is framed as a critique of an article, "Viewing LeBron," that was posted on Second City Hockey). [Racialicious]

ARTHUR:
The Ducks announced today that they have signed their 2010 29th overall pick and Long Beach native Emerson Etem to a three-year entry level contract. Eric Stephens of the OC Register has the details, and don't forget to follow Etem's elation on his recently renamed Twitter account @tweetem_up.

I told Etem I would follow up with him after my October interview with the newly minted Duck, but I was remiss. Congratulations, Etem, and welcome to the FOWL!

ARTHUR:
Here's another contributor audition from Alex.

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ARTHUR:
We're continuing our offseason contributor tryouts with Jason.  He's submitted a few articles, but this is his first one we've published.  It's his five reasons on why Selanne will return.  He doesn't mention Kariya, but Selanne did, so we'll just call that an omission.

Let him know what you think in the comments.

Continue reading this post »

ARTHUR:
Anaheim calling to the hockey world...

The staff is mostly resting during the Ducks' offseason, but behind the scenes, we're all watching the playoffs. And we just HAD to come out of hibernation to talk about the Sharks.

In the five completed seasons after the last Lockout, San Jose amassed 544 points and ZERO Conference Finals wins. However, despite their parade of playoff exits, the most embarrassing one seems to have been their 2009 elimination at the hands of the 8th seed Anaheim Ducks-- and many Sharks experts would agree with that estimation. This blogger even declared, last season, that due to Cap concerns, the comical, Benny Hill-esque Sharks were at an end, and they would either get better or much worse.

Well, now in danger of stealing defeat from the jaws of a 3-0 lead in their series with Detroit, perhaps the Benny Hill Sharks have returned for a final performance. Daniel, if the Sharks lose this series, is it the most embarrassing loss in that franchise's history?

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ARTHUR:

We're continuing our contributor tryouts for the offseason with another entry from Kristen.  She's interested in doing gamedays for us but, as there are currently no Ducks games to gameday, has turned to the past for inspiration for her audition.  Stanley Cup Finals 2007 Game 1 after the jump.

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ARTHUR:
A month ago, Greg Wyshynski listed five reasons Corey Perry would not be receiving the Puck Daddy scribe's vote for the Hart. Amongst the quintet of complaints was the number of minor penalties that the Anaheim forward took on the way to his 104 PIM total.

It would be simplistic to counter that argument by noting that Corey Perry draws a large number of penalties for the Ducks (though at 1.2 per 60 minutes, he does). Instead, I would simply build on that counter argument and point out that 1/4 of Perry's 2-minute infractions are Roughing minors.

By simply pointing to his minor penalties, you seem to imply that Perry is some flat footed forward with a propensity for hurting his team with a Hook every time he can't keep up with his check. In reality, Perry is a forward who plays the game in the trenches (whether or not he's actually stationed in the trenches at the time). He hits you first, and he hits you back.

Are 10 Roughing minors a good thing? A positive? Well, no. Neither are his two Charging penalties and his one Boarding call. But if Perry is truly effective playing the game on the edge, then maybe the decision to vote for him should be based on more than visiting the Ducks' Penalties stat page of NHL.com and sorting by 'Minors.'

And that's why I feel Perry's consideration for the Ted Lindsay Award is so much more important than his nomination for the Hart. He may have a history of minor penalties, front of the net exchanges like the video above, runs at goaltenders and a pretty inexcusable suspension, but the Players' Association MVP could be the one place where your rap sheet isn't determinative of your value. After all, Alex Ovechkin took home his third consecutive MVP despite multiple suspensions and a couple of knee on knee hits that escaped suspension.

So, maybe it's actually more meaningful to be called valuable and effective by the players that actually play against you and have some firsthand knowledge of how valuable and effective you are. Mind blowing concept, I know.

ARTHUR:
Another article from Anaheim Calling Tryout Alex.  Let him know what you think in the comments.  

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ARTHUR:
Hello AC readers.  We're continuing our tryouts through this offseason. 

This is the second article from Joe.  Throw him some feedback in the comments.  

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ARTHUR:
With the playoffs continuing, sadly without the Ducks, I thought we should do a whimsical post.

Every year, NHL players observe the postseason beard tradition. A smaller portion of the NHL fans grow their facial hair in solidarity.

Daniel, you and I are members of the latter group, and as the practice is one of superstition, I have a question of etiquette, of proper magumbo procedure, if you will. Is it acceptable to trim and shape your beard, or must every hair grow unimpeded until your team is eliminated?

Continue reading this post »

ARTHUR:
The history books will tell you that Canada's English settlers instituted hockey's traditional handshake line, hoping to imbue the rough and tumble game with an air of sportsmanship. However, I prefer to believe, as I do about fighting, that the practice has its roots in the lacrosse tradition. Tribes would settle their disagreements on the field in ferocious competition, but the field is where the disagreement stayed. You battled as hard as you could, but you accepted the final score, if not out of respect for your opponent, then out of respect for the game.

We respect the handshake line here at Anaheim Calling, and we would like to continue the handshake tradition we started in 2009.  So, Daniel, Jen, Robby, walking through the line of Predators players and the Predators coaching staff, what are the positives beyond 'good game' that you would like to express?

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