SB Nation User Blog: TylerG

"When Don Cherry predicted Ovi would be taken out by someone he hit (cleanly), was he prescient -...

TylerG — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:13:54 -0000

"When Don Cherry predicted Ovi would be taken out by someone he hit (cleanly), was he prescient - or did he open the door for it?"

Caps spokesperson @NateEwell, via Twitter

CBCer @JeffMarek considering renaming self @CrosbyFluffer

TylerG — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:48:50 -0000

Given how extensively the Canadian hockey media is in the tank for Pittsburgh forward and oiled-up barely-legal model Sidney Crosby, it would take truly remarkable Crosby-worship for one Canadian journalist to rise above the rest. And yet Jeff Marek, a CBC radio host and tweeter, has managed to differentiate himself from his peers. His Crosby-fluffing medium of choice: Twitter.

Marek's Crosby worship took off during the Canadian Olympic orientation camp when his Crosby-obsessive Tweets spawned a mini-competition to see who could RT them and make fun of them first and best. Here's a quick recap:

@JeffMarek started slowly -- "Crosby looks excellent. But then again, didn't he just win the cup yesterday?" -- but quickly ramped up;
"Crosby leading the stretch at centre. Very exciting tweet that was";
"Team White skate over. Crosby was the class of the skate again. Wash - rinse - repeat.";
"I should have the new line combos in a couple of hours. Will be curious to see if the keep crosby/nash together. They've been magic." (Magic? In a pre-season, pre-camp, pre-practice practice? Is Marek 12 years old? Does he believe in dragons?);
"Crosby is killing everyone in the faceoff drills. So much for that being a weak part of his game."; and
"I hope you all get to see this pass Crosby made to Derek Roy tonight at the scrimmage. Best pass of the camp hands down." (Seriously? Rating passes at pre-season, pre-camp, pseudo-scrimmages?)

@JeffMarek's fluff job became so epic in the Twittersphere that even NHL public relations staffers have piled on. After @JeffMarek tweeted this last night -- "Crosby w/a pair tonight vs Jackets. I'll repeat again, he was the best player at [Team Canada] orientation camp." -- Caps PR chief Nate Ewell couldn't take it anymore and tweeted back: "Heard you the first 457 times, Jeff."

Amen.

"On paper, the Bolts look good enough to perhaps to challenge [sic] the two-time division champ...

TylerG — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:41:42 -0000

"On paper, the Bolts look good enough to perhaps to challenge [sic] the two-time division champ Caps."

- Tarik El-Bashir, Capitals Insider, August 12, 2009

My personal guide to tonight's NHL draft, complete with links

TylerG — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:09:49 -0000

The guys who I'd be happy to see end up going to WSH at No. 24, plus some must-reads/follows

11-20 on TSN: Chris Kreider, Carter Ashton

21-30 on TSN: Jordan Caron, Ryan O'Reilly

31-40 on TSN: Jeremy Morin, Joonas Nattinen

41-50 on TSN: Zach Budish, who seems to be moving up fast...

Guys I'm not interested in seeing WSH draft: Small forwards. Hershey is stocked with enough of 'em. Goaltenders.

Roster player most likely to be traded: Shaone Morrisonn.

Key reads: DMG's post on the WSH '09 draft, @DarrenDreger,@nateewell, @JapersRink, @CMasisak22, TSN, Globe and Mail.

Anyone else got links/follows?

Nominate Rink writers to win award(s)

TylerG — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:32:15 -0000

Nominate Rink writers to win award(s)

Don't let all those Don Cherry-loving Canadians win all the hockey-writing awards! Thanks to Japers' Rink, Caps fans have access to three of the best writers/analysts in the hockey blogosphere: JP, DMG and Stephen Pepper. Click on this link and give 'em some love X 3!

How well is M. Neuvirth playing? (Wow.)

TylerG — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:45:36 -0000

Last night the Hershey Bears defeated the WBS Pens 3-0 in Game Seven of their second-round series. Michael Neuvirth, he of the lightning glove-hand, notched the shutout.

Here's the hot stat: Neuvirth shut out WBS in both Games Six and Seven, the first time an AHL goalie has ever shut out a team in both G6 and G7 of a series. This is not a rinky-dink, gimmicky little achievement: The AHL has been around since 1936.

If AO is 'Red Jesus,' David Steckel is...

TylerG — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:33:10 -0000

Sometimes it is difficult to detail how important a third-liner is to a playoff team's success. Not when it comes to David Steckel, the Caps' wunder-killer and hard-hat wearer.

In two games against PIT, Steckel is 2-0-2, +2, and has won 21 of 30 faceoffs (70 percent). He has been the Caps' best penalty-killer: In both games Steckel led the Caps in short-handed time-on-ice. Despite killing penalties against the opponent's top power play unit, Steckel rates out as the Capitals' best PK forward in terms of goals-against-per-60-minutes-on-ice (among forwards who kill an average of two or more minutes per game). The only PIT PPG for which Steckel has been on the ice was last night's 6-on-4 goal.

And what about Steckel at 5-on-5? Against the Rangers, Steckel was a bit of an adventure 5-on-5: He was the Caps' top-rated offensive forward in terms of GFON/60 and he was the worst-rated defensive forward in GAON/60. (True: His job is to match up against the opponents' top line.)

But against PIT Steckel has been simply phenomenal 5-on-5: Once again, no Capital forward has been on ice for as many 5-on-5 goals per 60 minutes than has Steckel, not even Alex Ovechkin. Throughout this series Caps coach Bruce Boudreau has matched Steckel up against the Crosby line. Boudreau said after Game Two that Steckel was on ice for all but two of Crosby's EV shifts. No matter: PIT has not scored an EV goal with Stecks on the ice. (As noted above, the only goal PIT has scored with Steckel on the ice was in a 6-on-4 situation.)

I'm not the only one noticing that Steckel has been the Caps' second-best forward in this series: Boudreau played Stecks for 19:11 in Game One and for 16:31 in Game Two.

Ovechkin and Simeon Varlamov are getting the headlines, but the Caps wouldn't have won either of the series' first two games without Steckel.

Crosby to refs: We're going to run Varlamov

TylerG — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:30:44 -0000

Crosby to refs: We're going to run Varlamov

America's most famous basement tenant promises that the Pens will find out "if he's cool or not."

Five keys from WSH-NYR that you won't hear from the MSM types

TylerG — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:52:43 -0000

1.) Milan Jurcina finally played up to his potential -- and consistently at that. He led the Caps D in hits with 24. Only Shaone Morrisonn was on ice for fewer goals-against 5-on-5 per 60 minutes. (And by only a .81 to .76 margin.) Jurcina's poke-check on Sean Avery's late-third period breakaway may have saved the WSH season. (Round Two tip: Keep 23 off-ice when the Pens are on the PP.)

2.) David Steckel is good at killing penalties. Despite leading Caps forwards in PK time-on-ice and despite killing against the Rangers' top unit, only one Cap forward who regularly killed penalties was better at 4-on-5 (Nick Backstrom). Which brings us to...

3.) Steckel was both great and bad -- 5-on-5 in the series: The Caps scored more even-strength goals per 60 minutes with Steckel on the ice than any other player. Alas: The Caps gave up the most (minus one-and-done Jeff Schultz) with Stecks on the ice, too.

4.) Speaking of Nick Backstrom and the penalty-kill: Backstrom averaged over two minutes per game of PK time per game and the Rags didn't score a single PPG with him on the ice. Backstrom was just as good at even-strength, leading the Caps in 5-on-5 Corsi.

5.) Tom Poti was a beast -- at both ends and in all situations. This might be the stat of the series: Per 60 minutes of power play ice-time, the Caps scored more goals with Tom Poti on the ice than any other player. No wonder Poti was 2-4-6 for the series.

Allan Muir is the new Garrioch

TylerG — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:56:34 -0000

"Boudreau's option is Simeon Varlamov, a 21-year-old Russian whose resume is pretty much babysitting and lawn mowing at this point." -- Sports Illustrated's Allan Muir.

As usual, Muir is under-informed. His credibility is approaching Garrioch-level.

Varly has a distinguished resume for a 21-year-old G. He was 5-1 with a 1.51 GAA int he 2006-07 world juniors. That same year he had a 2.17 GAA in 33 games while in the top Russian league. In Hershey this season, Varly was 19-7-1, 2.40, .916, numbers significantly better than any other Hershey G.

Is Varlamov Marty Brodeur? No. But should Muir know what he's talking about (for a change)? Uh, yeah.