NHL Free Agent Frenzy

The LA Kings won the Stanley Cup in a very convincing manner over the NJ Devils and since then the Devils seem to have continued on a downward slope. The Devils were unable to resign their top point man, leader, captain and soul in Zach Parise. Parise decided along with Ryan Suter to take their talents back home. The Minnesota Wild and the hockey faithful are gleaming with excitement in the twin cities. The two hottest players in the NHL Free Agent pool signed 13-year 98 million dollar contracts with the Minnesota Wild putting the NJ Devils and the Nashville Predators shaking their heads, wondering what happened. Did the aura of the twin cities lure these two home-town boys back home or was it the ability to play together, I guys Zach and Ryan are the only ones that can answer that.

 

In the meantime the are other teams making certain moves within free agency this year to mainly fill out some needs. The Dallas Stars went out to sign veteran scoring power after losing Mike Ribiero to the Washington Capitals they pick up Jamoir Jagr and Ray Whitney. Both players are capable of bringing in veteran leadership and help make the players around them better which is needed in the Dallas Stars organization. To top it all off, another trade to get Derek Roy from the Buffalo Sabres, if he can get back to his game it could be a major steal.

 

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to shoot blanks after they traded Jordan Staal to free up space to grab Suter or Parise they came up with a giant goose-egg. With Sidney and Malkin already on your team you would think that it would be very attractive to join them but the cap space is just not there.

 

For the most part teams are re-signing their young stars, looking to fill specific needs, get extra defense, secondary scoring if possible and the playoff key known as grit.

 

The Calgary Flames did go out and spend a little bit of money with signing Blake Comeau, Dennis Wideman and Jiri Hudler which was very much needed with the departure of Olli Jokinen to the Jets. The Winnepeg Jets did make a couple tough signings as well with Olli and Ponikarsky to add size for their forwards. A few trades that put Jordan Staal with his brother in Carolina and Mike Ribeiro to Washington could make that Southeast Division even more of a challenge.

 

There is still a long time to go till we hit that first week of October and I am sure there are still many other free agents out there that can make a difference. Forwards such as Alexander Semin, Hagmen and Kristan Huesleius. Defensemen such as Matt Carle, Matt Gilroy, Cam Barker, and others. Let’s see where this goes from here.

 

El Puckster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd round near an end

Welcome back sports fans. Analysis for the 2nd round of the playoffs.

 

Could you believe it? The NHL playoffs continue to have stories that just baffle you. The eight seed L.A Kings went on to sweep the St. Louis Blues in very convincing fashion. The Kings are skating harder, faster, and quicker than most teams competing for the Stanley Cup his year. The stars of the Kings are lead by their captain Dustin Brown who scored the game winning goal in Game 4 against the Blues to complete the sweep. The pulse of this team though was been with Jonathan Quick who has answered the bell at every call. The St. Louis Blues though had a tremendous amount of trouble in really testing Quick as their offense seem to stall out at the wrong time.

The team brave enough to battle the Kings have already been chosen. The Western Conference Final is going to be hot his summer as to join the Kings will be the Phoenix Coyotes. An incredible story as a franchise that has been threatened to being relocated multiple times, then bought out by the NHL, and finally finding ownership. The Coyotes use a style of hockey that did not give the skilled players of the Nashville Predators much room to create offense. The goalie Mike Smith calls it Coyote Ugly, to go along with his creative handshake with back up goalie and his defense, this team is a force to be reckoned with.

Back East its a much different story. A tight series between the N.Y Rangers and the Washington Capitals have allowed us to witness a tying goal in the dying seconds to then win it in OT a minute later; a triple OT winner; and more with Game 6 & possible Game 7 in the works. Dale Hunter has coached this Capitals team almost perfectly. He uses his star players with optimal and efficient ice-time then plays his third and fourth line guys hard for a strong defensive front. Braden Holtby has been a beast in net but he can only stop so many, in order for the Caps to have success in Game 6 & 7.

The N.Y Rangers are playing sound, tough defensive hockey which contributes to their success. Led by strong offense, special teams and king Henrik the Rangers seem to be the team to beat. This style of hockey is also shown by the L.A Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes, so those could be some very interesting matchups in a potential Stanley Cup Final.

Across the way, the New Jersey Devils have their star players shinning at the right time. After a hard fought series with the Florida Panthers, the Devils players began to take nothing for granted and other players began to step up and play much better than their own potential. That is really what it means to be in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Using a strong defensive trap and Martin Brodeur playing ten years younger, the Devils have shown a way to take a 3-1 series lead on the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers will be without Claude Giroux for tonight’s elimination game which means the rest of the Flyers must step up their game and Bryz must be better. The Devils have not poured shots in Bryz so he must be better and the Flyers defense must be tighter.

Right now the success for teams in the playoffs have been using a defensive trap, blocking shots and playing tight defense and then using a counter attack with a strong fore-check to create those chances for just enough goals to win. A possible recipe to hoist the coveted Stanley Cup, only time will tell.

NHL Playoff Preview Eastern Conference

With the first night of the playoffs wrapped up and the second night awaiting in the wings, here are my predictions for the Eastern Conference first round match-ups.

1.) NY Rangers VS 8.) Ottawa Senators

– An interesting combination here as I have heard many experts say not to count out the Senators because this could be an upset in the making. Well sorry but I really don’t think so. The Rangers have too much fire power and all the right key players stepping up. Marion Gaborik, Ryan Callahan on offense, tough guys like Marc Staal and Dan Giradi on defense and King Henrik in-goal. Those guys come to play their game, forget the upset.

– The Senators will have to hope for mistakes and missed chances by the Rangers to pull this one-off. Plus they will need stellar games from Eric Karlesson and Kyle Turris for a chance. This is the NHL Playoffs so anything is possible.

– Prediction Rangers in 5

2.) Boston Bruins VS 7.) Washington Capitals

– In order for Washington to pull off an upset than their star players that have been non-existent during the entire regular season, Nickalus Backstrom, Mike Green and Alexander Semin must return to their offensive power strong from last year’s regular season and find a way to bring it in the playoffs. I feel that this team does not have the leadership roles to bring that talent to the next level in the playoffs.

– The Bruins are expected to win and with young guys like Brad Marchant and Tyler Seguin having a great regular season, look for them to continue that tear in the playoffs. That will happen because of players like Milian Lucic, Patrice Beregon and Zdeno Chara that have been here before and won. As long as Tim Thomas does not struggle expect the Bruins to win this one with their physical play.

– Prediction Bruins in 6

 

3.) Florida Panthers VS 6.) New Jersey Devils

– All eyes expect an upset in this series and they could be right. Three 30 goal scorers, Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise and David Clarkson. A hall of fame goaltender in Martin Brodeur, how could this team be stopped especially with the late season tear they went on. But if their main forwards do not score, this team needs to reach deep for some secondary scoring which has been on and off.

– The Panthers ride the emotion of a twelve-year absence from the Stanley Cup Playoffs and South Florida will be rocking!!! The scoring from their big three of Stephen Weiss, Thomas Fleishman and Kris Versteeg must show up to get a series win. If not it will come to secondary scoring which has also been tough to find. Jose Theodore has to play playoff style to keep up with Marty and the slight edge I see is the scoring D-men of the Cats. If Brian Campell, Jason Garrison and Kulikov can get some points and play big the Cats could advance.

– Prediction Florida Panthers in 7

 

4.) Pittsburgh Penguins VS 5.) Philadelphia Flyers

– The Penguins are running on all cylinders and are expected to make a huge push, especially with Sidney Crosby back and Evegni Malkin just playing out of their minds. Pens have some many important offensive and defensive pieces that flow very well together which make them very hard to beat. The only issue is that they drew that Flyers in the first round, a team that also has all the same cards they do.

– Philly must bring that physical presence to get under the skin of the Pens superstars. Expect Scotty Hartnell, Wayne Simmons, Zac Rinaldo to step up the hard-hitting and traffic in front of Marc-Andre Fleury. It just seems that all the expert reports of Pens players complaining too much will actually not help their case and give the Flyers the advantage. This prediction was before last night’s game but that last sentence does prove the result of a 1-0 lead the Flyers now have.

– Prediction Flyers in 7