Who will be around come playoff time?

I just realized I hadn't posted anything for quite a while. In case I still have any readers left, I will try to better myself, which won't be hard with the playoffs just around the corner. Speaking of the playoffs, I will give you perdiction for round one.

If Evgeni Malkin can keep producing with Sidney Crosby returning, I think Pittsburgh will grab the number one spot in the East. Montreal, Carolina and New Jersey will round out the home-ice four while it looks like Ottawa, NY Rangers, Philadelphia and Boston will complete first round. There is still a chance Washington could snatch the 8th spot away from the slipping Bruins but I don't think they will. Boston got a big win against Toronto last night and they have a game in hand on the Caps. Buffalo, Toronto and Florida can start planning for next season.

Out west, the situation around the 8th spot is just as tight as it is in the east. Only Detroit and San Jose are set as 1st and 2nd. Calgary and Minnesota are still fighting for the top spot in the Northwest Division and home ice in the first round along with Anaheim. Slumping Dallas look pretty safe at 89 points, but unless they start winning they could find themselves in a very unpleasant situation. Colorado are still hanging on for dear life in the 8th spot with Nashville still pushing hard for a playoff berth. Vancouver are also on shaky ground in 7th but, though Edmonton are just a point behind the 9th placed Nashville, I think the Canucks will hang on to 7th and the Avs will face the Red Wings in the first round.

I will save the outcome of the first round for my next post, in which I will also give you my prediction for the Stanley Cup finals.

Good to be back!

Take a look at the picture above, I think it's pretty awesome. I don't know what Joe Sakic is saying to Peter Forsberg, but I bet it is something along the line of "Good to have you back, buddy." And boy, are they glad. When Forsberg, who logged more ice time than any other Avs forward, turned up his game a notch in the third period, which led to two goals, it was nothing if not vintage Forsberg. I can't wait to see how well he'll play once he gets a few more games under his belt. After the game Ian Laperriere was very excited about how good Forsberg looked on the ice, and really, who wouldn't be. What team in the Western Conference will want to square off against the Avs in the first round?

Lidstrom, overrated greatness?

In a resent post I talked about Nicklas Lidstrom and how his injured knee may hurt his chances at a sixth Norris Trophy. That article got a very interesting and somewhat controversial comment from my old friend and hockey connoisseur, Philip Arvidsson. Philip, a resident of Toronto for many years and currently living in the Netherlands, knows more about this sport than most so-called experts and it’s a pleasure to get his thoughts on the NHL as he is a frequent commentator on my blog. This comment fueled an interesting and heated debate that I decided to post here. I hope to be able to post more "face offs" like this in the future, but here is the premiere!

Philip
To me, Mr. Lidstrom is a complete enigma. The guy gets showered with perks by every hockey writer and critic and Norris Trophies seem to be fedexed to his home on a yearly basis. I've never really understood the Lidstrom hype but that does not mean I'm right.

Niklas
Unless I missunderstood, you say Lidstrom is being handed this trophy every year for lack of a better recipient, an argument I am having massive problems getting my head around. I think the fact that almost every player in the NHL agrees he is the best in the league speaks volumes.

Philip
As far my own humble opinion is concerned, I've never been sold on No. 5. I'm not saying he's not Norris Trophy material but five, six, or even seven of them? More than Ray Bourque, my favorite player? Due to that, coupled with the fact that every time I've seen Lidstrom play for Tre Kronor he appears utterly lost, I find him to be highly overrated.

Niklas
I know you are a Bruins fan (I think everyone reading this blog knows that) and so you favoring Bourque comes as no surprise. So you think the competition was so much tougher back in the day when he reigned?

Philip
I thought about this not too long ago and came up with a theory. Bourque "only" collected five Norris Trophies. But back in his heydays, there were 4 or 5 other "Ray Bourques" such as Brian Leetch, Scott Stevens, Al MacInnis, Chris Chelios, and Paul Coffey. They were all Bourque-caliber players, in their prime at the same time, competing against each other thus the Norris was passed around among them every season. To be fair, Maybe Lidstrom also belongs to that high echelon of d-men but he doesn't have to share the Norris with anyone simply because there are no other defenders of that magnitude in today's game.

Niklas
Perhaps, but does that mean you value Bobby Orr's career any less? He certainly did not have that many oponents of his own caliber. But ok, for arguements sake, Chris Pronger is on par with a guy like Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer is even better than his former captain (to me he was always a better leader than defensman). Paul Coffey was a forward in disguise, so out of the 4-5 you mentioned I will agree on only MacInnis, Chelios and Leetch. By the way, not long ago you were telling me what a great player Niedermayer was (which I agreed on).

Philip
I would say Niedermayer MAYBE, but that's it. And yes I also recall sticking up for Niedermayer after his Conn Smythe/Stanley Cup season because you ripped him with the following headline "who cares?". And by the way, Ray Bourque was robbed of the Hart Trophy in 1990!

Niklas
Agreed we're not seeing as large of a group of future Hall of famers today as we did back then, but like I said, how large was that group of top blueliners during Bobby Orr's heydays? Orr is still the best ever in my opinion, just like the lack of "Bourques" doesn't make Lidstrom any less great. About Bourque being robbed, sure, eventhough Gretzky, Lemieux and Messier all had great seasons, the Hart should probably have ended up in Beantown that year.

Philip
Hey, perhaps you're right. Like I said, I'm not sold on the guy but everyone else seems to be. This is why I came up with "theories" to find out if I was wrong and, if so, how wrong was I?

Niklas
Perhaps we will find out in the years to come, perhaps we won’t. We will just have to agree to disagree on the Red Wings captain. I hope you’re not too bummed about the Bruins blowout against Toronto the other night, as we both know, Boston is still a team for the playoffs and the Leafs are not. Be good until next time, Phil.

Philip
Oh, don't even get me started on the Leafs, we'll do them next time. 'Til then, blog hard!

Peter the Great returns

If one didn't know better, one would assume this picture was taken a couple of years ago (I guess the new jersey sort of gives it away). But it isn't and I'm thrilled to see him back. The amazing thing about Peter Forsberg is that whenever he makes a comeback he is great, just like he was against Vancouver the other night. he hasn't played a game for almost a full year but you can't tell. Who else is capable of that?

Terry Frei, who writes for ESPN wrote, "He looked rusty, but certainly not out of place." Most other hockey experts agreed Forsberg looked all but rusty in his debut at Pepsi Center.

Peter Forsberg has taken a lot of abuse since he first started talking about making another comeback in the NHL. You would think all the experts should have learned by now that Peter Forsberg is not like most other players in the league, but no, most of them were ready to write him off once again. I will admit that when he pulled out of the LG Hockey games in November that was a close as I've ever been to believing his time as a player had come to an end. The fire in his eyes wasn't there. He looked done. Of course he wasn't and he probably knew even then.

Peter Forsberg's stats, which are great (especially his playoff numbers), don't even begin to tell how great a player he is. He has deep passion for the game, one that is rare, at least to that degree. His stubborness to never give up, his will to win and his hatred of losing makes him special and there few if any like him.

I consider myself very fortunate that I am ones again able to see him out there on the ice along side Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk and I am sure many share my feelings.

Who is better than Lidstrom?

In an article, ESPN's Scott Burnside suggests that Nicklas Lidstrom will probably be nominated for the Norris Trophy, but, because of his knee injury he may not win what would be his sixth in the category. As he points out, history shows that miss large parts of the season due to injury are less likely to win trophies, and while this may be true, not giving the Norris to Lidstrom would be outright rediculous. Why should he be punished for needing less time to be better than everyone else? To me, that makes absolutely no sense at all.

To be honest, the reason for Lidstrom not to win isn't even all that valid in this case. Lidstrom has played 62 games, which is just seven less than the league-leading 69 (five Dallas players) and six behind the best defenseman in that category. Despite this, he still leads all defensemen in points. Thats right, he leads. As if that isn't enough, he also leads the entire leauge in plus/minus with +39 and he is 4th in ice time among all skaters. Burnside mentions Pittsburgh's Sergei Gonchar and Habs blueliner Andrei Markov as possible candidates, but while Gonchar is still very inconsistent in my opinion and Markov is a minus player, I find that unlikely. Still, I wouldn't be very surprised if any of the two do appear on the ballot.

Not only do I still consider Lidstrom the strongest, if not the only, candidate for the Norris, I also think he should be seriously considered for the Hart Trophy as well. A few weeks ago coach Mike Babcock made a strong case for his captain as the league MVP simply because he was the best player on the best team in the league. It is true they were the best team, and when he was injured they fell apart. That says it all.

Even if he doesn't get any consideration for the Hart, which he most likely won't, if he doesn't get his sixth Norris Trophy, years from now people will look back and laugh at the NHL's foolishness.

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Official's blunder costly for Wings

While the Detroit Red Wings are having a tough time getting out of their funk, it doesn't exactly help when the puck just isn't bouncing your way, which it isn't for the Red Wings right now. Down by one late in the third period against the San Jose Sharks last night the puck hit the net above the glass behind Dominik Hasek's goal, dropped down in front of Devin Setoguchi who just tapped it in behind the perplexed Czech. Obviously, the goal should not have been allowed since the puck is dead when it hits the net, which the HD replay clearly showed it did.

The commentators couldn't believe their eyes, and neither could the Detroit crowd, when the goal was allowed. With four referees on the ice I think it's a catastrophy that none of them was watching the puck when it hit the net and then fell back onto the ice. Normally, if the puck does hit the net it is out of play, however, this is not a circumstance which is reviewable by the officials in Toronto, which is nothing less than rediculous.

The only good thing to come out of this embarrassing event is that it will never happen again, since the NHL will obviously have to change their criteria for reviewing plays, but try and tell that to the Red Wings.

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Nice to see Cristobal Huet get a shutout in his first game with the Capitals. It will be interesting to see how this goalie situation developes in Washington. If Huet keeps playing like this, Olaf Kolzig will of course find himself stuck on the bench, which is something he certainly isn't accustomed to having played around 70 games of the seasons for the last ten years.