10/28/2008

Hated/Loved Lemieux Returns


Well, Mats Sundin can't seem to make up his mind but at least someone is making a comeback. Former Conn Smythe winner, Claude Lemieux is, acording to himself, in the form of his life and is, at 43, ready to return to the league he left five years ago. While the news of his return will excite very few, it should come as a pleasant surprise to anyone trying to pick this seasons Stanley Cup winner as Lemieux, who has over 1,200 career games, seemed almost incapable of playing for a team not going all the way. He is one of only eight players to win the Stanley Cup with three different teams.

After hoisting the cup -and the Conn Smythe- with the Devils in 1995, Lemieux was traded to the New York Islanders, only to shipped off to Colorado, where he he wasted no time winning another (his third) cup. A few years later he returned to New Jersey where he won his forth cup and second as a Devil.

Acording to Lemieux, a few teams are interested in his services. And to be honest, if I were the GM for a cup-contending team I would definately sign him. I know the Dallas Stars did just that back in 2002 and it didn't pay off, but still. I hope he finds a team because I would like to see how this turns out. And seriously, who wouldn't like to see him return to Detroit ... with the Avs!

***

I wonder if it will take Sundin five years to make up his mind.

10/20/2008

New Mark Zet


Last year's play off MVP, Henrik Zetterberg, has his goal set for this season, he wants to be the second player after Håkan Loob to reach 50 goals. The classic mark should be within his reach, considering he notched 43 last season eventhough he missed 8 games because of injury.

What is remarkable, however, is the fact that only one Swedish player in history has ever reached the 50 goals mark! A few have been close, like Kent Nilsson, who in the 1980-81 season had 49 tallies with ten games to go. What happened? He just couldn't score one more. Peter Forsberg, Mats Sundin, Markus Näslund, Thomas Sandström, Mats Näslund, Daniel Alfredsson... the list could go on forever. Let's hope Zetterberg is the chosen one. I believe he could be.

Off to a late start

I am well aware of my late start here, and those who followed - or just casually read my blog once or twice - the blog during last season probably though I had given it up by now. But, here we are, a few games into the new season and I couldn't resist it. I have decided to not write so much game commentary as I did before, you can all read those at tsn.ca or espn.com. I will instead try to just give you my personal thoughts on different stuff happening around the NHL.