Bring Back the Jets

Winnipeg looks to be a serious contender should the Phoenix Coyotes leave Arizona. I really hope they get their team back. They have a new arena, even though it would be the smallest in the league, it would probably sell out constantly, and a solid economic backing. But most of all I hope, that if they do get a NHL team, they bring back the old Jet's jersey. It's such a classic and anything else would be down right criminal.

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The Vancouver Canucks will retire Markus Naslund's jersey on Dec. 11.

Gillis said the decision to retire Naslund's No. 19 was "a no-brainer."

"We looked at a number of criteria, Contributions to the team, to the community, all sorts of different things. We found that Markus was in the higher categories of all of them. I know he's thrilled about being able to come back here and have his sweater retired."

Well deserved, Markus, well deserved!

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Flamed Out?

TSN POLL:
Who will make a bigger impact with the Calgary Flames?

Olli Jokinen or Alex Tanguay

Who really cares?

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Momentum is a tricky thing

Momentum is what every team in the playoffs strive to get. When you don't have it, you do all you can to get it back, a timely goal, a hit, or even a fight at the right time can do the trick. And that's the thing about momentum, it usually does shifts.The funny thing about the Philadelphia Flyers' historic comeback against the Boston Bruins was that once the Flyers got the momentum back in Game 4 it never shifted back to Boston for the next four games. Don't get me wrong, I am by no means suggesting the Flyers got lucky and managed to win the last four games. No, you have to work hard to get the momentum and even harder to keep it and that is what they did. Not even when Boston were up 3-0 in Game 7 did the Flyers give up. Momentum was starting to sway toward the Bruins, by then tired of all the talk of a historic comeback, but "Broad Street Bullies" dug in even harder and got it right back.

The great former Sweden international football player, Tomas Brolin, once said of a game against Russia in the 1994 World Cup, "We weren't worried because we knew we were going to win." They were down 0-1 but they were totally confident they were going to win. That feeling cannot be overestimated, and I am absolutely convinced this is what the Philadelphia Flyers knew after Game 3. They weren't worried.

CBC uniform?

It used to be rediculous ties, but this..? What the hell is it?

The Mule Show

What can I say about Johan Franzen? Four goals in five minutes! I can't remember seeing anything like it before (I didn't see the game where Mike Richards scored four goals in one period). No wonder "The Mule" is popular in the Motor City. Down 3-0 in the series against San Jose, the Red Wings came out in the first period a desperate team. To say the least, it worked for them.

I just heard he lost one of the goals after they reviewed it so now he's left with a hattrick.

So Detroit earns a huge win over the Sharks in Game 4 to make it 3-1 in the series. Make no mistake, the Wings are determined to turn this series around. Dan Boyle said before tonight's game that he was one hundred percent sure the Red Wings were one hundred percent sure they could do it. Well, it's one down and three to go.

Original Six Final?

There is a chance we will see an "original six finals". I am aware that both Vancouver and San Jose jumped to early 1-0 leads in their series, but there is still a long way to go and I still think Detroit will, yet again, ruin it for the Sharks and advance to the Conference finals. As for Chicago, I'm not so sure. Vancouver is deeper in scoring and defensively, surprisingly, more solid than the Blackhawks. With Detroit being the western original six to advance to the Stanley Cup finals, it is up to Boston and Montreal to fight for the other spot. Bruins are looking very good against the Flyers and have a great chance to take that series, especially with Marc Savard back in the line-up. Montreal on the other hand will most likely not come out as winners in their series against reigning champs Pittsburgh. Can Boston beat the Penguins? I think they can. The Bruins is one of those good teams that, due to injuries, didn't do as well as expected during the regular season, but now they have found their groove and are rolling again.
Detroit - Boston in the final, that is my pick. And wouldn't that matchup be a treat while these two teams so rarely play each other.

By the way; the look on Marc Savard's face when he scored the winner in overtime.. Priceless!

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Goods & Bads

With the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs almost wrapped up, Washington and Montreal have a decisive Game 7 left to play, here are some goods and bads of the post season so far.

Good - Detroit played as close to a perfect game as possible in Game 7 against Phoenix. They scored on their power plays and they killed all of the Coyotes' man advantage situations. And, to use a real cliché, their best players were their best players.

Bad - Washington will be without defenseman Tom Poti, who suffered a fratured orbital bone after getting a puck in the face. Tough break for the Caps.

Good - Marc Savard is healty and has been cleared to play in the second round. Although Boston finally found some scoring against the Sabres, Savard will be a most welcomed addition.

Bad - The New Jersey Devils. I really thought the Devils would go far in the playoffs this year, and I am sure they did too. But many of their best players did not show up for the first round and the Flyers took advantage of that, handing in four solid wins in five games.

Good - Brian Boucher. After a rollercoaster decade he is finally back playing for the team that once drafted him, the Philadelphia Flyers. He was fantastic against the Devils and he leads all goalies in save percentage and GAA.

Finally I have to get back to last night's game and say, I really like Dave Tippet. Besides being a really nice guy he is also honest. At the post game press conference he did not shy away from admitting they had been thumped by a team that, at crunch time, had stepped its game up to a level the Coyotes could not reach. I also liked it when he called the Red Wing-duo, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk the "Two-Headed Monster". Classic!

Final Round

Henrik Sedin did what he could against the Calgary Flames. His teammates also did what they could to get the puck to him all night. Henrik played around five minutes more then usual and ended up with four assists. Brother Daniel also had a four-point night. He scored three goals, of which the last one was a sick stick-between-the-legs stunt. So Henrik Sedin leads the point race with his franschise-record 112 points. Now all he can do is wait and see what Alexander Ovechkin can do in his last game. The Russian sits three points behind in the hunt for the Art Ross.

In Philadelphia it all comes down to what feels like a Game 7 between the Flyers and the New York Rangers. One game. The winner is in the playoffs, the loser is out. It's a tough one. The Blueshirts looked good in the last game against the Flyers and the are 7-2-1 in their last ten and winners in the last two. Philadelphia, eventhough they are playing at home, are just 3-6-1 in their last ten. I will go with the Rangers.

Detroit are in a good spot right now. Currently in fifth place in the Western Conference, they will face the fourth-placed Phoenix Coyotes in the first round. Not that Phoenix is in any way a bad team, they have had a fantastic season, but I don't think they were hoping to get the Wings in the first round. Actually, I doubt any team were hoping to get Detroit. Well, it all comes down to the last game. The Red Wings need to win their last game, away against Chicago. If they lose and Los Angeles beat Colorado away, the Wings will instead face Vancouver in the first round.

Wow, there is so much at stake in this final round of the season. Just the way it should be.

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Surging Wings short on goals

I just realized I had not written anything all season, so here it goes.

With less than ten games left of the regular season, things are finally looking a little better for the Detroit Red Wings. They are 8-1-1 in their last ten games have been victorious in three straight. Still, I can't help but think of the scoring depth they lost compared to last season and how they will cope with that in the playoffs.

The Wings have a +5 scoring differential, which is extremely low for them. Also, they have scored only 200 goals. Every team ahead of them in the Western conference has scored more. Nashville has 7 more goals, Colorado 20, Los Angeles 14. Phoneix has just one more goal than the Red Wings, but they sit on a pretty good +20 goal diff. Vancouver has scored 42 more goals (the difference being Mikael Samuelsson who the Wings lost to the Canucks. San Jose and Chicago have each 36 more goals than Detroit. Overall scoring among the top eight teams is higher in the west, but of course the Washington Capitals stand out in the east, outscoring the Red Wings by 87 goals and a +81.

Just something to think about.

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