This week we discuss one veteran player retiring and another making a comeback, the latest news on the Phoenix Coyotes ownership saga and a possible trade involving Dany Heatly. We'll discuss a new Canadian TV show involving former hockey players and Sid the Kid's big birthday bash. We'll also read some listener e-mails and a whole lot more .
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the puck podcast is not updated for 8/8 on itunes and it’s now sunday
Hey Doug! It’s nice to hear once in a while some NHL09 experiences. It’s a great game. Hopefully you get a copy of 2K Sports’s NHL 2k10 and give it a fair try. Games like NHL 2k4, 2k5 and 2k8 were really great games.
Thanks for the show! It makes my housework much more easier 😉
Paul,
Thanks for the heads up. The show is now posted to iTunes.
Doug
You should check out Eastside Hockey Manager 2007. You’re the GM of a team, and it’s infinitely long.
My favorite memory of Theo Fleury was back in, oh, 99 or so? Anyway, I remember he was playing against Detroit, he got tripped at center ice by Sergei Fedorov trying to get the puck and there was no call. So he got really pissed, and tried to slash at him. Then he went after Chris Chelios in the corner. Chelios stands there, Fleury lines him up, Chelios flips the puck away and watches Fleury go crashing into the boards. I wish I could find that clip on YouTube or something…
Excellent show again this week guys. A few comments.
Doug, I loved your idea of Brett Hull and Jeremy Roenick on vs. instead of Jones and Engblom. They’re annoying anyway. I didn’t mind Brian Engblom when he was the ice reporter for ESPN though.
Any thought during the off season on asking any celebrity hockey fans to be on the show? I had a couple in mind because I follow them on Twitter and/or Facebook. Not that I expect a response back from any of them, but do you mind if I ask a few of them? Comedian Bill Burr, Director Kevin Smith (Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and actor Matthew Perry (Friends). I’d love it if you talked to Bill Burr. He’s a Bruins fan and he’s hilarious! He did the Bruins’ playoff blog this year on their site. I’m sure you would need to record the interview so you could add bleeps! Being in California, I’m sure you guys know of a lot of celebrity hockey fans…just not Cuba Gooding, Jr.!
2K4 and 2K5 were great games, but there was no comparison last year. NHL09 was far superior to 2K9, IMO. I’ll be sticking with EA again this year, but will most likely try a demo of 2K10.
It must be deja vu or something, but I remember somebody mentioning Theo Fleury in the last few weeks. Maybe an indirect comment or something.
Looking forward to the Division previews coming up.
Too bad Kane waited so long to add the latest to his resume… looking forward to hearing Eddie’s next hockey minute.
Well, looks like 20 Cent is another case of the Madden/NHL cover athlete curse (Not sure about NBA Live or FIFA; Tiger Woods is immune). As far as I can remember, here’s the scoresheet:
NHL 99: Pretty sure Eric Lindros’ concussions series began in 1998.
2000: Chris Pronger pulls off his Hart/Norris combo.
2001: Owen Nolan’s statistical best season proves to be a plateau.
2002: Mario Lemieux’s stellar comeback also reintroduces his unfortunately chronic injuries.
2003: After a Hart-winning season, Jarome Iginla has a down year.
2004: Joe Thornton was the originally planned coverboy, but was scrapped after he assaulted a cop.
Dany Heatley replaced him, but then caused the car accident that killed Dan Snyder.
Heatley copies of the game were already in circulation; however, the next batch had Joe Sakic on. The Avalanche were Stanley Cup contenders after signing Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. Those two disappointed and suffered injuries (Forsberg also missed time that season); the Avs didn’t even make the Conference Finals if I recall correctly.
NHL 05: Lockout year; however Markus Naslund’s decline began the season prior.
06: Not too bad; Vincent Lecavalier’s Lightning had a run as a medicore, mid-tier franchise post-lockout run until 2008.
07: Alex Ovechkin still had an elite year; the Caps’ ascent had to wait a year, however.
08: Eric Staal played well, although the Hurricanes missed the playoffs – though he did get in trouble at his bachelor party.
09: Dion Phaneuf had a sub-par, injury-riddled year after a Norris-finalist season; the Flames had another one-and-done postseason.
How the hell did OWEN NOLAN make that list?!? Who watched Nolan play a season and say: “Damn! We gotta get THAT GUY on our video game cover!!” ??
And “20 Cent” is the best name ever. Well, just behind Roman Chech-The-Back-Of-The-Net-Manek. Just behind that…
Kris- I agree with you on the Nolan cover. The year that game came out was the season after they upset the #1 ranked Blues in the playoffs. I was actually so mad that he was on the cover that I taped a giant picture of Chris Pronger over him so I didn’t have to see his face. Maybe a little immature, but I couldn’t believe he made the cover of a big-time video game.
@Andrew: Wasn’t Chris Pronger’s Hart-Norris in 2002? I did the same looking you did, and I think 1999-2000 was the year he only played 50 games due to injury.
@Kris: Nolan had an 84-point season in 2000-01. Thus, he gets the NHL 2001 cover and misses 25 games due to injury in 2001-02.
Anyway, I haven’t even finished the first period, but you know, something that’s always annoyed me has been when Doug starts talking about how the Canadian media is to blame for…whatever. Usually keeping a story he doesn’t care about alive. Sure, sometimes that may be the case, when there’s an angle that they think Canadians (okay, Torontonians) care about — usually a dumbass trade rumour involving the Leafs — but dude, it’s SUMMER. What the hell else is going on that this shouldn’t be a major story most weeks? Sure, Patrick Kane did his dumb thing this week, but what has the other news been since free agency? A couple of bad contracts, a couple of hirings and firings, a couple of retirements, the ownership squabble in Tampa, and Dany Heatley. This is The Story, just like Nashville was in 2007 and Pittsburgh in 2006, and it will continue to be so, as long as there’s no actual hockey happening. So quit blaming us up here for continuing to dredge this thing up: it’s nothing to do with it’s Hamilton and everything to do with the fact that it’s August.
Jason: Pronger’s Hart-Norris actually came during 1999-2000, the season that coincided with NHL 2000’s release. He only played 50 games in 2000-20001. Apparently, his breakout season in came in 98-99.
I had a problem fact-checking: simply by being alive, I should easily know that the titled in NHL is one ahead of the release year. However, I kept going back-and-forth to make sure I referred to the correct seasons and players – my head hurt a bit afterward.
Revision because “less than” and “greater than” signs can’t be used as brackets”
“… the ‘Year’ titled in NHL ‘Year’ is one ahead of the release year.”
@Andrew: I stand corrected. 2002 was one of the fifteen times Lidstrom won the Norris.
And speaking of corrections…Doug, Joe Louis Arena opened in 1979. The Wings were still at the Olympia when the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum opened in 1972.
The problem that I think we see in the Canadian media- for those of us that do- is their continues insistence on treating rumor as fact. They keep a story going even when all parties have squashed all reason to continue asking questions. See: Vinny Lecaiver to Montreal. No one in Tampa was offerig Vinny at the time. Both Tampa and Montreal’s GM said nothing was happening. No one associated with either club was offering any information. NOTHING WAS HAPPENING. Nothing was going to happen and nothing did happen.
But it was front page news in many Canadian papers for weeks.
Information on cover athletes on NHL hockey games (not EA exclusive):
Teams Represented, # of times and last appearance:
9 – New York Rangers (NHL 08 Slovakia)
6 – New Jersey Devils (NHL 09 Slovakia), Detroit Red Wings (NHL 08 Sweden)
5 – Los Angeles Kings (Gretzky NHL 06)
4 – Philadelphia Flyers (ESPN Hockey 2K4), Washington Capitals (NHL 09 Russia), Montreal Canadiens (NHL 08 Switzerland)
3 – Boston Bruins (NHL 94), Buffalo Sabres [NHL Powerplay 98], Colorado Avalanche (NHL 2004), Dallas Stars (NHL 2K6), Florida Panthers (NHL 2005 Finland), Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL 2002), St. Louis Blues (NHL Hitz 20-03), Vancouver Canucks (NHL 2005)
2 – Anaheim Ducks (NHL 08 Finland), Calgary Flames (NHL 09), Chicago Blackhawks (NHL 06 Finland), Ottawa Senators (NHL 09 Sweden), San Jose Sharks (NHL 2K7), Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL 06)
1 – Atlanta Thrashers (NHL 04), Carolina Hurricanes [NHL 08], Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL 2K9), Edmonton Oilers (Gretzky NHL), New York Islanders (NHL 09 Switzerland), Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL 2K6 Europe)
Current Teams with No Appearances:
Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes
Current Teams with no EA Appearances:
Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes, Toronto Maple Leafs
EA Cover Athletes
Vincent Lecavalier, Alexander Ovechkin (1 NA, 1 RUS), Eric Staal, Dion Phaneuf, Chris Pronger, Markus Naslund (1 NA, 1 EU), Owen Nolan, Mario Lemieux, Jarome Iginla, Dany Heatley, Joe Sakic, Andy Moog, Tomas Sandstrom, Alexei Kovalev, Kirk McLean, Steve Yzerman, Scott Stevens, John Vanbiesbrouck, Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros, Ray Bourque, Pat LaFontaine, Jeremy Roenick, Patrick Roy, Mike Richter, Randy Moller, Brian Leetch, Rod Brind’Amour, Rick Tocchet, Tuomo Rutuu (FIN), Teemu Selanne (2 FIN), Henrik Lundqvist (SWE), Henrik Zetterberg (SWE), Daniel Alfredsson (SWE), Jaromir Jagr (CZE), Patrik Elias (2 CZE), Jere Lehtinen (EU), Pavel Bure (RUS), Saku Koivu (FIN), Olli Jokinen (FIN), Mark Streit (2 SWZ),
Multiple Appearances by Cover Athletes
Alexander Ovechkin (NHL 07, NHL 09 Russia)
Andy Moog (NHLPA 93 Insert, NHL 94)
Chris Pronger (NHL 2000, NHL Hitz 20-03)
Jeremy Roenick (NHL 2K3. ESPN 2K4, NHLPA 93 Insert
Mario Lemieux (NHL 2002, Mario Lemieux Hockey)
Mark Streit (NHL 08 Switzerland, NHL 09 Switzerland)
Markus Naslund (NHL 2000 Europe, NHL 2005)
Mike Richter (NHL All Star Hockey, NHLPA 93)
Patrik Elias (NHL 2003 Czech/Slovakia, NHL 09 Czech/Slovakia)
Steve Yzerman (NHLPA 93 Insert, NHL 96, NHL Rivals 2004)
Teemu Selanne (NHL 07 Finland, NHL 08 Finland)
Wayne Gretzky (Wayne Gretzky Hockey, Gretzky NHL 2005, Gretzky NHL, Gretzky NHL 06)
Interesting Notes
Wayne Gretzky was never on an EA cover.
Edmonton is the oldest team in the NHL to not have an EA cover athlete of any kind, and hasn’t had a player featured since 2005’s Gretzky NHL (A photo from 1988 or earlier).
Winnipeg/Phoenix is the only franchise with no game covers for either their former or current location.
14 players from a team that reached the Stanley Cup Finals appeared on a video game in the next calendar year. Vincent Lecavalier appeared on NHL 06 after winning the Cup in 2004 (There was no 04-05 season.) Of these 15, only five were featured by themselves and not part of a game photo or insert photo (John Vanbiesbrouck on NHL 97, Jere Lehtinen on NHL 2001 in Europe, Scott Stevens on NHL Hitz 20-04, Teemu Selanne on NHL 08 in Finland and Vincent Lecavalier on NHL 06).
Hart Trophy Winners who appeared on a video game cover soon after:
Joe Thornton, Martin St. Louis, Joe Sakic, Chris Pronger, Jaromir Jagr, Dominik Hasek
Just listened to the anniversary show. Nice of you to have Mark in hockey town on, he’s single handidly made the posting popular now. Strange?
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