In this weeks episode we talk about the return of Scott Niedermayer, the accusation that Marc Crawford ordered Todd Bertuzzi to injure Steve Moore, another Flyers player getting suspended and whether or not the league will punish the team, the NHLPA’s attempt to go green, a retraction in the Sean Avery/Jason Blake controversy, a Sidney Crosby impersonator and the NHL’s unexpected venture into China. We also talk with Buffalo News reporter John Vogl about the Sabres struggles this season, plus a complete recap of the past week of games, your e-mails, the Puck Podcast hotline and a whole lot more.
Got something to say about a topic we discussed on the show? Want to bring up a topic that we didn’t cover? Want to chime in on our question of the week? Click on the “Leave a Comment” section in the top right corner of this post and make your voice heard! Please tell us your name and where you’re from in case we read it on the air!
Yeah baby!
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Regarding Dean Lombardi and the Kings v Paul Holmgren and the Flyers. I think Holmgren is getting credit for turning around a team that woefully underperformed last year. Going into last season nobody expected the Flyers to be one of the worst teams in the league, and now they’re playing closer to where they should be. This isn’t to say Holmgren’s doing a bad job, but I’m not sure how much credit he should get.
As for Lombardi, I’m a Kings fan and I’m willing to give him a bit more time. His veteran signings have been disastrous — Nagy, Handzus, et al. But the young talent looks good.
– Jeff
Anyone that debates Detroit and Joe Louis Arena remaining “Hockeytown” should read this from John Buccigross from ESPN. There should be no doubt that due to MANY factors (attendance being a small one) that the name remains in Detroit. No NHL team is more consistently excellent.
Mark,
I don’t think that anyone is disputing that the Wings are good. The name hockey town is no longer a fitting name for the Wings, because we are talking about the whole city, not just the team. Until midway through last season, I would have said Denver should be hockey town, because we had 487 straight sell outs, the longest consecutive sellout streak in all of pro sports. I think the Avs were the fastest pro sports to reach 500 sellouts, doing it in a few more than 500 games (I think around 530)
Sent from my iPhone
Kris Z, everyone seems to look at one thing and one thing only, just like you in your response and that is attendance. You need to look beyond that and look at the Wings’ record, history in drafting (Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall, Hudler), history in coaching records, history of playoff appearances, and nearly any stat you care to name YTD for NHL teams. No one is as close in any collection of these factors. Attendance is an explainable, definable problem in Detroit–people are broke! It’s really that simple and why the moniker at center ice at Joe Louis Arena won’t change.