This week we discuss a star player rumored to be on the trading block, a team that might be relocating, the return of Roberto Luongo and Brendan Shanahan, an injury to Sidney Crosby, news on the next Winter Classic and a Blue Jackets rookie making franchise history. All that plus a complete recap of all 30 teams and a whole lot more.
MP3 File
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I was wondering from Doug and Eddie which upcomming international events would more intresting to follow comming up. We got the IIHF Champions League Final between Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL and Zurich SC Lions of the Switzerland NLA (BTW: SC Stands for Skating Club) in the european club final which is comming up on Jan. 21 and 28 to determine the EURO Club Champion.
The other major event is the final round of the Olympic Qualifers which determine which 3 teams will round the Feb. 2010 Olympic Tournament. The Final Round Qualifers will be going on from Feb. 5-8.
Group A will be in Hannover, Germany
Group B will be in Riga, Latvia
Group C will be in Oslo, Norway
Group A
Germany
Austria
Slovenia
Japan
Group B
Latvia
Italy
Ukraine
Hungary
Group C
Norway
Denmark
France
Kazakhstan
Schedule
2/5
Slovenia VS. Austria
Germany VS. Japan
Italy VS. Ukraine
Latvia VS. Hungary
Denmark VS. France
Norway VS. Kazakhstan
2/6
Italy VS. Hungary
Ukraine VS. Latvia
2/7
Slovenia VS. Japan
Austria VS. Germany
Denmark VS. Kazakhstan
France VS. Norway
2/8
Japan VS. Austria
Germany VS. Slovenia
Hungary VS. Ukraine
Latvia VS. Italy
Kazakhstan VS. France
Norway VS. Denmark
Did anyone else get any skipping on the iTunes download? Nothing too severe, I just wanna make sure it’s not my iPhone acting up.
My God, those homers calling the red wings sharks game were rediculous! I had to use the mute button half way through the game it was so bad. I hope they were just standing in for someone else. even if I were a sharks fan, I’d want to throw a brick at these two.
In 22 starts, Conklin has faced 616 shots and has a save pct. .922. When Conklin is in net, he has faced an average of 28 shots. The league average is 30.
Detroit has not been as dominate as they were last year at 23.5 shots/gm. 28/gm is about average for a playoff team.
If somebody played the first 21 of 23 games for a team and had those stats, he would be the front runner for the Vezina. I am not saying that he is the best. I am just saying that you can’t dismiss a guy’s contribution by providing an outdated stat.
I would take Conklin over 10 “starters” in the NHL.
Tony – I have noticed some random skipping, too, when listening to streaming audio on the website in the past. So I doubt it’s your hardware. As a point of reference, I noticed skipping on this show around 66:00 when the guys were talking about the Islanders possibly going to KC (which I was very interested in, of course. I hope Doug is wrong – come on over, Islanders!).
Andrew Rydholm,
The argument of who is and is not a top 10 goalie in the NHL is one that is very subjective and always in flux. Every day of NHL games changes our opinions of who is and is not a great goalie. I happen to think that there are at least 10 goalies in the NHL right now that are better than Ty Conklin which means, to me, that he is not a great goalie. He’s a very good one – as any goalie that reaches the NHL level is – but he’s not an elite goalie in my eyes and I believe that there are a LOT of goalies in the NHL right now that would enjoy great success if given 22 starts with the 2008-2009 Red Wings.
Tanner,
I’d have to go with the IIHF Champions League Final if I was choosing which one to cover. I wish I were able to watch those games online as I’m sure there will be some passionate and superb hockey being played.
Let’s discuss the King’s week as covered in the current Podcast…
First off, as to the King’s effort against the Lightning, u were spot on. Watching the game, it felt as if the King’s were done inside of ten mins. They were NEVER in that game. And, yes, the hit on Doughty was clean (and nasty- in a good way), there was no response in any way, shape or form. And that’s unacceptable. The Lightning are getting a little better, but they’re still THE TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING!!!
Eddie, u said that- with respect to D. Brown- the Kings would get their top physical player back soon in Jack Johnson. Ummm, have u been watching the same career I have?!? I love the JMFJ; he’s the number one reason I went to Tip-A-King last year. And I think he will be a top ten D-man before he’s done, but outside of trying to kill Ryan Smythe with a turnbuckle, I think he’s been living off his college rep. He’s got skill, but I rarely see him see anyone.
As for Kovie to LA, u think Lombardi is going to give up on his plan? He may not want to mess with the Kings’ fans sense of “our guys” by losing two or three to the Atl for another non play-off season even with the Russian in the line up. After what they got for Hossa last season, I think their asking price will be two prospects, one NHL ready, and at least a first or second round pick in the upcoming draft. Dean-O ain’t going for it…
Sorry, that should be “rarely see him TRY to hit someone…” Whoops…
Great News!
The IIHF Champions League Final is on the Universal Sports Website and on TV as well on Universal Sports Network.
The 1st game is in Russia and the 2nd game will be in Switzerland.
The Sharks announcers are very bad. I love to listen to the Ducks announcers and the Redwings. They seem to be very fair in all their critique.
David, are u being sarcastic? I’m assuming u are talking about the TV crew? The Ducks crew is HORRIBLE! They are such homers, Matt Groeing should be suing them for copyright infringment! Brian Heyward’s love for certain players on the Ducks translates into terrible analysis- for a season, I thought he truly believed that the opposing team deserved a penalty because they dared put people on the ice at the same time as Andy McDonald. John Alhers isn’t as bad, but he’s not good either. The Sharks crew are biased (as all announcing crews are now), but I find them to be fairer and WAY more insightful than Ana’s booth team. And I just hate the blasted Wings, so I rarely watch their games….
So due to injury, nobody from Detroit will be represented in the All-Star game? Why don’t they select at least one replacement (Hossa?) from the same team? Does anyone else think this is wrong?
Kris K,
Brian Hayward was named the 2008 NHL Analyst of the year by Sports Illustrated. Clearly, not everyone thinks he’s horrible. In fact, some people think he’s the best in the business.
I’ll be honest, Doug, I have NO idea how SI could come up with that. I saw that and scrathed my head until it bled. I’m sorry, but his analysis goes way beyond the bias I would expect from the club’s employed broadcaster. It really feels that he rarely agrees with any penalties called against the Ducks and consistently belabors missed penalties on the reverse direction. I think he goes out of his way to apologize for Pronger and not once entertains the idea that maybe, just MAYBE, Chris is a dirty player. I will give up some positives for fairness’ sake: his commentary on goaltending is quite good and I think he has a great relationship with his partner. And he’s not one of the Penguin’s pair. Those guys are THE worst!!
IIHF Champions League Final 1st Leg
Metallurg Magnitogorsk 2 Zurich SC Lions 2 (0-2, 0-0, 2-0)
A very close first leg of the Champions League Final ends in a 2-2 draw. This is a dissaponting result as ZSC went up 2-0 midway through the first period with 2 goals in 2 and a half minutes apart. ZSC just dominated play all over the ice in the 1st period, outshooting Metallurg 17-9. In the 2nd period, the goalies came up huge despite a lot of shots from both teams. For most of the 2nd period, Metallurg started to tilt play on their side despite the ZSC goalie keeping the lead. In the 3rd period, ZSC missed on a critical 5 on 3 to take control of the game. Then with 9 minutes left, Metallurg scored to make it 2-1 and then with just 40 seconds left in the game, they were able to score again to make it 2-2. The 2nd leg will take place next week in Zurich and the winner will win the IIHF Champions League.
Stats
SOG MET 26 ZSC 33
Goal Scores
ZSC
0:1 Jean-Guy Trudel (Schelling, Pittis) 9:14
0:2 Adrian Wichser (Sejna, Gardner) 12:05
MET
1:2 Vitali Atyushov (Marek) 51:01
2:2 Tomas Rolinek (Varlamov) 59:17
PIM: MET 8 minutes ZSC 8 minutes
ATT: 7700
Doug – regarding goalies and Ty Conklin, your opinions change on a daily basis? Where’s your credibility man?? Anyone can take a survey of stats and decide who’s hot today – I was hoping you could add a little substance and thought.
Either way, even if that’s your thought process, I imagine you will be including him in your top ten list by the end of the playoffs… just a hunch.
Dave,
What I mean by that is – at the beginning of the year I would have named J.S. Giguere as a Top 10 goalie in the NHL. Having watched him this season, though, he’s no longer on that list. On a nightly basis a goalie can either look great or horrible and that would change your perception of him. Not enough to vault Yann Danis to the top of the heap based on one good game, but over time…yes. Steve Mason would not have made anyone’s top 30 list to begin the year, yet now he’s considered by many to be among the best goalies in the NHL this season.
The point is that every game changes how a player is perceived. One bad game is not going to be enough for me to consider Roberto Luongo to be a bad goalie but if he strings enough of them together, it might be. Look at Jose Theodore in Montreal. He went from being the best goalie in hockey to awful in just a couple of years! At some point one game becomes indicative of a trend and that’s what I mean when I say that every day of NHL games changes our opinions of who is and is not a great goalie. It doesn’t mean the whole list changes, but it might mean the tipping point between whether someone is on that list or not.
It seems my post is too long so I’ll have to break it up into several.
I finally got caught up on the last couple of ‘casts and have a few comments. Great Job Doug and Eddie. I really appreciate the time and effort it must take to put a show like this together. Sorry for the length.
I’ve been watching a lot of different broadcasts from around the league lately and I definitely have a few favorite tv crews.
Favorites
Ralph Sturgis and Darryl Reaugh (Dallas Stars)
Pat? Foley and Eddie Olzcyk (Blackhawks)
Dave Strader and Darren Pang (Coyotes)
Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey (Penguins)
John Kelly and Bernie Federko (Blues)
Not so favorites
Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley (Bruins)
John Forslund and Tripp Tracy (Hurricanes)
Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda (Sharks)
Rick Jeanerette and Harry Neale (Sabres)
And “Chief” Bobby Taylor from my own Lightning crew has really been getting whiney over the years.
I really do miss listening to Gary Thorne and Bill Clement, but at least get to listen to them on NHL 08 and 09. Clement says they’ll be partnered again if ESPN gets the NHL back at some point. (Thorne is under contract to ESPN).
You guys briefly mentioned the Native American mascot controversy and I thought I would throw this in. In 2002, an intramural basketball team was formed at the University of Northern Colorado and was nicknamed the Fightin’ Whites. In response to the “Fightin’ Reds” of Eaton High School nearby. The Reds’ mascot has been described as “a caricature Indian with a misshapen nose, [wearing] a loincloth and eagle feather”. “Fighting Whites”had an accompanying logo of a stereotypical “white man” in a suit, styled after advertising art of the 1950s, as their team mascot. Here’s a link. Naturally they started selling t-shirts and they sold like crazy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Whites
I searched for any story line for the Feb. 23, 1975 Rangers vs. Flyers game and wasn’t able to find any. (The previous highest ratings on NBC for an NHL game)
I really like Brad Richards, but not at almost 8 million a year. Maybe 4 million. He’s worth what the Lightning are paying Ryan Malone.
Tried to find anything on the origin of trash talking, an didn’t find much. Here is an interesting take on it though. Jonathan Katz, a New York City-based clinical sports psychologist, is doubtful that trash talking works. He believes that thinking up put-downs can actually impair an athlete’s performance.
“Some players feel they can intimidate other players by getting into their heads,” says Katz. “But many athletes are putting time and energy into something that distracts them from playing their best. Playing well is the most intimidating factor.”
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-19990901-000001.html
And it’s called something else in other sports. “Sledging” is a term used in cricket to describe the practice whereby some players seek to gain an advantage by insulting or verbally intimidating their opponents. Cricket has been around since before 1550.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sledging_(cricket)
That was a great game between Detroit and San Jose. Did anybody catch the attempted hit by Kopesky on Douglas Murray? Murray stood tall and Kopesky went down!
I’m looking forward to watching my 1st All Star game tomorrow night/monday morning (here in the UK).
Sorry for my ignorance but is the game played as a competitive game or is it more of a friendly game? (sorry for the silly question)
Guys,
Sorry about the skipping problems…we don’t know why that happens.
Kris K, I don’t think I said JJ was the Kings top physical player. Obviously that’s Dustin Brown seeing as how he led the league in hits last year. Wouldn’t you say Johnson is the team’s best physical presences behind Dustin? I know, that’s not saying much but who would it be if it’s not him? Greene?
Scott, I have to disagree with you on Rick Jeanerette. Homer? Of coarse but not obnoxiously so. You can’t tell me his enthusiasm is phony. I am NOT a fan of Brain Hayward at all…but I’m a Kings fan too.
Simon, I would suggest watching the game and judging for your self.
Kris K.,
Even Penguins fans find Stiegerwald and Bob Errey (TV announcers for the Penguins) just awful. We were baffled when they didn’t renew Mike Lange’s contract. Some might find Lange annoying but he really was the Harry Kerry for Penguins Hockey fans. In fact I know a few people that actually use their DVR to sync with the radio tape delay so that they can listen to Lange while they watch the game.
Eddie,
Since the Kings are on the West Coast I can understand your liking of Jeanerette but when you have to hear that scruffy looking nerfherder announce against your team several times during the year I hope you can understand why a lot of people wouldn’t like him.
Right Mathew! He was ok the first couple of times I heard him, but after that, just too annoying. And Harry Neale, IMO has the personality of an ironing board. If I remember correctly from one of my old hockey video games, that Harry Neale used to be partnered with Bob Cole. The two of them together was like watching paint dry.
Mathew,
Who’re you calling scruffy looking?
Sincerely,
Rick “Han Solo” Jeanerette