All-purpose hockey thread...

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I love hockey fights, and I would definitely pay to watch a beatdown of those two dickheads.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I only ask that no linesman step in to end the scrap.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Shawna Richer's series on Sidney Crosby's rookie season.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050927.wrookiebundle27/BNStory/

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL



Devils left looking for a coach ... and identity

If these New Jersey Devils do not change their ways, Larry Robinson will not be their last victim.

Robinson, the Hall of Fame defenseman and Stanley Cup-winning coach, stepped down Monday as the head coach of the struggling Devils. His team, it seems, made Robinson sick — literally. The coach cited stress and "horrible headaches" as reasons for walking away from the team that he agreed to coach for a second time just this summer.
"This is not malicious," Robinson said of his decision. "Maybe it's selfish on my part. I still think I can coach, I just think that at this stage of my life ... nothing is worth being sick over."

Especially not the current edition of this Devils team, which has grossly underperformed through the first 30-plus games of the season. The Devils, who play Tuesday night against the first-place Rangers at Madison Square Garden, have a 14-13-5 record and sit outside of the playoffs if the season ended today.

New Jersey General Manager Lou Lamoriello will serve as interim coach for now, staying in that position until he finds a new coach to run the Devils' bench.

This was not what Robinson envisioned when he answered Lamoriello's call this summer, agreeing to replace Pat Burns, who continues his fight against cancer. No, in the heydays after the lockout, Robinson was filled with optimism. His mind raced with the possibilities the team had of being successful in the more wide-open NHL. He insisted that the defense — even with the loss of Scott Stevens (retirement) and Scott Niedermayer (free agency) — would be among the league's elite. Robinson also believed his fundamentally sound team would prosper offensively under the new rules eradicating all forms of obstruction.

He quickly found out he was wrong.

This team is a far different creature from the team he coached to the Stanley Cup in 2000. It is also far different from all of the Devils teams in the past on which Robinson had served as an assistant coach or special-assignment adviser. The difference went far deeper than the new players brought in to retool a perennial contender with designs on advancing deep into the spring each season.

The problems with this edition of the Devils are the kind that give a coach pause. The team has shown little character so far, and even less togetherness. A franchise noted for having teams that produced best in the clutch now possesses a squad that often folds in the face of adversity. Robinson, who knows all about the sacrifices necessary to win from his playing days with the legendary championship teams in Montreal, saw these troubling signs early and often. He did everything in his power to eradicate them.

He benched players, including stars that should have been above such treatment. He held closed-door meetings, the most recent coming late last week. He stressed the importance of winning early and often, making the annual sprint to the season's finish more palatable. Robinson, known far and wide as a players' coach, even questioned the character of many of his players — a last-resort tactic that either wakes up or alienates a room.

Yet, through it all, these Devils sat by laconically. They saw their coach, their leader, a hockey lifer, making himself sick as he tried to get through to them and still they couldn't collectively summon the passion necessary to make themselves better.

So, now they will perform for their GM, one of the most demanding people in the game. Lamoriello plans to find the right man to coach this club back to the organization's exacting standards, but until he completes that process on his terms, he will make the in-game decisions. Perhaps Lamoriello's new vantage point — on the bench and in the dressing room — will bring into further focus the shortcomings of this team.

First and foremost, the team has no on-ice identity.

(MORE)

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

(CONT)

For years, the Devils were a pain, both literally and figuratively, to play against. Exacting two points from New Jersey required a steep physical price to be paid. Led by Stevens' thunderous hits and menacing presence, past editions of the Devils intimidated opponents into submission. Today, the team lacks a physical presence of any sort. Struggling goalie Martin Brodeur is repeatedly run by opposing forwards eager to knock Brodeur off his game. Rarely, if ever, are those crease-crashing forwards called upon to answer for their transgressions. And, at the other end, many of the Devil forwards remain reluctant to drive hard at the opponent's net, unwilling or unable to face the repercussions of such behavior.

Also, the team is small up the middle. Hulking center Bobby Holik, who left the team before the 2002-03 season, has never been replaced. Holik, despite his offensive shortcomings, was the linchpin of the team's attack. His tireless effort and ability to lean on and punish defenders set the tone for everything the team did.

Now, the team has a fleet of smaller players, more content to play on the perimeter. Viktor Kozlov is 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, but he regularly plays like a much smaller man. Scott Gomez, who was benched last game for indifferent play, John Madden and Eric Rasmussen are no towering giants.

The team's defense, usually the anchor of any Devil club, is below average this season. The free-agent class of Vladimir Malakhov, Dan McGillis and Richard Matvichuk — designed to alleviate the loss of the two Scotts — has been a bust of epic proportions.

Malakhov retired Monday, leaving with a minus-9 rating. McGillis was waived last week, only to be brought back after Malakhov called it quits. Matvichuk, meanwhile, has been bad as often as he has been good.

Also, the club's farm system no longer produces the riches it once did. There is very little in the way of immediate help in Albany, which has languished near the bottom of the American Hockey League standings for the last several years.

All, however, is not lost. These Devils can still be saved.

Lamoriello has shown the courage and foresight to take the most drastic of measures to keep his franchise competitive. In fact, Robinson coached the Devils to the 2000 Stanley Cup after he shockingly replaced Robbie Ftorek with just eight games left in what was a highly successful regular season.

If the Devils are to be revived this time, though, Robinson will have no part in the renaissance.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

devils biggest problem is that they have lost their locker-room leaders -- stevens, niedermayer, daneyko & nieuwendyk -- and no one has stepped up to replace them. brodeur feels he cant because "im a goalie" so he cant yap at them on the ice.

the in-room accountability is gone. thats why it has to come from the coach.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Sidney Crosby just scored a goal in OT to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 win over the Rangers. The No.1 overall pick finished with two points (a goal and an assist). For PittsburghSportsJournalists.com and SidneyCrosbyisJesusSportsJournalists.com, was this the kid's first NHL game-winning goal in OT?

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I think so.  He scored the winner in a shootout but not in OT.

If I'm wrong, I'm sure there'll be lots of people letting me know ASAP. 

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

A pretty good NY Times piece on Phil Kessel

Teenager Seen as N.H.L.'s Next Great American Star
Published: December 31, 2005

Like many parents of hockey players, Kathy Kessel has seen her son Phil nurture his love for the sport at predawn practices, tryout camps and weekend tournaments. She has even seen his passion manifested in unusual locales like Florida.

Phil Kessel, a key figure on the U.S. team playing in the world junior championship this week, is expected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2006 N.H.L. draft.

During one winter vacation to Gasparilla Island, a sliver of land off the coast of Fort Myers in the Gulf of Mexico, Kessel sat poolside and discussed her family's good fortune, having temporarily traded Wisconsin's icy winter for the coastal breeze.

"I remember looking around wondering where Phil was," Kathy Kessel said last week in a telephone interview. "He was 11 at the time, and, of course, he was inside in front of the TV watching hockey. He's just always loved the sport so much."

Seven years later, Phil Kessel has blossomed into one of hockey's top prospects. He is blessed with the kind of speed that has prompted several professional scouts to compare him to Pavel Bure, who starred for the Vancouver Canucks and the Florida Panthers before finishing his career with the Rangers in 2002-3. Kessel, an 18-year-old forward from Madison, Wis., is projected to be the No. 1 pick in next summer's National Hockey League draft.

He is among the most scrutinized players this week in British Columbia, where the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship is being held. This annual tournament, for under-20 players, is a showcase for young hockey stars before they advance to the N.H.L. This year's event culminates with the gold medal game Thursday.

Kessel had two assists in a 6-5 victory against Finland on Wednesday, giving him seven assists in the United States team's first two games of the tournament. His point total remained at seven after the United States played Switzerland to a 2-2 tie last night. The team faces Canada today in its final game of the preliminary round.

Kessel is the centerpiece of the United States team, which won the under-20 tournament in 2004 and finished fourth last year. He is not new to the international stage. Kessel was a member of the under-20 team last year, when he also helped the United States win gold at the world under-18 championship. He had nine goals and seven assists in six games in that tournament.

Kessel is also a star center for the University of Minnesota. In 18 games with the Golden Gophers this season, he has 9 goals, 13 assists and a team-leading 83 shots on goal.

"This guy has got a great shot and great speed like Bure or a young Teemu Selanne when he came into the league," said Jim Nill, whose duties as the assistant general manager for the Detroit Red Wings includes overseeing the team's scouting. "He goes 100 miles an hour but looks like he's just gliding out there. His shot's fantastic, too. The puck hits his stick, and it's gone."

Nill added that if Kessel had entered the draft for 2005, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had the first selection over all, might have had a tough discussion. The Penguins chose Sidney Crosby, who has flourished in his rookie season.

Kessel, whose father was a star quarterback at Northern Michigan and was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1981, may become the first American player chosen with the top pick in the N.H.L. draft since the Islanders selected Rick DiPietro in 2000. Kessel, who is 6 feet and 190 pounds, says that his biggest asset is his speed and his most significant obstacle in becoming an N.H.L. star is his size.

"The N.H.L. is a man's game," he said in a telephone interview. "Most of those guys are 6-foot-4, 220 pounds. Those are big boys."

The United States team's coach, Walt Kyle, who is a former Rangers assistant and the coach at Northern Michigan, said that Kessel had already shown a surprising attention to hockey strategy.

"The other day, we were talking about forechecking assignments and what the first forward in should do, and the second forward, and Phil started asking about what the second forward should do if the first one got beat," Kyle said. "I basically said, 'O.K., we were going to deal with that later, but we can talk about it now.' This guy is a no-brainer, can't-miss N.H.L. star."

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Memo to NY Times:

NHL is NOT hyphenated. Nor is any other sports leagues initials. Please make a note of it for future reference.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Attended my first new-look NHL game today at MCI Center, watching the Caps (somehow) beat the Flyers in a shootout. Ovechkin scored an absolutely sick goal in the second period and just getting to watch him was worth the price of admission. The game definitely looks more open. Seemingly a lot more play on the boards instead of trapping in the middle of the ice. I had a blast.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Well, the Caps win is a perfect ending for Moddy's 2005.