yave1964

Iginla is one of those guys who might not end up with a job but with the real NHLers not going to the Olympics he might land on the Olympic team and then land in the NHL after. Guys like he and Gionta, Shane Doan and a few others who cannot find a job are likely gonna be the stars of the not ready for prime time Olympics. Jagr too.

I always pick a team in the other conference from my Wings to follow, a sleeper team or a team that I feel will be interesting to watch at the least. This year I will be following the Coyotes out West. Really. Carolina is my Eastern sleeper but the 'Yotes are definitely going to be different than in past years, almost unrecognizable even. Long time coach Dave Tippett is gone and with his his defense first last and always approach. Long time goalie Mike Smith is gone to Calgary replaced by Annti Raanta previous of the Rangers. Looooooooong time Captain Shane Doan has been shown the door and after discovering no interest took the hint and retired. Radim Vrbata and Zbynek Michalek followed Martin Hanzal and Michael Stone out of town. In short Coyotes GM boy wonder John Chayka performed his own version of the Night of the long knives and severed ties with a bunch of players who should have been shown the door a long time ago and has put his stamp on the team. Oliver Ekman Larsson is one Hell of a force of nature on the back end but for years he has been an island adrift upon the sea, the new look defense in front of Raanta is actually IMHO one of the deepest in the Division, starting with OEL, followed by Goligoski, will combine with young and gifted Jacob Chychrun and newcomers Nick Hjalmarsson who came over from the Hawks and Jason Demers who came over from the Panthers, both teams needing to clear salary. This is easily the best defense the Coyotes have had in my memory. The prized jewels though are the forwards, Domi, Reider, Perlini, Dvorak , Crouse and Duclair will all have the training wheels taken off this year and will be given a chance to push the puck with veteran center Derek Stepan coming over from the Rags to provide leadership and young talented Clayton Keller joining the mix as well. These guys are stacked with talented young kids three lines deep, they may not be this years version of the Leafs but they will be fun to watch. Christian Fischer and Dylan Strome are talented and trying to squeeze into the mix as well. So the Coyotes are my adopted team from the West, they should be both fun and interesting after a decade or longer of being neither.

@Honest Bender [Hidden Content] Sad when someone allows a substance to take over their lives. Wishing him a safe recovery

Thank you sir, they were a lot of fun writing back then

They are being very quiet about Dubois so far, the worst part is he is ineligible to be sent to the AHL, he would have to be returned to Juniors which IMHO is the most ridiculous rule in all of Hockey bar none. That is a subject for another post but the number one thing I would change if I was commissioner for a day would be the stranglehold that Juniors has on teams. Dubois and the Jackets would probably be best served with him starting the year in Cleveland playing against men and being a midseason recall. Sadly it is not an option.

I see the Jackets opening with Panarin on the wing as he was in Chicago, probably on a line with Atkinson and Wennberg, a fast creative fun line, but center depth is a massive problem in Columbus and I seriously believe that the end game all along was to bring Panarin in to move him to the middle, something Saad never could. They really are lacking options: Dubinsky is a solid 3C with a slightly diminished skill set who is all grit and heart but as a 2C is punching above his weight class. Dubois is likely to make the team as a teenager and was drafted to play center but IMHO he would be better suited to be brought along slowly for a year or so as a winger. Boone Jenner is one of my favorite players but is awful in the dot and belongs on the wing. There is nobody else. Wennberg is special and deserving of his power play time and top six center role, but unless they trade Murray and Anderson to Colorado for Duchene before the season starts I believe Panarin will play a lot down the middle.

@SpikeDDS It is a shame that we are opening a new barn with a lemon of a team, but the club that opened the Joe a million years ago was not exactly a club filled with ready for prime time players. Reed Larson with his blistering point shot, big Willie Huber who had size and a solid shot on the back end too, the original Foligno, McCourt and my personal favorite Ogrodnick were about all we had. Oh and someone named Jim Rutherford in goal. Hopefully it does not take as many mistakes as the previous regime made to get the barn rocking every night with a winner. It should be interesting this year, the Wings are picked to finish dead last in a very soft division by the Hockey News and by many if not most other publications, if/when we are out of it, do we sell quickly or wait until the deadline? Yeah I know it is only September and the season is a couple of weeks away but the Wings last year dealt Vanek, Ott and Brendan Smith at or before the deadline, this year we may put the following pieces in play: Mrazek or Howard. One or the other, not both. Nyquist or Tatar. Again, likely one or the other but not both. Mike Green. Last year on his deal with young talented defense finally on the way. Certainly gone. Sheahan. He probably will be dealt before the start of the year for cap relief. Two others who need mentioning but whose contracts make them likely stuck are Abdelkader and Helm. Same with Ericsson. So lets assume we deal Mrazek, Nyquist, Green and Sheahan for picks and/or prospects and start moving in the kids and we buy out Ericsson and possibly one of Helm/Abby next offseason, this sows ear of a team will have went through the pruning, the rebuild for lack of a better word that is so desperately needs. Personally I would much rather go through a bad year or two while rebuilding the farm system and bringing in quality kids instead of suffering another year of watching Steve Ott and Drew Miller stumbling up and down the ice.

not certain if i confirmed but confirmYep, I am in,.

@Bertmega A couple of years ago I posted in the history section a brief history on each of the defunct NHL teams and if memory serves several of the WHA teams as well.

Mike Ribeiro is missing, his long time agent and friend has appealed to anyone who may have seen him to ask him to seek help. He has a long history of problems, both he and his wife have had alcohol issues and rumors about drug problems within the family go way back as well. Ribeiro fell off the wagon last year, was released by Nashville and went to treatment before walking away halfway through. Rumors are that he is somewhere in Nashville, his agent and long time best friend Bob Perno has said. “All I know, is that Mike hasn’t laced up the skates once since the end of the season,.He doesn’t train anymore and he doesn’t go out on the ice anymore. He’s going to retire. There’s not one NHL team or a team in Europe that has reached out to me to ask about him. The way his career is going to end is really disappointing. “No one knows what he’s up to these days. The problem, is that Mike doesn’t believe he’s sick. In his head, everything is fine. He left the rehab program offered by the NHL last winter. We’re really worried, but we can’t do anything. Every time my phone rings, I hope it’s him calling me. " I don’t think he’s hit rock bottom,We’re trying to get a hold of him in Nashville. We know he’s somewhere in Nashville. His family has seen him. His wife has seen him — briefly — and then he disappeared into the woodwork. We’re trying to get a hold of him. He doesn’t answer his phone. Nobody hears from him. I don’t think he’s hit rock bottom.” Wishing him a healthy recovery sounds small but I really do. Addiction is an awful thing both for those in its grips and for their loved ones.

Guys who havent retired but are not in camp with anyone (as far as I know): Brian Gionta wants to keep playing but has found no interest. Jagr is rumored to be looking at the KHL to start the year with a player option to get out and return to the NHL if an opening occurs. Jarome Iginla cannot find a job and may play for the Olympic team. Jiri Hudler is probably Europe bound, along with guys like Kindl and Tyutin. Korpikoski wants to play but was awful in two stops last year same with John Michael Liles. Dennis Wideman may have hit his last referee. The Michalek boys are probably done. Chris Neil continues to say he believes he can still help someone if given the chance and teams continue to ignore him. Mike Ribiero would continue to play if he could find a babysitter. That is the list, oh there are a few guys like Boyd Gordon and Adam Pardy who played more or less regularly the past few years somewhere who are unsigned who may wind up in the AHL to continue their career but that is about it as far as players still hoping to get a call.

Saturday morning we loaded up and went to Columbus to see the Jackets who had an open practice, I decided to wear another teams jersey so here that is.... I I swear that I swear that I was the only one there wearing anything other than CBJ gear, of course the icehaus opened at 8am so only the diehards are out at that time. Fans took it with good humor, I was told repeatedly however that if I had worn Penguin or Wing gear I might not have survived. Anyway, the first 1,000 folks inside received a CBJ long sleeve tee so I threw that over the Flyer jersey to blend in, lol.... It was really cool, they played two periods with the ref sitting on his whistle and letting everything go, the hitting was minimal but offside and icing were not ever called. I wanted to pay attention to certain players. Tyler Motte came over from Chicago along with Panarin in the Saad deal,he looked really good for the Hawks early last year and then was shipped out, I wanted to study him a bit. He is a bit small, he played at Michigan with a stacked team that included Werenski, Larkin, Kyle Conner, Hyman, copp and a half a dozen others who are either making their mark or clawing at the door to make the NHL. He was always a first line player for the Wolverines and always owned my Buckeyes. I wanted to see what he looked like. In a word, he was awful. He would come down the wing, receive a pass and instead of challenging the defender to stop him, every single time he fired the puck behind the net and set up at the dot. It was so obvious that he wanted no part of attacking the net that the last time David Savard actually backed off and cheated towards the net and intercepted the pass. Awful. Captain Nick Foligno was scrimaging on the same line and I watched him take Motte to task for this, i saw Motte nodding his head in agreement but after that he never took a pass where he could challenge a defender for the rest of the scrimmage. I am not certain if he is hiding an injury or just ridiculously timid but that is no way to play the game. The main guy I wanted to see was the bread man and Panarin delivered, he was easily the quickest player on the ice counting everyone. Pretty much whenever he had the puck on his stick which was often he went between the dots and attacked straight down the middle. I am telling you dont laugh but do not be surprised if he plays some center this year. He played center in the scrimmage with Cam Atkinson on his wing and the two of them were really good together. Not saying I would move him inside and off the wing but the only top six center the Jackets have is Wennberg unless Dubois makes the cut and stands out. Dubinsky is a perfect third liner, if Dubois dont make the team seriously the bread man may move to the middle. In the practice after the scrimmage, that is all that Panarin did for a solid hour was take faceoffs against Boone Jenner who is awful at them, Panarin looked really good taking them. The last player who I studied was Brady Austin who signed as camp was beginning, Austin is a big hard hitting defender who played for Rochester for the past three or four years and made it up to the Sabres a few times, still young, he took forever to land a job he might have been the last player signed by any team as camps began and I wanted to see why. I remember him drilling Abdelkader in his NHL debut, first shift, knocked him off his skates. It was vivid as Abdelkader was furious over a rookie taking him out like that. When the Sabres didnt resign Austin at seasons end I was surprised and kept an eye on him. The Kings supposedly were interested for their AHL team but nothing came of that, finally a few days ago the Jackets signed him for the Monsters team in Cleveland. I watched him to see what he had. They lined him up on both left and right defense, he was clearly a bit out of sync and a few pucks bounced over his stick, he sent one pass over the middle that was intercepted by a streaking Panarin that ended with a laser that hit the crossbar but overall he wasnt bad. Although he was the last signee and as under the radar as you can be I see him as the eighth or ninth d-man, if he does well in Cleveland he should get a shot when injuries pile up as a stay at home 15 minute a night guy who plays a bit in the NHL. So that is that. Good time with the wife and daughter and grandson here I am with the Jackets tee covering the Flyer jersey to stay warm and keep from getting killed, lol. Man did I miss hockey, wow am I glad it is back.

Wow it is hard to believe it is only a couple of weeks from the start of the regular season, summer is more or less over and the Wings are in camp ready to start the exhibition schedule. Today they returned a handful of recent draft picks to Juniors leaving a still overinflated 64 players in camp with very few if any spots open. A few quick thoughts..... Andreas Athanasiou met with Holland to discuss his plight, the Wings are up against the cap with little wiggle room, AA has little if any leverage other than to threaten to go to Europe for a year so the two of them met to discuss ways to get a deal done and keep him around. He has speed like few others and is a finisher as well, we really need him in the middle six this season. The big rumor right now is Riley Sheahan being dangled and the Penguins who lost Cullen to the Wild are at least moderately interested but supposedly are low balling right now knowing the Wings need to make a move. I would not be surprised if it were sooner rather than later as the Pens and Rutherford are the only team showing interest in Telly Tubby boy. For a team that most are expecting to finish last there are surprisingly few question marks as to the makeup of the roster, providing that everyone is healthy. Tyler Bertuzzi seems a lock to start as a grinder who can score a bit on the 4th line, Svechnikov seems destined to be sent to GR at least to start the year for more seasoning although he has found another gear according to Holland and Blashill and is raising eyebrows. The defense seems set returning the cast from last year along with Daley from the Pens with Russo/Renouf/Sproul fighting to be the first recall when Ericsson or Kronwall break down and miss time. I guess if there is a question mark it is in net, two goalies making a combined 10 million a year who both feel they deserve to be the starter both are returning, Howard and Mrazek are back for another year of rotating goalies with the guarantee that neither will be happy with the other one being there. My guess is that Mrazek will be moved to a team that loses their goalie to long term injury early and Coreau, fresh off a Calder cup victory with the Griffins will be recalled as Howards backup. That is as long as Mrazek shows enough to encourage a team to go after him. Blashill has to be on a short leash. No ifs ands or buts. I got this weeks Hockey News in the mail today and they list the top 25 players by position and the only Wing who even made the list was Zetterberg at number 22 among centers which is sad. What is sadder is there are at least a half a dozen centers who did not make the cut who I would have taken ahead of him. If everything and I mean EVERYTHING breaks right, players outperforming the last few years, kids stepping way up, the goalie mess clearing itself up, the defense staying healthy, they might be a 8 seed if they get help from a few other teams underacheiving. I am not counting on it, I have a feeling I will be watching a lot of Griffin games this year......

The buyout phase of the offseason has passed, IMHO Holland missed the chance to get rid of big E that way and free up salary for no good reason. For the life of me I cannot understand why he was not bought out. Yes, I understand we are already paying Weiss to not play for the team and buying out another deal would be painful but Ericsson is overpaid on his best day. The best way to peel off a band aid is quickly. He has no value as an oft injured stay at home guy. I do like that he has added a bit of snarl to his game, unafraid to fight, mixing it up in the corners but in open ice he is too slow, his IQ does not make up for the injuries that have slowed him down. We do have quite a few options coming up. I believe that Jensen was a fluke last season and will be in GR by midseason but there are some decent to good prospects on the blueline ready to step in so Ericsson and sadly Kronwall need to be moved out to make room. Youth must be served.

Warrior, solid middle six center when Johansen went down Fisher who was beat to Hell couldnt play the role of a 1C and the team fell to Pittsburgh, I know a few Pred fans who blame him for the failure in the finals but to me that is silly. Bonino is a perfect replacement, basically the same player but younger.