Bleeps And Bloops: Quick Thoughts On Possible Rule Changes.

Here are some thoughts on some of the potential rule changes being looked at in the NHL Research And Development Camp:

NHL Research And Development Camp (Photo:THN)

 Hybrid Icing: Safety is the main issue that gets addressed here (Remember Kurtis Foster’s injury?), without taking away from the game. Easily something I think that should be implemented in the game.  Although some would argue about the officiating on certain calls, which is the only real argument against it.

No Icing While Shorthanded: If the NHL can find a way to boost scoring, they’ll test it out (Remember the idea of round nets?) Now, I understand the want to score more often, but I don’t really like this idea. You should be able to ice the puck while shorthanded, make the other team actually have to work on the powerplay. The other guy has two or five minutes in the box, that should eb enough of a penalty on his team.

Overtime Changes ( 4 minutes 4 on 4, then 3 minutes of 3 on 3): If this gets rid of the shootout (unless the shootout goes to 5 shooters), im all for it. However, I really do not like the idea of 3 on 3 hockey, it should be 4 on 4 minimum.  Would be interesting to do on a test run basis in the NHL.

No Line Change For Team That Is Offsides: Honestly, I like this idea, if a line can’t come into the zone onsides, they shouldn’t be able to change. Honestly, unless the players on the line have been on the ice a while, but, going offsides is their own fault, is it not? But,like the next rule, it could have an impact on the game negatively.

Faceoff In Own Zone After Offsides Is Called: Now this, I do not like, at all. This would encourage dump and chase hockey, which, just isn’t that good  to watch from a fan standpoint. I don’t see this rule making it very far at all, it will not see the light of day in the NHL.

Eliminate The Trapezoid: Yes, yes, and yes. Getting rid of the trapezoid behind the net has my approval. Goalies should be aloud to play the puck, there is no good reason this rule was ever implemented. Goalies doing a bit more work, I don’t see any defensemen who would have to chase the puck otherwise, that would argue against that. Let the goalies be free from the evil trapezoid!

Goal Line Camera: A brilliant idea I can’t believe they didn’t think of sooner! So many close calls, some right , some wrong . Now, if we can work on defining “kicking motions”, that would be another huge step forward. I would really like to see this implemented in the NHL. But I feel it might not be 100% fool proof depending on the camera’s position if say, the goalie was on top of the puck.

The 5 Best Games I’ve Been To

This is part two of my two part summer doldrums games package.  Part one (the worst games) can be found here.

5. Flyers 7, Kings 4 (12/30/10)
Part one of my three game SoCal adventure (part two is in the “worst games” post). Both sides can agree the officiating was awful on this night, but the scoring came in bunches. Both the Flyers’ Mike Richards and Kings’ Ryan Smyth had two goal nights, Richards also added two assists. Claude Giroux chipped in three assists. The Flyers powerplay actually worked for once, scoring two goals! It was fun being one of the few people in my section standing up and cheering seven times in one game, high fiving a guy a few seats down while the natives gave me dirty looks.

4. Flyers 5, Devils 2 (10/3/09)
The invasion of “The Rock” was successful. It was Jersey’s home opener and we ruined the party. Ray Emery, who’d shutout Carolina the night before, was great in net for the Flyers. The Flyers jumped out to a 4-0 lead sometime in the 3rd before New Jersey scored two goals, sandwiched around a 5th Flyers goal. They may have been chanting “hey…you suck” to the Flyers and our fans, but we surely didn’t suck on that night. Best part of the night may have been an upset Devils fan asking our group (who was being a bit raucous), “When’s the last time you guys won anything?” I blurted out, “About ten minutes ago, did you see the scoreboard?” He muttered and stuttered, “that’s not what I meant”, and we just laughed at him.

3.

The 5 Worst Games I’ve Been To

Through the summer doldrums, I decided to share some of the games I’ve been at.  And before you call me bad luck, my Flyers winning percentage is over .700, so these five games are just a small sample.

This is only part one of two.  Sometime later in the summer I’ll chronicle five awesome games I was at.

5. Kings 1, Flyers 0 (2/13/11)
The highlight of this game was a monster pre-game tailgate we had. And we needed it.  Drew Doughty scored the only goal of the game very early in the second period. During the second intermission, @MikePatota didn’t even realize the Kings had scored (since it was so early in the period). Our frustrations boiled over when Jarret Stoll boarded Chris Pronger and no penalty on Stoll was called, this the day after the Islanders-Penguins brawl.  Jon Quick had 40 saves to earn the shutout and sent all of us home unhappy.

4. Devils 3, Flyers 1 (1/22/11)
You guys know when you play the Devils it’ll either be 1) fun if you’re scoring or 2) painful to watch. This game was in the second group.  I honestly couldn’t tell you who scored but my guess would be Patrik Elias, the Flyer killer. (Checking the boxscore showed he had two goals).  I do remember that it was Johan Hedberg, not Marty Brodeur, who shut the Flyers down.  Johan Hedberg of all goalies!

3.

Don’t Panic!

Restricted Free Agent Drew Doughty, the cornerstone of the Kings' franchise, is still in contract negotiations with Kings' GM Dean Lombardi.

Speak to most any Kings’ fan right now about the recent additions to the LA lineup and you’re likely to get a couple minutes of enthusiastic chatter, perhaps a bit of trade skepticism (trading Schenn is going to come back to haunt us, don’t you know?!), discussion of ever present trade rumors. I’d wager than 9/10 fans will all transition at one point or another to the same topic: Why isn’t Drew Doughty signed yet?

To call Doughty an important cog in the Kings’ machine would be an understatement of sorts. He is the Kings’ franchise player, and young defenseman who figures to be in the conversation about the James Norris Memorial Trophy for the next decade, perhaps longer. He also became a Restricted Free Agent as of July 1st.

In the two weeks that have transpired since then, much speculation has been tossed about regarding the Kings’ superstar defenseman. He’s been rumored to have asked to become the highest paid King. He and his agents, Don Meehan and Mark Guy of Newport Sports, have both been accused of being greedy. Kings’ General Manager Dean Lombardi has been accused of being “cheap”. Some Kings’ fans are in a state of panic about it too.

Just End the Stamkos Drama

Enough with it. End the drama.

Is there a chance Stamkos doesn’t play for the Lightning next year? Surely, but it’s pretty small.  GM Steve Yzerman is trying to do everything in his power to keep Stamkos in Tampa.  Stamkos is the team’s biggest marketing tool, and the future of the franchise.  Trading (or letting Stamkos go) would be Stevie Y’s last resort, but there’s no rush at the moment.

Are teams like the Flyers, Maple Leafs, among other teams,  interested in adding Stamkos? Of course.  He’s one of the best players in the league, everyone’s going to have interest.  How much interest and whether they are willing to part with some pieces is a different story.

A lot of these types of rumors are started because the NHL offseason has hit a dead spot.  Everyone’s bored.  Fans are playing NHL11 and seeing how different players look in different uniforms.  Media members have written stories about “no new news” with the Stamkos negotiations and then fans begin speculating (despite the insistence of “no new news”).  Rumors start, such as that Stamkos “doesn’t want to play in Tampa”, even though no credible reports have said this.  Also, it has been denied over and over.  Yet the rumors persist.

So what do Lightning fans think?  

CSH WhatIfSports Tournament & Rosters

For fun, six of us (Andy, Dan, Gabbi, Jeremy, Joey and Rob) created a league on What If Sports. We decided to only take players from our teams in the past 20 years, with the website’s $50 million cap. We could only choose a player for a year he played for our team, and could pick no player more than once.

After our rosters are set, each team will play each other twice in an 10 game season, and we’ll highlight the games throughout the summer. The team with the most points at the end of the schedule will be the winner!

So without further ado, here are our rosters:

Blue Jackets (Rob)
Centers: Andrew Cassels (2003), Dan Fritsche (2007), Derick Brassard (2011), Kevyn Adams (2001), Sean Pronger (2003)
Left Wings: Rick Nash (2010), Fredrik Modin (2007), Ray Whitney (2003), Lasse Pirjeta (2003)
Right Wings: Nikolai Zherdev (2008), David Vyborny (2006), Trevor Letowski (2006), Kevin Dineen (2001), Jared Boll (2009)
Defense: Fedor Tyutin (2011), Grant Clitsome (2011), Deron Quint (2001), Ron Hainsey (2007), Marc Methot (2007), Lyle Odelein (2001)
Goalies: Steve Mason (2009), Pascal Leclaire (2008), Fredrik Norrena (2007)

Bruins (Andy)
Centers: Joe Juneau (1994), Joe Thornton (2002), Patrice Bergeron (2007), Travis Green (2006), Marc Savard (2007), Rob DiMaio (2000), P.J. Stock (2003)
Left Wings: P.J. Axelsson (2003), Andy Brickley (1992), Ted Donato (1997), Dave Andreychuk (2000), Mikko Eloranta (2002), Kevin Stevens (1996)
Right Wings: Nathan Horton (2011), Martin Lapointe (2004)
Defense: Zdeno Chara (2007), Raymond Bourque (2000), Aaron Ward (2007), Dennis Wideman (2007), Andrew Ference (2008), Steve Staios (1997)
Goalies: Tim Thomas (2009), Jon Casey (1994)

Kings Show They’re Serious About Winning – Now.

It’s good to be back in the saddle here, and I hope to be able to post more frequently leading up to and during the 2011-2012 season.

When the 2010-2011 season ended, the Kings found themselves on the short end of a 6 game series with San Jose. Kings were minus their best player, and it still took the Sharks 3 overtime victories to vanquish a resilient Kings’ squad. I’ll not discuss this much, as I’m still bitter we lost, and every time I see anything teal I want to kick babies. OK, maybe not babies. Anyway…

The loss of one player made a significant dent in the Kings, particularly defensively. The Kings were thin up the middle without Kopitar, and it cost them. Fortunately. Dean Lombardi took notice of this and made it his priority to shore up center ice for the Kings. Just before the 2001 NHL Draft, Lombardi was able to engineer a deal with Philadelphia to acquire Flyers’ captain Mike Richards. The Kings had to part with fan favorite Wayne Simmonds, top prospect Brayden Schenn and a second round pick in 2012; but for a guy with Richards’ credentials, that’s more than a fair price to pay. The emergence of Kyle Clifford made Simmonds expendable, and Schenn is still probably a season away from full time NHL duty. In acquiring Richards, the Kings now have a 1-2 punch at center that matches up with any team in the West. If Kopitar were to be inured again, Richards is could not only fill in for Kopitar’s offense but also his defensive play. His addition makes the team exponentially better.

Winger Ryan Smyth in the meantime, requested that Lombardi send him home to Alberta if a trade could be worked out. The event created a bit of a shitstorm in the local hockey media, with Smyth denying his trade request initially. After what ended up being days worth of drama, Smyth was sent to Edmonton for Colin Fraser and a pick. Fraser was found to be injured, and Lombardi neglected to reverse the deal. The Oilers owe the Kings additional compensation over the mishap but don’t expect that to be much. Smyth will be missed, but the Kings do gain a TON of cap space from the deal and Fraser, if healthy, can be a serviceable bottom 6 player who has a Cup ring from his time in Chicago two seasons ago.

Smyth’s departure left a gaping hole in the Kings top 6 heading into the start of free agency on July 1st. Lombardi and company- an entourage including the Kings’ coaching staff and AEG CEO Tim Lieweke – made a hard pitch for Brad Richards that included testimony from Wayne Gretzky and Kobe Bryant about the joys of playing in LA on Friday. Richards chose the Rangers and former head coach John Tortorella on Saturday, and the Kings immediately took to plan 1A and signed LW Simon Gagne, the longtime Philadelphia Flyer most recently a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning, to a two year deal. Gagne has scored 20 or more goals 7 times in his career, 30 or more goals 4 times, and 40+ goals twice. He comes with some risk as he’s had some unfortunate injuries later in his career, but Gagne is a gifted scorer who has spent several productive seasons alongside new Kings #2 Center Mike Richards in Philly. Provided Gagne can stay healthy, he can score 30 + on Richards’ flank, and he makes the Kings a much better team. Unlike last summer, when the Kings had no plan beyond their pursuit of Ilya Kovalchuk, Lombardi and co went out and got the necessary pieces to make the Kings a contender right now, without giving up their entire farm system to do so.

So, as of July 3rd, the Kings’ top 6 looks like Penner-Kopitar-Williams and Gagne-Richards-Brown. The best and most balanced top 6 the Kings have had in a decade or more. I expect the Kings to add perhaps another serviceable bottom 6 guy before camp, but that’s perhaps not even necessary as the Kings have Bud Holloway, Tyler Toffoli and Brandon Kozun on the cusp of cracking the lineup. We’ll see how it plays out, but Lombardi has options.

One interesting thing for those in the twitterverse: Dennis Bernstein of The Fouth Period has hinted over the past couple of days that he thinks the Kings have one more big move coming before camp, and has indicated it involves a forward. I’ll not speculate much here now, but one has to wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with Zack Parise – who’s arbitration award may be more than the Devils can swallow. NJ needs an heir for Martin Brodeur, which leads me to believe hypothetically at least that Bernier would be part of any such deal. Again, pure speculation on my part as Bernstein hasn’t divulged any info on the Kings’ possible dance partner, and for all we know it could be something off the board. It all remains to be seen.

The sum of all the moves that have been made up to now, and the potential of another big move on the horizon is this: The Kings are contenders, right now. Dean Lombardi has responded to critics who’ve hung the “Can’t make the big move” tag on him with two dynamite additions to the roster. Lomardi knows these Kings are ready to make a run at the Cup this season. It would be fair, and by all means accurate, to call them frontrunners for the Pacific Division title in 2011-12, and one of the teams to beat in the West. I’ll withhold my in depth analysis of that as there’s a lot of time between now and the opening of camp in September.

Needless to say, if you’re a Kings’ fan like I am, there hasn’t been this much excitement surrounding our team in a long time. I know it’s got me waking up daily asking “Is it October yet?”.

GO KINGS!

-JS

(Cross posted from my other blog, The Throne Room)

Bleeps & Bloops: Free Agency

Some quick hits from the first two days of free agency:

-The Brad Richards saga is finally over, as he chose to sign with the New York Rangers for 9 years (and $60 million).  According to reports, he turned down more money from other teams (Calgary, Los Angeles and Toronto).  The Rangers have themselves a big money center to play with Marian Gaborik now.  They also added tough guy Mike Rupp from the rival Penguins.

-Speaking of the Maple Leafs, they added Tim Connolly for two years.  Connolly has averaged .83 points per game since the lockout, but has only played in 302 games in that time.  When healthy, he can form a nice duo with Phil Kessel, but how many games he plays is the question.

-Not going to go into much about the Flyers, who were very active on Day 1, as this post sums it up pretty well.

-The Panthers were also very active, adding over $31 million in salary for 2011-12 in the since the draft.  This includes over $21 million to 6 players in free agency the last two days.  They aren’t done yet, as the team is still $1 million under the salary cap floor.

2011 CSH Awards

We all know who the best players have been the best in the NHL in the 2010-11 season, but who have been some of the worst?  Years ago, I created some “awards” in my old sim league (DCHL), as a semi roast to certain players, GMs and teams.  I took some of these awards,  and created some brand new ones.

First, we start with the Trigger Happy Award, which goes to the GM who has pulled off the most trades in the last year (for the purpose of a starting point, I used 2010′s regular season end to this regular season’s end).  With 18 counted trades, including acquiring (and trading) Dennis Wideman, Dale Tallon of the Florida Panthers is our 2011 winner.  The other GM award, the aptly named You Suck Award goes to Ottawa’s Bryan Murray.  Last summer, Murray signed Sergei Gonchar for 3 years and $16 million, and the 37 year old played like he was 57.  The team plummeted to last place and Murray started the firesale, trying to get what he could for many players.  Some of his deals were to rectify mistakes he had made in the summer, and in previous seasons.  All this, while Daniel Alfredsson remained on the team and his value continued to drop.

Moving on to some statistical awards, the winner of the Broad Street Bully Award goes to Islander Zenon Kenopka, who blew away the field in the penalty minute department, finishing with 307.  Kenopka is the first player to break the 300 PIM barrier since Dan Carcillo in 2007-08.   The Greg Millen Trophy for allowing the most goals in the regular season goes to the Colorado Avalanche.  The team allowed a whopping 287 goals, the most since the 06-07 Flyers.  On the topic of goalies, our Red Light Award for worst goalie of the year (minimum of 20 games) is Rick DiPietro.  DiPietro “lead” the league with a 3.44 GAA, had the second worst save percentage at 88.6% and finished with a record of 8-14-4.

The Bettman Trophy for Villain of the Year was no surprise.  Suspended for 21 games this season within two separate incidents, including missing the entire first round of the playoffs, Matt Cooke easily wins the award.

The Aftermath

In a span of an hour, the Flyers broke up the foundation of the franchise. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter have been together in the Flyers organization since 2003, when they were both drafted by the team. They’ll be playing the 2011-12 NHL season in different colors though, after Richards was dealt to Los Angeles and Carter to Columbus. The deals came as a shock to fans, as two of the most known Flyers were sent packing.

The Return
So, what did the Flyers get in these deals?

Jakub Voracek had 14 goals, 46 points for Columbus last year. The 6’1, 205 lb Czech was Columbus’ first rounder (#7 overall) in 2007 and has played three years for the Blue Jackets, amassing 39 goals and 136 points in 241 games.

With Los Angeles, Wayne Simmonds scored 14 goals and 30 points while amassing 75 penalty minutes. The power forward has played the last three years with the Kings after being drafted by the team in 2007. “Simmer”, as he is known, has scored 39 goals and 93 points in 240 games.

Last year, Schenn spent some time with the Kings (0-2-2 in 8 GP), Manchester of the AHL (3-4-7 in 7 GP). He spent the majority of his time in the WHL with Brandon (1-3-4 in 2 GP) and Saskatoon (21-32-53 in 27 GP). In the 2011 World Junior Championships, he tied a Canadian record for points in a single tournament (8-10-18 in 7 games).  Schenn is one of the top prospects in all of hockey.

They also received the #8 & #68 picks in this year’s draft, as well as the Kings’ 2nd rounder next year. What the Flyers plan to do with the picks remains to be seen.