Looking Back: Good Decisions

Heading into the 2007 draft, there was not one clear cut prospect like in some years, 2008 (Stamkos) and 2009 (Tavares) for example. In 2007, there were plenty of good players,  but towards the draft it filtered down to three prospects at the top of the class.  According to NHL’s Central Scouting, the top three (in order) were Kyle Turris, Patrick Kane, James van Riemsdyk.  It seemed like those three would be the top choices, but in which order? And to which teams?

Turris, from Burnaby of the BCHL, was touted as a great skater with a combination of skill and hockey smarts.  Kane’s biggest knock was his size (5’10, 160) but was a scoring machine for London of the OHL.  Van Riemsdyk was a big scoring winger from the US National Development Program that hadn’t finished growing yet.

Philadelphia was in the midst of their worst season in team history and Phoenix had finished its’ third straight season near the bottom of the standings.  Chicago finished last place in their division, but with a bit of luck, won the NHL draft lottery, giving them the #1 pick, followed by the Flyers and Coyotes.

Blue Collar Captains

When the word “captain” is thrown around in hockey, names of stars are mentioned.  Guys like Crosby, Lidstrom, Iginla and Chara are all discussed.  Rarely brought up are blue collar guys like the captains in Phoenix and Winnipeg.

Shane Doan has been with the Winnipeg/Phoenix organization since being drafted in 1995 and was named the team’s captain in 2003.  He’s seemingly been the face of the franchise since the team moved to the desert in 1996.  Doan is in the top three of the franchise’s leaders in goals, assists and points and owns the top spot in all three categories if only Coyotes statistics are counted.

Andrew Ladd is only 25, but already has two Stanley Cup rings, 2006 with Carolina and 2010 with Chicago.  He’s also the (new) Winnipeg Jets captain.  Ladd’s played in his fourth city (third franchise) in the last five seasons.  Jets fans hope that Winnipeg is a long term stop for the left winger.

2011-2012 Preview: Phoenix Coyotes

Last season: 43-26-13, 99 points, 6^th West, lost in first round to Detroit (4-0)

Additions: RW Boyd Gordon, C Daymond Langkow, C Patrick O’Sullivan, G Mike Smith, LW Raffi Torres

Losses: RW Eric Belanger, G Ilya Bryzgalov, LW Vernon Fiddler, D Ed Jovanovski, RW Lee Stempniak

Offense: The offense is still lead by Shane Doan, who is the last remaining original Phoenix Coyote.  He was the only Coyote to hit the 20 goal mark last year and led the team with 60 points.  The ageless Ray Whitney is still able to be counted on for 15-20 goals.  The offense is scattered with 15 goal scorers such as Lauri Korpikoski, Radim Vrbata, Martin Hanzal and Taylor Pyatt.  But the roster doesn’t boast anyone who will step up and be a big star for the Coyotes.  Scoring may be at a premium this year for the team, and everyone is going to be counted on to chip in.

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.

Flyers Acquire Rights to Bryzgalov

The Philadelphia Flyers acquired the rights to goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov Tuesday night, trading AHL prospect Matt Clackson and a 2012 3rd round choice, along with another conditional draft pick to Phoenix.

The Coyotes won’t resign the free agent Clackson, as the Flyers had to throw a currently contracted player in the deal so they would not go over the NHL’s 50 contract limit.

Bryzgalov went 36-20-10 with a 2.48 GAA and a 92.1 save percentage in 2010-11.  He also posted 7 shutouts, compared to the Flyers 0 this season.  For his career, split between the Ducks and Coyotes, he is 156-116-35, with a career GAA of 2.53.  Bryzgalov has 23 career shutouts and a 91.6 save percentage.  In 27 career playoff games, he has gone 12-13, winning a Stanley Cup as the Ducks’ backup in 2007.  He has three playoff shutouts, all with the Ducks in their improbable 2006 run to the Western Conference Finals.  Bryzgalov failed to win a playoff series with Phoenix, losing back to back years against Detroit.

Will Bryzgalov be the answer?  The Flyers have to sign him first.  No numbers are official, but it seems he is looking for a deal for $5m to $6m.  Can the Flyers afford that type of money with their current roster? With a quick estimate at Capgeek, if Bryzgalov signs for $5.5m, and Ian Laperriere is put on LTIR, the team will have about $650,000 to fill three to five roster spots.  That won’t happen.  So someone will be the odd man out, whether that is Jeff Carter ($5.3m), Matt Carle ($3.4m), Kris Versteeg ($3.1m), another player, or a combination, remains to be seen.  It would also mean that free agent Ville Leino would not be resigned.  On Sunday, the Columbus Dispatch hinted that the Flyers and Blue Jackets could be trade partners for Columbus’ #8 pick.  Could the Flyers trade a high priced player for the pick? Possibly. GM Paul Holmgren has two weeks before the NHL Draft to see what he can do with Bryzgalov before making his next move.

If signed, the Flyers would have three goalies battling for two NHL spots next year.  Bryzgalov would surely have the #1 job, while Sergei Bobrovsky and Michael Leighton battle for the backup job.  Bobrovsky would benefit from being the starter in  Adirondack, as compared to playing only 20 games with the Flyers.  In addition, Bobrovsky’s cap hit ($1.75m) is slightly larger than Leighton’s ($1.55m), so the team could save some money there.

What happens if the Flyers can’t get a deal done with Bryzgalov? Perhaps they trade his rights to another team, like they did with Dan Hamhuis last year.  And what does this mean for the Coyotes?  They’ll have to add a goaltender, as Jason Labarbera is their only signed goaltender, and he surely won’t carry the load.