BofA 1/10 Wrap-Up

It was a highly polarized evening of extremes - an odd mix of great and terrible performances. Unfortunately, the former were far outnumbered by the latter, thus resulting in the overtime loss.

Ironically, the fact that the Flames dressed more vets than the Oil turned out to be more of a detriment than an advantage. Actually, each veterans performance seemed to be inversely related his expected output - the bigger the star (wearing red), the harder he fell.

Also, the loss featured a couple of bad habits from the Calgary Flames 05/06 version. Specefically:

- A terrible second period.
- The two-goal lead curse.
- Inability to score more than 3 in a game.

Hopefully, last night was an aberration and not a sign that last year's mal-adaptive tendencies are returning to haunt us once more.

Anyways, on with it...

The Best(s):

- Matt Lombardi - Best performance by a Flame forward so far this preseason. Vastly outplayed his two "star" line-mates, Iginla and Tanguay. His 5on3 shorthanded marker was a beauty. Almost ended the game in overtime with another drive to the net, but was foiled by Markkanen.

- Eric Godard - Played well in his limited role and engaged in one of the best fights I've ever seen live. Seriously.

- Dustin Boyd - Ended up -3 on the night, but was never at fault for any of the goals. Played well enough to garner some time on the top line again. Clearly one of the best rookies in camp.

- Mark Giordano - Solid again and garnered an impressive 23 minutes of ice-time. Unless his play takes a sudden nose-dive, I'd say he has the 7th spot all but wrapped up.

The Worst(s):

- Miikka Kiprusoff - Obviously very rusty, Kipper turned in his worst performance since last October. Every legitimate Oiler chance got by him (including one that luckily hit the post). Allowed 3 goals on the first 9 shots.

- Roman Hamrlik - The Flames worst defenseman last night, it was Roman's ill-fated pinch that lead to Stoll's goal in the 2nd. Later in the third, Hamrlik tripped over his own feet trying to retrieve the puck in the defensive zone. It was that kind of night.

- Tony Amonte - Another bafflingly bad outing by a vet. Amonte gave the puck away on a rush when he seemed to trip over the Oilers blueline. The give-away lead to a 3on2 and the Oilers 2nd goal. Was pretty much useless besides that.

- Jarome Iginla - Don't let his 2 points fool you, Jarome was bad last night. His goal was a crease scrambler and his assist was all Lombardi's determination. His lame stickhandling attempts could have been stopped by a pylon with a stick propped-up against it. The one time Tanguay did manage to set him up, Iginla whiffed on the chance about as badly as I would have in the same position. His game high 5 give-aways were matched only by Tanguay. Definately a mailed-in performance.

- Alex Tanguay - Talk about a nightmarish debut: not only was Tanguay the worst Flame player on the ice last night, his was the worst showing by a Flame thus far in the preseason. Tanguay gave pucks up left and right. He tried to force plays that weren't there and frequently made soft, lame passes that were bound to be interecepted. I actually groaned when he was put on the ice in overtime during the PP. Sure enough, Tanguay coughed it up not once but TWICE in a 30 second sequence that culminated in Horcoff's game-winner. Truly an embarrassing night for Alex, even in his own evaluation:

"That's pretty much as bad as I can play," said a very straightforward Tanguay. "Nothing was working.

The bright side is he can only get better from here on in.

The Rest:

- Jeff Friesen - Friesen doesn't seem to do anything in particular.

- Richie Regehr - Still makes the odd rookie mistake here and there. Not up to Giordan's level.

- Andrei Taratukhin - Aside from one shift where he controlled the play in the Oiler's end and set-up Godard a couple of times, 'tuke had a forgettable night. Not quite ready for prime-time.

- Eric Nystrom - I always notice Nystrom after I've been watching guys like Boyd and Prust for half the evening. Seems to panic with the puck whenever he's away from the boards. No real accomplishments to speak of so far.

- Chuck Kobasew - As is his penchant, Kobasew followed up his impressive showing against Florida by being a complete non-entity last night. My brother didn't even notice that he was playing until I pointed him out.

- Dion Phaneuf - Played a decent game, although his one gaffe in the third on the PK lead directly to a point-blank Oiler chance that was only denied thanks to an excellent stop by Krahn.

- Brent Krahn - Solid night, outplayed Kipper. Would have been nice if the the gamewinner didn't squeek through his legs though.

- Andrew Ference - Was average. Meh.

The rematch is on Saturday in Edmonton. Hopefully, the Flames rookie squad can avenge last night's vet-induced loss.

Official write-up here, including line combos.

Stupid Messageboard Post of the Day - #2

Today's candidate, like dozens of future candidates no doubt, comes from the offical Canucks.com forum. Bask in the genius of member "flat_line":

...I think Calgary will score a lot of goals with the first line, the D will be s***, and Kipper won't have a fantastic season but not a bad one. Canucks have better D core, better forwards, and I'd say an equal goalie, same with Nashville (even better D though), Anaheim or SJ (although they're goaltending isnt as good, they have depth).

(emphasis added)

BWAHAHAHA! Fish in a barrel I tells ya. Actually, this might be a more realistic prediction if you swapped "Calgary/Kipper" with "Canucks/Lunogo" in the above.

Battle of Alberta - 1/10

It's the first of 10 meetings with our hated rivals tonight. Yes, it's preseason and yes the the Oilers aren't dressing a terribly impressive squad (moreso than normal) so a win is basically meaningless...still, it's difficult not to get a little excited.

Adding to the significance of this evening's match is the expected unveiling of the Tanguay/Iginla duo. Judging from some of the hype surrounding Calgary's biggest offseason acquisition, one might expect fans around here to be disappointed if each player doesn't record a hat-trick tonight. Personally, Im not as concerned about points as I am with chemistry - if Tanguay/Iginla/*other* manage to generate scoring opportunities on a regular basis, that'll be enough for me.

Other vets dressing tonight, judging by the roster sheet, include Kipper, Lundmark, Nilson, Kobasew, Friesen, Amonte, Hamrlik, Robyn Regehr and THE DION. While Warrener is listed, he won't be playing - it's expected he'll be out for a couple of weeks with a knee injury.

Notable hopefuls include Nystrom, Germyn, Boyd (again!?), Taratukhin, Richie Regehr and (ugh) Brad Ference. Only three natural centers are listed (Taratukhin, Boyd, Lundmark) meaning Tanguay or Nilson may be moving into the middle for the evening. Expect one of Friesen, Lundmark or Boyd to line-up with the Tanguay/Iginla, depending on who's playing center.

The Oilers, on the other hand, are going with a rookie-centric squad. Horcoff, Stoll, Pisani, Staios, Bergeron, Tjarnqvist and Markkanen are the only established NHLers listed. Rookies battling for the right to play and lose with the big squad this year include junior PP wizard Robbie Schremp, MA Pouliot, Jan Hejda, JF Jacques and Brad Winchester. I was hoping the Oilers were going to be dressing their own defected russian, affectionally dubbed "Traktor Boy" by the Oiler faithful, but it looks like he's staying up North tonight. Oh well.

Meaningless as it is, I earnestly hope for a Flames victory tonight. Considering the lop-sided rosters I don't think I could endure all the inevitable Oiler-Fan-gloating should the Greasers somehow come out with the "W".

The Pervasive Preseason PPG

If you glance at the Flames first two preseason game sheets you'll notice there hasn't been a lot of even-strength scoring. In fact, of the 8 goals scored, only 2 have been at 5on5.

Since two games isn't really a big enough sample to be drawing any conclusions, I took a cursory glance at the other boxscores over at nhl.com. I discovered that the PPG is thus far the ruler of this young exhibition season: Of the games I looked at, there was a total of 71 goals scored, 42 of which were on the PP. Twenty-seven were even-strength tallies and 2 were short-handed. That's 60% of scoring coming with the man-advantage (versus about 38% at ES). The Flames themselves have only potted one ES marker in the last 2 games (not that that's anything strange for Calgary mind you).

I haven't been able to come up with any solid theories explaining the preponderance of PP goals, except perhaps:

- Power play scoring may be always markedly higher in the preseason (though I haven't noticed it before) thanks to the number of rookies in everyone's rosters. Power-play save percentage for decent NHL starters is typically somewhere in the .800-.900 range so it wouldn't be surprising if rookie and bubble net-minders were siginificantly worse than that - say in the .700-.750 area. Especially when the team in front of them is peppered with inexperienced defenders.

- There are a lot of penalties being called, putting a strain on the PK units. This could be due to an impetus from the league to crack-down on a certain infraction (I've seen 3 diving penalties already) or the fact that rooks just take more penalties for a variety of reasons - can't keep up, overly aggressive, etc.

Just a thought on something I noticed and found odd. There's lots of games left and as more and more veterans are inserted into the line-ups one would assume that PP scoring is going to be appropriately oppressed as the exhibition games wind down. Still, I'll be interested to see if this trend peters out entirely by October 4th...

Flames vs. Canucks Wrap-Up

Last night's contest was certainly sloppier and choppier than the Sunday night affair against the Panthers. Five fights and over 100 minutes in penalties marred the contest (or made it more interesting, depending on your perspective). The Canuckleheads dressed a lot of hopefulls who gathered a lot of penalty minutes in the minors last season, so the rough play was hardly a surprise...

Anyways, on to the good stuff.

Rookies I noticed:

Dustin Boyd - A fast and crafty player, Boyd oftens looks pretty close to NHL-ready. He gets clobbered occassionally, but it never seems to slow him down. The trio of Ritchie, Boyd and Amonte generated a lot of scoring chances over the course of the match.

Warren Peters - I wasn't expecting anything from Peters, but he showed a penchant for solid boardwork down low and even made a couple of nifty moves at the opposition's blueline. The rookie unit of Peters, Maki and Couture actually managed to apply decent forechecking pressure during certain points of the evening, partially due to Peter's solid body work.

Andrei Taratukhin - Wasn't spectacular but wasn't bad either. Was able to frequently find open ice and the puck seems to follow him around. Not the fastest guy on the ice, though.

Mark Giordano - Making a big push to be the #7 d-man on the team. Was typically solid defensively and made a great move along the blueline during the powerplay in order to get off a shot.

Tim Ramholt - Still needs some seasoning as he occassionally seems a step or two behind the play in his own end. However, showed great presence of mind to hop into the play during a penalty-kill to create a two-on-one. Hit the outside of the post on the ensuing rush.

Adam Cracknell - Solid on his skates and has a nose for the net. Not the swiftest guy around, but seemed to get better as the night went on. While he hit the post on an empty net in the first period, he made up for it with his seeing-eye snapshot goal in the third.

Vets I Noticed:

Tony Amonte - Scored one, should have had three. Nothing I saw made me think he's in line for a major resurgance, however, he may very well thrive on the 3rd line.

Phaneuf - Scary.

Robyn Regehr - Was involved in both ends of the rink. Crushed some hapless Canuck in the 3rd.

Damond Langkow - Was going at about half speed all night, but still quietly managed 2 points AND asserted himself well in a scrap.

Andrei Zyuzin - I was pleasantly surprised by how mean Zyuzin was in the corners. Cleaned up after Ramholt in the defensive end when they were paired together. Not as slick as Leopold, but probably more physical.

Players I didn't Notice:

- Maki and Couture gave it their all but never really made any impact.

- Byron Ritchie just tries so hard but is just so mediocre.

- Jeff Friesen did nothing to impress me against a squad made up almost entirely of rookies. Didn't seem all that fast to me. Got in a couple of scraps.

- Eric Nystrom was equal parts poised vet and nervous rookie. Would make an obvious gaffe one shift and then look totally comfortable the next. In the end, didn't do anything in particular that would set him apart.

- Nilson looked kind of rusty.

- Warrener played a tiny bit and then injured his knee, apparently. I bet Giordano was secretly pleased.

Anyways, here's the official gamesheet and a write-up from the Flame's site that includes the line combos.

Next up - The Oil!

Good Work (For an Oiler Fan)!

I stumbled upon this great post by Vic Ferrari over at Irreverent Oiler Fans recently. In the piece, Vic uses his vast store of stats and shift charts to construct a theory on how game experience(s) may bias a coach/GM in favor of certain players.

It's an interesting thought and a an excellent read...

Pre-Season Game #2 Preamble

Calgary takes on Vancouver in the 2nd exhibition match of this young pre-season. While I'd like to say it's going to be a high-tempo, put-em-up, duke-it-out, barn-burner of a game, the general lack of NHL calibre players in tonights Canuck's roster makes me think otherwise. Joe Rullier? Vladimir Kutny? Matt Cooke looks to be the only top 6 forward dressed!

As for Calgary, tonights line-up will feature a few more regulars: Marcus Nilson will see action for the first time since injuring his knee back in April. Damond Langkow, Robyn Regehr, Tony Amonte, Rhett Warrener and THE DION will also be suiting up. In addition, new guys like Zyuzin and Friesen will be playing their first shifts as Flames.

Rookie notables playing tonight will be Andrei Taratukhin, Eric Nystrom, Tim Ramholt, Tomi Maki and Adam Cracknell. I will be particularly interested in the play of Taratukin, Nystrom and Ramholt, so I'll keep a close eye on them this evening. Other guys, like Boyd, Giordano and Godard are also listed although I'd be surprised if they actually see the ice (since they played in the previous contest).

While the outcome of the game will be totally irrelevant, it'll be worth watching for the performances of the aforementioned hopefuls as well as the newer vets - Im hoping I'll be able to assess, to some degree, the potential for guys like Zyuzin and Friesen to make some sort of impact when the regular season play starts up in October.

Flames/Panthers Hilights

For those of you who were unable to attend.

Stupid MessageBoard Post of the Day

Something new Im trying to add some levity to the ol' blog...

and nothing is funnier than the stupidity and blind bias that tends to dominate hometeam messageboards. I occassionally lurk on the odd one now and then chuckling faintly at the barely literate cheerleaders and kool-aid drinkers that seem to populate such places. I figure I might as well start sharing the worst (best?) ones I find here.

Today's entry comes via the edmontonoilers.com board. While the thread starter is worth a gander thanks to it's rambling incoherence, the one-liner by "MaxPower" 3 replies down takes the cake:

"I'd take Sykora over Tanguay any day."

Riiiigghhht. The almighty "guys wearing my team's sweater are automatically superior" principle. On that note, my reply would be:

"well...well...I'd rather have Friesen than Lupul!"

Awsome.

Flames vs. Panthers Wrap-Up

It was nice to plunge head first back into hockey last night, even if the Flames team that took to the ice was a mere shadow of the one we'll see in October. Not that that stopped them from winning, though.

'Course, it's pre-season so the outcome is largely meaningless. The real value of the upcoming two weeks of foreplay is to evaluate the hopefuls and develop game legs in the vets. To that end, here are my impressions from the contest yesterday:

Bubble Guys I noticed:

1.) Brent Krahn - Was steady and solid in the nets. Handily out-dueled the senior citizen at the other end (who gave up 3 goals on 11 shots BTW) and certainly staked a claim to the back-up position. Not that it's going to do him any good this year...

2.) Dustin Boyd - Was a bit jittery at first. However, his game seemed to turn around after he got hammered into the end boards by Ric Jackman. Playing on a line with Juice and Kobasew, Boyd was one of Calgary's better centers for the remainder of the game. Was rewarded with a goal in the second.

3.) Brandon Prust - Prust also seemed to get better as the night wore on. He played a high tempo game, especially when forechecking. He also won the tilt against Panther hopeful Anthony Stewart hands down...was named the "Hardest Working Flame" by the talking heads on the radio after the match.

4.) Mark Giordano - Paired with Warrener, Giordano played the most of any rookie d-man. He jumped into the play a couple of times and never made any glaring mistakes.

Bubble Guys I didn't notice:

David Moss and David Van Der Gulik were pretty much shrug-worthy. And, like the rookie intrasquad game, I had to specifically look for Chucko to make sure he was actually playing. When I did finally watch him for a couple of shifts he did little aside from lumber around uncertainly. I gotta say, I've had a couple of looks at Chucko now and Im really starting to wonder what the Flames scouting staff saw in him - if he doesn't make some pretty significant strides in Omaha this year he's going to be a big time first round bust.

Like Rico Fata before him, Chucko is rapidly becoming an object of my derision.

Notable Vets:

1.) Kristian Huselius - Was the most dangerous player on the ice most of the time and he was only going at about half speed. Easily Calgary's best forward.

2.) Charles Kobasew - I hope we see more of this Kobasew during the year. Sniped a PP goal and drove into the zone with authortiy most of the evening.

3.) Jamie Lundmark - Made a couple of "WHO WAS THAT?" worthy moves in the offensive zone. Picked up an assist on Germyn's goal, but probably would have had more points with better line-mates.

4.) Rhett Warrener - Steady vet was solid as expected, but he also set-up Boyd's tally with a dandy pass through a couple of defenders.

Guys I noticed for the wrong reasons:

1.) Brad Ference - Not very fast or physical. Made a couple of errors and some wayward passes. He also took a shot from the point on the PP that would have been knocked down by a stiff breeze. Basically, after Krahn, Giordano, Ri.Regehr, Warrener, A.Ference and Hamrlik, B.Ference was the Flame's best defensemen. Maybe. Also, got pummeled by Nathan Horton (of all people) late in the third. Useless.

2.) Matt Lombardi - Lombo set up what should have been a tap-in in the third period (the rook in position blew the chance) with a seeing eye pass from the corner. Aside from that, Lombardi managed to get a couple of hooking penalties and that was it. May have done more with better line-mates, however.

That's about it from me. Go here for the offical Flames-site recap and line combinations.

Next up - Vancouver!

2006-07 Flames Pre-Season Roster

I Just got back from the Flames pre-season opener at the Saddledome vs. the Florida Panthers and I thought that I would post up the Flames pre-season roster for all to see. The game wasn't bad at all (Metrognome will probably write up a summary of the game sometime on Monday), and it was nice to see the Flames back in action again after their early exit from the 2005-06 playoffs. Next game is vs. the Canucks, I wonder if we will get to see Tanguay and Iggy? Enjoy my buck fifty (how much I paid for the friggen roster)!

Click on the image for the bigger version.

Pre-Season Begins Today

The Flames open the pre-season against the visiting Florida Panthers tonight. I've heard the Panthers plan to give Ed Belfour the opportunity to prove he's not simply a "dried-up mummy husk" this evening while Todd Bertuzzi will be given the night off.

As for the Flames, it looks like they'll be dressing hopefuls Brent Krahn, Mark Giordano, Brad Ference, Richie Regehr, Dustin Boyd, Eric Godard, Kris Chucko, David Moss, Brandon Prust, Carsen Germyn and David Van Der Gulik. That's a pretty healthy dose of bubble players, especially considering the Florida roster will include veterans Joe Nieuwendyk, Martin Gelinas, Olli Jokinen, Nathan Horton, Gary Roberts, Ruslan Salei and Bryan Allen. None of Calgary's top two forwards (Iginla, Tanguay) or top two defensemen (Robyn Regehr, Phaneuf) will be in the line-up.

I'll be attending the contest tonight, so expect a game wrap-up tomorrow. I'll be particularly interested in how Krahn handles himself in the nets tonight, and I'll make an effort to assess the efforts of rookie camp stand-outs like Brandon Prust, Dustin Boyd, Mark Giordano and Richie Regher.

New Rules

The NHL Board of Govenors approved some rule "tweaks" today. The 3 changes include:

- Increase to the allowed maximum curve on a stick.
- Alterations to curve violation penalties (including near draconian measures against teams complaining about an opposing player's stick during shoot-outs)
- Enhanced diving penalties/fines.

Basically, it looks like the League is trying to increase shooter power and decrease diving.

Works for me.

Bobby Clarke's Rant

TSN interviewed Flyer's GM Clarke in the wake of his somewhat controversial decision to offer the Canucks RFA Ryan Kessler a $1.9 million one year contract. Apparently, this is the first time in 8 years that someone has bothered to pony up an offer sheet to a RFA - partially due to the facts that the player's original team is free to match the offer and, also, the compensation due to the original club (should they choose not to match) can be prohibitive, depending on the level of the player in question.

Course, there seemed to be an additional deterrent in the mix - you see, GM's kinda think its an asshol-ish thing to do. Largely because pursuing another team's RFA's either means that:

a.) You're stealing away a young guy and therefore development investment, or
b.) You're unnecessarily driving up the other's teams payroll.

The result was a sort of "unwritten rule" among the NHL team's brass - RFA are OB.

Cue the Clarke rebuttal:

"I don't give a (expletive deleted) if nobody likes me, I could care less," Clarke told TSN. "But they shouldn't be getting mad at me, I didn't put the (offer sheet) rule in the collective bargaining agreement. If they're mad, they should call Gary Bettman and complain to him. Get mad at Gary Bettman. He's in charge of the rules, not me. I didn't realize there were some rules we're not allowed to use."

And he has a point. Technically, Kesler is fair game according to the official CBA rules. Maybe Vancouver should have done a better job of wrapping up Kesler to begin with?

Further, I kind of think this is a savvy move by Clarke. He has nothing to lose and a lot to gain. If the Canucks don't match, he gets the guy he's after - it may be for a tad above market value (Kesler scored 10 goals last year), but since the dollar figure involved is low enough and the potential of the player is high enough, the overpayment thing becomes a nominal issue. However, if the Canucks DO decide to match the offer, the 1.9 million will serve to drive the Vancouver organization periously close to the salary cap, thereby enabling Clarke to deal from a position of power and potentially get Kesler in a trade from the Canucks anyways. At the very least he's causing a significant inconvenience to a rival NHL hockey club.

So if Clarke ended there, I'd have no quibble with him. But of course, he doesn't.

"To me, our thinking is completely backward," Clarke said. "I lost Kim Johnsson to (unrestricted) free agency because the Minnesota Wild gave him $4.8 million. Well, the Flyers had to give (revenue sharing) money to Minnesota and other teams and I don't like that but it's the rules. And then Minnesota takes that money and signs my player and there are no rules to say I can keep him if I match. I wish I had all the options with Kim Johnsson that Vancouver has with Kesler. They can match and keep him or they can let him go. It's up to them."

C'mon Bobby. You're just pissing in the wind with this kind of stuff. For one, I doubt Minnesota received any kind of payments from the "big market" teams last year. Blessed by a ravenous fanbase, the Wild have been selling out since their inception. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were in the upper half of the revenue earners in the league. Secondly, you could have matched or even exceeded the Wild's offer to Johnsson if you didn't have a couple of 500 pound anchors named "Hatcher" and "Rathje" weighing down your payroll ($3.5 million each). Who's fault is that?

Anyways, Clarke's tirade does end on an interesting note:

"I'm just playing by the rules that are there. To be honest, I'm surprised more teams aren't doing it.”

Which makes one wonder if this will spark the end to RFA's being sacrosanct in the NHL. Currently, there are a couple of relatively desirable RFA's lingering in the League's contract-less purgatory, including:

- Brian Gionta
- Paul Martin
- Dan Hamhuis
- Nikolai Zherdev
- Tim Gleason

Hell, if I was Carolina I'd be tendering offer sheets to the likes of Hamhuis, Martin and Gleason rather than looking to deal blue chip prospect Jack Johnson. And why hasn't anyone taken a run at Brian Gionta? He's a 48 goal scorer who currently belongs to a team that has precisely 0 cap space - thereby making it near impossible for the Devils to match any reasonable offer made to the diminuitive sniper.

Hmmm...should be interesting times ahead if Bobby has truly opened the "Offersheet" floodgates...

(For those interested, check out the more educated thoughts of Tom Benjamin and James Mirtle on the Clarke/Kesler situation).

True Story...

So I ordered a pizza the other day. On my way to pick it up I heard on the local radio sports talk that Zherdev and the BJ's had moved farther apart on their contract negotiations. The announcement prompted the thought "I wonder if Columbus will pursue Carter to fill the hole left by Zherdev. Hell, if they can get him for less than $3 mill for a one year contract, I don't see why not."

An idle thought, didn't take it too seriously. I ate my pizza and promptly forgot about it.

Until today. Apparently Im a prophet. Course, since I didn't bother to mention my prediction to anyone I probably seem more like a bullshit artist in the eyes of anyone reading this.

Sigh. Lesson learned. From here on in I'll post each and every one of my idle musings. Kinda like Eklund, I suppose, except they'll have some measure of thought behind them...

Gathering Reactions

Besides my own lame attempt at satire, the signing of Rick Dipietro to an absurd 15 year deal has engendered a number of posts and comments around the 'net.

James Mirtle points out that the Islanders have locked up a goaltender for the next eternity that hasn't really proven anything - his career stats and win record do nothing to inspire confidence anyone in besides, apparently, Charles Wang...

2005-06 saw the 24 year old struggle, and he posted a far worse goals-against average (3.02) and save percentage (.900) compared to his prelockout efforts. In his career — all 137 starts of it — DiPietro has a 58-62-8 record with a 2.85 goals-against average and .900 save percentage.

The deal also made Chris! from Covered in Oil temporarily frothing-at-the-mouth crazy with incredulity:

JESUS CHRIST, ARE YOU GUYS INSANE? ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MINDS?? DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT YOUR YOUNG, STILL UNPROVEN GOALIE IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO BE YOUR BEST OPTION IN NET FOR THE NEXT DECADE AND A HALF? HOW LONG HAS THAT GAS PIPE BEEN LEAKING OVER CHARLES WANG'S DESK? AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHY HASN'T IT KILLED HIM YET???

It must be a slow leak, Chris. Frankly, I hope Wang persists for years to come. I find his ineptitdue grandly entertaining.

Colby Cosh has been gathering reactions for himself from the Hf boards. He points out a couple of amusing comments from the anonymous posters, including this one from a cynically optimistic Islander fan - "I finally own the jersey of a player that won't get traded. Why am I not happier?"

Ingmar Bergman uses his photo-altering skills to look into his crystal ball and determine what the future holds for Rick. (*Reader Beware - disturbing images).

Finally, TSN.ca has a story from the Canadian Press that details a number of NHL GM's reactions to the deal. One of the more interesting comments comes from an unnamed managed near the end of the piece:

''How's (Dipietro) going to react to all this?,'' wondered one GM. ''He's never going to have another negotiation in his career, how motivated will he be? If this Rick DiPietro isn't a completely passionate athlete, he's going to sleep. He has to, that's just human nature.''

Good point. Unless Dipietro is Tiger Woods (hint - he's not) and winning matters more to him than comfort, one can reasonably expect his performance to drop off...simply because he knows, come rain or shine, win or lose, that he's GUARANTEED 67 MILLION DOLLARS. As Guy Incognito points out above, it's pretty much human nature.

So, come to think of it, I guess the one true benefit the Islanders may reap from this deal is the first overall draft pick next summer. In fact, I bet Rick is shopping for the best golf clubs money can buy right now.

Flallison? - UPDATED

While there's been some speculation over the summer that Jason Allison could become a Flame, there's apparently at least one blogger out there that thinks the deal has actually been consummated.

link.

I have no idea how credible this source is, so I'm going to take a "I'll believe it when I see it (on tsn)" tact to this "news". And should this abomination actually be confirmed, I might be tempted to take a gun to my TV (Elvis style). I have absolutely no wish to see jason Allison in a Flames jersey, whatever the price of his contract. I'll leave it at that until the deal is cemented or denied...

UPDATE - Another post has recently been added that includes possible terms of the alleged deal ($800,000 - $1,000,000).

The Long Island Tea Party...

Peter: I'll give you $40 for that coffin.
Store Owner: Sir, this casket is $1,000.
Peter: I'll give you $2,000.
Store Owner: Sir, that's double what it costs.

Inspired by this family guy episode and the recent baffling events on Long Island, I figured I'd draft up my own Wang/Dipietro "negotiation script". Enjoy!

Setting:

A small, barren office somewhere in Long Island. The room is dimly lit and the walls are blank. Charles Wang, Mike Milbury and Garth Snow sit at a black, wooden, lacquered table that stretches nearly the width of the entire office. Across the table is Rick Dipietro and his agent.

Wang is wearing an expensive business suit and a firm expression on his face. Snow, to his left, has on a disheveled "Im with Stupid--->" t-shirt and looks about nervously. Milbury, to Wang's right, is garbed in a preposterously high collared jacket with a giant bow-tie and a towering top hat which has "In this style 10/6" written across the side. He sips tea from a small, delicate china cup and giggles intermittently.

Wang: "We want you both to know that the NY Islanders organization values what Rick brings to the table...however, I and my staff are prepared to play hardball in these negotiations. A fair and sensible deal is all we're after here."

Agent: "Understood. Now, we all know that Rick hasn't put up stellar numbers in the NHL so far, however we feel that..."

Mad Mike: (interrupting) "Do you care for tea?"

Dipietro & Agent: (confused) "Errr...no. No thanks."

Mad Mike: "Well, you could at least make polite conversation!"

Wang: "You better have some tea..."

Diepietro: "Mike's got the only cup."

Wang: "Are we short on cups?"

Mad Mike: "Ho ho! A challenging riddle! But answer me this: how is a Raven like a writing desk?"

Snow looks at his collegues in confusion.

Wang: "Good question. A two million dollar bonus to the first of my eployees that can answer it! Garth make a note of that."

Snow makes a note on his hand with a marker.

Wang: "Now, back to the issue at hand. Let's forgo all this hockey mumbo-jumbo and start throwing out some numbers. You know well enough that I can't make rhyme or reason of these so-called "statistical comparisons". And all this "salary-cap" nonsense Garth here keeps telling me about makes my head hurt..."

Mad Mike: (giggling and sipping tea) "Rhyme or reason. Reason! Reason!"

Snow is chewing his fingernails.

Agent: "Uhh...ohhhkayyyy...As I was saying, the basis of our demands rests on the fact that..."

Wang: "Three Million! Wait! Three point five! For 5 years!"

Agent: "three point five for five? Well that sounds..."

Wang: "...four million! For seven years!"

Agent: (looks at Dipietro and smiles) "eight years!"

Wang: "Ten!"

Mad Mike: "10/6!"

Snow: "Uh...Mr. Wang, sir, I don't think that's how this is supposed to..."

Wang: "Shut up Garth! I didn't hire you to make these kinds of decisions."

Snow digs the heels of his hands into his eyes.

Agent: "We're willing to go as high as eleven years at four million per year."

Wang: "Twelve years!"

Dipietro: "TWELVE?"

Mad Mike: "Tea?"

Agent: "Thirteen Years!"

Wang: "Fifteen! Four point five per season!"

Snow's head hits the table with a thud.

Wang: "That's our final offer. If you want less than that, I'm afraid we can't accomodate you."

Mad Mike Giggles. Dipietro's agent's pants are visibly tenting.

Dipietro: (thoroughly confused): "less than that...?"

Agent: (aside to Dipietro): "Shut up." (To Wang): "You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Wang. Rick and I both know when we're licked. We grudgingly accept your offer."

Wang: "Excellent. My associates and I knew you'd come around to our way of thinking eventually."

Mad Mike: (giggling): hehe...thinking!...More tea?"

Dipietro: "We haven't had any yet."

Snow: (resigned sigh) "If they've had none, they certainly can't take any less..."

Mad Mike: "More then. You can always take more than nothing."

Wang: "Yes. Take more."

Agent: (As Dipietro signs the contract) "More it is then."

Everyone shakes hands amicably. The deal is celebrated by all mentioned when Mad Mike throws Rick Dipietro an "Un-Birthday Party" that night at a high-class bar (all expenses paid by the NY Islanders).

Rookie Intrasquad Game Notes

...trying to diligently follow two full teams of nameless players during a game is akin to counting grains of sand while the tide's coming in...

Metrognome's first person take on the Flames rookie training camp here.

Flames Pre-Season Begins

Calgary's official start to the pre-season began yesterday with the initiation of the rookie portion of training camp.

Metrognome's take on the Flame's top rookies is here.

The Hockey Mag Post (Part 2)

For the Flight home from my travels I snagged The Sporting News Hockey magazine at some anonymous American airport stand (I was fairly surprised to find it). In contrast to the Hockey News Ultimate Pool Guide I discussed in the post below, the SN publication is more of a general team by team analysis. The book starts out with basic NHL pieces - they discuss the Sabres as potential cup favorites this year and include a preseason "power poll" (a decent overall ranking, unless you consider that the Canucks (7th) are ranked above the Flames (8th) and the Predators (5th) are ranked above the Senators (6th)). Of course, Crosby is discussed briefly, as are some of the top picks from the most recent draft. The magazine also goes over the issue of "team chemistry" citing the Rangers and the Hurricanes as two organizations that explicitly pursued the all-elusive element of "team cohesiveness" through various means last year. The bulk of the book, however, is dedicated to Team analysis.

I'll admit, it's a fairly decent read. Each club gets about two pages, with each being graded across 4 categories: Forwards, Defensemen, Goaltenders and Special Teams. I have issues with the grading criteria in that...well...none are stated. Further, team's aren't given an "overall" grade - simply a "bottom line", which is typically a 3 paragraph blurb. One might think that, logically, assigning an overall grade would follow from grading a squad's component parts. But, I guess not.

As mentioned, the grading criteria for each category isn't explicitly elucidated. As a result, the grades seem to vary in consistency across divisions (and, sometimes, from team to team within one division even - despite the fact that it's the same writer for both!) For example, Chuck Gormley gives the Toronto Maple Leafs a "B" for Defensemen with the reasoning that "...Kubina and Gill provide the muscle, McCabe and Kaberle will provide the offensive punch" and "the Leafs have strong prospects in Jay Harrison, Ian White and Andy Wozniewski". Fair enough. Except two pages before that he gives the Senators a "B-" for Defensemen. Apparently because "after Redding, Preissing and Corvo the corps. is solid but not spectacular with Andrej Meszaros, Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov and Christoph Schubert."

Now, I don't know if Chuck is a Leafs fan or what, but this borders on the absurd. Toronto's #4 defenseman is Hall Gill. Big, slow and offensively useless, Gill is hardly a top 4 guy these days. After him, they have the likes of Khavanov, Colaiacovo, Kronwall, White and Wieniewski to fill the 5th and 6th positions. Who and who? Exactly. In comparison, The Senators have future Norris candidate Redden, as well young stand-outs Preissing, Corvo and Meszaros. All 4 are young, mobile, scored 10 or more goals last season and ended up on the + side of the ledger. The bottom pairing on Ottawa will consist of former #1 draft pick and stalwart Chris Phillips and young up-and-comer Anton Volchenkov, who already has a full season of NHL experience under his belt. Both players can deliver the big hit when need-be (and both can skate faster than Hal Gill).

For quantative types out there, here's a basic statistical comparison: Together, the Senators top 6 (Redden, Corvo, Preissing, Meszaros, Phillips, Volchenkov) scored 218 points in 445 games played and were a collective +146. The Maples Leafs top 6 (McCabe, Kaberle, Kubina, Gill, Khavanov, Colaiacovo) scored 202 (135 by Kaberle and McCabe alone) points in 396 games and were a collective -32. Offense between the two groups is comparable, although the Leafs corps is very top heavy. While +/- is, at best, a suspect stat to use to compare players across teams, consider that both Corvo and Preissing's numbers (+16 and +17, respectively) were not inflated by playing behind the likes of Heatley, Spezza and Alfredsson all year. In fact, Corvo managed his decent showing despite playing in front of 2 young, inexperienced goaltenders in LA.

So...to me at least, The Senators have a very solid 6 defense group. The Leafs, on the other hand, have 3 very good NHL defensemen, 1 lummox, and 2 question marks. Course, Im not certain what criteria were used for grading the defense of each team - but I just can't see how the Leafs could be considered superior as a group to the Senators.

Not that the errors end there. Other teams with supposedly superior defensemen to Ottawa? Buffalo (B), New York (B), Carolina (B+!) and San Jose (B). Plain silliness.

The forwards rankings tend to be pretty decent, I'd say, aside from the assertion made by Elliot Teaford that Dallas has "so much skill, so much potential: it's a wonder the Stars don't skate every team off the ice." Is he looking at the same roster as I am? Observe:

Modano, Lindros, Morrow, Lehtinen, Halpern, Barnes, Stefan, Ott, Jokinen, Hagman, Miettinen, Barnaby.

The Stars will be lucky if they have 4 twenty goal scorers among their top 12 forwards. Modano is 36 and on the downslope of his career. Lehtinen is usually good for 25-30 goals and Morrow for 20...but besides that, there's not much else. Lindros is an injury waiting to happen and Patrik Stefan is one of the biggest first-choice-overall busts in the last 10 years (he scored 10 last year with the Thrashers). Ott is an agitator (5 goals), Barnes is a 36 year old 3rd liner (15 goals) and Halpern is a checking center (11 goals). Jokinen had a decent rookie campaign with 17 tallies last season, but he'll no doubt have to improve on the those numbers for the Stars sake. Miettinen managed all of 11 goals and 31 points last year. Hagman had 6 markers in 54 games with Dallas. Hmmmm.

Confused with his opening statement and his subsequent grading of the Star's forwards (A), I was rather intrigued to read the rest of Teaford's accompanying explanation. He goes on to claim that Lehtinen "is a sublime offensive player, a deft passer and playmaker..." Ummm. No, he's not. He's a consistent enough goal-scorer and a Selke candidate, but he's hardly a playmaker. In fact, his goals almost always outnumber his assists and he's never had more than 32 helpers in a single season. Lehtinen is a valuable top 6 guy, as much for his defensive acumen as for his 30 goals, but he's absolutely nothing at all resembling a "sublime offensive player".

I found Teaford's appraisal of Lehtinen a little out-there, but I was floored by his next baseless claim:

"By excercising a one-year option on Lehtinen's contract and re-signing winger Niklas Hagman to a two-year contract..the Stars eliminated a good deal of hand-wringing for nervous fans. The pair will force opponents to focus on someone other than Modano..."

Waitaminute, let me get this straight; Stars fans were worried about Niklas Hagman re-signing? The same Hagman that has never scored more than 10 goals or 30 points in one of his 4 NHL seasons? And he's going to be the guy taking pressure off of the Star's other offensive forwards?? BWAHAHAHA!

Either Teaford is a shamless fan-boy of the Dallas Stars or he's never really watched them play. Or looked at their stats. What's even stanger is he grades the Dallas defense, their organizational strength, a (relatively) modest B+. Well...whatever you say, Elliott.

My final complaint concerns Iain MacIntyre's grading of the Calgary Flames forwards. His anaysis is relatively sound: he mentions the additions of Tanguay and Friesen, the need for better secondary support from players like Nilson, Lombardi and Yelle and Kobasew's break-through as a 20 goal scorer. He doesn't mention the fact that Lombardi was injured for a large portion of the season, nor that Huselius scored at a 60 point pace once he moved to Calgary from Florida last year...

So, he ends up giving the Flames forwards a D. While Im the first to admit that Calgary was very bad at scoring last year (particulary at ES scoring), I hardly think a roster boasting a two-time Rocket Richard winner in Iginla, a PPG producer in Tanguay and 2nd line populated by 20 goal getters (Huselius, Langkow and Kobasew) is worthy of a "D" mark. Especially if one considers Teaford's ejaculatory grading of the Stars forward ranks. Is Calgary an "A" offensive club? Nope...but I also don't think we should be considered bottom of the barrel - here are the forward marks for some of the worst teams in the league: St. Louis (C+), Columbus (B-), Chicago (C-), Washington (C+!) and Pittsburgh (B-). Hmmm...in fact, the only other team to garner a (D) for the forwards was Phoenix. As you can see...there are some consistency issues with the grading.

Rants and nit-picking aside, the Sporting News mag is worth a look. Most of the punditry is sound if you can forgive the slight lack of grading continuity and Elliott Teaford's incredibly odd man-love for Jere Lehtinen and Niklas Hagman, you won't be terribly disappointed.

Taratukhin Signed

As a capper to all this 'Tukhin business, Sutter announced today that the Flames have signed the 23 year-old russian center to a two year, two-way entry level contract (entry level = league minimum I think). According to local radio, Andrei's already in town awaiting the start of training camp. It should be interesting to see how he makes out (and if his former club, Yaroslavl Locomotiv, will carry out their threat to sue the Flames for the signing).

The Hockey Mag Post (Part 1)

I've been away for awhile.

And on my travels I managed to a accrue a couple of hockey magazines - they're good reading for short flights - so a I figured a little run-down-and-critique was in order. First up:

The Hockey News Ultimate Pool Guide

What you'd expect for THN - lots of content, much of it useful, some of it not-so-much. An example of the latter sort would include picking the Flames to win the Stanley Cup (I wish the mags would stop doing this) as well as predicting the winners of many of the major year-end awards (names include Crosby, Staal, Iginla, Kiprusoff, Niedermayer and Malkin). While I understand the throbbing need for pundits and fans to foolishly pontificate on such matters during the dog days of summer, it still doesn't detract from the fact that picking a cup winner in August is completely absurd. Although, to their credit, THN admit that their past predictions have been less than accurate. I guess August Champions with an astericks is good page filler.

A feature on Iginla is included near the front. It focuses on his relatively disappointing season last year and what he expects of himself and the team in 06/07. Of particular interest to Flames fans is Iginla's re-vamped summer fitness regime - apparently Jarome decided to work more on speed and agility than strength this off-season. The hope is to take greater advantage of the obstruction crack-down.

Another article discusses a THN pseudo-stat called the "I.Q." (Intimidation Quotient), which is determined by multiplying a player's goal total by three and then summing the resultant product with the player's penalty-minutes (minus the major misconducts). The aim, I think, is to statistically identify the NHL's true "power forwards" - guys that produce and play with an edge. The problem, of course, is that the formula seems relatively arbitrary (why multiply the goal total by 3? Why aren't assists included?) while some of the variables should be better controlled (why exclude 10 minute majors in the PIM total while including stuff like diving?). THN's list of the top 20 "IQ" scores from last season speaks more to the stat's dubious analytical power than to anything else: Sidney Crosby had the highest IQ with 227. Olli Jokinen was 5th with 202. Other names on the list? Marc Savard (9th - 184), Dainius Zubrus (16th - 153) and Max Afinogenov (19th - 150)...

Savard and Zubrus. Power fowards.

Right.

It looks to me like this IQ thing is a gimmick that THN made up to generate articles and little else. I guess it could be potentially useful if your particular hockey pool rewards both goals and penalty minutes...but in terms of actual, real-life valuation of players, it's nearly useless.

Other Stuff:

9 players are predicted to score more than 100 points, with Crosby again topping the list at 116. Personally, I think this is a "generously optimistic" forecast. It would take a full year of playing with players of roughly equivalent talent to produce at that rate - and since it's likely that Malkin will be centering the Pen's second line, Im guessing Sid the Kid is probably going to gather very similar totals to last season. Similarly, Alexander Ovechkin is placed at #3 with 112 points. While it's possible that the injection of (Alexander) Semin into the Caps top line is going to bear offensive fruit, so to speak, I don't see it myself.

As well, each team is outlined with top player point predictions, depth charts, some minor prospect details as well as the expected "placing" prediction. THN expects the Ducks to win the West and the Senators to be regular season victors in the East. Three NW division teams are placed outside of the play-off picture (Edmonton, Vancouver, Colorado) which I find hard to imagine (they have 4 pacific teams making it...including the Kings). Yes, these predictions are made to be laughed at in hindsite...but, based on the info we have now...Colorado in 12th place and the Kings in 8th is eye-brow raising fare, at the very least. I'd say more, but I'm saving my own predictions for another post.

Finally, almost 100 pages of THN's fantasy mag is dedicated to individual player evaluation and point projections for next season. This section is definately useful for those rabid poolies who endlessly search for that hidden diamond-in-the-rough that's going to propel them to victory. It's also relatively interesting for fans of various teams to see where the pundits think their favored stars will end up next year ... (Iginla's forecast: 48 goals, 45 assists for 93 points).

Overall - recomended. Especially if you're flying somewhere.

Next up -The Sporting News

Taratukhin News. Sorta - EDITED

Pursuant to MadMac's comment from the previous post, I tried to unearth some stuff on Flames prospect Andrei Taratukhin.

According to this article on Russian Hockey Digest, there are some legal barriers standing between Taratukhin and donning the Flame's colors any time soon:

Yuri Lukin, General Manager of Yaroslavl Lokomotiv spoke about two players who Loko has under contract:
'We already told "see you" to Taratukhin. He came to see the team, shook everyone's hands. It is all great, of course. But from our side we told him see we will see him back in Yaroslavl. We are planning to sue Calgary Flames who signed a contract with our player'.

I haven't heard any news that the Flames have indeed signed a contract with Taratukhin, so Im a little puzzled by Lukin's claim that it's already a done deal. Course, whether it's true or not is secondary to the fact that the Russians are dead-set on pursuing legal action against any NHL club who tries to pry their russian prospects out the super league (prior to a transfer agreement being inked).

Therefore, I wouldn't count on Andrei making it to training camp. In fact, the chances of him playing anywhere outside of Mother Russia this year are starting to fade more and more each day...

Monday, August 28th EDIT - A Taratukhin interview. Seems like he's going to come to Calgary whether there's a tranfer agreement or not. Good news.

Flames Summer Summary

It looks like Calgary is finished for the summer. With that in mind, I figured it was time for a re-cap.

Read about Calgary's summer adventures here.

Wait...We're Still Talking About This?

Another NHL Rumor site, another whisper of "Gomez To Calgary". Probably prompted by the Lombardi re-signing. I'd love for this to come about, hell I even suggested it way back when...but it ain't gonna happen. Sutter would have to do the "salary cap shuffle" in order to fit a contract like Gomez's into the Flames line-up (Current cap figure = $41.603 million).

It's a nice fantasy and all but...the fact that it's been floating around these rumor sites so long (I think even the infamous Eklund has mentioned it) pretty much guarantees that it's bogus.

Makes for nice blog filler though.

Malkin Situation Clarified

If, like me, you've been wondering about certain details about the on-going Malkin saga, check out Karen Price's story in the Pittsburgh Tribune. The interview covers the issues behind the firing of his agents, the signing of another year long contract with Magnitogorsk and his flight from training camp in Helsinki. Interesting stuff.

Hattip to Mirtle for the link.

NHL Team Salaries Website Moved

My Shaw account is expiring soon so I have moved the site:

http://www3.telus.net/public/dreyes/nhl

The URL is a bit longer but it will have to do for now.

I wish I thought of That

Check out Matt's "exclusive report" (featuring a conversation between Evgeni Malkin and his agent) over at the Battle of Alberta...

Great stuff.

Stick a Form In 'em...

...they're done.

It looks like Sutter has finalized his 06/07 roster by tying up his final loose end.

Yup, that's right. Lombardi was (finally) re-signed recently. Of course, the details weren't released by the club...but if you check out the nhlpa, you'll see that he's in line for $800,000 next year.

My thoughts? 'Bout time. Good price too. If Lombo is employed in a top 6 roll in the coming season, this'll be looking like a downright steal half way through the year. Granted, of course, he manages to stay healthy for most of it.

Anyways good news. Bring on October!

Phoenix - The NHL's Island of Misfit Toys

With the news that Owen Nolan is apparently going to sign with Phoenix I went about wondering (not for the first time) what exactly the game plan is down in the ol' desert.

I've Been Reduced to Shilling

Spurred by a shameless and abject need for any sort of hockey news or content, I recently purchased an electronic version of the hockey news. It can be found here.

Included in this THN offering is a rating of the top 50 players in the game, stories on the NHL business in general, the obstruction crackdown, the emergence of Alexander Ovechkin, a Sidney Crosby interview and next season predictions. Further, each team is profiled with overviews including: strengths, weaknesses, offense, defense, "goalie zone", "cap crunch", rookies and market watch sections. Not to mention depth charts, previous season stats, effective shoot-out players and each team's 06/07 schedule. So, yeah, there's a ton of stuff to read for the hockey enthusiast.

The most gratifiying portion of the mag for Flames fans probably comes in the "Top 50" section. THN ranks 5 Calgary players amongst the best 50 in the league: Robyn Regehr (44), Alex Tanguay (43), Dion Phaneuf (32), Jarome Iginla (7) and, of course, Miika Kiprusoff (1!). While these rankings lists are rather subjective and arguable, it's still nice to see the paid punditry recognizing and lauding Flames talent. Especially considering the flacid and inept clubs Calgary faithful were forced to endure during the "7 season drought".

Anyways if you're like me and going mad from hockey withdrawl, I recommend checking this out.

Oilers Land Sykora

Edmonton has apparently added to their relatively impressive stock of top 6 forwards. Beyond the potential for more goals, it's probably encouraging for Edmonton fans to see an UFA coming to town rather than leaving.

The details of the deal are still rather sketchy, though tsn reports it's going to be a one year contract (provided Sykora passes a physical exam). The level of monetary compensation is still up in the air, so your guess is as good as mine - not that it's an issue for the Greasers. They have a bunch of cap space.

Assuming the deal goes through, the Oilers will have up to 15 players available to fill out their forward ranks come training camp (that number includes rookie hopefuls MA Pouliot, Brad Winchester, JF Jacques, Rob Schremp and Alexei Mikhnov). While their d-ranks are rather barren, Edmonton is literally bursting at the seams with forwards. One can reasonably expect, therefore, a Raffi Torres+prospect for NHL-ready defenseman type trade before the start of training camp. I would expect the Dallas Stars, who have 2 defensemen too many, would be a natural trading partner.

Top Seven of The Summer

Pronger wasn't the only one Cookin' up news this summer. Check out who else made into Metrognome's Top 7 stories of the NHL off-season.

Good God(ard)!

There's some rumors swirling on the boards that the Flames have signed tough guy Eric Godard. I was loathe to grant them any sort of legitimacy until I saw that the nhlpa is listing Godard as Flames property.

So, let's see. He's huge. Probably slow. He's scored 2 goals in 107 NHL games! Gee-whiz. Super.

I have to assume, for my own peace of mind, that Godard was signed to a 2-way, league minimum kind of contract and is therefore Omaha bound. The thought of him taking a roster spot away from, well...any current Flame I can think of currently makes me ill. As you can probably tell, I am part of a growing concensus that thinks that the role of the "talentless pugilist" has become something of an anachronism in today's NHL.

Anyways, I suppose we'll see what the truth of the matter is shortly. Either this is a baseless rumor and a nhlpa typo, or Sutter has suddenly developed a penchant for signing large, PIM gathering players (see: Brad Ference signing).

Bloggers to the Left of me. Bloggers to the Right.

With hockey news slowing to a trickle it's been tough keeping the ol' blog fat with fresh content over the last little while. Let's see...Buffalo signed Briere and his $5 million arbitration award. Senators picked up ex-flame Dean McAmmond. Hasek will be injuring his groin in Detroit next season. Sutter apparently acquired Tanguay for some damaged goods. And Carter still hasn't been signed.

That's about it.

In response to the dearth of interesting actual news, I figured I'd put together a "blogroll" (read: post filler). Some of the following blogs are pasted on the sideboard to the right, some aren't. All are worth a read.

1.) Battle of Alberta. It just so happens that one of the best blogs out there deals with a conflict so close to my heart. However, irregardless of team affiliation, almost everyone should add this one to their "daily read" list. Posts can range from incredibly insightful and informative to downright juvenile. When the season swings into full gear, reading the flame wars and pissing matches between Calgary and Edmonton fans in every other "comment" section is typically worth the price of admission.

2.) mc79hockey.com. Few can match Tyler's sheer volume or depth of analysis. "Mud Crutch" provides lawyerly insight on matters of the CBA, hockey as an industry and throws in the odd 10,000 word/5 graph relatively-obscure-but-ultimately-useful-stat post. Truly a blogger-extraordinaire.

3.) Covered In Oil. Another Edmonton fan, another great blog - their team may suck, but their blogs sure don't. Mike, Chris and Pleasure Motors manage to cover everything Oilers...typically in jovial and comedic fashion. From comparing Ed Belfour to a "sun-ravaged mummy husk" to documenting the deconstruction of a play-off beard (check-out their June archive's "A farewell to Not Shaving". You'll never hire a clown named "Mr. Tickles" for your kid's birthday again), these guys keep you informed and clutching your sides.

4.) James Mirtle. An actual, bona-fide professional, Mirtle offers great commentary about stuff going on around the league.

5.) Vancouver Canucks Op Ed. Lots of posts, lots of content, lots of laughs. Alanah over there recently completed 49 posts in 24 hours as part of a charity powered "blog-a-thon" . Kudos!

6.) Abel to Yzerman. I got hooked on this one during the first round struggle between the Oil and the Red Wings. All flavors of insight and coverage in regards to Detroit Red Wings matters are tackled here.

7.) Raking Leafs. Ninja is one of those incredibly rare things - an intelligent and balanced Toronto Maple Leafs Fan.

Honorable Mentions: Lowetide, Irreverant Oiler Fans, Acid Queen and Battle of California.

The lack of Flames blogs is curious, I know. Hopefully this coming season will see the growth of a couple more quality Calgary-slanted blog-based commentaries.

He's Created a Monster

By now almost everyone has seen the superb Salary Site (soon to be permanently ensconced on the sideboard to the right) that our own Cantaloupehalves created one slow Saturday afternoon. And I do mean Everyone.

"The Site" has proliferated like a weed in the fertile soil that is the NHL blogsphere / messageboards communities. In a little over a week, it's collected more than 13,000 unique hits, some of which have come from outside the continent. How this all grew from a bored Saturday afternoon to a single post on Calgarypuck.com to...well...this is beyond me. Clearly, though, the need was out there and was being poorly serviced by the typical sources.

So a resounding HUZZAH! to you, my friend. Even if you are an Oilers fan.

Friesen: The First Line Controversy

The newest debate raging amongst Flame's fan these days is: who will ride the left side on the #1 line come winter?

Flames Sign Another Ference

As if one wasn't enough.

This "Brad Ference to Calgary" thing has been floating around messageboards as a rumor for a few days now. Turns out it's actually true...Sutter must really think we need someone to replace Cale Hulse. Terms weren't disclosed, but I assume it's a league minimum kinda deal. Ference is a career 7th d-man, so I doubt he'll be demanding much above the $450,000 basement.

I don't personally know much about B.Ference aside from the fact he's mean. Here's his career stats, which don't inspire anything above a yawn or a shrug. Also, he played all of the last season in the AHL. The last time he saw action at the National Hockey League level was 03/04. Great.

Turns out he's pretty big tho - 6' 3", 218 pounds - so that's good I guess; as long as he can skate faster than, say, Marchment. Not sure he's much of an upgrade over the likes of Giordano or Ri. Regehr, frankly...but you know Sutter: His motto is "you can never have enough defensemen".

EDIT - No, they're not related.

Where For Art Thou Lombo?

The lack of Flames news got me wonderin'...Why hasn't Lombardi been re-signed yet?

NHL 07 Xbox 360 Gameplay

For all you video game enthusiasts out there...

Looks like EA has made some strides in terms of graphics and sound...

Making Media

I've created a couple of animated GIF's for you Flames fans out there. The first one I'll post is Phaneuf's big hit on Cowan during the regular season...

Use as you see fit.

Team Salaries

I was bored one day and decided that I needed to compose a "complete" website that would include the salary figures for every NHL team. Here's what I've got so far:



Enjoy!

Tanguay - To Score or Not to Score

I finally got around to compiling some "basic plus" stats for Tanguay - namely the ESP/60 and PPP/60 numbers...

More.

With Bosses Like This...

from an article about the NY Islander's debacle on CBS Sportsline:

"(Wang) once suggested in all seriousness that his scouts search out Sumo wrestlers from Japan with a view toward turning them into goalies."

How does someone this dumb become so rich?

Actually Chasing Gomez?

So, exactly a week after posting my pie-in-sky scenario regarding Scott Gomez, a rumor popped up over at Hockey Leaks that the Flames might indeed be pursuing him. I know, I know...it's a rumor and therefore not-too-terribly meaningful. But at least it suggests Im not completely off my rocker...

EDIT - an update was added today stating the Flames are the "front runners" with the Coyotes in the mix...

Nerding Out...Cont'd

So I kept one of my promises from the "Nerding out" post below and calculated the 05/06 PPP/60 for each Flames player.

Find the results and the observations here.

WTF!?

Mad Mike moves up the management ladder and things get even weirder on the Island.

Okay, so it's pretty strange when a Franchise hires and fires a GM before even seeing how good a product he can put on the ice...but how strange is it when said Franchise replaces said GM with an ex-goalie lacking any pertinent managerial experience?

Is this the fucking Twilight Zone? Is there some pre-pubescent kid controlling reality with his mind? That would seem to make about as much sense at this point...

Nerding Out

Follow my first, trembling step into statistical geekdom...(link!)

Why? Why!?

Capitals sign a former 6th overall pick of the Calgary Flames...

I guess they were trying to avoid the BIG PAYDAY this former "teenage phenom" would have gotten out of arbitration *snicker*.

Chasing Gomez

Time for some (non-erotic) fantasizing...

 

06/07 Flames Schedule

Can be found here.

Notable dates include:

- The opening home-and-home series against Greaseville (Oct.5/7)

- The Saddledome debut of Alexander Ovechkin (Oct.30)

- The first game of the year against the Canuckleheads (Nov.11)

- A visit from the defending Stanley Cup champs and Mike Commodore's fro (Dec.5)

- Another New Year's classic versus the Oil (Jan.31 - curiously not currently listed by nhl.com, but reported by the fan960 in Calgary)

- Three (!) consecutive games against the Tanguay's former teammates in February (Feb.15/17/20)

- Season closer against - yup, you guessed it - the Oilers (Apr.7)

Doesn't seem to be a lot of the dreaded back-to-back games this year (assuming the schedule is accurate...which it may not be), which is good. The starting, mid and end points of the season are marked by BOA matches, which is an ideal method of structuring the schedule from an "Alberta" point of view.

The Time Has Come

As had been speculated, it looks like Darryl Sutter has decided to become a full-time GM, with Jim Playfair tabbed to be his replacement on the bench.

My take? Good move. The task of being a general manager in a competitive, salary-capped league must be pretty consuming...not that being a head coach is a walk in the park either. In fact, Im not quite certain how Sutter managed to do both (rather well) last year.

As for Playfair, he's been groomed under Sutter for the last three years. Previously, he guilded the St. John's Flames to the Calder Cup in 2001. His experience as both a head coach and assistant coach within the Flames organization should serve him well going forward - not to mention the rapport he will undoubtedly share with the boss upstairs. All that's left now is to hope Playfair can coax a little more offense out of the guys on the ice...

The Fall of the House of Legace and Other Oddities

It's almost become worthy of a carnival freakshow - purusing NHL headlines on tsn.ca makes one wonder what odd, grotesque or disturbing bit of news will pop up next...

Enter the freakshow here.

Oh...dear God no!!

Daniel Tjarnqvist, upon hearing the news that his agent came to terms with the Edmonton Oilers:

The look on his face says it all. Don't worry Daniel - it's only a 1 year deal!

Noodles Returns!

The ever-popular Jamie McLennan will be returning to Calgary in the role as a back-up next year. In a relatively surprising move, the locker room cut-up was signed to a 1 year/$575,000 contract by Sutter yesterday.

McLennan struggled with the Panthers last year: he won only 2 games and had a 3.07 GAA. His respectable .907 SP suggests he wasn't as bad as the other two figures would have you believe, however.

Im not too sure what to think about this one. I personally felt that it was Brent Krahn's year to make the big leagues, but I've been a noodles fan since his brief stint here back in 04/05. His jester-like personality is ideally suited to the role of back-up - plus he played pretty well when pressed into action way back when. I suppose another year of seasoning in the AHL may be the better option for Krahn vs. sitting on the bench behind Kipper all season. And, if McLennan stumbles (like so many other back-ups did last year) Krahn may get his shot anyhow.

Whatever happens, Im looking forward to those amusing Jumbotron comedic shorts that McLennan occassionally puts together. Welcome back Noodles!

Misc. Flames News...

First, the shrug-worthy news:

Flames sign speedy, but underperforming, left winger Jeff Friesen to a 1 year, $1.6 million contract. Story here.

Hmm...salary seems pretty high to me, especially considering his numbers last year (4 goals, 11 points in 50+ games). Also, Im not too sure what we're going to do with all these forwards come the start of the year - Tanguay, Juice, Iginla, Lombo, Lundmark, Langkow, Yelle, Nilson, Kobasew, Friesen, Ritchie, Amonte, McCarty, (Nystrom?)...

Is a trade in for a prospect/pick in the works?

Second, and more significant news:

Sutter has apparently locked up Tanguay for 3 years. According to tsn, the contract is for about an average of $5.25 million per season. That's around what I expected, so Im not unhappy with the figures. It certainly is nice to have a young sniper like Tanguay locked up for the forseeable future. Also, talk around the water cooler is Tanguay will play center next year. Does that move Juice up the first line? Will Friesen get a chance to re-establish himself as a 20 goal man with Tanger and Iginla?

Stay tuned...

F'ed in the A

I guess I should stop ignoring the White Elephant in the room and post something about the Pronger trade...

More sexual misadventures implied here.

 

Free Agent Feeding Frenzy

The madness began Saturday. And I dont think it's going to stop any time soon...

Metrognome's FA transaction analyses here.

Quack Quack Quack.

Chris Pronger's a Duck now. Story here. Looks like Edmonton won't force him to stand up to his wife's demands, but instead the Oilers have traded him to the Ducks in return for Joffrey Lupul, one non-roster player and several conditional high-end draft picks. Until I see who these high-end draft picks are I will have to say that this was a crap deal for Edmonton and a stellar move by the Ducks. Now the Ducks have a stellar blue line with Pronger AND Scott Niedermayer.


Side Note:
With all these huge signings this Summer 2006 it really makes me wonder if the new CBA is still in effect this year?

Goodbye Dono...

It is always a bit sad to say goodbye to a Flame that was a part of the run for the Stanley Cup in 03-04' but in this sport you have to expect frequent moves by players like Shean Donovan. Hopefully he will do well in Boston. Best of luck to you Dono!

Story here.

P.S. Tough luck Ryan! :D

Andrei Zyuzin is now a Flame!

Well the Flames have found a replacement for Jordan Leopold when they signed Andrei Zuyzin to a two year $2.8 million contract (or have they?), story here. And is it just a coincidence that Zuyzin played for Darryl Sutter in San Jose from 97'-99'? Or is it that Darryl likes to work with players he has worked with in the past (refer to my previous post on Roenick)?

Happy Canada Day!

And the NHL Free Agency Season has begun!

A lot of big signings thus far with Chara (BOS, $37.5MM/5Y) and Jovocrap (PHX, $32.5NN/5Y) leading the way.

The big news coming out of Alberta is that the 2006 Western Conference Champions (i.e. Stanley Cup losers), the Edmonton Oilers, have signed hometown hero, Fernando Pisani to a 4 year deal reportedly worth somewhere in the $8-10MM range. They've also re-signed goaltender Dwayne Roloson to a 3 year $11MM contract.

My take on the signings: I'm a bit concerned. It's about 1 year too long for each player and a little pricey. I was expecting about $1.5MM per year for Fernando and $3MM for Roli. Let's just hope they can keep it up for the duration of their contract.

Speaking of keeping it up for the duration of their contract, where will Chris Pronger's Orbs of Power be headed? I am hoping he goes to Florida for a few reasons:

1. He will be in the Eastern Conference and the Oilers will only get to play him once during the regular season in the next two years.

2. We should be able to get a good return (i.e., Bouwmeester, Norton, and possibly Weiss)

Roenick a Flame?

Well it looks like Jeremy Roenick is becoming an UFA this Saturday and he is hoping to play for a Canadian team. With his poor stats from last year he will be coming with a discount (and he is willing to play at a discount according to the article). Story here. From this interview he sounds very serious about playing hockey again, and if so he just might be a great addition to the Flames. He would be reuniting with his former Hawks buddy Amonte and his former Hawks Coach Darryl Sutter. If the price is right I believe Sutter will sign him up as he seems to have the tendency to sign up players he has worked with before (see: Kiprusoff, Donovan, Amonte, Loyns). I guess we will just have to wait and see!

The UFA shopping list

In line with my suggestion will be shopping for another d-man come July, I've decided to put forward some possibilities...

Metrognomes fruitless guesses contained here.

Enter the "Tanger"

Onto the good news...

Metrognome's take on the Tanguay Trade here.

There IS trouble in Shelbyville!

Well it seems like the rumours of Chris Pronger wanting to be traded have been substantiated by his agent this past Friday, you can read the story here.

I guess the big question now is why move after a phenomenal run for the Stanley Cup? Well rumour is that it is because Pronger's wife doesn't like Edmonton and wants out, story here. She wouldn't be the first Oiler wife that didn't like Edmonton (see: Janet Gretzky).

Tanguay a Flame!!

This just in...announced at the entry draft, the Flames have acquired Alex Tanguay for Jordan Leopold + picks...

Ummm...wow.

Links and analysis to follow...

Trouble in Shelbyville?

In the wake of their nearly triumphant, but unltimately fruitless, play-off run it looks like the Oil and their fans will have to deal with more bad news this summer.

Granted, the details offered in this article are more rumor than fact, however, should events unfold according to Sportsnet's prophecy, Edmonton faithful will (once again) have to deal with losing another MVP in the off-season.

This could all be good news for the Flames next year, depending on what sort of return the Oilers get for Pronger. One thing's for sure - with his departure I thankfully won't have to hear (read) about his blasted "Orbs of Power" anymore...

This is it - Game 7 is tonight!

Will all the hard work of the Oilers pay off tonight? Will they have that bit of luck that has followed them through out this Stanley Cup run? Or will Eric Cole bring up his game tonight and stop the Oilers from bringing the Stanley Cup back to Canada? Tonight we will see if the 8th place team from the Western Conference can beat the 2nd place team from the Eastern Conference. This will definitely be a game to remember.

Go Oilers Go!!!

Why the Oilers deserve to win the Cup

They've had to overcome a deluge of adversity to be one win away from getting their names engraved in sports most coveted trophy:

1) They clinched a playoff berth upon the completion of their 81st game in an 82-game regular season (on a last-minute game-winning-goal, no less).

2) They were seeded 8th in the conference, meaning they had to take on the Detroit Red Wings, winner of the President's Trophy for being the league's "best" team in the regular season.

3) They were down two games to none to another "better" team--a team that boasted the offensive talents of Joe Thornton and Johnathan Cheechoo, winners of the Art Ross and Rocket Richard trophies, respectively.

4) You think battling the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim might have been enough of a challenge for the Oilers during the Western Conference Final? Nope! Most of the players had to battle the flu bug as well. It seems as though the team from Anaheim took to their new name a little too early.

5) An early Conn Smythe candidate is irrevocably knocked out of the first game of the Stanley Cup Final and the back-breaking goal that ensued to seal the defeat. Could this be the beginning of the end of the magical run?

6) Down three games to one on the 12th of June, it seemed like the clock was inevitably striking 12.

7) Game 5 goes into overtime and a penalty, and a weak one at that, is called and the smell of pumpkins are in the air...


... but wait! Oh, there was something in the air that night. The stars were bright, Fernando! The Oilers escape with the first ever Stanley Cup Final Shorthanded Overtime goal. Three nights later, momentum builds as the spOilers win 4-0, playing a complete game.


Win one more game and the Oilers can complete the most unheralded Stanley Cup victory of all time (or at least, of MY time). So please, hockey gods, don't be cruel and bring the Cup back home to Canada.

There's going to be a Game 7!!!

With another night at the brink of elimination the Oilers proved their resiliency once again beating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-0 in Game 6 at Rexall Place and coming back from a 3-1 series defecit to tie the series up at 3's. The Hurricanes came out flat footed and only showed a bit of life near the end of the second period, but that's all they could muster up against the gritty Oilers who simply out played their opponent in every aspect of the game. They out shot their opponents 34-16! That's just crazy for Edmonton.

Now we just have to wait and see if the Oilers can pull off the biggest upset in the Stanley Cup Finals.

For a review of Game 6 click here (courtesy of NHL.com)

Game 6 tonight!

Canes vs Oil tonight. It's going to be an intense game (or so I hope). The Oil will be battling to stay alive and the Canes will be battling to close out the series a game early of game 7. Will the Canes be able to do it with the loss of Doug Weight? Will the Oilers be able to hang on for a Game 7 with the help of the hometown crowd in Rexall (I hope so!)? Hang on for a good game tonight!

Go Oil Go!!!

Carolina in 6?

Game 5 was incredible. The hits were hard and the goals were fantastic. However Carolina gave it away on a careless pass in their own zone and Fernando Pisani made them pay for it. Game 5 recap here (courtesy of NHL.com).

Flames Suck!

I know Flames Fans will enjoy this one ;)

http://www.flamessuck.com/

Carolina in 5?

Well I personally hope that Carolina does not win it in five tomorrow but I'm sure that a lot of die hard Flames fans won't be too sad to see the Oil lose. Do I think the Oil can pull it out of their ass to get a game 6 in Edmonton? No. But I do hope they do, it would make the series a lot more interesting. I can't comment much on this series as I have not watched a game since the series opener. But I leave with this picture and hope that the Oil can pull off a W.

Go Oilers Go!!!

One Small Item of Flames News...

According to TSN, Sutter signed Chuck "the punching bag" Kobasew yesterday (terms weren't disclosed). Next up? Juice and then ELIAS pls!