Everything here [except my comments which appear in brackets] is a cut/paste from the article in question, the source of which is behind the link. Enjoy:
Abel to Yzerman – Michigan to Dean Lombardi: Shove it, Masshole!
- Wow. Serious shite right there. And from Helene Elliott, a groundbreaking female journalist that broke down barriers to women in the locker room. She is no Delicate Genius, she writes articles based on hard work, thorough research, and first-hand experience. My kind of journalist.
Laundry is a new issue for Chicago
- Philadelphia Flyers forward Ian Laperriere is upset after a custom-designed bridge he had made was stolen en route to Philly. That means a guy missing teeth now has missing teeth … The police are looking for suspects, but they’ve already ruled out L.A. Kings centre Oscar Moller …. Why is Laperriere irked? “When you’re 20 years old and you lose some teeth, it’s OK, now you look like a hockey player,” he told csnphilly.com. “But when you are 36, it’s not so cool.”
NHL Points-per-Game Peak Age Estimation – Behind The Net
- I looked at all NHL players born 1962-79 who played exclusively in the NHL, AHL or IHL from Age 21 to Age 29. […] The peak age is just slightly more than 25. […] Other methods don’t give substantially divergent results – even the most or least restrictive datasets result in peaks between age 24 and 26. [so factor that in while waiting for Frolov to blossom or when dreaming of Kovalchuk]
- He’s been practicing with the team for months, but Detroit Red Wings defenseman Andreas Lilja hasn’t had any contact. Now that he sees a light at the end of the tunnel — he has been headache-free for 14 days — he wanted to see how he would react to a hit. So he asked Johan Franzen to run him after practice. “I had Mule run me yesterday in practice. He picked up all his 230 pounds and threw it at me,” Lilja said. “My body hurt, but my head was really good. It felt real good.’’ Lilja was asked if Franzen drove his head into the glass. “He did,” Lilja said. “Stuff like that I need to test. I can’t come out there and get one hit and then think, ‘OK, that’s it.’ I got to know how it feels.’’ Franzen was happy to help. “He was seeing stars,” Franzen said. “He needs that, needs someone to hit him to get him ready.’’ What’s next, an open-ice hit from Niklas Kronwall? “No, I think I’ll stay away from that,” Lilja said. “I usually don’t get hit open ice. I usually get it along the boards.’’
Western Conference Playoff Spots | Bourne’s Blog
- 6th, Los Angeles Kings, 51 games played, 61 points — The Kings seem fragile, don’t they? Points are always easier to come by before Christmas, just like wins. When Anze Kopitar has Ryan Smyth to help him out, he’s useful, but his production has seriously slowed down. He just doesn’t seem like a guy who can get it done when his opponents key on him, they way the real elite stars can. That says to me he’s not ready to be “the guy” on a team that needs one. They’re good enough to win even with him struggling, so they’ll hang on to playoffs, but you certainly get the impression they aren’t headed the right direction.
Who Shoots Left? – Behind The Net
- Most right-handed Canadian hockey players who started playing at a young age shoot left. But in California, where many players picked up hockey much later in life, most right-handed people shoot right. I’ve never quite understood why you’d want your strong hand on the top of your stick instead of low-down to put the power into your shot, but obviously it works. NHL players are overwhelmingly left-handed shots. Wingers are, for obvious reasons, tilted to each extreme: 41% of all right-handed shots are right wingers. And there is definitely a lack of right-handed defensemen: overall, forwards are 23% more likely to shoot right than D. Hence continued employment for Craig Rivet. I wondered if there was any bias towards left- or right-handed shooting based on national origin. Canada, the US and the Czechs are much more likely to shoot right, while Sweden, Finland and the former Soviet Union are dominated by left shots. [follow the link for chart goodness]
For Maple Leafs, it’s gloomy weather inside and out – latimes.com
- …That could be a while, especially without a first-round pick in the next two drafts. The Kings rebuilt through the draft, and it’s paying off. “All it points out it is you have to be patient,” Toronto Coach Ron Wilson said of the Kings’ ascent. “As much as everybody wants you to sprinkle magic dust and be good in two weeks’ time, you can’t. It might be two or three years.” Burke said he won’t copy the strategy used by Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi. Burke is sticking to the blueprint that worked when he made the Ducks big and tough and transformed their defense into a versatile and formidable unit. “That being said, I think what Dean has done with the Kings is remarkable,” Burke said. “But we’ve taken a different tack here in that we don’t intend to pick second or third overall and build that way.”
Analyzing Atlanta’s Kovalchuk options: Sign, trade or wait? – Puck Daddy – NHL Blog – Yahoo! Sports
- What’s Behind Door No. 1: Signing Ilya Kovalchuk to the money he’s looking for and the years he’s asking for. There would be no hometown discount; there would be overpayment, as Camp Kovalchuk asks for a theoretical, unrestricted free-agent contract number. But, in the end, one of the best hockey players in the world remains in Atlanta, as does some semblance of optimism about the franchise’s future.
- What’s Behind Door No. 2: Trading Ilya Kovalchuk at, or before, the March 3 deadline. Most likely to a team acquiring him as a rental player. Most likely for a package that’s better than the one they received for Marian Hossa(notes), but one that’s going to be a collection of spare parts, prospects and salary castoffs. Or as others might call it, “Not Ilya Kovalchuk.” Which brings us to …
- What’s Behind Door No. 3: Hanging on to Kovalchuk through the trade deadline in the hopes of making the postseason, continuing contract negotiations and, if all else fails, trading his negotiating rights to the highest bidder before he turns UFA. In speaking to some sources over the last week, all three options appear on the table for Atlanta. Which one is the best one for the Thrashers?
NHL saturday Week 16 – The Globe and Mail
- Teemu Selanne will almost certainly retire after this season as an Anaheim Duck, and the only reason that anyone thinks he might not is if the Los Angeles Kings make an offer on his services. Selanne doesn’t want to leave southern California, but with the Kings, he wouldn’t have to. And the man running the Los Angeles club, general manager Dean Lombardi, made that deal once before. That was at the 2001 trading deadline when Lombardi, then in charge of the San Jose Sharks, gave the Ducks Jeff Friesen, Steve Shields and a second-round pick in exchange for Selanne. History – not often but sometimes – does repeat. [please, no!]
- Bid early, bid often.
Scattered thoughts from Prince George | AM 1150 Kelowna – News Talk Sports for the Okanagan
- Forward Geordie Wudrick skated with the team this morning in Prince George. Having missed 10 games with a shoulder injury, the 19 year-old is close to returning to the lineup. If not tonight, maybe tomorrow. [that was two days ago; he played and got a point]
- The Hounds feature solid balance throughout the lineup with the strength of the squad coming from the blueline back. Veterans Jacob Muzzin (10-37-47) and Michael Quesnele (7-25-32) anchor the blueline as the Los Angeles Kings prospect Muzzin is enjoying a career year offensively leading all OHL defensemen in points.
Henrik Sedin: What does his ‘Breakout’ tell us? – Behind The Net
- Jon Willis had a nice piece about Henrik Sedin, also known as ‘the guy who passes to Daniel Sedin.’ Henrik is almost at his career-high in goals with barely half the season gone thanks to an exceptionally high 21.4 shooting percentage. There are lots of explanations out there that have Henrik shooting that well for the rest of the season, but it’s highly unlikely that a guy with a 13.2% career shooting percentage is going to be able to stay at 21%. I found every player who shot 20% during any 100-shot interval over the last four seasons. I then looked at how they did in every other 100-shot interval. […] The average shooter who went 20-for-100 had a 13.2% shooting percentage overall, exactly the same as Henrik Sedin’s career shooting percentage. They all had these great runs where they looked like they’d finally figured out how to be truly elite NHL scorers, and they all eventually went back to how they’d done in the past. All evidence points to Henrik regressing to the talent level he established over his career. If he continues to take shots at the same rate as he has so far and plays all 82 games, he’ll finish with 164, which sets his over-under on goals scored over the rest of the season at 9. Anything more than a 30-goal season requires Henrik to play on the right-hand side of our histogram – and way over his head.