04/22 Hockey Notes

Do you ever wonder what came out of all those trade deadline deals? Well, they didn’t help the Thrashers very much. ESPN had this summary of all the deals. Meanwhile, looking back at some prior thoughts, Sports Illustrated had this list of players and games to watch by Alan Nuir.

Over at The Hockey News, there was a great write up on the trouble with officials. In the wake of the Islanders-Sabers goal reversal, it was an interesting discussion. (…check out this post over at Kukla’s korner for more on that…).
(…of course, from experience, I can tell that when it comes to penalties…officials may miss the first infraction…but they never miss the retaliatory one…probably better to just get over it…)

There seem to be some players in the NHL that think they can pretend to be minor leaguers. That seems to be what happened in Detroit when Flames back-up goalie Jamie McLennan slashed Johan Franzen. You can read ESPN’s take on it here. Here is what the Calgary Sun had to say about the game. And, in case you missed it, here is the video…

My take on it is simple. That is not a sign of a team that belongs in the playoffs. It certainly isn’t something an NHL player should be doing. One purpose of the minor leagues is to mature players out of that kind of behavior. Maybe it’s time for McLennan to go back down. He sure deserved a lot stiffer penalty than a mere five-game suspension.
(…thanks to Kukla’s Korner for the video link…and the Calgary Sun article…)

Well, not much to my surprise (…but probably no one else’s either…) my playoff predictions are proving to be pretty bad. Nashville lost to the Sharks. Pittsburgh lost to Ottawa. The winner of the Rangers-Thrashers series even looks like it could possibly survive the second round. New Jersey beat Tampa. Detroit beat Clagary. And, it looks like Dallas could actually end up winning against Vancouver. On the other hand, Anaheim and Buffalo both won their series.
(…hey…I got two of them right…a lot of fun, even it don’t mean nothin’…)

Speaking of not meanin’ nothin’, this was an amusing little PR blurb. With the Stars-Canucks series heating up reminiscent of the old Oilers-Stars series, Edmonton came out with news on the state of the team. It wasn’t really even a good PR statement.
(…some hockey folks have a lot to learn about audience appeal…just ask Bettman...)