Hockey Thread

Yeah, I've been on tenterhooks all day, but it looks like we made it through.  Shockingly, it turns out there probably isn't much of a market for goaltenders on the wrong side of 40 and the wrong side of .900 save percentages...  Anyway, it was an unusually exciting trade deadline this year, I thought.  Thanks in no small part to your team and crazy Marty St. Louis. 

I agree that our trade seems like a good one for both sides.  I always like mutual swaps of useful pieces, and I'm very heartened by your assessment of Ruutu.  Unfortunately I have no Loktionov expertise -- he's one of those guys that I just never formulated any kind of opinion of at all.  When I read that we'd acquired Ruutu I was delighted to see it was Loktionov because it essentially meant, to me, that the Devils had given nothing up.  Heh.  But I suppose this is actually a recommendation for him, because he's clearly never done anything to piss me off or stand out in a negative way, right? 

And I'm sorry there was no movement on the Cam Ward front.  I guess, between him and Marty Brodeur, there's demonstrably no market at all for well-past-their-prime goalies.

I thought this was pretty great.

I remember watching the game where Jiri Fischer had a "cardiac incident" on the bench with the Red Wings, and feeling exactly like that.  I heard about Peverly while watching other games last night, and am not interested in seeing the video from the Stars game.  That's just so terrifying, even knowing he's okay now.

As both the teams that I support after the Canes (Sabres, Preds) will be missing the playoffs, I'll probably support the Avs or the Coyotes come postseason times. 

In other news, the Canes still suck tremendously, but Khudobin is still pretty great, and Jordan Staal has finally been playing like the second line center that he was signed to be.  And, most importantly in important-things-that-happened-to-the-Canes-today, Justin Faulk has been signed to a six year contract extension that will carry him through til he's 28 years old in 2020.  Worth an average of $4.833 mil per season, which is probably just a bit steep given Faulk's lack-of-taking-a-huge-step-forward this season.  Still, he's the second best defenseman on the team behind Sekera, and is only 22, so there's hopefully as good a chance that six years from now we'll all be talking about what a steal it was to sign an elite first-line d-man like Justin Faulk to such an affordable, as there is that this will be yet another in a string of long-term contracts where Jim Rutherford massively overpayed to keep a fan favorite in town.  And speaking of Jim Rutherford, it was also announced today that he'll finally be stepping down from his role as GM at the end of this season!!!  Which on the one hand is an excellent thing, as his track record since '06 has been spotty-at-best, and the team has only made the playoffs once in that time.  On the other hand, it looks like Ron Francis will be the new GM, and the sense around the fanbase for the past few years has been that, as he's been assistant under Rutherford, he'll just be a Rutherford clone.  So, we'll see.

I'd like to point out a couple of things that I do legitimately respect Jim Rutherford for.  As much as it tends to blow up in his face 90% of the time, Rutherford seems extremely loyal to the players who become a major part of this franchise for a GM, and he strikes me as a legitimately good person.  Secondly, and more importantly, Rutherford strikes me as one of the most progressive minds in the league on the role of fighting and other dangerous, concussion-causing play in hockey, and despite the attendant reticence to build a physical hockey club being another thing that hurts the Canes year after year, I have nothing but respect for him, and hope that more guys like Rutherford are able to change the game for the better, and legislate fighting and some of the more dangerous hits out of the game.  I'm kind of hoping that JR won't step away from the game entirely, but instead will join some sort of player safety group within the league and work to enact legitimate change.  So yeah, I'll end this with a preemptive goodbye to Rutherford, whose leaving the organization that he's been in charge of since before they moved to NC will I'm sure be a more bittersweet moment for me than it probably should be.

Hey, my team is still in the playoff hunt. Barely.  Eek!  Coyotes are currently in 8th place in the Western Conference. They lead Dallas by 3 points.

However, Mike Smith took some kind of leg injury in the second to last game and will be out for the whole road trip.  Though, tonight the Coyotes did beat Pittsburgh with their backup goalie. So, hey, maybe it isn't as dire as I thought.  MRIs didn't seem to reveal anything too scary. So, hopefully Smith will be back soon.  Coyotes probably can't make the playoffs without him coming back.

I feel bad for Toronto, I truly do, but it's almost comical how they manage to implode so spectacularly year after year.

I've been cheering for the Ducks for years as my secondary team, so I'm all in on them now.  Too bad they play in the middle of the night most of the time, so I can't watch nearly as much of their games as I'd like to.  Some years I get deeply, deeply into the non-Devils aspects of the playoffs (most years even when they qualify, that means "after the first six games") and will end up bandwagoning on EC and WC teams willy-nilly, but some years I just don't feel it.  I haven't gotten a sense yet of how this season will play out in that regard, but I'm started to feel an odd fondness for the Lightning.  (I think it's based on having seen a picture of Stamkos that made me think, "When did Steven Stamkos turn hot?"  I'm more than happy to admit that I can be the shallowest fan who was ever shallow.)

Roy Batty's Pet Dove, I have long admired Jim Rutherford for exactly the reasons you explained.  I really do wish there were more GMs who think the way he does.

Good grief -- I just looked him up and he's only 24.  How is that possible?  It feels like he's been around forever... although I actually was at the draft in Ottawa when he was picked first, and that can't possibly have been that long ago.  Man, I'm suddenly so conflicted about all of this. 

Coyotes are enjoying making sure all the fans experience a heart attack in the last weeks of the season.

Tonight they lost in a shootout to Edmonton! They were LEADING with less than a minute to play in regulation. And then Greiss, the backup goalie, made an incredibly stupid play going behind the net. Lost the puck and the Oilers tied it. It was fucking unbelievable.

Coyotes, ONE POINT IS NOT ENOUGH!!!!!

Ugh, this is excruciating. And honestly, if they are going to play like this vs Edmonton, what is going to happen in the playoffs?

In conclusion: Can we please have Mike Smith back now?

I don't see how having Brendan Shanahan as president will have any effect whatsoever on the Leafs.

PLAYOFFS!!

The first round of the playoffs are my favorite two weeks of the hockey season. So much good hockey out there. Desert Dweller sorry about the crash and burn of the Coyotes, they're one of the teams I'm always pulling for in the west. For some reason something about hockey in California seems wrong to me, but Arizona is perfectly acceptable. Don't ask me why.

Everybody whose teams didn't make the cut and are looking for an eastern team are welcome aboard the Rangers bandwagon. In the west I'd actually like to see Dallas make some noise, but I'm sure they'll be bounced in the first round. 

Oh, and I have to add here that the GREATEST NEWS EVER came from the Devils this weekend -- Chico is retiring!!!!  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  Now I really can't wait for next season!

And one other thing, it probably goes without saying that I hope that Sunday was Brodeur's final NHL game, not just his last Devils start.  But, as much as it would kill me to see him sign with someone else just to be a moldering corpse submarining that team's playoff hopes, I'd really rather he do that than re-up with the Devils.  There were plenty of reasons the Devils didn't make the playoffs this year, but the fact that he played in 39 games certainly didn't help any.