Posted by admin on 10th, 2008
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After 18 seasons in the NHL, 2 MVP awards and 6 Vezina Trophies, “The Dominator” Dominik Hasek has announced his retirement.
“Physically, I’m felling great—as well as ever,” Hasek said Monday as he announced his retirement. “I just don’t feel that I’m ready to compete on the highest level.“I need motivation. Right now, I don’t feel it’s there and I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”
- Yahoo! Sports
Hasek was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks and spent his rookie years as backup to Ed Belfour. In his career he spent 2 seasons with Chicago, 9 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, 4 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and a short 1 season stint with the Ottawa Senators.
During his career, Hasek has won:
- Hart Memorial Trophy for MVP twice (nominated 5 times)
- Lester B. Pearson Award twice (nominated 3 times)
- Vezina Trophy 6 times
- William M Jennings Trophy 3 times
- Stanley Cup in 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings
- The 2002 gold medal at the Nagano Olympic Games for the Czech Republic
Hasek has named on:
- NHL first All-Star Team 5 times
- NHL All-Rookie Team in the ‘91 and ‘92 season
- NHL All-Star Game 5 times (although did not play in 2000 due to injury)
In his NHL Career, Hasek played a total of 735 games, totaling 42836 minutes of ice time. He collected 389 wins, 223 losses, 82 ties and 13 overtime losses with 81 shutouts. His career GAA and SV% stand at 2.10 & .922 respectively.
Posted by admin on 27th, 2008
Ross McKeon of Yahoo! Sports has been busy today, grading all 30 teams of the NHL according to how they did with the Trade Deadline.
It may come as a suprise to some that Dallas and Pittsburgh, the 2 teams who made the blockbuster trades yesterday are graded so differently.
McKeon grades the Dallas Stars at #1, citing their trade as “the big strike”.
1. Dallas Stars – Grade: A+: The Stars made the big strike by acquiring arguably the best player available for now and moving forward. Center Brad Richards was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner when Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup in 2004. He’s 27, skilled and durable – just a perfect fit for any team. Never mind that $7.8 million owed for each of the next three years. The Stars parted with backup goalie Mike Smith, who may emerge as a No. 1 with the Lightning, Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern and a fourth-round pick. Dallas did not have to surrender any of its young defense, another key. That deal makes a lot more sense than what Pittsburgh gave up to Atlanta in the day’s other blockbuster.
The Pittsburgh Penguins however, failed to gain such a high ranking, coming in at #22 with a D+ grade.
22. Pittsburgh Penguins – Grade: D+: No one can accuse the Penguins of being shy at the deadline. Pittsburgh changed more than any team by adding three players and deleting two from the roster and one from the pipeline and parting with three draft picks in two separate deals. Pittsburgh got rental Marian Hossa to play alongside either Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby. They got versatile and dependable Pascal Dupuis in the same deal with Atlanta but surrendered young, popular teammates Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen and prospect Angelo Esposito. You have to wonder what team chemistry will form out of all these moves. In addition, Hal Gill comes aboard to add size and a physical element on defense. First-, second- and fifth-round picks were dealt away.
Filling out the top 10 are:
2. Atlanta Thrashers – Grade: A
3. Washington Capitals – Grade: A-
4. Colorado Avalanche – Grade: B+
5. San Jose Sharks – Grade: B
6. Columbus Blue Jackets – Grade: B
7. Carolina Hurricanes – Grade: B
8. Chicago Blackhawks – Grade: B
9. New York Rangers – Grade: B-
10. Buffalo Sabres – Grade: B-
Posted by admin on 26th, 2008
According to an NHL Executive, a multi-player trade has been made between Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars.
The trade is rumoured to have Center Brad Richards move to Dallas in exchange for Center Jeff Halpern, Goalie Mike Smith and rookie Defenseman Mark Fistric.
“The Stars have looked to make a splash since Les Jackson and Brett Hull took over in the co-general manager role for the fired Doug Armstrong earlier this season. The source said Dallas is expected to package veteran checking center Jeff Halpern, backup goalie Mike Smith and young defenseman Mark Fistric to the Lightning, who needed to move Richards after signing defenseman Dan Boyle to a six-year, $40 million contract extension late Monday.”
…
By landing the 6-foot, 198-pound Richards, the Stars are set to receive a player who can handle loads of ice time, has a Stanley Cup on his resumé and is a centerpiece to build around as Mike Modano and Zubov look to pass the torch.
Richards has 18 goals and 51 points in 62 games, 228 shots and has averaged 24:17 of ice time. He’s durable as well. Richards has appeared in 552 of a possible 554 games since breaking into the league in 2000-01. The pivot is signed for $7.8 million each of the next three seasons.
- NHL @ Yahoo
It was also announced that the Atlanta Thrashers would ship Marian Hossa to the Montreal Canadiens. Details of the trade have not been released at this time.
Expect the Canadiens to send at least a forward (Michael Ryder?) to Atlanta, which insisted it would only trade the 29-year-old Hossa if it could get a current NHL player in return. Hossa is the Thrashers’ second-leading scorer with 56 points (26 goals, 30 assists and a team-high 229 shots). Hossa is a minus-14 averaging 21:55 of ice time in 60 games.
- NHL @ Yahoo
Details of these trades are yet to be confirmed by their respective teams.
