Weekly NHL Roundup

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There has been a lot of action around the NHL lately.  Here is a brief rundown of events around the league this last week.

Today - Selanne to participate in Ducks Camp
Teemu Selanne has signed a tryout agreement with the Anaheim Ducks.  Contract negotiations are still underway between the Ducks and Selanne.

Today - NHL approves Staal contract
The NHL have approved the contract between Eric Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes.  The NHL had requested adjustments be made to the wording of the deal.

Today - Zubov our 4-8 weeks
Zubov underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday and will be re-evaluated by the Stars in four weeks, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Sept 18 - Captain Lecavalier
The Tampa Bay Lightning have named All-Star center Vincent Lecavalier captain.  Lecavalier, who will be entering his 10th NHL season signed an 11-year $85 million contract in July.

Sept 18 - Pominville gets 5-year extension
The Buffalo Sabres inked Jason Pominville to a 5-year extension worth $26.5 million.  Pominville finally found a place for himself on the Sabres after almost being dropped before the 05-06 season when the Sabres placed him on waivers.

Sept 18 - Flyers sign G Aubin
The Philadelphia Flyers signed veteran goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin to a one-year contract Thursday.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sept 18 - Hatcher on IR
Derian Hatcher will not participate when the Philadelphia Flyers open training camp on Saturday. Instead, the veteran defenseman will be headed to injured reserve, according to general manager Paul Holmgren on Thursday.

Sept 17 - McCarty re-signs with Wings
McCarty on Wednesday agreed to terms on a one-year contract with the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.  Financial terms were not disclosed.

Sept 16 - Roy’s son pleads not guilty
The son of Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy pleaded not guilty to assault Tuesday for his attack on a player last March during a game in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Sept 15 - Kings sign Stoll & Richardson
The Kings signed restricted free agent centres Jarret Stoll and Brad Richardson on Monday.  Stoll got a four-year deal, while Richardson signed a two-year contract. Stoll was acquired by the Kings with defenceman Matt Greene from Edmonton in exchange for Lubomir Visnovsky in June. Stoll had 14 goals and 22 assists in 81 games for the Oilers last season. He played on their 2006 team that lost in the Stanley Cup finals.

Sept 15 - Nittymaki out 4-6 weeks
Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Antero Niittymaki will be sidelined four-to-six weeks after having surgery on his left hip, according to a report posted Monday on the team’s website.

Sept 15 - Hurricanes ink Matt Murley
The Carolina Hurricanes signed left wing Matt Murley to a one-year contract Monday.  Assistant general manager Ron Francis said the deal will pay Murley $500,000 at the NHL level or $100,000 if he is sent to the minors for the 2008-09 season. He has a minimum guaranteed total salary of $125,000.

Sept 12 - Filatov to miss rookie camp
Nikita Filatov of the Blue Jackets will miss the team’s rookie camp in Traverse City, Mich., this weekend because of a lower leg injury.

Tags: anaheim ducks, aubin, Blues, carolina hurricanes, Eric Staal, filatov, Flyers, Hatcher, hossa, ice hockey, kings, matt murley, mccarty, NHL, nittymaki, patric roy, pominville, red wings, richardson, rookie camp, stoll, Tampa Bay, teemu selanne, training camp, vincent lecavalier, zubov

Round 2 Predictions

After the first round i find myself only just above 50% in my predictions.  Here’s how I did for round 1:

East:
Montreal Canadiens - correct
Pittsburgh Penguins - correct
Washington Capitals - incorrect (but they were close)
New Jersey Devils - incorrect

West:
Detroit Red Wings - correct - I predicted a sweep, so i was far off.
Calgary Flames - incorrect - it went to 7 though.
Colorado Avalanche - correct
Dallas Stars - correct (i nailed this one)

So, for round 2 we have:

Montreal Canadiens - Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers only just scraped past the Washington Capitals, and pretty much fell apart the minute the Capitals put any offensive pressure on.  They wont last long under the Canadiens attack.

Pittsburgh Penguins - New York Rangers
The Penguins dominated their first round opponent, but the Rangers wont be anywhere as easy.  I believe this game will come down to M.A. Fleury Vs Henrik Lundqvist, and I simply don’t feel M.A.F. has what it takes to be the victor.

Detroit Red Wings - Colorado Avalanche
Detroit have just come off a long series with the Nashville Predators, and appeared to falter a number of times during that series.  The Wings special teams were also a lot worse than they should have been.  The Avalanche on the other hand are motivated and have their good players healthy again.  I think special teams and netminders will decide who win this series.

San Jose Sharks - Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars showed dominance in their round against the Anaheim Ducks.  They outplayed, outskilled and out-believed them in all areas of the ice in all but 1 of the games.  They also have shaked the monkey off their back as far as expectations of these playoffs - pass the first round.  The Stars have nothing to lose now, and everything to gain, so expect to see them give the Sharks all they have.  The Sharks have 1 good offensive line, and it’s been their checking line… the Stars however have 3 solid scoring lines, all which scored 8-7-6 goals per line respectively in round 1.  Special Teams will play a big role here, and the Sharks may be in danger if the Stars get Sergei Zubov back on the blue line.  Turco Vs Nabokov, Zubov Vs Campbell are the 2 key matchups here.
Washington Capitals - incorrect (but they were close)
New Jersey Devils - incorrect

So, the predictions:

Montreal Canadiens in 5 games
New York Rangers in 6 games
Colorado Avalanche in 6 games
Dallas Stars in 6 games

Tags: anaheim ducks, Campbell, colorado avalanche, dallas stars, Montreal Canadiens, Nabokov, new york rangers, philadelphia flyers, pittsburgh penguins, playoffs, san jose sharks, Stanley Cup, thornton, turco, zubov

Richards to Dallas, Hossa to Montreal

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.

Tags: Atlanta, backup, Brad Richards, Brett, canadiens, Center, centerpiece, checking, contract, Dallas, Dan Boyle, defenseman, doug armstrong, exchange, Executive, extension, foot, goal, Goalie, Hull, Ice, Jackson, Jeff Halpern, league, Les, lightning, manager, Marian Hossa, Mark Fistric, Michael Ryder, mike modano, Mike Smith, minus, Monday, Montreal, move, NHL, player, pound, resumé, return, role, Rookie, scorer, season, source, splash, Stanley Cup, Stars, Tampa Bay, thrashers, time, torch, trade, veteran, yahoo, zubov

Turco Hardens Up

The Dallas Stars post season records over the last few seasons has been less than respectable.  For a few years, Marty turco would be one of the best goalies in the regular season, but would collapse come the playoffs.

Last year saw a focussed Turco light up the first round of the playoffs with spectacular skills, giving himself the best goalie stats of the post season.  Unfortunately, the rest of the team failed to show up for every game, and the sloppy defense and lack of scoring ultimately saw the Stars being routed from the playoffs by the Vancouver Canucks in the first round.

This season Marty Turco has again become focussed on his game and his stats over recent games already show signs of him being the best goalie in the latter half of the regular season.  This is no new trend for Turco however, as over the last 7 seasons he has the best post-all star break record of all goalies.

Could this year be the year that Dallas break the 1st round heebeejeebees?

Even with Zubov and Boucher out of the lineup with injuries they are still the best defensive team in the league.  They hold the #1 spot for penalty killing league wide, and have done so with 3 rookie blue liners.  The main aspect of the game this season though is the Stars have found their scoring touch.  They are among league leaders for team scoring, and the Ribeiro / Morrow line is consistantly lighting the lamp.

Add Turco to this, and you have a serious contender.

Tags: best goal, best goalies, boucher, Canucks, contender, Dallas, dallas stars, defensive team, Game, goal, Goalie, goalie stats, league, league leaders, marty turco, new trend, playoff, Read, recent games, signs, Skill, Star, Stars, Tim, Vancouver, vancouver canucks, zubov