I don’t know about you but I am sick of hearing about the Anaheim Ducks. First we heard all the crying from the fans about the officiating in their loss to the Leafs a couple of weeks ago and since then there has been the goaltender controversy.

This week Jean-Sebastien Giguere tells the LA Daily news that he would rather retire than be a back up goaltender. With Giguere back in the line up, the Ducks have some decisions to make. Jonas Hiller has held the fort down and played well as he started the last 6 games for the Ducks while Giguere was patting his groin and has proved once again he is a number one goaltender, an under paid one at that making a mere 1.3 million this season. This is the second time in two years Hiller has taken the #1 spot from Giguere at least for now. Continue reading »

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If you read the rumor mill and see all the reports it is heavily rumored that Jean-Sebastien Giguere may be heading to Toronto for Vesa Toskala. I have hinted around with this for almost a week and to me the Ducks are going to get the better deal if this happens.

It’ no secret that Vesa Toskala is having and off season but you need to look at the cast of characters that was in front of him for his 0-2-2 start. Don’t get me wrong, Jonas Gustausson was very solid as he  made 35 saves in his first real challenge of the season when the Leafs beat Wings over the weekend. But  2 of his 3 wins came when Phil Kessel returned. For the time being Gustausson has earned  #1 spot  in Toronto which brings me to my point. Continue reading »

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The first month of the 2009-2010 season is in the books,  another week has gone by in the NHL and of course I will get you caught up of the important things in case you missed anything.

Boo-Hoo, the ref’s hate me

One of my favorite stories of the week has to be from the City of Anaheim where according to Duck fans, the officials gave Toronto their first win with phantom calls. I wrote a whole piece on that earlier this week and you can read the article here. The irony is the day after I posted that article, I had one less follower on Twitter…coincidence? Nah….poor sport. Just for the record, I think the site is cute, the Rally was stupid. Continue reading »

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Anaheim Duck, Scott Niedermayer tops my list of rumors I hope come true. Scott has reportedly been looking to come back to the east coast and is considering another stint at New Jersey, Philly and yes Boston. If anything does happen with Niedermayer, look for it to happen after the Olympic break.

It is no secret that The Detroit Red Wings are just short of desperate for an NHL goalie. Veteran Chris Osgood sporting a 3-2-2 record and Jimmy Howard 1-2-1 are less than par this season Howard gave up 6 goals the other night in the Wings loss to the Oilers. Both goalies have a save percentages in the high 80′s and GAA around 3.5, the Wings need some new blood between the pipes. Toskala’s name has been thrown around for a possible solution.

Speaking of Toskala, Toronto is less than thrilled with his dismal start not to mention  his 4 million dollar salary and GM Brain Burke is looking to deal him out of Toronto. Add the Ducks to the short list of candidates for Toskala as there has been reports that Burke has shown interest in Giguere.

Marc Savard and the Boston Bruins have been trying to work out a contract extension to keep Savard as a Bruin. Savard is reportedly looking for 6.5 million a year in his next contract. Savard is currently making 5 million. This is typical for Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs and I hope he doesn’t let another star get away from the Bruins organization. What scares me is, Marc will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season if the Bruins can’t strike a deal with him. Savard’s family resides not too far from Toronto and I am sure the Maple Leafs will make the attempt to lure Savard to old teammate Phil Kessel.

Nathan Horton of the Florida Panthers has said that he would rather play in a more traditional hockey environment and he may get his wish. Depending on what you read and who you ask, Horton may be on the trading block. The Panthers deny the rumors but the Ottawa Sun has reported that he is available for a deal. With only a couple of goals this season, my question would be what are they going to get since he carries a 4 million dollar contract.

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There is a sports saying that says there is no “I” in team, but there is a “U” in you suck.  That would be yousuck.com, a site that loves to bash guys like me….referees. No matter what, we only please half the fans in any given game and guess who is unhappy this time?

Apparently this “group” was unhappy with the job that the referees in Monday nights Toronto/Anaheim game. Ducks fans were bitching that the referees were giving the win-less Toronto Maple Leafs “favorable” calls which lead to 5 power play goals and the Leafs first victory of the season.

Before tonight’s game in Anaheim the makers of anti-ref gear, Ref You Suck will be sponsoring an anti-referee rally to voice their unhappiness with Mondays game. They will be out there with signs and shirts in front of the Honda Center acting like fools.

Referees and officials in general have been under fire since the whole MLB playoff  issue when the umpires clearly missed some big calls in a few of those games. But protesting and rallies? What is this the 60′s? Give me a break, this is a disaster waiting to happen and I wish I could be there to see it.

Instead of blaming the officials in Monday nights game why can’t Duck fans accept the fact that they lost. Were the penalties uneven? Yes they were as the the Leafs had 10 pp to the Ducks 3 , so what. I don’t know of any official that has called a game according to the score or standings, it is what it is. We see 2 colored jerseys out there, not teams or players nor did I ever read a rule about teams should have equal power play attempts in a game.

I was looking at the score sheet and with the exception of 2 hooking calls, every thing else on the Ducks was roughing, slashing or a misconduct. Those are not marginal calls. The Leafs were the ones with and abuse of an official call.

The bottom line is that The Ducks penalty kill was horrendous to say the least. I don’t care how many fictitious calls you think the officials had, your team still went 5/10 on the penalty kill. 50%! Jonas Hiller played a great game making 33 saves in Giguere’s absence with a groin injury. That brings me to another point, your Ducks got out shot 39-28. Just accept the fact that the Ducks had a bad game and their emotions were their own worse enemies.

Even in the unlikely event that they succeed and get thousands of fans, what did you prove? It will not change the way the officials will call the game tonight or any other night.

Instead of protesting officials, bring that enthusiasm to the White House and fight for health care.

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A busy schedule over the weekend leads to a few story lines to go with it. Here’s my weekly version of the NHL Roundup.

The Washington Capitals won their fourth straight against the lowly Islanders with in come from behind fashion. The Islanders were up 2-0 halfway through the third period before eventually blowing the game in overtime to the Caps 3-2.

The L.A Kings have also won 4 straight snapping  Phoenix’s four game winning streak. Anze Kopitar had 3 assists as he lead the Kings to a 5-3 Victory. Kopitar is currently leading the league in goals (10) and points (21). Jarret Stoll also tallied his first two goals of the season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins 7 game win streak came to an end on Saturday when the streaking New Jersey Devils went into the Igloo and beat the Pens 4-1. Martin Brodeur was just over ten minutes from tying Terry Sawchuks NHL record for career shutouts.

Speaking of shutouts, Roberto Luongo set a franchise record for the Vancouver Canucks Saturday with his 21st shutout in a Canucks jersey, leading them to their 3 straight victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs who are still win less for the season. Toronto may catch a break tonight when they head to the Pond to face the Ducks as Giguire is likely going to be out of the line up.

The Hurricanes suffered their 6th loss in row in Minnesota from a bizzare overtime goal by Cal Clutterbuck. Mikko Koivu’s shot from the slot hit the post and went off the falling Clutterbuck’s face. Clutterbuck then swiped at the puck from his knees and scored the game winner.

As mentioned above, Jean-Sebastien Giguiere left the game late in the third period Saturday night against the Blue Jackets. Giguire tweaked an ailing groin and is listed day to day.

Atlanta Thrashers’ Ilya Kovalchuk is expected to miss four weeks with a broken bone in his right foot. Kovalchuk was injured when he was struck by a puck during the first period of Saturday’s game against the San Jose Sharks. He is tied for second in the league with nine goals.

Penguins defenseman, Sergi Gonchar will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken left wrist from collision with a St.Louis Blues player Tuesday night.

David Booth was released from the hospital after suffering a concussion the resulted from what looked to be a cheap hit from the Flyer’s Mike Richards.

Darcy Tucker is out indefinitely with a concussion and 40 stitches from the result of Ruuto’s violent hit on Friday night.

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