The NHL has finished the first quarter of the season. The theme so far this season seems to be injuries, swine flu and hits from behind to name a few. Credit to the NHL as they have clamped down on the vicious hits to a degree. The latest injury goes to the Red Wing’s Niklas Kronwall as he was the recipient  of a leg check from Montreal’s Georges Laraque on Saturday night. Although the trip was called by the officials, the Red Wings are calling it a dirty hit. The NHL agreed with Detroit and suspended Laraque early Monday evening for 5 games. Continue reading »

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 »

Happy Halloween to everyone from Stick to Hockey. Today I decided to throw together a quick “trick” or “treat” article about some of the who’s hot and who’s not in the NHL so far this season. Here is a few stand outs for you.

Treats

I don’t think anyone is hotter than L A Kings foward, Anze Kopitar right now in the NHL tallying 8 points in his last 3 games including a natural hat trick against Dallas on Thursday night. The Kings early success this season has a lot to do with Kopitar.

The Colorado Avalanche out to a great start and best in the west need to give goaltender Craig Anderson a pat on the back. Anderson leads the league with wins (10) and is sporting a 2.04 GAA and a .939 save %.

Speaking of goalies, Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres is leading the league in save % (.944) and GAA (1.65) . Miller is still undefeated at 8-0-1, Buffalo is 3rd in the east at 8-1-1.

The New York Rangers got a very good treat aquiring Marian Gaborik from the Minnesota Wild. Gaborik has 10 goals and 8 assist as he sits 5th in the league for points. The much anticipated return to Minnesota last night was a let down as Gaborik was out with a leg injury.

Tricks

Nathan Horton of the Florida Panthers has been less than impressive with a mere 2 goals and a -3. Those are not the numbers that the Panthers were expecting out of Horton when they gave him that 4 million dollar contract. There has also been trade rumors circulating with Horton’s name attached.

The Detroit Red Wings are in the market for a goaltender as Chris Osgood could have passed his prime. Osgood , one game over .500 and a dismal 3.41 GAA and a .882 save %, there is no surprise on why Detroit is shopping.

A big part of the Carolina Hurricanes success a few years ago when they won the Stanley Cup was the outstanding play of goaltender Cam Ward. This season Ward has started out very shaky with a 2-6 record.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Colorado Avalanche’s head coach Joe Sacco has confirmed that  backup goalie Peter Budaj has been diagnosed with swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus. The team had recalled Tyler Weiman from Lake Erie last week when Budaj had miss what was going to be his first start of the season on Friday night.

It seems like I can’t go a day without sounding off at the NHL’s suspension policies but they just keep making it easy for me. The latest inconsistent move my Colin Cambell is the 2 game suspension to Stars Steve Ott when he gave a marginal low hit to St.Louis defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo. Is this a make up call for blowing the obvious? I don’t think it’s that, Ott is not a huge marque player and it is easy to pick on the week.

As far as the hit that Ott delivered? You make the call and watch it for yourself, personally I think it was a little low but definitely not grounds for a suspension. It wasn’t intent by any stretch but he will serve one less day than the 3 day suspension that delivered 40 stitches and a concussion. Ott wasn’t even called for a penalty after the hit and I don’t think it was nearly as bad as Richards hit that wasn’t considered subject to suspension.

Lastly, I can finally report that the Toronto Maple Leafs have won a game as they beat the Ducks last night, like I said yesterday this was their one chance. Enjoy it, there wont be too many for you this year.

Watch video of Steve Otts hit on Colaiacovo

The NHL only had 13 games scheduled this weekend with all of them played Saturday. Since I didn’t have any games to report on for Sunday I put a few things together for you to summarize the NHL so far this season.

Boston Bruins

The B’s hot and cold season continued Saturday night in Phoenix without the services of Milan Lucic as they lost to the Coyotes 4-1. Although they played an above average game, they ran into hot a goaltender, Ilya Bryzgalov as he stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced. The B’s are now one game under .500 (3-4)

Who’s hot…. Who’s not

The Atlanta Thrashers are off to their best start in franchise history (4-1-0) and handed  Buffalo their first loss of the season beating them 4-2.

After losing their opener, the New York Rangers have peeled off 7 straight wins giving them a share of the top spot in the NHL with Pittsburgh who has a 5 game winning streak of their own. Both teams are 7-1-0 and unlike the Rangers who are undefeated at home(4-0), the Penguins are undefeated on the road (5-0)

The Colorado Avalanche are riding a 4 game winning streak and top in the west with a 6-1-1 record, two points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks who are off to their best start in 27 years at 5-2-1

With the Rangers and Sabres off to great starts, fans in New York must be happy ( big deal from us Boston fans), not all is good as the Islanders are one of two teams still without a win at 0-3-3. Moping up the cellar so far this season are the Toronto Maple Leafs who after losing to the Rangers Saturday 4-1, gave the Leafs a 0-6-1 record. To us Boston fans we are wondering how Kessel is loving his new team.

Transactions and Key injuries

The Boston Bruins traded Chuck Kobasew to the Minnesota Wild on Sunday for Craig Weller,  the rights to Alexander Fallstrom and a second round draft pick in 2011. The 28 year old Weller is 6′4, 220 # with 4 goals , 10 assists and 127 pim in 95 NHL games. He was playing for the Houston Aeros of the AHL. The 19 year old Fallstrom is currently in his freshman year at Harvard University.

Milan Lucic was placed on long term injured reserve Sunday with a broken index finger, meaning that he has to miss a minimum of 10 games and 24 days making his earliest return on  Nov 10th. With Lucic out, the Bruins recalled Lefebrve, Marchand and Sobotka from the Providence Bruins of the AHL.

Toronto’s defenseman, Mike Van Ryn will be out for the season with a torn MCL, he is scheduled for surgery on Oct 22nd

Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek is listed day to day with an upper body injury

Chicago’s Mirian Hossa is on injured reserve with a right shoulder injury

Islander’s Rick Depietro is out with knee surgery

Washington’s Jose Theodore is listed day to day with lower back spasms