Monday, February 16, 2009

Patrick Roy Could Be Next

After yet another crushing of the Habs 4-2 on Sunday by the Nux to make it eleven games and no losses vs. the men in the pajama stripes, it gets even weirder, mes amis.

Seeing how losing good puckhandling defensemen in Ottawa has devastated that team, the Habs are trying to nip in the (Maple?) bud the lack of a similar type D-man. I'm not saying Bob Gainey is as brilliant as Bryan Murray in discarding defensemen (Sheldon Souray and Mark Streit say "bonjour"), but is a 39-year-old defenseman who has 4G and 11A really the answer?

This just in: Atlanta's powerplay is 13th. The season before with Schneider on the Ducks, their PP was 20th.

Welcome back, Mathieu Schneider. The 1993 time machine must be working OT. Who's next? I'm seeing a certain #33 on the horizon...or another #33 who was also a great quote machine.

I'm better than that Carey Price. Where's my jersey? I'm unretiring!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Everything Is So Much Better In Hi-Def

High definition is definitely the way to go and not just for viewing a hockey game from your couch.

Why not surf over to Football Fanatics (yes, that whole NHL/NFL crossover is now complete) and pick up a high def Pittsburgh Penguins keychain?

You think maybe the Malkin-Ovechkin feud has calmed down thanks to Evgeni offering Alexander some high def bling like this? Or did he just set him up with Igor Larionov's daughter?

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Facts Over Hype

This notion that Roberto Luongo is the "best" goalie in the NHL of course is hyperbole given his play the past two seasons in Vancouver. You can blame his injury this season or the distractions of his wife's difficult pregnancy in '07/08, but bottom line is his play has been average at best.

He's no longer a top 5 goalie. Let his save pct. record speak for itself:

w/ the Nux
'08/09 12th overall (.916 save pct)
'07/08 14th (.917)
'06/07 4th (.921)

w/ the Panthers
'05/06 9th (.914)
'03/04 3rd (.931)
'02/03 9th (.918)
'01/02 9th (.915)
'00/01 5th (.920)

To compare to a de facto "best," Dominik Hasek led the NHL in save pct. for 6 straight seasons in his prime (93/94 thru 98/99) and was not out of the Top 5 in save pct. until the '02/03 season.
The real deal