Posts Tagged Daniel Carcillo

NHL Photo of the Day

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Chicago Blackhawks 20 year-old rookie Andrew Shaw celebrates after scoring on Buffalo Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth. Shaw was brought in to replace injured and suspended Daniel Carcillo. The young forward has played on all 4 lines since joining the team, scoring 5 goals and 1 helper for 6 points in his only 8 games played. It is unknown if he will play with the team for the remainder of the season as Carcillo wilnot return this year, but if you’re fantasy team is looking for some depth and you have a spot to mess with, Shaw may be worth picking up.

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2011-12 NHL Season Preview: Chicago Blackhawks

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews

Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews will lead the offensive attack for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2011-12

Key Offseason Additions: Steve Montador, Dan Carcillo, Andrew Brunette, Jamal Mayers, Ray Emery

Key Offseason Losses: Brian Campbell, Troy Brouwer, Chris Campoli, Tomas Kopecky,

Last Season Ranking: 8th in the West

Offense: The Chicago Blackhawks offense hopes to build on a productive season in 2010-11 and return this year with a bit more pop. Blackhawks captain, Jonathan Toews, along with winger Patrick Kane, both look to increase their output this season. Kane, specifically, has been saying this off-season he wants to take his game to another level. After a 15 point drop in production last season, you have to assume that Kane is looking to break the 90 point mark and help lead his team back to the playoffs.

Another huge bonus to the squad will be a healthy Marian Hossa. He posted 57 points in a mere 65 games last season, and if healthy, can contribute roughly a point per game to the Blackhawks potent offense. A full season by Hossa could also mean the difference between barely making the playoffs and perhaps winning the division.

Additionally, Patrick Sharp will continue to be a goal scoring threat for the Blackhawks. Sharp lead the squad in goals last season with 34, and will look to improve on his point totals after a career-high 71 points last season.

New to the offense are Andrew Brunette, Dan Carcillo, and Jamal Mayers. While Brunette will be expected to contribute heavily, look for Carcillo and Mayers to provide a physical presence above anything else.

The Blackhawks have a few young guys rounding out the offense. Be sure to keep an eye on Michael Frolik and Viktor Stalberg this season, as both have a tremendous upside. Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland will be counted on to provide additional depth scoring as well.

Defense: The departure of Brian Campbell places even more importance on Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, who will lead the Blackhawks defense this season. Both defenseman were huge on the power-play last season, and will continue to hold the blue line on the PP again in 2011-12.

The addition of Steve Montador on the blue line will add some veteran depth for the Blackhawks. He’ll be a great compliment to some of the young defenseman on the squad, such as Niklas Hjalmarsson, Nick Leddy, and Sami Lepisto. Hjalmarsson should see upwards of 20 minutes per game this season, being used in more and more situations as he continues to gain experience.

Goaltending: After the Marty Turco experiment failed last season, the Blackhawks went with rookie Corey Crawford in goal. He played well enough to earn the starting job, and helped Chicago nearly come back from an 0-3 start against Vancouver in last season’s playoffs. Crawford returns this season with the number one spot from the beginning.

In an interesting scenario, however, the Blackhawks chose to sign Ray Emery in the off-season. He’s currently competing with Alexander Salak for the backup job, but you have to imagine he has his eyes on the starting role as well. Last season, after returning to game action with the Anaheim Ducks, Emery won his first six starts, before finishing the season 7-2 with a .926 save percentage and 2.28 goals against average. Emery is looking to prove everyone wrong and earn a starting spot in the NHL again, and Chicago could be the place if Corey Crawford begins to stumble during his sophomore campaign.

HWB Playoff Prediction: Playoff bound. The Blackhawks have what it takes to make it into the playoffs, and could earn another division championship if key players, such as Marian Hossa, stay healthy. Having their best players on the ice for 82 games will be the difference between a potential division win and barely sneaking into the playoffs.

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Free Agency Opening Day Recap

Yesterday was one of the first day of NHL free agency. Several teams made a splash, none bigger than the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers not only win the Jaromir Jagr sweepstakes, but they also acquired defenseman Andreas Lilja and forward Maxime Talbot. Because of those moves, they had to part ways with Ville Leino, Sean O’Donnell, and Daniel Carcillo. Goalie Brian Boucher was the odd-man out when the team signed Illya Bryzgalov last week. Boucher signed with Carolina. Kris Versteeg was also traded to Florida after a short 27-game stint in the black & orange.

Joel Ward made $1.5 million in Nashville in 2010-11. He will average double that amount in Washington over the next four years.

In addition to the Flyers, the Washington Capitals overhauled their roster today as they parted ways with forwards Andrew Joudrey, Marco Sturm, and Boyd Gordon and upgraded with Joel Ward and defenseman Roman Hamerlik. Ward previously played with Nashville where he scored 13 points in 12 playoff games in 2011. He scored big with a four-year, $12 million deal. Hamerlik had 31 assists on the blue line in Montreal last season, and landed a two-year, $7 million contract in the District.

Two teams also added multiple goalies, with those being Columbus (Mark Dekanich and Curtis Sanford) and Colorado (J.S. Giguere and Semyon Varlomov). Other notable backstops that changed teams include Mike Smith (Phoenix), Brian Elliott (St. Louis), Jose Theodore (Florida), Mathieu Garon (Tampa Bay), and Peter Budaj (Montreal).

Coming off the best season of his career, 27-year-old James Wisniewski returns to the Central division after spending last season with Montreal and the New York Islanders. He signed a six-year, $33 million contract with Columbus after the Blue Jackets traded for his rights (similiar to Chrisian Ehrhoff earlier this week) from the Canadiens. The Habs traded his negotiating rights for a seventh-round draft pick in 2012 on Wednesday, but with the condition that if Wisniewski signs with Columbus the compensation would increase to a fifth-round pick.

Of teams in the Central, the Blackhawks made the most moves, as they signed O’Donnell and Carcillo from the Flyers to one-season deals. They also signed veterans Andrew Brunette and Jamal Mayers to one-year contracts as well. Brunette came from Minnesota where he scores 18 goals and recorded 28 assists. The team also signed 32-year-old Brett McLean, who spent the last two seasons in the Swiss League.

Detroit only added one player in forward Mike Commodore from down Columbus. The bizarre angle of this story is that Commodore and Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock were previously together when Babcock coached Anaheim’s AHL affiliate and had Commodore as a player. Back in ’09, Commodore, 31, publicly accused Babcock of having being an obstacle in Commodore’s career. Commodore told the Detroit Free Press Friday he spoke with Detroit’s bench boss and the issue is now currently water under the bridge.

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Daniel Carcillo One Punches Matt Bradley

Daniel Carcillo tried to provide a little energy for the Philadelphia Flyers tonight, but it ended up working against him big time. After Matt Bradley delivered a hit on Carcillo against the boards, Carcillo gave a few cross checks back to Bradley. Carcillo was quick to drop his gloves after that, and knocked Bradley down with one huge punch before Bradley’s gloves even hit the ice.

Bradley did not return to the game after the punch. The Capitals, however, avenged the punch as they scored three goals on the resulting power play. The game finished in a blowout as Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and four assists, and Mike Green added two goals and two assists in the 8-2 victory.

Update: Carcillo has received a four game suspension from the incident.

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Phoenix Coyotes

No greater is the need to have a winning season other than right now for the Phoenix Coyotes. With the future of the team in question, the team must go on and is doing so.

The team has made only few acquisitions to increase depth and talent. Starting with goalie, Jason Labarbera has signed with the team. Last year Labarbera split his time between two clubs, the L.A. Kings and the Vancouver Canucks. Combining his stats, he posted 8 wins, 10 losses and 6 overtime losses in 28 games with a .901 save percentage. His expectations should be no more than providing a solid back up position to starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Phoenix Coyote’s seem to be transitioning into a more puck moving club, as they have gotten rid of their enforcers. Last season Daniel Carcillo was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, as this season they have decided not to sign right wing Brian McGrattan to the Calgary Flames. The Flames have also picked up Nigel Dawes off of waivers from the Coyotes.

Perhaps the only two other players to make note of that will be joining the Coyote’s roster is that of defenseman Adrian Aucoin and the return of forward Radim Vrbata.

Aucoin holds an Olympic silver medal from 1994, played in the NHL All Star game in the 2003 – 2004 season and is a solid defenseman. The veteran defenseman will be able to provide wisdom and knowledge to the relatively young defense of the Coyote’s, as well as production on the power play.

Young forward Peter Mueller will be reunited with the return of winger Radim Vrbata.

Young forward Peter Mueller will be reunited with the return of winger Radim Vrbata.

The return of Radim Vrbata should ignite some offensive sparks with young forward Peter Mueller.  Vrbata winged a line of then rookie Peter Mueller. Together they were able to provide an offensive threat, combining for 49 goals, 61 assists totaling 110 points.

The Coyote’s have the talent to be a good hockey team. Captain and excellent two way player Shane Doan, up and coming Scottie Upshall, as well as veteran assistant captain Ed Jovanovski. The team was on pace to make the playoffs last season, only to fall hard and ending in 13th place. With the club’s future in question, even the question of Wayne Gretzky being head coach, the team could be an absolute wreck with the side distractions, or have an excellent season later to be made into a sports motivational movie.

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Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers have made numerous off season acquisitions that brings one word to mind: “tough”.

Ray Emery joins the Broad Street Bullies this upcoming season.

Ray Emery joins the Broad Street Bullies this upcoming season.

Baby blue eyed goaltender Martin Biron will be replaced by bad boy Ray Emery. Emery played last season in the KHL posting 22 wins in 36 games with a 92.6 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against average. The numbers show immense improvement from playing with the Ottawa Senators in the ’07-’08 season, however the quality of play overseas is questionable in comparison to the NHL. A question that will be answered in time is whether or not his act as cleaned up? This though of course may or may not be wanted by the rough Philly fans.

The blue line has gained size and grit as Chris Pronger and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen will be donning the orange and black this season. Pronger, a seasoned veteran and a Stanley Cup winner, may be the most significant off season acquisition for the Flyers run for the cup. Pronger currently ranks 4th in playoff experience among NHL defenseman with 143 games played.

Offensively the Flyers have lost right wing Mike Knuble to Washington, however have replaced him with Ian Laperriere from the Colorado Avalanche. Tit for tat Knuble puts more points on the board, however when it comes to enforcing, Laperriere takes the cake. Pair him up with last season’s pickup Daniel Carcillo, it will be interesting to see what team dares to take any liberties with goal scorers Danny Briere, Simon Gagne and captain Mike Richards.

This year the Flyers have a very competitive team, a well balance of grit and finesse that will be a force to be reckoned with. Look for them to be competing fiercely for first place within the Atlantic divison as well as the Eastern Conference. The last question to be asked is how soon before the Broad Street Bullies trademark is restored to this season’s roster.

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