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Winnipeg Jets off to Slow Start

Oct 18

Posted by EB in News, Soap Box | No Comments

Netminder Ondrej Pavelec needs to start stopping more shots to give the Winnipeg Jets a fighting chance.

The Winnipeg Jets are off to a rough start, going 1-3-0 in their first 4 games. The emotional homecoming to Winnipeg, the hype, has outweighed the product on the ice. Could this be a mere funk or could it be much more?

The Jets, once Atlanta Thrashers, has a lot of players under-producing. The list is as follows:

Bryan Little, a fifth year NHLer has 0 points in the first 4 games. Last year Little put up 48 points, a 14 point increase from the year before that. Although it is not expected of Little to make another 14 point jump this season, it is however expected that Little at least meet is last years point total.

Evander Kane is young with the speed and the talent to put up numbers. Currently 0 points thus far, Kane needs to start meshing with his line-mates. In his second NHL season last year, Kane contributed 19 goals and 24 assists. The 40 point mark should be obtainable, especially if he continues to skate second line minutes. Perhaps his day-to-day injury is the cause of his lack of production. Time will tell.

The fan favorite Dustin Byfuglien is perhaps the most surprising of all the players with his lack of production. Able to play both forward or wing, also getting a lot of time on the powerplay, Byfuglien has 0 points and a -4 rating in his 4 games. Averaging 3.75 shots a game, fans can only hope the dam breaks soon.

Two-time Stanley Cup Winner Andrew Ladd knows what it takes to be a winner, or at least be on a winning team. In both his Cup wins Ladd was a contributor but no the go to guy. After being traded to the Jets in the off-season after the 2009-2010 season, Ladd became that guy you could depend on. He put up a career high of 29 goals and 30 assists for a total of 59 points. Could that of been an abnormal season, sure, but with only 1 goal so far, the Jets still need more out of him.

It is said that transitioning and growing into a top-level NHL player is harder for defense. Tobias Enstrom is in his fifth season and is coming off of back-to-back 50 point seasons. Mainly a set-up man on the powerplay, Enstrom does not have a powerplay point as of yet.

A combined .880 save percentage between both Ondrej Pavelec and Chris Mason could be the real problem for the Jets. Letting in a combined 14 goals in 4 games, the two net-minders do not seem like either one of them wants the starting position.

It still could be just a rough start and they could make playoffs. It could also be the team is still not quite playoff caliber. Last year the Jets/Thrashers missed the playoffs and finished in 12th place. Either way, all the hype surrounding the homecoming is coming down to earth as fans see that no matter how much you want your home team to win, it just may not happen. Hopefully the players can start putting some more “W’s” on the board and give their faithful fans a ticket worth purchasing.

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2011-12 NHL Season Preview: Winnipeg Jets

Sep 12

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | 1 Comment

Offseason Losses: Anthony Stewart, Rick Rypien, Radek Devorak

Offseason Additions: Derek Meech, Eric Fehr, Tanner Glass, Randy Jones

Last Season Ranking: 12 in the East

Offense: The team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers moved north for greener pastures and is now the Winnipeg Jets. The team will play in the Eastern conference and the Southeast division this season before transferring to the West for 2012-13. In the mean time, the franshise underwent a complete overhaul. The only remaining pieces seem to be are the players on the ice. Just about everything off the ice is new, from ownership to general manager to the coach.

On offense, they don’t have the personnel of an expansion team. However, they do have one of players that haven’t seen playoff action in a very long time. They have decent numbers on offense, their problem is that the second and third leading scorers in regards to points are defensemen. They have to get more production from the offense. Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, and Bryan Little are expected once again to be the top forwards. They lost young prospect Anthony Stewart to Carolina, but Evander Kane and Alexander Burmistrov have star potential in them. Look for them to spend time with the top live should anyone above them on the depth chart struggle.

Defense: For what the Jets lack on offense, they make up for it on defense. They have the league leader in goals among defensemen in Dustin Byfuglien. Since he made the change from forward to defense when he came over from Chicago last season, his offense has blossomed into one of the more deadlier players in the league. Along with Tobias Enstrom, the two All-Stars will anchor a unit that has the potential to light the lamp on  nights when the forwards aren’t doing so.

The Jets also have experienced defensemen in Johnny Oduya, Ron Hainsey and Mark Stuart who is expected to bring toughness and physicality to the team. The X-Factor is Zach Bogosian. He currently doesn’t have a contract for this season but is a restricted free agent. He has Norris Trophy potential, but he hasn’t shown that type of consistency shown by some of the best in the league.

Goaltending: Their defense and goaltending was among the worse in the league. Only Colorado averaged more goals allowed per contest, as the team allowed an average of 3.2 goals per game. One stat you probably can’t fins anywhere else is they allowed a league-leading 15 empty net goals. They return Ondrej Pavelec and Chris Mason in goal and should see an improvement over last season. Pavelec is 24 years old and has given the new franchise a goalie that can be with the team for many years should they be able to re-sign him. Both Pavelec ad Mason are free agents at the end of this season (Pavelec restricted and Mason unrestricted), and it will be interesting to see how they play considering they don’t have a contract for 2012.

HWB Playoff Prediction: Not playoff bound. They will be exciting to watch in the first season in Winnipeg, but there are simply too many good teams ahead of them in the conference. When they move to the West next year, they could be a playoff contender should they continue to get better.

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Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010: Chicago Blackhawks

Sep 29

Posted by EB in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Losses: Antti Niemi, Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Brent Sopel, Ben Eager, Dustin Byfuglien, Cristobal Huet

Key Offseason Additions: Ryan Potulny, Marty Turco

Last Season Ranking: 2nd, West. Stanley Cup Champions

Offense: Much is to be desired about the defending Stanley Cup Champions and their offensive power. Young leaders Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane had very good stats last season. Toews was one point shy of his career high posting 68 points in 76 games and a very impressive +22 rating. Kane however did go above and beyond his previous career high of 72 points, only to match his player number at 88 points. That total came from 30 goals and 58 assists, 29 of those points on the powerplay.

The team however has lost a lot of talent, mainly to the Atlanta Thrashers in a 7 man deal, but still looks to compete in this upcoming season and defend their reigning title. Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa need to have another excellent year to help carry the load. Sharp alos had a career high of 66 points last season, while Hossa nearly had a career low with only 51 points. Hossa was battling injuries from his head to his toes last season, but if healthy, could very well reach numbers in the 70 and up range.

Defense: What a great year for Duncan Keith last season. A career high of 69 points, loses almost all his teeth, and a Stanley Cup ring. Keith will be the backbone of the defense and will most likely be the leading time on ice player for the Blackhawks.

The rest of the defending core needs to step up this year. Young Niklas Hjalmarsson looks to improve upon his first career full season, 17 points in 77 games and a +9 rating. Injury plagued Brian Campbell looks to play a full season and returning to his once 50+ point season days. Lastly, Brent Seabrook will be given more time on ice after his 30 point, +20 season last year.

Sure Andrew Ladd may not be with team, as many other players, still you cannot count out the young and talented Chicago Blackhawks for a reapeat.

Sure Andrew Ladd may not be with team, as many other players, still you cannot count out the young and talented Chicago Blackhawks for a repeat.

Goaltending: If there ever was a question of GM Stan Bowman’s decisions, it lies in the goalie fiasco. Cristobal Huet is heading to the Swiss league and Antti Niemi is now on Conference rival the San Jose Sharks. Together, two combined for a 52-21-8 record. That is a whole lot of wins gone out the door.

The Blackhawks instead have decided to sign veteran, on his way out of the league, Marty Turco. Turco has spent all his days in the Dallas Stars organization, so it will be interesting to see how he fares with a new team. In Turco’s career he has a 262-154-37 record, as well as 26 ties in there from the old days, as well as a combined 2.31 goals against average and .911 save percentage.

Since Turco is not quite a young whipper snapper, backup net-minder Corey Crawford will get more playing time this season.  With only 8 game splayed in 3 seasons, it sure will be interesting to see how he does with more time. Crawford is a butterfly goalie excelling at stopping the first initial shot.

Season Outlook: It is tough to say what to expect from the reigning Stanley Cup Champions the Chicago Blackhawks. Indeed the team went all out last season in going for victory or nothing, but the team still does have a talented, young core of players. Many fans have written them off this year, however once they make the playoffs, anything can happen in a 7 game series.

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Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010: Atlanta Thrashers

Sep 12

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Losses: Johan Hedberg, Colby Armstong, Maxim Afinogenov, Pavel Kubina, Slava Kozlov

Key Offseason Additions:Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd, Chris Mason, Fredrik Modin, Dustin Byfuglien

Last Season Ranking: 10th place, East

Offense: This is a franchise that had superstars Ilya Kovakchuk and Dany Heatley, and they still couldn’t produce more than successful season. Bryan Little is the only player to score over 30 goals for the Thrashers. He scored 31 in 2009 and 13 last year. Which Bryan Little will show up this season? The top line is expected to be anchored by Nik Antropov and newcomer Dustin Byfuglien with Niclas Bergfors on the left wing. Antropov and Byfuglien will be counted on to have strong seasons like they did last season. It will be more difficult for Byfuglien because in Chicago he was surrounded by star players and could fly under the radar. In Atlanta, he will be one of the star players mostly due to his performance in the playoffs for Chicago. Look for fellow former Blackhawks Andrew Ladd and Ben Eager to make contributions to the Atlanta offense.

In his second year, Evander Kane will be one of the players to watch for Atlanta. Last season he played in 66 games, scored 14 goals and recorded 12 assists.

In his second year, Evander Kane will be one of the players to watch for Atlanta. Last season he played in 66 games, scored 14 goals and recorded 12 assists.

Defense: An area where the Thrashers needed to improve upon because they allowed 250 goals last season. That placed them 24th in the NHL, as their problem was letting opponents get quality looks at the net and being out-shot very frequently.  New coach Craig Ramsay will be implementing a 5-man defensive system. A former Selke award winner, Ramsay will depend on his forwards to backcheck on defense just as hard as they rush down the ice with the puck. They are lacking depth beyond the first pairing of Tobias Enstrom and Zach Bogosian due to Pavel Kubina signing with Tampa Bay. One upgrade they received was trading with the Blackhawks for shot blocker Brent Sopel.

Goaltending: They say that the goalie is only as good as the team in front of him. So when the Thrashers allowed 250 goals last season, Johan Hedberg bolted to New Jersey where he can backup Martin Brodeur and backup Ondrej Pavelec was put into the slot as No. 1. But the team management figured that Pavelec wasn’t ready to handle top goalie duties full-time, so they brought in 34-year-old Chris Mason from St. Louis to split time with Pavelec. Mason went 30-22-8 with the Blues, while Pavelec was 14-18-7. The big difference is Mason’s GAA was 2.53 while Pavelec’s GAA was 3.29. Not bad for someone who competed their first full season in the NHL. If the defense can play better, the goalies will play better. In return, the team could win more games instead of playing from behind so often.

Season Outlook: The best news to come out of the ATL was that GM Don Waddell was moving up to Team President while promoting his assistant Rick Dudley to GM. What Dudley did was hire Ramsay and take advantage of Chicago’s salary cap problems to get quality players Chicago wasn’t able to hold on to. They have the pieces there to make the playoffs, which they have done only once in team history. This might not be the season Atlanta makes the playoffs, but expect them to be a force on the Atlanta sports scene and the Southeast division in a couple of seasons.

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How the West Was Won

May 25

Posted by EB in News | 2 Comments

Chicago Blackhawks celebrate the Conference Championship, just one more big celebration left.

Chicago Blackhawks celebrate the Conference Championship, just one more big celebration left.

What began as hopeful dreams of hometown teams and others to win the Stanley Cup remains with only two teams left to face one another, the Chicago Blackhawks of the Western Conference faces off against the Philadelphia Flyers of the Eastern Conference. The first game of 2009 – 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs begins Saturday May 29th, at 8:00pm est, the beginning of a series that already knows the winner. Spoiler Alert if read any further.

Before the season started, each of the Hockey Wolrd Blog crew predicted their Stanley Cup Champions, only one team still remains from that prediction: the Philadelphia Flyers. Although my prediction could be correct, I believe it to be as slim of chance as Eddie finding the back of the net on a breakaway.

In watching the Stanley Cup playoffs this year I have noticed one major difference between that of the Western conference and the Eastern conference. What is it you may ask? Simple, talent.

When watching the Chicago Blackhawks throughout their series they have beaten an underrated thorn in your side Nashville Predators, hotter than hot Vancouver Canucks, and the Western Conference champions the San Jose Sharks. In comparison, the Flyers have taken on an over played goalie New Jersey Devils, biggest chokers of all time the Boston Bruins and the Cinderella story with a realistic ending Montreal Canadiens.

The two teams roads are completely different and so is their play. The Flyers are goons who take head shots and silly penalties, 193 to be exact in comparison to Chicago’s 155. The Flyers were only second highest to the Montreal Canadiens. While their old opponents did not capitalize, you sure can bet the Chicago Blackhawks will stick it to them.

The Flyers also play a very sloppy style of play, a play style that could be summed up by the old saying, “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.” The puck seems to bounce abnormally and end up on the Flyer’s sticks to the point of I have yet to see the Flyers really set up in the zone in a controlled manner. Do they even know how to cycle the puck? The Blackhawks on the other hand are like a swarm of bees, buzzing around just waiting to sting. Jonatahan Toews, Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien, just to name a few of those buzzing bees.

The only down side the Blackhawks have going is the Marian Hossa curse. Hey, the guys has some bad luck on his side, but as the saying goes, “Third times a charm.”

The list could be longer, but to be honest I just don’t want to waste my time on what is known. The Chicago Blackhawks are going to show the Philadelphia Flyers what real hockey is all about, how the Western conference does things, how to play crisp team hockey and win the Stanley Cup. My prediction is it will only take 5 games, that is with me being generous to say Philadelphia even wins one game.

Sure you may not believe me, but if you believe anything, believe in the superstition of touching the conference champion’s trophy. Blackhawk’s captain Jonatahan Toews did not even look at the Clarence S. Campbell trophy while Flyer’s Captain Mike Richards paraded around like a prom queen and her crown with the Prince of Wales trophy. That’s a no no Mikey boy.

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