Hockey World Blog

All Things Hockey

Posts Tagged eric staal

Carolina Hurricanes’ Jeff Skinner Returns

Jan 19

Posted by EB in Fantasy, News, Soap Box | No Comments

AP Photo/Richard Lipski

Carolina Hurricanes’ fans gave a collective sigh of relief last night as young forward Jeff Skinner has returned. Skinner, who has missed 16 games, was out because of a concussion.

The NHL continues its ongoing effort to curb head-shots, ultimately trying to remove concussions from the game. The charge to change the game for the better began last season as superstar Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins suffered a concussion, sidelining him for the last quarter of last season and out for the majority of this season.

Skinner’s return was a positive boost to the lineup of the Hurricanes as he continued where he left off. Playing two games so far, Skinner averaged 17:39 of ice time and picked up an assist in his second game. In time he will jump back up to his nearly 19 minutes a game norm.

Although Skinner’s return is a positive for the Hurricanes, the harsh reality is the team is in last place of the Eastern Conference. Last season the Hurricanes fell two points short of 8th place for the playoffs. This season the team will not make the playoffs even if a miracle happens. Very sad considering the team has such talent in Captain Eric Staal, Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Skinner, Joni Pitkanen and netminder Cam Ward. Major overhaul is in store for the team in the off-season, maybe even come trade deadline. From a fantasy perspective though, Skinner will still put up points to help out your team.

Tags: , , , , ,

Three more concussions confirmed today for NHL players

Dec 27

Posted by Chris in News | No Comments

Concussions continue to ravage the NHL as another three players were announced to be suffering from concussions or concussion-like symptoms today.

Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber and Los Angeles Kings forward Simon Gagne will both sit after being diagnosed with concussions while Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman John-Michael Liles was placed on the IR with concussion-like symptoms.

It’s unsure how long any of these players will be sidelined, although in every situation the team and players are hopeful that it won’t be for a significant amount of time.

Weber will likely be the biggest loss of the three. Not only is he team captain, but he also leads the Predators in points with 29 in 35 games to go along with his team-leading plus-14 rating.

“There’s no official timetable for his return, but he’s feeling better and I’m hoping there’s a chance for him to return Friday,” head coach BarryTrotz said. “But we’ll see.”

Weber apparently suffered his concussion after taking a hard hit from Mark Fistric this past Friday when the Predators took on the Dallas Stars. Weber appeared fine after the game but left practice early on Monday and missed Nashville’s game against the Red Wings Monday night. The team confirmed today that Weber was suffering from a concussion and will be monitored on a daily basis.

Similarly, Liles suffered his injury after a big hit from Buffalo’s Paul Gaustad last Thursday. After visiting the dressing room following the hit, Liles returned to finish the game but missed the following contest on Friday against the New York Islanders. The Leafs placed Liles on injured reserve after he was unable to skate with the team on Monday or Tuesday at practice.

“We’re shutting him down for a few days,” said Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson. “He was better today, but not ready to go and if we run into a crisis we’ve gotta have another defenceman available – in case of illness or another injury.

Liles has been one of Toronto’s most consistent defenseman with seven goals and 17 assists in 34 games this season. He has averaged more than 21 minutes of ice time per game.

Simon Gagne was injured during the first period of the Kings victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Monday night. Gagne left the ice during the first period and returned in the second, but he ultimately left the game during the third period and did not return. While the team referred to the injury as an “upper-body” injury, TSN.ca has reported that Gagne indeed suffered a concussion.

Weber, Liles and Gagne are just the latest in a string of concussions to hit the NHL recently. Sidney Crosby is back on the shelf with concussion-like symptoms with no time-table for a return while Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux recently returned from a four-game absence thanks to a concussion sustained on Dec. 10 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

It was also reported today that New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal has been cleared to practice with contact nearly 10 months after being sidelined by a hit delivered by his brother Eric of the Carolina Hurricanes. This is a positive step in Staal’s recover, although a timetable for his return is still up in the air.

 

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Eric Staal trade could benefit slumping Hurricanes

Dec 17

Posted by Chris in Rumors, Soap Box | No Comments

In case you haven’t noticed, the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t doing too hot this season.

The team is 2-7-1 over their last 10 games and lingers near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. The team fired their head coach last week and then followed up that move by trading defenseman Tomas Kaberle to the Montreal Canadiens, a player they signed as a free agent over the summer to a three-year deal. With all this going on, it appears more and more likely that the Hurricane’s are gearing up for something big.

That something big could be an implosion.

The team traded away Kaberle to the Montreal Canadiens for Jaroslav Spacek in return. Carolina arguably got the short end of the stick as Spacek is older (37 as opposed to 33) and offers less offensively than Kaberle is capable of producing.  So why would Carolina want to take him on?

Trade bait.

Spacek is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Despite his advanced age, he remains a proven NHL veteran and could add depth to the blue line of a team looking to make a deep playoff run. If a trade occurs, Carolina could stock up on draft picks and prospects in exchange for Spacek.

The Kaberle/Spacek trade could have signaled the beginning of a rebuilding process in Carolina. Spacek could be the first piece, and players like Alex Panikarovski, Tim Gleason and Tuomo Ruutu could also be trade bait come trade deadline time.

The real issue, however, is how far the Hurricanes are willing to go in their rebuilding process. Mainly, will they shop current captain Eric Staal?

Staal was drafted second overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Hurricanes and has basically been the face of the franchise since. He has scored 30 or more goals in five of his seven NHL seasons, and twice tallied 40 or more. Not to mention that Staal, at 27-years-old, is right in the prime of his career and will be for several more seasons.

What could make Staal expandable is another young star on the Carolina roster. Jeff Skinner came into the league last season as an 18-year-old rookie and not only won a roster spot, but went on to contribute 31 goals and 63 points en route to winning the Calder Trophy as the NHL Rookie of the Year. This season, Skinner basically picked up where he left off and currently leads the Hurricanes in goals (12) and points (24).

Could the success of Skinner prompt the Hurricanes to trade away Eric Staal? After all, Staal makes $8.25 million a season while Skinner is only in his second season of an entry-level contract that pays him $1.4 million per year. After next season, Skinner will become a restricted free agent and Carolina could try to lock him up long term for a cap-friendly figure. A player of Staal’s caliber could warrant a significant return and help speed up the rebuilding process for Carolina.

Still, Staal trade speculation remains far-fetched. But the general likelihood that Carolina enters a rebuilding phase appears more probable with each loss this season. The team has two legitimate stars in Staal and Skinner and is set in goal with Cam Ward. The team needs to find a way to surround their stars with capable secondary scoring and a legitimate blue line. Carolina is second worst in the NHL in goals allowed per game with 3.38 and 20th in the league in goals scored per game with 2.5. It’s becoming clear that Carolina just doesn’t have the pieces of the puzzle to be a legitimate contender.

The Spacek trade may have been the first step, but it likely will not be the last move for Carolina this season. An implosion and a move toward rebuilding may be a necessary step now if Carolina intends to build a winner for the future.

 

Tags: , ,

2011-12 NHL Season Preview: Carolina Hurricanes

Sep 10

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | 1 Comment

Offseason Losses: Erik Cole, Joe Corvo, Bryan Rodney

Offseason Additions: Anthony Stewart, Brian Boucher, Tomas Kaberle

Last Season Ranking: 9th in East

Expect Jeff Skinner to pick up right where he left off entering his second season.

Offense: The Canes are pretty stacked at the center position. The top three leading scorers from last season were all centers. Eric Staal returns as leader and face of the franchise. His offensive numbers were very impressive as he scored 33 goals and had 43 assists. But a byproduct of the awful defense the team had was his -10 rating. He will also quarterback the power play unit as he was the only player on the team with double-digit power play goals with 12 last season.

One of the breakout players from last season was rookie Jeff Skinner. The Calder Trophy winner led all rookies in the league in points with 63. He played a huge impact in them coming within a few points of making the playoffs. Just like with Detroit’s Jimmy Howard last season, I don’t expect a sophomore slump from Skinner.

The loss of Cole means there are 26 goals from last season that needs to be replaced. One player can’t fill his shoes entirely but expect a slew of young players to battle for limited spots on the team. They added Alexi Ponikarovsky and Anthony Stewart during the off season, but they can’t each be expected to score 20+ goals. Carolina could be playoff contenders just like last season if both players play within themselves ( 14 goals/35 points for Ponikarovsky and 16 goals/42 points for Stewart) they will have a solid first two lines.

This could be a make or break season for Zach Boychuk. Boychuk, 21, was the team’s first round pick (14th overall) in 2008 and the team is hoping can finally bust through and stick in Raleigh. In 23 games last season, Boychuk had four goals and three assists.

Defense: If there is anything the Canes need to an overhaul of, it’s the defense. They faced a league-high 33.2 shots per game and the addition of Kaberle should help keep the puck going the other direction because of his puck moving ability. The addition of assistant coach Dave Lewis should help strengthen their defense as he has many years of experience coaching stingy, sound defense while he was with the Detroit Red Wings. Carolina fans should still worry about the defense as Kaberle was the only addition and it appears the rest of the defensive depth chart will be filled from within during training camp provided they don’t make any other trades or free agent signings.

Goaltending: The addition of Brian Boucher is huge for the Hurricanes. They have someone who will give Cam Ward a few nights of rest without risking losing the game. That is what you need from a backup: someone who will give your team just as much of a chance to win as the starter. Ward started more games than any goalie in the league (74) and made over 200 more saves (2191 vs 1982) than the next goalie in the saves made list (Carey Price).

HWB Playoff Prediction: Not playoff bound. While the changes they made were good, they didn’t go enough to earn a playoff spot above the teams around them.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft Recap

Jan 29

Posted by Chris in News | 1 Comment

Phil Kessel sat only a few seats away from Paul Stastny as the two remaining All-Stars not yet picked to either Team Lidstrom or Team Staal in the NHL’s inaugural All-Star Game Fantasy Draft. It was a moment that the All-Stars both savored and feared coming into the event as they knew that any one of them could be the last one sitting on the floor waiting to become Mr. Irrelevant as the last pick in the draft. But it pays to be the last pick, as Phil Kessel found out.

Team Staal selected Stastny with their 18th Round pick which left Kessel sitting alone on the floor as the inconsequential pick of Team Lidstrom. However, Kessel reaped the benefits as the NHL will donate $20,000 to a charity of Kessel’s choice and also awarded Kessel with a brand new Honda car. Mr. Irrelevant will be riding to the game in style on Sunday.

The Fantasy Draft seemed to go over surprisingly well and created many fun moments as fans got to see the less serious side of many of the players. Perhaps one of the best moments was a shot of Alexander Ovechkin whipping out his camera phone to snap a photo of Kessel sitting all by himself after Stastny’s name was announced. The friendly, joking nature of many of the players came out which was a nice change of pace over the usual serious, game-face demeanor fans are usually treated to during the regular season. The draft also produced some big surprises as many fans pondered the several story lines coming into the event tonight through their own mock drafts and scenarios, much like the one we posted yesterday.

One of the most surprising things from the draft was the layers of loyalties to teammates, ex-teammates and fellow countryman displayed throughout the draft process. It was no surprise that Steve Stamkos was selected by Team Lidstrom with their first pick not only because he leads the league in goals, but also because he plays on a line with Martin St. Louis, one of the assistant captains for Team Lidstrom. But what did come as a surprise was how quick Team Lidstrom was to select players like Brad Richards, who played in Tampa Bay with St. Louis for several seasons, and Martin Havlat, who used to play in Chicago with Team Lidstrom’s other alternate captain Patrick Kane. Team Staal, whose alternate captains are Mike Green and Ryan Kessler, made similar decisions when they selected goaltender Cam Ward with the first overall pick and then followed with Alexander Ovechkin and Daniel Sedin – all teammates of one of the captains.

One of the best moments of the draft had to be watching Phil Kessel squirm in his seat when it came down to him and Paul Stastny as the final selections. Kessel had a big grin on his face but you could tell he was sweating bullets and keeping his fingers crossed that he wouldn’t be the last man picked. Stastny, on the other hand, kept a fairly cool demeanor and if he was worried about being last picked, he sure didn’t show it.

Probably the most no-brainer moment came when the Sedin Twins were selected back-to-back by different teams. For the first time in their lives they will play against each other on different teams. Why was this choice a no-brainer? Well, if either team had allowed the other to select both Sedin Twins they would have immediately put themselves at a huge disadvantage. Have you seen those two play together? Sometimes it appears as if they just communicate telepathically and that’s how they find each other open so often.

In my opinion, one of the worst moments of the event came at the end when Kessel was awarded a new Honda for being the last pick. The donation to a charity of his choice was an incredibly awesome move by the NHL, but did they really need to follow it up by giving the guy a car? I think any one of those players makes enough money per year to buy themselves a decent mode of transportation.

Overall, however, the event was a lot of fun and really added something special and unique to the All-Star festivities. The NHL really hit a home-run with this switch in format and hopefully they can build on the success of the draft into tomorrow night’s skills competition and the actual All-Star Game on Sunday. Let’s just hope that David Backes follows through on his promise to hit lay on a few hits to the captains of the team that didn’t select him. Look out Team Lidstrom.

Take a look below for the final results from the 2011 NHL All-Star Game Fantasy Draft and be sure to check out the Skill Competition tomorrow night with the All-Star Game following on Sunday afternoon.

Round Team Staal Position Team Lidstrom Position
- Eric Staal F Nicklas Lidstrom D
- Ryan Kesler F Martin St. Louis F
- Mike Green D Patrick Kane F
1 Cam Ward G Steven Stamkos F
2 Alexander Ovechkin F Duncan Keith D
3 Daniel Sedin F Henrik Sedin F
4 Zdeno Chara D Shea Weber D
5 Rick Nash F Tim Thomas G
6 Henrik Lundqvist G Daniel Briere F
7 Marc Staal F Dustin Byfuglien D
8 Patrick Sharp F Jonathan Toews F
9 Dan Boyle D Marc-Andre Fleury G
10 Carey Price G Jonas Hiller G
11 Jeff Skinner F Brad Richards C
12 Kris Letang D Keith Yandle D
13 Claude Giroux F Brent Burns D
14 Erik Karlsson D Martin Havlat F
15 Corey Perry F Anze Kopitar F
16 Patrik Elias F Matt Duchene F
17 David Backes F Loui Eriksson F
18 Paul Stasny F Phil Kessel F
Team Lidstrom Rookies Team Staal Rookies
Name Team Position Name Team Position
Evgeny Dadonov FLA F Logan Couture SJ F
Oliver Ekman-Larsson PHO D Tyler Ennis BUF F
Cam Fowler ANA D Michael Grabner NYI F
Kevin Shattenkirk COL D Jamie McBain CAR D
Taylor Hall EDM F Tyler Seguin BOS F
Derek Stepan NYR F P.K. Subban BOS D

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Lidstrom, Staal named All-Star Game captains

Jan 18

Posted by Chris in News | No Comments

Forget East vs. West or North America vs the World. Instead, this year’s NHL All-Star Game will be Team Lidstrom vs Team Staal.

Veteran defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and superstar forward Eric Staal were named team captains for this year’s annual All-Star Game which will take place on Jan. 30 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

As team captains, Lidstrom and Staal will be responsible for hand picking their own teams in a fantasy hockey-style draft format. Both captains will also select the lineup for their team in the All-Star Skills Challenge event. Team captains were selected through a vote by the pool of All-Star players attending this year’s event.

While there was heavy speculation as to who would captain the two teams at the game this year, Staal received a lot of fan fare since the game will be held at the home arena of the Carolina Hurricane, a team that Staal has spent his entire NHL career with.

“I think that was probably a part of it, of me being a captain here,” Staal said. “It’s in our building in front of our fans so i think it adds a little bit more to the game and it will be exciting for our building to enjoy that and cheer for the home team, for the good guys.”

Staal, however, said he feels no pressure whatsoever to select his brother, New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, in the All-Star draft. Marc will be appearing in his first NHL All Star Game this season.

Lidstrom, who also captains the Detroit Red Wings, appears to be an obvious choice. At 40-years-old, Lidstrom is still at the top of his game and leads all defenseman in points with 42 on the season and still averages almost 24 minutes of ice time a night. Lidstrom will be appearing in his 12th NHL All Star Game.

“I had a chance to talk to (Detroit GM) Ken Holland this morning, try to get some pointers from him. He’s a good guy to ask questions,” Lidstrom said about his draft strategy. “I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the players. They’re all great players, their all All-Stars.”

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was thought to be a shoe-in to captain one of the teams this year, but a concussion has sidelined the league’s leading point scorer and may force him to miss the All Star game altogether. Crosby amassed the most fan votes this year with 635,509 total votes. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang had the second-most total votes with 477,960.

If Crosby misses this year’s game, it will be the third time that he has missed an All-Star game due to injury.

The All-Star fantasy draft will be televised on Friday, Jan. 28. Lidstrom and Staal, joined by their alternate captains who will be named later, will choose from a pool of the remaining 36 All Star players over the course of an 18 round draft. Each team will consist of three goalies, six defensemen and 12 forwards total. To ensure that the final draft picks are true selections and not simply predetermined due to position requirements, each team’s three goalies must be picked by the end of Round 10 and each team’s six defensemen must be picked by the conclusion of Round 15.

Tags: , ,

Hockey World Blog Season Previews 2010:Carolina Hurricanes

Sep 10

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | No Comments

Key Offseason Losses: Ray Whitney, Rod Brind’Amour

Key Offseason Additions:Joe Corvo, Anton Babchuk

Last Season Ranking: 11th place, East

Offense: The top line of the ‘Canes is as good as any in the East. They are led by Eric Staal, who led the team last season with 70 points. He will be supplemented by Jussi Jokinen on the left wing. Both players are expected to carry majority of the scoring load. Not far behind will be linemate Tuomo Ruutu and the second line of Sergei Samsonov, Brandon Sutter, and Chad LaRose. In terms of prospects, Drayson Bowman is the prospect that is most likely to crack the roster after training camp. The 21-year-old left winger recorded 32 points in 56 games for Albany in the AHL last season. The top power play line of Staal, Jokinen, and Samsonov should score a lot of goals, but if there’s any injuries to them problems could arise due to a lack of depth.

Carolina center Eric Staal is expected to lead the team in points this season. Expect him to get close to 80 points for the Hurricanes.

Carolina center Eric Staal is expected to lead the team in points this season. Expect him to get close to 80 points for the Hurricanes.

Defense: Defense is one area where the Hurricanes did improve upon. Joe Corvo was traded at the deadline as he was in a contract year, but was able to re-sign during the off season. Anton Babchuk last appeared in the NHL during Carolina’s 2009 playoff run, but he bolted for the KHL last summer. He returns to Raleigh and the team is looking for the player who scored 16 goals and had a plus-13 rating two years ago. The Corvo-Babchuk duo is expected to form the No. 2 defensive pairing while Joni Pitkanen and Tim Gleason should see the most ice time at the blue line. Don’t be surprised of coach Paul Maurice will tinker and experiment with different combinations amongst the four. The third defensive pairing will feature young, inexperienced players at the NHL level. It could most likely be Bobby Sanguinetti and Jamie McBain.

Goaltending: This is the area that could be the X-factor for Carolina. Cam Ward has had a great start to his carer when he won the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Award as a rookie. It was a freak accident with Rick Nash and back problems that kept him on the sidelines more often than in goal last season. Which Ward will we see this season? The team can only hope for the player who won 30, 37, and 39 games in his career and not the one who went 18-23-5 like he did last season. Manny Legace was the backup season, but expect them to stay young and go with Justin Peters as the backup.

Season Outlook: One thing is for sure, they cannot afford the same type of start that they went through last season. After beginning the season 2-12-4, they were pretty much done before Thanksgiving. But they did end the season on a positive note when they finished 21-10-3. But it was too little, too late as it was only good enough to finish 11th in the conference. They have a lot to show and improve upon if they want to make the playoffs. They didn’t do enough in free agency to be considered a playoff contender, but if Ward can play the way he did two seasons ago anything can happen.

Tags: , , , ,

Carolina Hurricanes

Sep 10

Posted by Eddie in Season Previews | No Comments

Rod Brind'Amour, who played in 80 games last season, has to improve his -23 rating if the Hurricanes expect to be a serious contender in the Eastern Conference

Rod Brind'Amour, who played in 80 games last season, has to improve his -23 rating if the Hurricanes expect to be a serious contender in the Eastern Conference.

The story with the Hurricanes going into this season is can they build on the momentum created at the end of last season? Every time they seem to take one step forward (Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2002, winning the Stanley Cup in 2006), they have taken two steps backward (missing the playoffs in 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008). The Hurricanes used a change in head coaches to surge to the playoffs, but upsetting of New Jersey and Boston in the first two rounds before bowing out to Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference Finals.

On offense, this team will come and go with how center Eric Staal plays. If he can top the 40-goal season he had last season, this team could challenge Washington in the Southeast Division. If he gets injured or fails to score enough (Carolina went 7-1 in the playoffs when he scored and 1-9 when he didn’t), this team could be surpassed by Florida or Tampa Bay. If you were to say which way they will lean, go with a Carolina-Washington dogfight for the division title.

Staal will get help on the wings with Ray Whitney and Toumo Ruutu. Not many new players were added, but they will enjoy the return of defensemen Aaron Ward, who left the team after the 2006 championship season to play for New York and Boston. Expect Ward to compete for the third defensive paring spots with newcomer Andrew Alberts,  veteran Tim Conboy.

Keeping on topic with the blue line, that can appear to be a weakness for the Hurricanes.  After allowing only 17 goals in a seven-game series in the conference semi-finals against Boston, the defense of Carolina allowed 20 goals in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Penguins.

While the core of their team is young with Stall and goalie Cam Ward, several members of the 2006 championship team is either in or entering the twilight stage of their careers. The group of players over 34-years-old include defensemen Ward and Niclas Wallin, and forwards Whitney, Scott Walker, and Rod Brind’Amour. Things changed quickly last season during the conference finals when they couldn’t stop Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as their age turned from a positive (leadership and experience) to a negative (age and fatigue).

Look for Joni Pitkanen, Tim Gleason, and Joe Corvo to carry majority of the defensive load while forwards Erik Cole, Matt Cullen, and Chad LaRose will be expected to anchor the second line. For the rookies, expect Zach Boychuk to make the opening night roster. At worse, he will spend most of the season in Albany, which will be better than last season when he made the team out of training camp but returned to Lethbridge of the WHL after two games.

In goal, this is the season that Cam Ward will join the elite goaltenders of the NHL. Working with Tom Barasso, Ward has to take how he played down the stretch and the playoffs last the entire regular season. If Barasso can transfer Ward’s strong play throughout the entire season, consider Ward an outside candiate of the Vezina Trophy.

Overall, this team can shock the Southeast Division and give Washington a good fight, but most likely the Hurricanes will fall between fourth and sixth in the East. What could be working against them if they are in a tight playoff race, seven of its last 12 games beginning March 20 at Pittsburgh are on the road.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,