The Wings have signed Jason Williams to a one-year deal. This effectively pushes Jeremy Williams off the team. Jeremy had the No. 13 spot up front almost by default. I don't see a whole lot out of Jason on the third line in Detroit, and he'll have to battle Patrick Eaves for the spot. At [...]
After a one-week hiatus, the summer sleeper series has returned. This special edition will contain much more than usual. In addition to the analysis of a sleeper pick, I will be announcing my Sleeper of the Year for 2009-2010. Past winners of this prestigious title include Zach Parise, Brent Burns, and Steve Bernier. First, I will start off with the player I had originally planned to discuss last week - Chris Butler. After that I will get to the big announcement.
Jim Balsillie will be allowed to bid on the Coyotes at the auction, the judge has ruled. Full details can be found here. The Caps signed AHL supersniper Alexandre Giroux to a two-way deal. USA Today's Kevin Allen is reporting that Brian Burke told him he has zero interest in Nik Zherdev. So [...]
Let’s revisit the end of the 2004 campaign, which was the year before the lock-out. The Blackhawks, Capitals, and Penguins finished the year ranked 28th, 29th and 30th respectively. The Blue Jackets finished 27th followed by the Coyotes at 26th, so to make things a bit easier let’s just say they were essentially in the same boat four seasons ago. Following that campaign and a few subsequent years, the Capitals revamped with Alex Ovechkin and Niklas Backstrom. The Penguins revamped with Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Jordan Staal. The Blackhawks followed a similar path and picked up a few studs in Cam Barker, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. The Blue Jackets added Derrick Brassard and Jakub Voracek, while the Coyotes haven’t been too bad as they followed suit by drafting a few doozies in Kyle Turris, Mikkel Boedker, and Peter Mueller. So the main question on my mind is - why has Washington, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Columbus essentially improved themselves into Stanley Cup contending/winning franchises, while Phoenix is still floundering?
Forum still being fixed. I try to improve the forum...and end up wrecking everything. Sorry everyone! That was horrible - I thought July 1st was bad. Over six hours down last night.Back now and I hope for good. Some lessons were learned (like do not push the red button). Patrick Eaves has signed [...]
There’s an interesting decision for Team Canada to make regarding their third goaltender. Obviously Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo are currently seen as the team’s top two masked men of choice, as they lead the way in overall experience. But between Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury and Steve Mason, which one is best suited as the third?
If you can read this link, you will see that Janne Pesonen has signed with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL for next season. Buffalo goaltender Adam Dennis has signed to play in the Italian League next season. Jiri Hudler's agent did indeed agree to a two-year contract with the Red Wings, but [...]
There is a lot going on in the hockey world down in, er, the desert. With all of these off-ice distractions, how can these promising young players continue to blossom into fantasy studs? Let’s take a look at some of the key components.
Russ Miller's recent column "Top Shelf Eastern Talent" was highly criticized and now that things have settled down I have only just caught it. I invite my readers to please read my apology in the comments section below his article. I have also edited a couple of the glaring errors in his column (which were [...]
The Canadiens need prospect Max Pacioretty to thrive in order to compete this season. With a first line of Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta averaging 5'10, 185 pounds and a potential second line of Tomas Plekanec between Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn averaging 5'11, 195 pounds, the Montreal Canadiens badly need some size up front.
