October 29, 2011
Jeff Angus
2011-10-29
My first submission for the Province newspaper is up – Scariest Canucks of the past decade. Please give it a read (and a thumbs up).
Our friends at On the Forecheck report that Martin Erat is in today and Sergei Kostitsyn is “doubtful”
David Clarkson skated on the wing with Parise (center) and Kovalchuk at practice today.
The Western Conference leading Edmonton Oilers (yes, you read that right) had another strong goaltending performance last night, this time from Devan Dubnyk. The mammoth ‘tender stopped 40 shots on the road, and made a couple of really good ones late in the game.
Roman Horak scored again for Calgary, and he also added an assist. The surprise rookie hasn’t looked out of place in the top six. He may lose his spot when Backlund returns, but for now he warrants a second look in deeper leagues.
Every season I wait for the youth and depth in St. Louis to push Alex Steen’s production down, and I am still waiting. He leads the team with goals, scoring his sixth of the season last night.
Cam Ward and Corey Crawford were both great last night, and I managed to catch most of the game. The first full game I've seen of Carolina this season.
Patrick Kane won only one of eight faceoffs last night. He's still above 50% on the season, though.
Brandon Sutter had another great game (including a nice breakaway goal). He was the best forward last night and you could make the argument that he's been Carolina's best forward this season.
For being such a good skater, Jeff Skinner sure seems to fall over quite a lot.
LIKE the Dobber Sports Facebook page. Why? Because on November 2nd – Wednesday – I will draw 12 names. The first name drawn from the list of “likes” will receive an EASTON Stealth RS hockey stick – this stick kicks ass, take it from me. The one I have is a left shot, so if you shoot right and your name is drawn I have a Synergy EQ50 I can send you instead. The second name drawn will receive – courtesy of forum buddy Sin Bin – an autographed Sergei Gonchar picture. The next 10 names drawn will recieve 10 free premium memberships at Pick’em First, which is a kick-ass fantasy tool that helps you find and read information on players of interest quickly and easily. The app itself is free, but the premium features are not – but I have 10 memberships I can give away. So get on it!
If you have a few spare minutes, David Booth gave a pretty funny interview to local radio yesterday. He seems like a pretty cool guy. He'll be the CBC After Hours guest tomorrow night after the Caps game, as well.
Doesn't sound like Mike Green is going to play tonight against the Canucks as his ankle is still bothering him.
The reason Nabokov was pulled last night before the shootout? Injury. He won't play tonight, either.
Crosby is looking great in practice, and I keep hearing people saying – "well he hasn't taken that much contact, yet." Who, exactly, is going to be stupid enough to hit him in practice? He'll be back within the next few weeks in my estimation, but this cleared for contact stuff didn't really clear him for anything. Can you imagine Orpik or Letang lining him up in practice?
Brett MacLean has been waived by the Jets. I guess they saw their nine goal explosion the other night and figured they didn't need him. In all seriousness, MacLean lacks the skating to stick at the NHL level (at least right now). He's a great AHL player, but he needs to make significant improvements in a few areas if he wants to become a good NHL player.
Halloween weekend is upon us? For those of you who still dress up, what are the costumes of choice this year?
The Oilers unsurprisingly decided to keep Nugent-Hopkins around. The kid is clearly good enough for the NHL. I was wrong in my preseason estimation he wasn't physically ready. If you are as smart as he is, size is pretty much irrelevant (and he's really strong on his skates).
Congrats on the three point game, Mr. Voynov! Now welcome to the AHL. The LA Kings sure know how to reward a solid effort, no? My comments are mostly tongue-in-cheek, as the Kings didn't really have any other options with Doughty coming back into the lineup.
Matt Calvert was called back up by the Blue Jackets. David Savard was sent back down.
Ryan Strome continues to add to his highlight reel – what a goal: