Author Archive
Seguin’s potential on display in playoff debut
Posted by: | CommentsI wonder which wise guy at Tuesday’s press conference following Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals was the first to ask Claude Julien if Tyler Seguin would play Game 3.
I’m sure that one got a chuckle from the assembled media scrum, and having been in a few of those in my day, I have no doubt whatsoever that someone lobbed that question at the Bruins head coach. It’s possible there were multiple reporters tripping over each other for the honor.
Seguin was a spectator for the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which isn’t unusual for a 19-year old rookie — even if said rookie was the No. 2 overall pick in last summer’s draft. He recorded a goal and an assist in his playoff debut in Game 1, but still he was only in the lineup at all because top center Patrice Bergeron was out with a concussion. (Side bar: How many Bruins fans, upon hearing the announcers refer to “Bergeron” for the first time in this series, got excited thinking Patrice had made a miraculous earlier-than-expected return to the lineup, only to be let down to learn it was actually Lightning defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron?)
Seguin had his share of ups and down this season, which also is not at all unusual for a kid that young. He had only 11 goals and 22 points in 74 games, and was one of the only Bruins skaters with a negative plus/minus (his minus-4 was second worst on the team).
So with Patrice Bergeron set to return any day — likely as early as Game 3 tonight in Tampa — it seemed the former Plymouth Whalers star might be skating on borrowed ice time in these here playoffs. Before Game 2, it was probably assumed he’d return to watching from the press box as soon as Bergy was ready to go.
PUT ME IN COACH: Seguin is ready to go for the Bruins, whether at home or on the road.
But after putting forth what easily stands as his best performance as a pro, and being arguably the best player on the ice for the victorious Bruins on Tuesday, the thought of Seguin not playing when the two teams hit the ice this evening is pretty much inconceivable. His four-point night (two goals, two assists) sparked the Bruins to a thrilling 6-5 win in a game the home team couldn’t afford to lose after dropping Game 1 on Saturday.
Seguin breathed life into Boston’s non-existent power play, logging about a minute and a half of ice time with the man advantage as the Bruins went 2-for-5 — matching their total output for the previous 12 games combined (2-for-41). It’s been well documented that Boston won their first-round series against Montreal in seven games without scoring a single power-play goal (0-for-21), the first time a team has advanced without scoring such a goal in a series in NHL history.
I started scribbling out this blog post after Seguin’s second goal — both were beautiful “goal-scorers” goals — and didn’t even get halfway through that process before Seguin added two helpers and staked Boston to a 5-3 lead.
Now one great game does not a “star” make, but once again he was the second pick in his draft year, so the pedigree is there. Bruins fans certainly hope there are many more games like Tuesday’s in the years to come for this youngster, selected with what would have been Toronto’s draft pick before they shipped it off to Boston in the trade for Phil Kessel.
BALANCING ACT: Seguin is savvy enough to know his place on the Bruins is wherever they need him.
It’ll be interesting to see how Julien uses Seguin for Game 3 if Bergeron does return — and all indications point to that happening — whether he’ll continue to get time on the power play or not, and how he’ll handle his road playoff debut.
What I’ll also be curious to see is who the odd man out will be if both are in the lineup. The Bruins haven’t had much of a varied lineup throughout the playoffs, skating the exact same 12 forwards for every game until Seguin spelled Bergeron the past two contests. It’ll likely be either Shawn Thornton (one assist, a minus-1 and 2 PIM in 13 playoff games) or Gregory Campbell (1-2—3, team-worst minus-3 and 2 PIM).
Either way, if the rest of the games in this series can come close to the excitement of Game 2, hockey fans are in for a treat.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Sharks Collapse of 2011 Would be Worst Yet
Posted by: | CommentsThe fourth win to eliminate a team from the playoffs always comes toughest, the saying goes. As the San Jose Sharks are learning the hard way that tired proclamation is often quite true.
For the second consecutive postseason, the Sharks jumped out to a 3-0 series lead against the mighty Detroit Red Wings, quite an accomplishment in itself. In 2010, after a brief 7-1 hiccup in Game 4 in Detroit, San Jose closed the deal in five games and advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the second time in franchise history.
A year later, that fourth win appears in serious jeopardy. The Red Wings have won three in a row, and they have all the momentum heading into Thursday’s decisive Game 7 at HP Pavilion.
For his part, Sharks coach Todd McLellan did his best at Tuesday’s postgame press conference to place focus on the still-ripe opportunity his team has Thursday, which is really all he can do. Dwelling on the specter of such an epic collapse is not much of an appealing alternative.
Could veteran left winger Patrick Marleau be the key to a Sharks' victory tonight?
“We’ll ignore it,” McLellan said when a reporter asked if he would address with his team the history of teams blowing 3-0 series leads (it’s only been done three times in the NHL, for the record). “At 3-0, we’d won three games in a row. At 3-3, they’ve won three games in a row. That’s why these series are all an odd number of games. We could have been in the exact same situation we are right now by winning one, losing one, winning one, losing one… It doesn’t matter how we got here.”
Sharks fans, whether they admit or not, can’t be feeling super confident going into Game 7, even with the home ice advantage at the Shark Tank. Sharks fans, whether they admit it or not, have been conditioned to expect the worst. As a Minnesota Vikings fan, I know this. We can smell our own.
“‘Confident’ is never a word a Sharks fan should use when considering the recent playoff history of the franchise,” Director of Upper Deck Authenticated, and devoted Sharks fan, Steve Sloan said Wednesday. “At this point, I would use the term ‘hopeful.’ Hopeful we can shed past playoff demons.”
To recap that recent history, the Sharks have finished with better than 100 points each of the past five seasons, and six of the past seven (they had 99 points in 2005-06). They have won Pacific Division championships in six of the past nine seasons, including four in a row. They’ve been the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference twice in that span, and been a No. 2 seed three other times, including this year. They also won the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best record in the NHL in 2008-09.
All that has amounted to a pair of berths in the conference finals – that’s it. Last year, they were unceremoniously swept out of the playoffs by eventual champion Chicago after finishing with 113 points in the regular season.
Yet even with all that frustration, losing Thursday would be “the crown jewel of Sharks playoff failures,” Sloan said. “They would have lost in every conceivable fashion after winning the Pacific Division four straight seasons: Not advancing past the (second round) by losing to a lower seed (fifth-seeded Dallas in ’07-08); blowing the Presidents’ Trophy by losing to a No. 8 seed; getting swept in the conference finals; and then blowing a 3-0 lead.”
But they haven’t done that yet. The Sharks still have the chance to put it all right Thursday by just winning that fourth game. And they’ll have the home crowd behind them, which can’t be completely discounted.
“The place will be loud, and the younger guys feed off that excitement,” Sloan said.
But the longer the game remains scoreless, or should Detroit jump out ahead, the tougher it will be to keep the negative thoughts from creeping in, both on the bench and in the bleachers. If the Sharks can get an early lead and keep it, they’ll be fine. But if the Wings jump out first and take the crowd out of it, the home ice advantage will be neutralized and the game will be a coin flip or worse for San Jose. “If they get down early, it could get ugly,” Sloan said.
The key to being let down by a team that has never failed to let you down is the ultimate belief, in the face of so much evidence to the contrary, that this time it’s going to be different. I’m siding with my Sharks fan brethren on this one: I think that San Jose – like the Vancouver Canucks in their first-round series with the Chicago Blackhawks – gets its act together just in time to avoid catastrophe, and win 4-2 tonight, with Patrick Marleau finally showing signs of life and picking up a couple points.
We’ll all know the actual outcome in just a few short hours.
Popularity: 2% [?]
All Smiles at the Staples Center
Posted by: | CommentsWhile hockey’s annual amateur draft is all business for the NHL suits tasked with filling out their organizational depth charts, the fun of the experience is best reflected in two groups of people: the young men who have come to (hopefully) see their lifelong dreams fulfilled, and the fans who make the pilgrimage to witness the big moment for the next generation of hockey’s stars.
Who's being drafted first? Edmonton Oilers fans clash over their top overall pick.
It’s a safe bet that Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin have bright futures ahead of them very shortly, as do many of the other first-round picks, but there will also be several less heralded players from later rounds who will emerge from the margins to establish themselves as solid NHL players. That’s why many youngsters taken even in the sixth and seventh rounds were in attendance Saturday to put on a jersey, shake some hands, have their pictures taken and meet with the media. It happens every year, and that is why from Hall at No. 1 to Zach Trotman at the 210th (and last) pick, the draft every year is all about what might be.
Step up to the the tape. No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall gets ready for his Upper Deck close-up.
It’s the same reason why scores of Edmonton Oilers fans made the trip to Los Angeles this past weekend to witness the first NHL Draft ever held on the West Coast of the United States — to see their team select what they hope will be the franchise’s next superstar.
I spent plenty of time on the weekend at Upper Deck’s booth on the Staples Center concourse, handling wrapper redemptions that the company was doing exclusively for this event and schmoozing with fellow hockey fans and card vendors. And I also spent a lot of time behind the scenes helping Upper Deck photographers as they took pictures of the recent draftees.
The redemption booth was busiest on Friday during the first round, then again when Kings captain Dustin Brown stopped by to sign autographs on Saturday. While the majority of folks who turned out all weekend were Kings fans from the area, there were plenty of people who came from more far-flung locales. One such group had come all the way from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia (Sidney Crosby’s hometown) — a “billet” family who had made the 3,600-mile trip to support the young man who’d lived with them for the last several years, and in the process become part of the family, on his big day. Steve, the billet father of young Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault, who was taken with the 102nd pick by Columbus, wore a wide grin as he described the experience of the trip as akin to being “a kid in a candy store.”
Sign here please. L.A. Kings Captain Dustin Brown made plenty of fans happy at the Upper Deck booth.
And that was a scene repeated over and over again. Working down at our photo station, a co-worker pointed out how cool it was that every kid walking through the door sporting a new NHL jersey was doing so only moments after their dream of a lifetime had been realized. Because some of these kids will go on to be stars, many will make a lot of money playing a game they love, and still some will never play a shift in the NHL. But one day they will all be able to tell their grand-kids they were an NHL draft pick once upon a time.
Popularity: 1% [?]
2009 NHL Rookies: Calder Trophy Candidates
Posted by: | CommentsMy life has kind of been consumed by NHL rookies in the first six weeks of the season, so for my first blog entry of 2009-10, I figured that would be a good place to start. At Upper Deck, we try to get the newest rookie cards out the door and on the market as quickly as possible, and with 56 youngsters making their debut since the season began, you can imagine October is a busy month around here for the hockey folks.
Here’s a look at some of the newcomers this year — as well as some that debuted before this season, but are still eligible for the Calder Trophy after playing fewer than 25 games in a season.
• Michael Del Zotto (D, Rangers) — Let’s start at the top, with the first NHL Rookie of the Month. Del Zotto was a teammate of John Tavares with the Oshawa Generals in the OHL, and along with the top pick of last summer’s draft was traded to the London Knights midseason in 2008-09. He was also a former teammate of 2008 top pick Steven Stamkos with the Markham Waxers Junior ‘A’ team before that. Del Zotto got off to a red-hot start to his NHL career, scoring goals in his second and third games and bagging four goals and eight assists in October. He’s cooled off a little of late, recording only a single assist to go with a minus-4 mark in the Rangers’ past six games.
• John Tavares (C, Islanders) — Unlike his predecessor Stamkos, the Mississauga, Ontatio native has looked quite at home in the NHL from the word “Go.” He had a goal and an assist in his debut, and leads all rookies with 14 points (5 goals, 9 assists) through Nov. 11. Tavares also pieced together a four-game point streak (2 goals, 2 assists to go with a plus-4 mark) that helped spark a four-game win streak for the Islanders.
• Matt Duchene (C, Avalanche) and Ryan O’Reilly (C, Avalanche) — If a team is going to start a rebuilding project like Colorado has, it definitely helps to hit a couple home runs in the draft like the Avs seemingly did last summer. There were six 2009 draft picks that were in their team’s respective lineups on opening night this season, and two of them were suiting up in Denver. Duchene was the No. 3 pick in June, and came in with more hype, but it has been the second-rounder O’Reilly — the only one of the six not selected in the first round — who has probably been the biggest surprise among this year’s crop of newcomers. He has 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) and leads all rookies with a plus-14 through 19 games. So much for rebuilding, as the Avalanche stand in second place in the entire NHL, with 27 points through Nov. 11.
• Victor Hedman (D, Lightning) — Hedman got his bell rung Nov. 5 at Ottawa, but was set to return to the lineup Thursday night against the Wild after missing the last game. That’s good news for Tampa Bay, because from the moment he first stepped on the ice in his NHL debut, the Lightning have leaned pretty heavily on the 6-foot-6 Swedish blueliner. Hedman played a team-high 26:27 in that game, a 6-3 loss at Atlanta, and only defensive partner and countryman Mattias Ohlund has averaged more ice time for the Lightning so far this season (by 25 seconds). Hedman is averaging 24 minutes a game, leading all rookies by a wide margin. The No. 2 pick from last summer’s draft has held his own in that time, chipping in four assists and netting a plus-1 mark through 14 games.
• Tyler Myers (D, Sabres) — Myers won the MVP award for his efforts during the WHL playoffs with the Kelowna Rockets last spring, when he scored five goals and set up 15 more in 22 postseason game for the Western League champs, who then went on to lose the Memorial Cup final to the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. He attended the Rockets preseason training camp in August just in case, but there was only a small chance he’d be playing anywhere but Buffalo this season. The 6-foot-8 giant is the only other rookie regular aside from Hedman averaging 20 minutes a game or more in 15 contests through Nov. 11.
• Jamie Benn (LW, Stars) — Benn was part of the same Kelowna team along with Myers and Flames center Mikael Backlund that had so much postseason success last spring, and he’s made a nice transition to the pro game. Benn, along with several other factors (continued good play from sophomores James Neal and Fabian Brunnstrom; a return to form by goaltender Marty Turco; a return to health by Brenden Morrow and Brad Richards) has Dallas playing good hockey again in early 2009-10. Benn has played a lot of minutes with what would probably be considered the Stars’ top line — with Mike Ribeiro at center and Morrow on the other flank. He has three goals and 11 points through 17 games.
• Matt Gilroy (D, Rangers) — Gilroy’s success story is the stuff Hollywood makes movies about. He was a superstar in high school, leading his St. Mary’s High School team in Manhasset, N.Y. to state championships as a captain his junior and senior seasons, but drew zero interest from Division I NCAA programs, and decided to walk on at Boston University. All he did with the Terriers was earn himself three All-America nods, captain BU to a national championship last spring and be named the Hobey Baker Award winner as college hockey’s top player. After that, Gilroy had the attention of NHL teams like he never had when he was “cold calling” college coaches looking for a home. Gilroy has been solid in Gotham, bagging two goals and two assists in 18 games for the Rangers, but more importantly for a rookie defenseman, he is tied with Myers with a plus-6, the best mark among blueliners who have debuted in 2009-10, while averaging 18:55 a night.
• Jonas Gustavsson (G, Maple Leafs) — “The Monster” forced himself into the consciousness of NHL general managers and scouts last season by leading the Swedish Elite League with a 1.96 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in the regular season, before helping Farjestads win a playoff championship with mind-blowing 1.03 and .961 marks in the postseason. Much drooling and a bidding war erupted over the summer, and the Leafs won the sweepstakes. As a team Toronto has struggled mightily early in the season, though thanks to Gustavsson’s emergence and a healthy Phil Kessel, they’re showing signs of life). Gustavsson has already effectively wrestled the starting job away from Vesa Toskala, starting eight games to the Finn’s five through Nov. 11. He’s got a 3-3-3 mark and a respectable .910 save percentage in those games.
• James van Riemsdyk (LW, Flyers) — The former No. 2 overall pick in 2007 (after Patrick Kane) is tied with Tavares and O’Reilly with 14 points, and leads all newcomers with 11 assists through Nov. 11, despite missing several games after breaking the tip of his left pinky. JVR is now playing with stitches and a bandage on the injured digit, but has played most of his shifts his shifts on what would have to be considered Philly’s top line, with Jeff Carter and Daniel Briere before the injury, so he should continue to see plenty of chances to pile up points.
• Jason Demers (D, Sharks) — Demers was not a guy on a lot of people’s rookie radars coming into the season, but he is now after chipping in 10 assists through 19 games, and with Rob Blake out of the lineup, he has been logging the majority of the ice time alongside Dan Boyle with the Sharks’ potent top power-play unit. That’s a good place to be. Demers led all QMJHL defensemen with 55 assists and 64 points playing with the Victoriaville Tigres in 2007-08, so the high assists total isn’t totally out of the blue (though he’d never had more than 19 assists in a season before that), but it was only after that breakout campaign that San Jose drafted a 20-year old Demers in the seventh round, so he would have to be considered a late bloomer. Whatever, he’s playing great now.
• Nicklas Bergfors (RW, Devils) — The Devils have waited a long time for this former 23rd overall pick in 2005 to put it all together. Bergfors had a solid rookie year in the AHL in 2005-06 with the Albany River Rats (17 goals, 23 assists, 40 points), but had sagged to 32 and 27 points in the past two seasons, respectively, and had played just nine NHL games before starting this season in the NHL, with one goal to show for it. He’s finally responding, netting four goals and five assists through 16 games, playing mostly third- and fourth-line minutes.
• Nikita Filatov (LW, Blue Jackets) — The Russian winger played in only eight games in 2008-09, and showed flashes of his potential — including bagging a hat trick in a game against the Wild on Jan. 10. But he had only one other point beside that (a goal), and has averaged only a little more than 8 minutes a game through 12 games in ’09-10. The sixth overall pick in the 2008 draft probably won’t be winning the Calder Trophy this season, but I think there’s still a good chance he’ll get a shot to prove himself at some point this year, and he’ll deliver. So far, he’s getting support from his teammates and saying all the right things through some sparse playing time, and is keeping up a good attitude.
• Davis Drewiske (D, Kings) — It says a lot about how well Drewiske has played in the early part of 2009-10 that the Kings gave him a three-year, $600,000 contract extension last month. That may not be huge money, but keep in mind the Kings farm system is stocked deep with high draft picks at the defense position — Thomas Hickey, Colten Teubert and Viacheslav Voinov all rank among L.A.’s top six prospects according to Hockey’s Future. Drewiske played four seasons at the University of Wisconsin, helping the Badgers win a national championship as a sophomore in 2005-06, and captaining the team as a senior. He leads all rookie defensemen with a plus-9 through 19 games, and also with 30 blocked shots.
• Semyon Varlamov (G, Capitals) — Varlamov was probably the most known NHL commodity among these rookies coming into the new season, courtesy of his solid play in helping Washington reach the Eastern Conference semifinals last spring. But he has found himself on the skinny end of a time share with hot-and-cold veteran Jose Theodore so far this season, posting a lukewarm 2.90 GAA and .905 save percentage in his eight games played, despite recording a 6-1-0 record in those opportunities. I think Varlamov will end up as the Caps’ starter eventually when he heats up following a predictable Theodore slump. It may have already happened: the Russian netminder sparked a big comeback win over the Islanders on Tuesday night in Washington, stopping 25 of 26 shots in relief after Theodore yielded three goals on New York’s first five shots of the game, before stoning the Isles through 10 rounds of an epic shootout after allowing Jeff Tambellini to score on the first attempt he faced.
The frontrunner for the Calder so far is probably Tavares, simply because he probably had the inside track as the much-hyped first overall pick and he has done nothing to disappoint in the least so far. If he continues to produce like he has, he’ll cruise to the rookie of the year award. That said, should Tavares stumble van Riemsdyk and O’Reilly have played their way into consideration early. Gustavsson could factor in if he keeps standing on his head in Toronto, and as well as some of the defensemen have played, it’s really hard for a D-man to build the kind of backing to win the Calder as is needed.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Penguins Skate the Cup: C’est Magnifique!
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s a good bet a lot of the revelry Friday night in the Penguins locker room after they clinched the Stanley Cup in Detroit was in French.
Friday’s climactic Game 7 had a very French-Canadian flavor to it, with six of the players skating the Cup for the winning team hailing from the province of Quebec — including Max Talbot, who scored both goals in Pittsburgh’s 2-1 victory at Joe Louis Arena, and Marc-Andre Fleury, whose goaltending in Games 6 and 7 was the single-most crucial factor in the Pens successfully overcoming a 3-2 series deficit. In addition to Talbot and Fleury, Kris Letang, Pascal Dupuis, Phillipe Boucher and backup goalie Mathieu Garon were all born in Quebec.
Talbot and Fleury are good friends, and have a pre-game ritual performed in French in which they “talk about their boyhood days, their shared experiences on the Canadian junior teams, [and] their good fortune in getting paid to play hockey on its highest level,” explains Robert Dvorchak of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Penguins carried play in the first period, but went to the dressing room unrewarded on the scoreboard. Then Talbot serendipitously found the puck on his stick after Brad Stuart’s ill-advised clearing attempt out of his corner glanced off Evgeni Malkin’s skate and right to the Lemoyne native, and Talbot didn’t miss. It was a huge goal, and sucked the life out of the Joe Louis Arena crowd. After Talbot went down the line in front of his bench to get the customary fist bumps, he took a few strides toward his buddy, exchanged a meaningful glance and a fist pump for Fleury, as if to say “OK, we got one. Now it’s your turn.”
On the other end of the ice, it was clear early that Fleury was just as engaged in Game 7 as he was in Game 6 in Pittsburgh, and it was going to be really tough for the Red Wings to beat the Sorel native on this night. He was reading plays very well, his positioning was flawless and there was a sense he might just pitch a shutout. Indeed Detroit didn’t get on the scoreboard until only about 6 minutes remained in the contest, on a goal by rookie defenseman Jonathan Ericsson through a screen that Fleury likely never saw. While he may have caught a break when Niklas Kronwall’s blast smacked loudly off the crossbar with about 2 minutes left, he saved his best stop of the evening for last, desperately flinging his body in front of Nicklas Lidstrom’s last-gasp shot from point-blank range with a second remaining. It was a pretty good scoring chance, given the circumstances, and Fleury’s lunging save will be one of the enduring images from the game, along with the scruffy-looking, yet baby-faced Sidney Crosby triumphantly holding the Cup over his head, a coronation not just for Sid the Kid and the Penguins, but seemingly a new generation of NHL superstars.
Another image that will stay with me is that of another Quebecer, Mario Lemieux, the new unofficial mayor of Pittsburgh, again hoisting the Cup over his head 17 years after winning the second of back-to-back championships with the Penguins in 1991 and ’92, and listening to the effusive praise from Talbot, who was being interviewed by Pierre McGuire on NBC at the time, for Mario:
“When he’s in the room, he pushes us,” Talbot said, mentioning that Lemieux delivered a note to the team before Game 7. “He’s an unbelievable guy, and he’s a winner. Once again.”
Lemieux hoisting the Cup, then and now.
Earlier last week, another of the Pens Francophiles, spare defenseman Boucher from St. Apollinaire, told Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review what Lemieux means to French Canadians: “When French Canadians think of hockey, [Lemieux’s name] is the one that comes to mind.”
Having said that, while French Canadians can and should continue to take pride in the gracious Montreal native, Lemieux now belongs as much to Pittsburgh as he does to his native province, and probably more so.
Mario Lemieux Upper Deck Original Art
Is it possible for any person in sports history to endear themselves to a fan base more than Lemieux, who is as much a part of the fabric of Pittsburgh as the steel industry, and the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers? He has now saved the Penguins franchise in Pittsburgh twice over, first vaulting the club from irrelevant, laughable bottom-dwellers to perennial Cup contenders upon his entry into the league in 1984-85. He played his entire spectacular 17-year career with the Pens, then bought the team in 1999 by turning the money owed him by the team in the form of deferred salary into equity in the franchise, saving the Pens from bankruptcy that very nearly led to the team’s extinction in Pittsburgh. They were close to either moving or folding completely, but Lemieux’s plan to pay all the team’s creditors was successful, and now they will play one more season in the NHL’s oldest building, Mellow Arena, affectionately known as “The Igloo,” before moving into a shiny new home beginning with the 2010-11 season, thanks to Mario.
And of course, he’s been Crosby’s landlord and surrogate father since Sid joined the Penguins in 2005.
Rossi says the Penguins are thinking of placing a statue of Lemieux outside the new Consol Energy Center when it opens, but the humble owner would have to OK that arrangement.
Some random thoughts and notes: As mentioned Friday, it had been 30 years since a visiting team in either the Stanley Cup Finals, World Series or NBA Finals won a Game 7 on the road — the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates. It’s only happened three times in NHL history, the last time coming in 1971, when the Montreal Canadiens bested the Chicago Black Hawks. That series played out the same way as this one did, with the home team winning the first six games before the Habs broke serve in Game 7.
• For those that may have forgotten, it was Talbot who scored with 35 seconds left in regulation last year that tied Game 5 and denied Detroit the privilege of celebrating another Cup on home ice, when the Penguins went on to win that contest in three overtimes before bowing out in Game 6.
• I enjoy playing fantasy hockey in the winter, and next year I’m making it a priority to target Jordan Staal, who I think grew by leaps and bounds this postseason. I think Letang is another guy who will be undervalued heading into 2009-10.
• One of this offseason’s more interesting unrestricted free agents, in my opinion, is stay-at-home defenseman Rob Scuderi. He will surely require a raise from his $725,000 salary of 2008-09.
• When commissioner Gary Bettman handed the Cup to the 21-year old Crosby, Sid became the youngest captain in NHL history to hoist sports most treasured trophy, just as he was the youngest player in history to be named an NHL captain before the 2007-08 season. Malkin (22) is the third-youngest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Popularity: unranked [?]
