Today is a sad day at NHL Hot Stove as we close up shop.

I would like to thank every one who has ever contributed, commented and read our site. It was a fantastic ride which unfortunately we can no longer keep up.

Myself and David Strehle are taking on bigger roles at RLDHockey.net while Dustin Leed and The Hockey Guys has been generous enough to give a home to our other excellent contributors. Please be kind enough to give both sites a read.

By Bridget Samuels

When the NHL roster freeze is removed, it will effectively turn the heat up from its current simmer on this year’s hot stove. In fact, Greg Wyshynski and Jeff Marek chose to make it their topic of the day for their fantastic #MvsW podcast, asking “who is the first name player to be traded?”

Taking a few seasons worth of trade deadlines and hockey trades into consideration, the NHL rarely has a ‘name’ player traded. However, one name whose name simply won’t go away is Washington Capitals enigmatic winger Alexander Semin. Semin, or ‘Sasha’ as he’s affectionately referred to, is in his seventh season in the League and with the Caps but could be the poster boy for a change in scenery.

Whether that change comes via a new team or a plane ride to Eurasia to tour the KHL is another story altogether.

After this season, Semin likely enters the free agent waters for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old has signed two consecutive one-year deals to remain in Washington, earning a raise in his most recent pact of 700K. However, there is no way he could argue his current performance deserves a raise. Furthermore, it would be hard to argue he has earned the $6.7 million the Caps are contractually obligated to fork over to him.

Following last night, 4-2 drubbing at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres, Semin has now scored seven goals and 15 points through 31 games. His 19 projected goals would be the lowest since his rookie campaign. Likewise, his 22 assists and 41 points would also be career lows outside of his inaugural season.

Just by watching him, you know the kind of talent he brings to the table. But gauging his trade value based on real-life value and what other GMs would be willing to sacrifice is another story.

A few weeks ago, Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun decided to give his take on Sasha. Unlike his usual hyperbole in which Garrioch usually draws two big names out of a hat and guarantees some sort of guaranteed deal (g5), the columnist chose to give a relatively straight forward answer on the subject. From The Ottawa Sun:

Since a coaching change hasn’t brought the desired results, Capitals GM George McPhee has been working the phones trying to shake up his struggling club. While the Caps would love to move Alexander Semin, there is no market for a struggling, underachieving winger making too much money these days.

With all 30 teams trying to make the playoffs and only 3-5 legitimately out of the race, it is somewhat troubling to think no one would take the risk. Semin has roughly $3.7 million remaining on his cap hit for the season with 15 teams able to foot that bill without an exchange of money. Ruling out noncontenders like the Anaheim Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes while also removing small-budget teams like the Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars, we are now left with about 7-9 contenders who could use a bit more skill up front.

In years past, GM George McPhee would like scoff at trading away his former scorer. Yet, right now, there probably is no better option in shaking up his club’s current configuration. They could opt for a nice package of a prospect and a draft pick or try to help this year’s incarnation which has struggled to keep the puck out of the net in addition to icing a mediocre power play and penalty kill. Moreover, McPhee could just move Semin because it is good asset management turning around an expiring asset for a non-expiring package.

The salary cap will continue to stifle big-name, blockbuster trades but Semin may still be on the move. As we near the halfway point of the season, don’t be surprised if his name is thrown around in a few conversations.

The NHL announced tonight that they will change their current six-division setup into four conferences. For the first time since 1998, the League’s board of governors reached an agreement that not only alters the current outlook but also will allow every team to play a home-and-home series. The NHLPA will still need to approve the realignment but that appears to be a formality at this point.

These four conferences break down as the following:

Conference 1

Vancouver Canucks
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks
Anaheim Ducks
Colorado Avalanche
Phoenix Coyotes

Conference 2

Winnipeg Jets
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
St. Louis Blues
Nashville Predators
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild

Conference 3

Toronto Maple Leafs
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning

Conference 4

Pittsburgh Penguins
Philadelphia Flyers
New York Rangers
New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils
Carolina Hurricanes
Washington Capitals

The current playoff configuration will also change with the first two playoff series coming within the Conference. However, eight teams will still make the show but there should be much more parity. For example, a team in a ‘weaker’ division would not be allowed to grab the third seed if they narrowly make the playoffs.

Furthermore, the schedule works out well for all teams. Home-and-home series should account for roughly 44-46 games with the remaining games getting played in rivalries within the conference. This change, as well as keeping natural rivals like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia; Chicago and Detroit; Calgary and Edmonton; should pave way for more excitement and interest around North America.

Now that we have the details down, let’s get to the fun part. What do we name these conferences? Do they get the old names: Norris, Campbell, Adams and Patrick? Do we rename them something more current like Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe and Orr? Put your vote in below and give some write-ins into the comments.

By David Strehle
NHL Hot Stove Managing Editor

There is an old adage in professional sports about how it is easier to fire a coach than it is to fire 23 players, and that could not have been more true in this morning’s axing of Bruce Boudreau by the Washington Capitals.

Following a team-best 7-0-0 start the Caps had fallen on hard times in recent weeks, going just 5-9-1 over their last 15 games.

There were obviously issues in the dressing room that revolved around new implementations by Boudreau, involving accountability of his club’s numerous star players.  The coach was apt to bench anyone if they were playing at a level deemed less than what was expected.

The situation between Boudreau and Ovechkin may have been 'irreconcilable'. (Photo credit: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)

One of the most-publicized – and perhaps damning - incidents occurred on November 1, when Boudreau sat captain and face-of-the-franchise Alex Ovechkin in the last minute of a contest that Washington trailed by a goal.

Even though Nicklas Backstrom would score both the game-tying goal late in regulation and the game-winner in overtime, cameras caught Ovechkin - who was visibly unhappy - murmuring on the bench.  If you are good at reading lips, Ovechkin’s displeasure at Boudreau’s decision to leave him on the pines at a critical time in the tilt was crystal clear.

Prior to last year, Ovechkin had scored 50-or-more goals and 100-or-more points in four of five NHL campaigns.  Even in his sophomore season of 2006-07, when he did not attain those levels, he still recorded 46 goals and 92 points.

Already coming off a career-low 32 goals last season, Ovechkin was slumping badly again in the season’s first two months this year. 

After 22 games, Ovie had all of eight goals and 17 points – good for second on the club, but far below the numbers usually put up by the 26-year-old Russian-native.  He had all of one goal and three points in his last eight contests, a stretch in which he also was tagged with a -7 rating.

Something had to change, and there was no way that Ted Leonsis and the Capitals were about to move Ovechkin.

Not surprisingly, it was Boudreau who ended up as the one on the chopping block.

Stephen Whyno, the Caps’ beat writer for The Washington Times, tweeted this quote from Bill Watters, who was Boudreau agent during his playing days.

“I called this a week ago. It was inevitable with Ovechkin. I don’t know whos going to be the second victim, but Bruce is the first.  When they decided that keeping Alex Ovechkin happy was secondary to winning a Stanley Cup, that was the end of Bruce Boudreau.”

In hiring former-Capitals captain Dale Hunter as Boudreau’s replacement, there is no doubt Washington is getting another incredible bench boss.  He has spent the last 11 years as coach of the OHL’s London Knights, sporting a gaudy 451-189-23-24 mark.  There is no reason to believe Hunter won’t attack this opportunity with the ferocity that helped him to become the only NHLer ever to record more than 1,000 points and 3,500 PIMs during his 19-year career.

But one has to believe that Boudreau deserved a better end to his time with the Caps.  He took over a team that was very much in disarray in 2007, and turned things around to the tune of an amazing 201-88-40 record.  He won the Jack Adams Trophy in 2008, and became the coach to win 200 games the quickest in NHL history.  Now he is out of a job, but there is no doubt Boudreau will be picked up by another team at some point during the remainder of the regular season.

With the air of frustration and dischord surrounding the team, a change definitely had to be made.  The disinterested play exhibited by Ovechkin, as well as that of fellow-Russian star winger Alexander Semin (five goals, 10 points, -3 in 21 games), seemed to seal Boudreau’s fate.  

Thrashings at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets (4-1 on November 17), Toronto Maple Leafs (7-1 in on November 19), New York Rangers (6-3 in Washington on November 25), and to an injury-depleted Buffalo Sabres squad (5-1 this past Saturday night) also could not be ignored.

Boudreau’s biggest downfall during his time in America’s capital was his 17-20 playoff record.  By acquiring character players such as Mike Knuble, Jason Chimera, Joel Ward, and Troy Brouwer over the last few years, the Capitals had added several character players to not only help push the club over the hump in the postseason, but also to get them through the times of adversity.  This is certainly one of those times, and it will be interesting to see how they react and get the players to respond.

Sure, Boudreau deserved a much better fate in Washington.  But it was easier to change coaches than to go through a massive rebuilding stage for a club that appeared destined to make a run at the Stanley Cup.

Sometimes old professional sports adages ring true far too often.

If you have any comments or questions, you can email the author at dstrehle@nhlhotstove.com.  You can also follow him on Twitter – @David_Strehle

By Alexander Monaghan
President 

By Bridget Samuels (originally posted to Flickr as IMG_6946.jpg)

A quick glance at the League leaders in scoring would yield some household names. Budding forwards Jamie Benn, Phil Kessel and Claude Giroux sit atop stats pages with a familiar name sandwiched in between. That name is Nicklas Backstrom, a once 100-point producer whose production — much like the rest of the Washington Capitals — simply fell off a map last season.

Backstrom has been excellent, sitting third in the League in total points and first in assists. He’s the first player to double digit power play assists and power play totals overall. The crafty Swede is a huge reason why the Caps hold the fourth-most efficient conversion rate with the man advantage. Their power play efficiency was actually a huge reason why the Caps fell from first in scoring to 19th last season.

Looking back at those initial statistics, you will find Alex Ovechkin a bit farther down the list. Not necessarily struggling but also not proving himself statistically as the best player in the League. His six goals and 13 points tie him for 28th overall in scoring. More importantly all six goals scored have been assisted by Backstrom; the six notches this season are only one more than his pivot, making Backstrom’s totals that more impressive.

We all knew Backstrom was a top-notch talent but perhaps he is now ready to break free as a true superstar, not just Ovi’s center.

On Monday, the Gavle, Sweden received a bit of notoriety, earning the third star of the week thanks to three dominant games. Over those three tilts he potted three goals and six points — out producing everyone except fellow Swede Loui Eriksson. His accolade acknowledged his excellent streak but it did not define his contributions on the ice thus far.

He actually has continued his tear, moving from a three-game point streak to a current five-game streak. In addition, these consecutive point totals mark his second streak of the year and second five-game streak for that matter. In fact, he only has two games played without a single point and eight multi-point games over the course of the season.

Last season we saw Backstrom post three multi-game point streaks with only one sustaining a five-game length. More importantly, he only scored a point in 37 of his 77 games played as he struggled with injury and inconsistency. While he took 202 shots on goal, and has taken over 200 shots for two straight seasons, he contributes his early success to throwing more pucks at the net. From Capitals Insider:

“Obviously even if I like to pass — and I like to pass — I’ve got to try to shoot it more too,” Backstrom said. “That’s what I’m trying to do this year.”

More shooting has led to a 13.2 percent shooting percentage. His career high 33 goals came with a 14.9 percent success rate so an uptick could be sustainable. However, it should be noted that his career average is a bit below at 11.7. What’s most important is the total amount of shots he projects to take: 240 — a would-be career-high.

At this current rate, Backstrom is on pace for 32 goals and 120 points while Ovechkin looks like a 38-goal, 82-point winger. Again, nothing to sneeze at but not the most talented player in the world and possibly not even the top guy on this team.

The buzz word in Washington has been accountability. When Ovechkin was recently benched for the final minute of play against the Anaheim Ducks it was Backstrom who skated out as the extra attacker. Furthermore, it was Backstrom who scored the tying goal in the final minute. Alexander Semin had his ice time slashed due to too many minor penalties during Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars but Backstrom finished second in ice time.

In a more evenly-distributed and accountable hybrid system, Backstrom is once again thriving under coach Bruce Boudreau. Moreover, he may give the Sedin Twins a run for their money as the top scoring Swede in the NHL.

By Alexander Monaghan
President

It was old fashioned hockey Thursday night when the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the Washington Capitals. At 14:19 of the third period, fourth line right wing Jay Beagle took a bit of a run at number one defenseman Kris Letang. The result: a brawl between Beagle and pugilist Arron Asham.

Thanks to HockeyFights.com for making the video available via YouTube.

While this fight represents a respected hockey play where Asham decidedly won the fight and injured his opponent in the process, his gesture afterwords deserves some merit. Both James Wisniewski and Nick Boynton were suspended last season in a non ‘Shanaban’ era which could lead so a similar crack down.

So we leave you with the question:

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Yesterday, we let you in on our contest to play a ‘One Day FREE Fantasy Contest‘ to win $100 in cash prizes from Draft Steet. Well, I signed up, How about you?

Here’s my lineup, I challenge you to beat this roster:

LW: Zach Parise — $11,018
LW: Daniel Sedin — $14,799

RW: Bryan Little — $5,941
RW: Martin St. Louis — $13,081

C: Mark Letestu — $5,990
C: Valtteri Filppula — $6,118

D: Niklas Kronwall — $6,547
D: P.K. Subban — $7,817

G: Jonathan Quick — $20,665
G: Brian Gionta — $7,976

Do you have what it takes to defeat a fantasy hockey expert? CLICK HERE to sign up for free and register for NHL Hot Stove $100 Freeroll on DraftStreet.com. Entry is free of charge while you get a chance of earning $100. No brainer if you ask me…

If you haven’t heard, there is a new trend in the world of fantasy sports. Fantasy enthusiasts all over the country are now participating in daily fantasy leagues for cash on DraftStreet.com. We’ve partnered up with Draftstreet to do a FREE one-day fantasy league with $100 in prizes exclusively for NHL Hot Stove readers.

This is a salary cap league where everyone tries to assemble the best team out of the available players. You will have a $100,000 budget to build a team of 2 LW’s, 2 RW’s, 2 Center’s, 2 Defensive players, 1 Goalie, and a FLEX. Each NHL player has been allocated a price based on their expected fantasy performance. For example, star LW Alex Ovechkin costs $14,331 where as RW Jarome Iginla costs $12,256.

You can adjust your roster up until the contest start’s on Thursday 10/13 at 7:00pm ET at which time your rosters will lock and the Live Scoreboard will be available.

CLICK HERE to sign up for free and register for NHL Hot Stove $100 Freeroll on DraftStreet.com

Dear 2011 NHL Off-Season,

What the hell?

No, wait, wait. That came out wrong. Let me start over…

What the hell?!

You’ve been all over the place this summer. Granted, maybe we fans should have seen it coming, what with Brian Rafalski from the Detroit Red Wings retiring and the Philadelphia Flyers shipping off Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, then signing Ilya Bryzgalov for like $16 million/season (I mean, did they see how he played in the playoffs? Wait, I’m getting off-topic.); Teemu Selanne, however, is still taking his sweet time deciding what he’s doing, per normal, and it wouldn’t be a complete off-season without an esteemed veteran toying with everyone – just look at what Jaromir Jagr pulled, debating between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit, then both teams pulling out, then Philadelphia snagging him.

Let’s not forget about the Brad Richards debates. Oh. And then Chris Osgood, Kris Draper, and Adam Foote retired as well. I’m sure I’m missing some guys in there, too.

Do you even want me to bring up all the tragedies? What could hurt a community more? Three players passing away out of the blue and creating horrific headlines for the hockey community and disgusting revelations about the life of an enforcer in the NHL, and then we had that plane crash in Russia that killed an entire hockey team.

The hockey community was – and still is, for that matter – shaken to its core. Red Wings fans didn’t anticipate this off-season being so horrific, but with three veteran players bowing out and then Brad McCrimmon, Ruslan Salei, and former prospect Stefan Liv on that fated Russian plane…what could really make it any worse?

Okay, Off-season, maybe we can’t blame you entirely. Perhaps we should have seen you coming; after all, the post-season should have been some sort of indication. Each round was littered with sweeps, upsets, seven-game series, suspensions, fights, and several teams coming back from 3-0 deficits only to lose it in the seventh game.

Heck, even the regular season should have warned us! The New Jersey Devils tanking and Ilya Kovalchuk doing nothing for so long, the Toronto Maple Leafs actually being undefeated at the start of the season, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby both going down with lengthy injuries, the Washington Capitals having a terrible winless streak, those few weeks in the middle of the season with goalie fights, bench-clearing brawls, seven players in the box at the same time, and 157 penalty minutes just in one game, and who can forget Montreal Canadiens fans calling the cops on Zdeno Chara‘s hit on Max Pacioretty that makes us all cringe in pain just thinking about it?

So I guess it all really boils down to this:

Dear 2011-2012 NHL Regular season,

PLEASE DON’T SUCK.

Sincerely,

Hockey fans around the world.

PS – To the upcoming season – we know you’ll suck at some point for various reasons, so at least don’t give us as many heart attacks. Let us at least have our good health.

Christina Roberts
NHLHS Detroit Red Wings Correspondent
Twitter: @franzenmuth
Email: christina.roberts@nhlhotstove.com

By David Strehle
NHL Hot Stove Creative Editor

Hockey fans in the Delaware Valley who have been struggling through a long, hot summer won’t have to wait too much longer for a fix of their favorite team.

The Philadelphia Flyers today announced that their rookies will play the Washington Capitals prospects in a game to be held at 5:00 p.m. on September 15th at the Wells Fargo Center.

Brayden Schenn skating for Team Canada in 2010. Photo Credit: Rick Stewart / Getty Images North America

The evening will not only mark the end of Flyers’ rookie camp, it will also provide curious Philly fans with the first view of many of the club’s top prospects.  As noted in the team’s release, Flyers’ main camp opens on Saturday, September 17th.

Here is the Flyers’ official press release:

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that they will host the Washington Capitals in a preseason “Rookie Game” scrimmage, presented by Smoothie King, on Thursday, September 15. The game will take place at the Wells Fargo Center at 5 PM.
 
The game will mark the conclusion of a Flyers rookie and prospect camp held prior to the main Flyers camp, which begins with on-ice workouts on September 17.  Prospects scheduled to participate in the camp and game include recently-acquired center Brayden Schenn, 2011 eighth-overall pick Sean Couturier; fellow 2011 draft picks Nick Cousins, Colin Suellentrop, Marcel Noebels and Derek Mathers; as well as Jason Akeson, Oliver Lauridsen, Zac Rinaldo and Eric Wellwood. 
 
The Rookie Game presented by Smoothie King will be open to the public and tickets will be free of charge.  Flyers fans are invited to come to the Wells Fargo Center for an up-close look at the potential Flyers of tomorrow.  Information will be released at a later date on how fans can pick up their tickets to the game. 
 
Flyers fans will also be able to watch the game live via webcast from the Wells Fargo Center on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, with the Flyers broadcast team calling the play-by-play action.

If you have any comments or questions, you can email the author at dstrehle@nhlhotstove.com.  You can also follow him on Twitter – @David_Strehle