Patrick Powell
Salary Cap Analyst 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File: David_Booth.jpg

In analyzing this deal , the proverbial “elephant in the room” is the disparity in age and potential upside of the players involved. Booth is 26, Reinprecht is 35, Samuelsson is 34, and Sturm is 33. The latter two seem on the downsides of their respective careers whereas Reinprecht, who has probably peaked as well, will remain dead weight in the AHL. Booth clearly has the highest potential of any player in the deal, but he arguably also carries the greatest health risk due to his 54 game campaign in 2009-2010 after suffering multiple concussions.

Reinprecht had been playing in the AHL, and recently reported to Vancouver’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. As a result, his full season cap hit of $2.05 million will not adversely affect the Canucks, who are now within $87,000 of the cap. Booth carries a full year cap hit of $4.25 million versus $2.5 million for Samuelsson and $2.25 million for Sturm.

The Panthers still have over $9 million in salary cap space, and they now have the maximum of 23 players on their active roster. GM Dale Tallon added experience to a young roster with this move but moreover cleared future cap space. He was not afraid to make a move that sends away potential in return for flexibility, which begs the question: Will we see more deals like this?

Booth is currently signed through 2015 as he previously committed himself to the Panthers just one season before Tallon took over the team. He was traded before his production severely dropped off, which makes the deal somewhat unique. A similar deal in length, like Shawn Horcoff‘s pact with the Edmonton Oilers, certainly would not relate since the pivot lost most of his trade value when he signed his new deal. The same should be said for Scott Gomez, whose contract extends through 2014 but is already the most discussed topic in Montreal.

A similar deal to the Booth trade could be the Calgary Flames moving players like Curtis Glencross, Rene Bourque or less likely Olli Jokinen, David Moss and Niklas Hagman. GM Jay Feaster would be willing to sacrifice potential (let’s face it outside of Roman Horak, Mikael Backlund and T.J. Brodie there are no young options) for added salary flexibility for the future. Building around their younger players looks like the right way to go as the front office in Calgary finally understands cap efficiency.

Another interesting option is left wing Blake Comeau, who may have permanently found coach Jack Capuano’s doghouse. The former 47th overall pick scored more than Booth last season and as Chris Botta of The New York Times hinted, via Twitter, Comeau’s value is severely decreasing with decreased playing time. This scenario may perfectly mirror that of Booth’s as Comeau could help a contender in need of secondary scoring while preventing GM Garth Snow from investing further resources on a depreciating asset down the line.

The next option for another blockbuster could involve the currently held out Kyle Turris. We know he wants to be traded and GM Don Maloney may be forced to trade him at below his market value in order to get some usable assets for him this season. Furthermore, his subtraction would clear salary cap space for the future as the team would not have to pay him in excess of $4 million this year and likely more down the road — especially when considering his unproven talents.

Then again, the Panthers and Canucks could hook up once more. In fact, one would be foolish to rule out Mikael Samuelsson getting sent back to Vancouver once healthy as he did work in coach Alain Vigneault‘s system. Of course, this trade would not be the second, or the third even between these teams in recent years.

This deal marks the second blockbuster involving these clubs but fourth transaction in recent memory. In 2006, the Canucks acquired starting goalie Roberto Luongo, defenseman Lukas Krajicek, and sixth round draft choice (Canucks drafted Sergei Shirokov) in exchange for forward Todd Bertuzzi, goaltender Alex Auld, and defenseman Bryan Allen. Other players like Keith Ballard, Michael Grabner and Christopher Higgins have also switched jerseys over the last couple of seasons.

As Bill pointed out in his piece, Tallon sought to send a message to his young Panthers’ club with this move: you need to perform to stay. Will this message reverberate to other teams in the league? For example, the Blue Jackets (0-7-1) Sharks (3-3-0), Flames (2-4-1), Canadiens (1-4-2), and Bruins (3-5-0) have all performed below expectations in the early going. Players with these teams, particularly those earning over $4 million per season, may feel the heat from Tallon’s move. Perhaps GMs from these teams will ensure to cite David Booth as an example to demonstrate that subpar efforts will not be tolerated, and that no player is safe.

Alexander Monaghan also contributed to this article.

By Alexander Monaghan
President

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By Orlandkurtenbach (Own work) [Public domain

Then came the surgery.

Kesler went under the knife on July 25th, going through a successful hip labral surgery. Typically a surgery of this nature keeps a hockey player out of the lineup for at least two months in the best-case scenario. The last time he had this specific surgery, he missed 72 days and likely rushed back into the lineup — those numbers would have had him back in the lineup by October 6th, able to make the team’s season opener when his Vancouver Canucks hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Yet here we are, 11 days later and Kesler is coming back, perhaps stronger than his initial return. The Canucks have not dominated due to rusty play from Roberto Luongo and all the pieces just not fitting together the same as they did last season, when the team captured the President’s Trophy. They likely are banking on the return of their second line center making those pieces fall into place.

Today, Kesler centered the second line with speedy winger Christopher Higgins playing on his left wing and his replacement Cody Hodgson finding his way onto the right side. Should Kesler not be able to take draws or need a boost, Hodgson will quickly return to his former position and help him out there. The risk statistically is relatively minimal. The only player to draw out of the lineup is dud-of-the-week Marco Sturm. The move pushes Mikael Samuelsson down to the third line with Manny Malhotra and Jannik Hansen which adds depth and scoring to the bottom lines. In theory, these roster moves and line changes should work, but they certainly come with a risk.

Yesterday, the Ohio native skated without his teammates. He skated for nearly an entire practice by himself and has yet to practice with a line until, of course, today. Yesterday he was not 100 percent, but today, apparently he miraculously recovered. Tell me if these quotes sound like he fully healed. From The White Towel:

“Obviously, I’m a competitive guy and I don’t like to see the team lose,” said Kesler. “You think about coming back sooner, but it wouldn’t be smart for me. I have to keep reminding myself to be patient and let my hip and body tell me when I’m ready and not my mind and my heart.

“It’s smart for me to take my time now and let everything heal. I’m not a guy who plays on the perimeter, I want to get in there and battle. I’m getting closer but obviously I still feel it [hip] at times out there — just certain movements I don’t feel comfortable doing yet. I’m not going to come back until I feel comfortable or I’m 100 per cent.”

So Kesler returns tomorrow, just two days after those quotes, to face the New York Rangers — the team that led the League in hits last season. He will either play a perimeter game (doubtful) or give the team everything he has. If it is the latter, one would have to wonder the long-term effect of his play, and the team’s play for that matter.

Considering they have gotten off to a somewhat sluggish start, which is sub-standard when compared to their expectations, they simply cannot afford to lose him for a significant part of the season. He was expected to be out until November — a total of 11 games, roughly 13 percent of the season — but now will only miss five, or 6 percent.

Is winning a few games today worth losing again when it matters? That question is one the team will answer over the course of the season. If they are smart they will give him some practices off, perhaps even rest him on back-to-back nights. None of that sounds very Kesler to me and the only way he will get his timing back is game action and practice.

The team is clearly toeing a very fine line by rushing him back into the lineup. So, as usual, we leave you with a question:

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Photo Credit: Cupcanal

There are many storylines tonight but the actual game is the story.  We can focus on every minuscule elementbut at this point the only thing both teams are focused on is winning. Winning Lord Stanley’s Cup, the greatest prize in the history of the sport, which will be given to the undisputed champion of the 2011 NHL Playoffs.

Amid the controversy, determination and scuttlebutt comes two seemingly confident teams — digging deep in order to get that last necessary W. The beneficiary of that win will finish the playoffs with 16, while the other 15 wins remain a rewarding yet useless statistic when the 35 lbs of silver and nickel alloy gets hoisted above the head of the enemy.

In the Vancouver Canucks camp, the team remains confident, or at least spoke to reporters this morning in a confident manner. Alternate captain Daniel Sedin likes the team’s odds although he must be somewhat discouraged by his team’s lack of a killer instinct.

“You know, that was probably me being excited and the words came wrong out of my mouth. What I said was if we put our best game on the ice, I like our chances. That’s the way it’s been all year. When we play our best, we’re a tough team to beat. We show that at home. We like our chances.”

The sniper Sedin assisted on both goals in his team’s 5-2 loss and has taken some of the pressure off the disappearances of brother Henrik Sedin and the slumping center Ryan Kesler. Sedin finished the season as the League leader in points so naturally being held off the scoresheet for three of the past six games have been a feat of its own. To take a page out of his book, we like his changes at finding the back of the net tonight.

Regardless, to do that he will need to find twine behind Conn Smythe shoe-in Tim Thomas. Through the first six games of the series, Thomas has posted an unbelievable 1.42 GAA, .962 SV% with a shutout. His success has been the complete opposite of Roberto Luongo, who continues to ward off his doubters while being pulled in two of his six starts and shutting out the Bruins in two of those six as well.

Simply put: the goalies control their team’s fate.

One thing we do know is the Canucks do not need motivation scoring on Thomas. After six marvelous performances, they seem confident in getting the puck past him, not relying on the Mason Raymond injury to motivate them — opposed to the #DoitforHorton campaign — as Kevin Bieksa pointed out this morning. “We obviously wish Mason was in the lineup right now, but I’ve said from the beginning, we don’t need extra motivation,” said Bieksa. “The Stanley Cup is enough motivation for us. So we’re not looking for any extras to help us get to that peak motivation.”

The Canucks do not lack motivation, much like the Bruins don’t feel added pressure on them. The latter were confident in their abilities during Game 6 and won by a healthy margin. They remain calm as this excellent mix of veteran leadership and young up-and-comers continue to blossom. ”Pressure’s five kids, no job,” Shawn Thornton said to Fluto Shinzawa of The Boston Globe. “This is Game 7. This is fun, right? We get to play a game for a living. Just enjoy it.” He puts the game into perspective but make no mistake he wants to hoist the Cup and watching a Sedin with it would not be ‘fun’.

To summarize, the Bruins are relaxed, the Canucks like their odds and the point is still winning the Stanley Cup. When all is said and done, no one playing in this contest will forget the action tonight as we prepare for the final tilt of the season and will finally have a resolution to another season. Puck drops at 8:00 PM EST; it could not come quicker at this point.

Expected Game 7 Boston Bruins Lineup:

• Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Rich Peverley
• Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi*
• Michael Ryder, Chris Kelly, Tyler Seguin
• Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, Shawn Thornton
• Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg
• Tomas Kaberle, Adam McQuaid
• Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk

Thomas will make his 25th consecutive start in goal.

The Bruins are not expected to make any line changes tonight after using this winning formula since Horton left the ice on a stretcher. Expect more of the same.

*It has been speculated tonight will be Mark Recchi’s last NHL game. He hopes to hoist the Cup up for one last time tonight.

Expected Game 7 Vancouver Canucks Lineup:

• Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alex Burrows
• Christopher Higgins, Ryan Kesler, Jeff Tambellini**
• Raffi Torres, Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen
• Tanner Glass, Manny Malhotra, Victor Oreskovich
• Alexander Edler***, Sami Salo
• Andrew Alberts, Christian Ehrhoff
• Chris Tanev, Kevin Bieksa

Luongo will make his 18th consecutive start in goal tonight.

**Tambellini is the expected replacement for Raymond but it remains unknown where he will play tonight. He has enough speed to play on the second line and has even taken shifts with the Sedin Twins earlier in the season. AV will play his cards close to the vest.

***Edler did not skate this morning but is expected to stay in the lineup tonight.

Players to Watch:

Vancouver Canucks — Roberto Luongo

Out of the four players I could find transcripts for, nobody on the Canucks mentioned Luongo. There is absolutely no doubt that he will make or break this game. It all starts with the first 10 minutes. If he can make saves on the short side or up by his ears, he should be fine. If not, Cory Schneider might get called into the game even earlier.

Boston Bruins — Tim Thomas

Thomas knows what he needs to do and shows all the determination to win tonight’s game.

“Yep, the reality is, for me anyways, this may be the only Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals that I ever have in my career. If we happen to make it again, hopefully we can win before 7. But it’s a big game.”

If he can continue his storybook season, the Bruins will be the champs.

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Photo Credit: kpwerker

Tonight, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks face the most pivotal game in their series — the dreaded elimination game. While fans back in Vancouver decide whether they want more green or more navy in their parade, the Bruins plan on deflating their floats once again.

Whether their gameplan is executed correctly is one thing, but there seems to be no lack of love between these two teams.

Following the game winning goal, enigmatic superstar starting goalie Roberto Luongo made sure to put his foot in his mouth by critiquing his counterpart, Tim Thomas‘ positioning. ”It’s not hard if you’re playing in the paint,” explained Luongo.

Perhaps attempting to invoke more emotion out of the Bruins (or not), Luongo may have awakened an angry giant in his opposition, although one would imagine it very hard for the home team not to be invigorated in a game of such importance.

These past five games have been hard fought and momentum changing. Every home game has been won but not without excitement, controversy and a throwback rivalry of two very even teams. Nothing is expected to change tonight when the Bruins try to even the series with the Stanley Cup in the building.

When asked how his team would react, top-line left wing Milan Lucic explained he expected more of the same. “A lot of excitement,” said Lucic. “A lot of emotion and a lot of hate and that’s what has made it such a passionate series to be a part of. And I don’t expect anything less tonight.” As a childhood Canuck fan, playing his hometown team sounds incredibly difficult, especially with the rumors of his apparent undisclosed injury.

The Bruins enter tonight’s game somewhat dejected from what was a very tough loss. More importantly, they enter the game one loss away from losing a very good shot at Lord Stanley’s Cup. They are in a fight for their lives and a fight to win together as a team, as defenseman Andrew Ference pointed out. “The city’s excited,” said Ference. “It’s been a long run and lots of ups and downs and crazy stuff, but obviously everybody can smell a finish coming up soon and wants us obviously to continue the story for another game.”

Everyone can smell that finish, especially the Canucks, who expect to “bring their swagger” tonight.

Their captain, Henrik Sedin, came out as a vocal leader this morning, trying to avert the attention from his goalie and put his team on his shoulder for the first time this series.

“We have to put our best game on the ice and we’re not taking any chances to play a Game 7. We can have a good team for a long time, but it’s really difficult to get this far and if we can’t do it this year, we might not get another shot. And that’s the reality.”

Somehow, Sedin after leading the League in scoring last year with 114 points and finishing fourth this season with 93 points only registered four shots on goal and is still looking for his first point of the series.  A goal or two from Henrik or brother Daniel Sedin would probably go a long way, especially if the ‘savior‘ Luongo shows up –opposed to his evil nemesis Luon8o.

Clearly, the Bruins hope to see the latter option but they will need to play their best game of the year to extend their season.

Expected Game 6 Vancouver Canucks Lineup:

• Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alex Burrows
• Christopher Higgins, Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond
• Raffi Torres, Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen
• Tanner Glass, Manny Malhotra, Victor Oreskovich
• Alexander Edler, Sami Salo
• Andrew Alberts, Christian Ehrhoff
• Chris Tanev, Kevin Bieksa

Luongo will make his 17th consecutive start in goal tonight.

Expected Game 6 Boston Bruins Lineup*:

• Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Rich Peverley
• Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi
• Michael Ryder, Chris Kelly, Tyler Seguin
• Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, Shawn Thornton
• Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg
• Tomas Kaberle, Adam McQuaid
• Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk

Thomas will make his 24th consecutive start in goal.

Players to Watch:

Vancouver Canucks — Ryan Kesler

Last tilt we assumed he was healthy and just shut down. Now, we honestly have no idea what he will do, but the leader has his teammates’ support.

“He has been through a lot and fought through a lot,” explained Mason Raymond to Ben Kuzma of The Province. “This time of year, you lay it on the line, no matter what you’re going through and he has continued to do that.”

Can he fight through one more game?

Boston Bruins — Milan Lucic

Lucic is essentially Kesler’s equivalent: the slumping and probably hurt power forward who remained quiet most of the series.

“You’ve just got to think about a shift at time. It’s always making sure I’m getting my feet moving and skating hard. Doing that, everything else seems to take care of itself,” said Lucic to Ben Kuzma of The Province.

If he can somehow keep things simple, his team has a good chance at pulling out ahead.

Photo Credit: blipsman / Flickr

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Throughout the playoffs, every team facing the Vancouver Canucks discussed ruining their parade. As the President’s Trophy winner and frontrunner for the Stanley Cup, these guys had targets stitched above their letters: right where the NHL is trying to stop shoulder checks.

Back on May 30th, Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews admitted just that to Adam Jahns of The Chicago Sun-Times:

‘‘What we could have done to ruin the parade in that city — I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t take so much satisfaction in that, but it would have been something special, especially coming back from a 3-0 deficit [with] the expectations Vancouver has in their city with the media and all that stuff.

In the first round, his Blackhawks had the ability to stop the Canucks from advancing, yet then they watched helplessly as their rivals continued to skate through their opponents en route to the greatest trophy North America has to offer. Nevertheless, they now get an opportunity to watch the Canucks sink or swim tonight as they, for the first time since Game 1, could be down a game by the end of the night.

Before Game 3, we took the time to preview the tilt, as we have since the beginning of the Finals. The old adage — you are not in trouble in the playoffs until you lose on home ice — applied then, and more than ever it applies now. After four home-wins this series, the Canucks can win and hope they can use a raucous crowd at Rogers Arena to their advantage.

The Canucks clearly know this and understand this as evidenced by their pregame chatter. “Obviously, we do have to treat it like Game 7,” said starting goalie Roberto Luongo to Jim Jamieson of The Province. “We’ve got to treat every game in the playoffs like at Game 7.” All of their pre-game fluff will not help them when it gets to crunch time, and so far in this series’ crunch time the major players have failed show up.

Starting with Luongo, who was doubtful to play in Game 5 following his second poor start, the team looks lost from the net on out. After a four-game winning streak in which he allowed two goals or fewer, the enigmatic yet elite starting goalie surrendered 12 goals over 103:17. He needs to be better, but so does every one else.

The Sedins have combined for two points, a goal and an assist, with both coming during Game 2 off the stick of Daniel. Henrik Sedin finally managed his first two shots on goal this series after getting held shotless in his first three games but the teams still managed to get shutout. The Sedins were quiet throughout the majority of the playoffs before breaking out against the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals.

However, in the past Ryan Kesler has been able to cut them some slack.  Entering this series, he looked like the shoe-in Conn Smythe winner. To get that award, you also need to show up in the Finals and over these past three games he has gotten very quiet.

These four men need to step up or their shot at the Cup will be lost in the fold. Can they do that? They will need to fight more adversity than a 117-point team usually faces all season so we are certainly entering uncharted territory.

Expected Game 5 Boston Bruins Lineup*:

• Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Rich Peverley
• Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi
• Michael Ryder, Chris Kelly, Tyler Seguin
• Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, Shawn Thornton
• Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg
• Tomas Kaberle, Adam McQuaid
• Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk

Tim Thomas will make his 23rd consecutive start in goal.

*The Bruins did not take morning skate today, so any presumed changes in the lineup will happen during warmups.

Expected Game 5 Vancouver Canucks Lineup:

• Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alex Burrows
• Christopher Higgins, Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond
• Raffi Torres, Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen
• Tanner Glass, Manny Malhotra, Victor Oreskovich
• Alexander Edler, Sami Salo
• Andrew Alberts, Christian Ehrhoff
• Chris Tanev, Kevin Bieksa

Luongo will make his 16th consecutive start in goal tonight.

Game 4 Stat Pack:

• Thomas brings in a shutout streak of 66:07, making 40 saves over that span.
• Seidenberg, Bieksa and Edler all topped 25 minutes. All three have played upwards of 22 minutes in every games of the series.
• In every game of the series, the losing team has led in shots through two periods.
• Despite an apparent injury, Ehrhoff led both teams in shots with five. The Bs countered with Lucic’s five.
• Kesler, McQuaid and Chara all topped 10 PIM. Both teams would probably prefer their leaders out of the box and back on the ice for this game.

Players to Watch:

Vancouver Canucks — Ryan Kesler

Kesler not only needs to step up his game offensively, but stay out of the penalty box.

“I think it happened in Game 3 and we talked about it and were much better in Game 4 at getting out of the scrums,” said Kesler’s teammate Andrew Alberts to Jim Jamieson of The Province. “It’s not our game. Boston might want to build on the scrums and get a boost out of that. We’re trying to stay out of that and play hard between the whistles.”

The gritty leader registered 31 PIM over the last two games/losses.

Boston Bruins — Zdeno Chara

As usual, Chara will be tasked with guarding the power forward. Not much has been said about the hulking d-man. In fact, we don’t even have a quote from him or on him but if his team wins tonight it will be due to his hard work.

Photo Credit: Mafue / Flickr

The title says it all.

The Vancouver Canucks and Boston Bruins need to settle down and once again play some hockey. The home team showed up on Monday night when they lambasted the Canucks 8-1 and so did distraction, frustration on the Vancouver side in addition to the budding of a beautiful rivalry.

Tonight, it will have to be all about playing the game and moving closer to fulfilling one’s NHL destiny.

“It’s certainly not about looking for revenge. Justice has been served,” head coach Claude Julien explained to Fluto Shinzawa of Boston.com. “No other reason to look for more. If we really want to make Nathan happy, we know what we have to do. That’s win a Stanley Cup.”

Could not have said it any better myself. With Monday night’s win, the Bruins can now taste the Cup and have every intention of making a series out of this. Falling behind in a series is no big deal for them as they did the same thing in the first round against the Montreal Canadiens and scraped through every game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This team has been left for dead before and seems completely comfortable battling back in time of need.

On that note, the Canucks need to battle back and #bringithome with a 3-1 series lead. All of this talk concerning suspensions, line changes, taunts, positioning, etc. needs to get benched with the team returning their focus to what got them where they are: winning.

Captain Henrik Sedin knows this, as he clearly explained to Ed Willes of The Province. “We have to realize our focus is to play hockey. That’s No.1. That’s something we’ve brought up already and we’re going to give that a lot of attention.” After the Bruins exploded for four second-period goals, the Canucks lost this focus and frustration set in.

Both Sedin, head coach Alain Vigneault and likely the rest of the team know this. “We’ve been a team that’s been very disciplined all year playing whistle to whistle,” said Vigneault. “I think we might have gotten away from that a little. We’re going to have to do a better job there.” One can only expect a better effort than allowing eight goals from the President’s Trophy winner.

The question now remains: can the Canucks win and send the series back home with a decisive lead or will the Bruins keep an emphasis on home-ice advantage?

Expected Game 4 Vancouver Canucks Lineup:

• Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alex Burrows
• Christopher Higgins, Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond
• Raffi Torres, Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen
• Tanner Glass, Manny Malhotra, Victor Oreskovich
• Alexander Edler, Sami Salo
• Andrew Alberts, Christian Ehrhoff
• Keith Ballard / Chris Tanev, Kevin Bieksa

Roberto Luongo will make his 15th consecutive start in goal tonight.

Expected Game 4 Boston Bruins Lineup*:

• Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Rich Peverley*
• Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi
• Michael Ryder, Chris Kelly, Tyler Seguin
• Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell,  Shawn Thornton
• Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg
• Tomas Kaberle, Adam McQuaid
• Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk

Tim Thomas will make his 22nd consecutive start in goal.

*Seguin, Peverley and Ryder are all expected to rotate into the first line right wing position.

Rookie Jordan Caron will take warmups tonight but is not expected to draw in. The youngster Caron took Recchi’s spot on the second line during practice as the veteran often opts to not skate on game day.

Game 3 Stat Pack:

• Four Bruins registered over 10 PIM — Ference, Thornton, Lucic and Seidenberg. The Canucks countered that with five of their own to top 10 PIM in Bieksa, Rome, D. Sedin, Kesler and Burrows. Somehow, Lapierre finished without even a roughing call.
• Edler led the Canucks with a team-high minus-4 rating. My namesake has never finished a game with a minus-4 rating in his entire NHL regular season and postseason career.
• Ehrhoff led the ‘Nucks in minutes played with 27:53. Seidenberg took the minutes-eater title for the Bs, playing in 24:34 — Bieksa and Edler also topped these minutes as the team was forced to play with five d-men.
• For the third time in as many games, the losing team led the game in shots through two periods.
• H. Sedin still has no shots on goal. He might have got one off but was leveled by Thomas, click here for video.

Players to Watch:

Vancouver Canucks — Roberto Luongo

David Strehle put all the focus on Luongo here. Literally, watch him, as he formerly held the title of unraveling.

“The score doesn’t really matter. We’re in the playoffs.  It’s all about winning a game, right?  As a team, we got to look at it we lost a game.  We just got to get back to doing the things we do.  No matter what the score of the game is, we have to keep playing our game, not deviate from our game plan.”

Winning is all Luongo needs to do. Just win tonight and again in Vancouver on Friday. The talent is clearly there but will he be able to accomplish hockey’s greatest task?

Boston Bruins — First line RW

As usual, Julien will play his cards close to his chest.

“You never know what can happen through the course of the day,” said Julien to The Boston Herald.

We like Ryder in this spot provided he can stay hot. If the game remains close, expect Peverley to get more minutes there. Seguin could start out the game on the top line and provide the team with some youthful pep. Honestly, who knows with Julien.

–

If you have any comments or questions, you can email the author at amonaghan at nhlhotstove  dot com.  You can also follow him on Twitter – @NHLHotStove or like us on Facebook, here.

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Photo Credit: Dan4th / Flickr

An old hockey adage applies tonight: you are not in trouble until you lose on home ice. Tonight, the Boston Bruins hope to avoid that home loss and keep their hopes alive in capturing their first Stanley Cup since 1972.

Following Saturday’s controversial finish — Should Tim Thomas have stayed further back in his net? Should Alex Burrows been allowed to play? — the Boston Bruins managed to stay with their newly-found rival in the Vancouver Canucks, getting slightly edged 3-2 in Game 2. That loss followed Wednesday’s disappointing 1-0 finish from Game 1.

Tonight will be the biggest test for them since if they lose, they will face elimination on home ice against arguably the best regular season team and now the best postseason team.

After leading the majority of their playoff series’, the Canucks have had trouble showing their killer instinct. They almost allowed the Chicago Blackhawks to defeat them yet again following a 3-0 series lead. They allowed the Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks to sway their series after taking bigger leads but generally have improved as the playoffs went further.

Tonight, they know they will need to show that killer instinct in true form.

“I think it’s pretty much normal human behaviour,” said second line winger Christopher Higgins to Tony Gallagher of The Province. “I think it’s natural when the other team has the crowd to get them going.”

Playing away from Vancouver should help the Bruins regain some confidence after coming home down two games. The Canucks and their staff clearly know that and are getting ready to do battle.

“The first 10 minutes will be crucial for us tonight,” said Canucks assistant coach Rick Bowness. “We have to be ready to match their intensity.”

Expect the Canucks to be ready tonight, when they drop the puck at TD Banknorth Garden at approximately 8PM, EST.

Expected Game 3 Vancouver Canucks Lineup:

• Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alex Burrows
• Christopher Higgins, Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond
• Raffi Torres, Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen
• Jeff Tambellini, Manny Malhotra, Victor Oreskovich
• Alexander Edler, Sami Salo
• Andrew Alberts, Christian Ehrhoff
• Aaron Rome, Kevin Bieksa

Luongo will make his 14th consecutive start in goal tonight.

Expected Game 3 Boston Bruins Lineup*:

• Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Nathan Horton
• Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi
• Michael Ryder, Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley
• Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, Tyler Seguin / Shawn Thornton
• Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg
• Tomas Kaberle, Adam McQuaid
• Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk

Despite his overtime blunder, expect Thomas to make his 21st consecutive start in goal.

*According to John Bishop of Bruins.com, via Twitter, “Julien says any lineup decisions will be made after 23 B’s skate in warmup.” Keep that in mind when reading the lines above as they may change completely.

Game 2 Stat Pack:

• Chara led the Bruins in ice time, playing 28:12 while Edler led the Canucks with 24:53. The Canucks continue to alternate their top guys in the minute-eater role while the Bs heavily rely on their captain and his partner Seidenberg.
• In his 2011 Stanley Cup Finals debut, Alberts led all players with six hits.
• After his miraculous comeback, Malhotra helped his team by winning 85.7 percent of his draws edging out Peverley, who finished with 80 percent in the circles.
• Boston once again out-shot the Canucks through two periods but only managed five shots on goal after taking a 2-1 lead in the tilt.
• Luongo now finds himself on a four-game winning streak in which he has allowed only six goals and two goals or less over that span. He has also played over 60 minutes in five of his 20 playoff appearances.

Players to Watch:

Vancouver Canucks – Henrik Sedin

You probably expected the controversial Burrows here but Sedin will need to step up in the faceoff circle for his team to silence the home crowd. In his last game, Sedin managed to lose 10 of 19 draws, requiring Head Coach Alain Vigneault to single him out.

From The Province:

“The ony guy who has been having issues in the faceoff circle is Hank (Sedin). All the other guys have been fairly close to their normal percentage. Hank’s aware of that. So hopefully we’ll have Hank be a little better tonight. He takes a lot of draws in the other team’s end. Obviously we’d like to start with the puck, instead of chasing in that end.”

Expect Sedin to step up his game in the faceoff dots.

Boston Bruins – Patrice Bergeron

After getting taunted by former Montreal Canadiens agitator Maxim Lapierre, Bergeron must react to the Canucks getting under his skin. Head Coach Claude Julien had some choice words on how he viewed Lapierre’s actions:

“If it’s acceptable for them, then so be it,” Julien said to Fluto Shinzawa of Boston.com. “It certainly wouldn’t be acceptable on our end of it. The NHL rules on something. If they decide to make a mockery of it, that’s totally up to them. If that’s their way of handling things, so be it.”

Will Bergeron make a mockery of Lapierre tonight?

–

Are you excited for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals? Express yourselves in the comments!

By Alexander Monaghan
President

News coming out of Vancouver today is all about injury updates.

Will Manny Malhotra play? Why did Dan Hamhuis not skate? What the media has neglected to focus on is the Vancouver Canucks testing their depth while the Boston Bruins have not even tapped into theirs yet. Shawn Thornton, Shane Hnidy and Steven Kampfer — all capable NHL players — should watch tonight’s game from the sidelines while their opposition finds themselves a few men short as Hamhuis is almost guaranteed to not play, Mikael Samuelsson likely misses the rest of the playoffs and Malhotra or Alex Bolduc will center the fourth line.

This lack of stability should be somewhat concerning considering after 19 games, Head Coach Alain Vigneault still cannot figure out what his winning lineup is. Wednesday night’s Game 1 was won by an unlikely hero in Raffi Torres, but had Ryan Kesler not stayed on-side, would the Canucks have been so fortunate. Would they even be up a game?

For three consecutive series it looked like the Bruins were down and out. They were forced into Game 7 by the Montreal Canadiens after falling behind 2-0 and then regaining the series lead 3-2. Even then they required a late goal from now playoff hero Nathan Horton. They were then thought of as an extreme underdog against the Philadelphia Flyers as they were defeated by them last year in the playoffs and were expected to quietly bow out to an Eastern Conference favorite. Again, they shocked their doubters by sweeping the apparent powerhouse. Even during the Eastern Conference Finals, the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to be a step ahead but the Bruins still managed to pull out the W and defeat the unbeatable Dwayne Roloson in an elimination game.

Yet now, against the heavily favored Canucks, who are now tapping into their depth, the Bruins are asked if they can keep up. Keep up? They made it this far, didn’t they? They played 59:41 minutes tied, didn’t they?

These two teams will make a series out of it, and when one does win they will bring the Stanley Cup back to a city who craved victory for years.

Expected Game 2 Boston Bruins Lineup:

• Milan Lucic, David Krejci, Nathan Horton
• Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Mark Recchi
• Michael Ryder, Chris Kelly, Tyler Seguin
• Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, Rich Peverley
• Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg
• Tomas Kaberle, Adam McQuaid
• Andrew Ference, Johnny Boychuk

Tim Thomas will get the nod between the pipes. He allowed one goal on 34 shots in Game 1. In his career during the regular season against the Canucks, he boasts a 3-0-0 record with a .33 GAA and .990 SV% with two shutouts.

Expected Game 2 Vancouver Canucks Lineup:

• Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alex Burrows
• Christopher Higgins, Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond
• Raffi Torres, Maxim Lapierre, Jannik Hansen
• Jeff Tambellini, Manny Malhotra / Alex Bolduc, Victor Oreskovich
• Alexander Edler, Sami Salo
• Andrew Alberts / Keith Ballard, Christian Ehrhoff
• Aaron Rome, Kevin Bieksa

Roberto Luongo went 11-10-3 with a 2.40 GAA and .929 SV% with four shutouts in 25 career games started against the Bruins.

Game 1 Stat Pack:

• The Bruins out-shot the Canucks in both the first and second period, entering the third with a 26-20 margin.
• Boychuk led all players with eight hits in the game. Torres led the Canucks in hits with five.
• The Bruins’ top line took 13 shots on net with Krejci and Horton each putting five on goal. By comparison, the Canucks’ top line finished with 10 but Daniel Sedin took eight of them with brother Henrik getting anything to Thomas.
• Despite missing the rest of the Western Conference Finals, Ehrhoff led all Canucks in ice time by registering 26:26. Chara and Seidenberg each played over 27 minutes during Game 1.

Players to Watch:

Boston Bruins — Tim Thomas

After such a tight game, many members of the Canucks organization complained about Thomas’ positioning.

“I mean, 90 percent of his saves are outside the blue paint,” Vigneault said. “A lot of times he does initiate contact. That’s the way he plays. We’re going to look to get a little bit of clarification.”

It will be interesting to see how he reacts and if their complaints change his “battlefly: style

Vancouver Canucks — Manny Malhotra

Who else could it possibly be? Malhotra claimed he does not want to be a sideshow but he has to be the feel good story of the year.

“I don’t want this to be a sideshow,” Malhotra said. “We always talk about this in our dressing room, that the whole is much stronger than the individuals. We have a very strong focus in the room. I don’t want anything to sidetrack that.

If and when Manny comes back, all eyes will be on him.

–

Are you excited for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals? Express yourselves in the comments!

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Photo Credit: Cheryl Lemanski

Every year the formula changes.

After last season, general managers around the League believed they could cut costs with their netminder since rookie Antti Niemi and journeyman Michael Leighton backstopped their respective teams into the Finals. The season before that, we thought every championship team needed two elite centers (still valid) and the year before that the League emphasized skill and puck possession.

The winning formula changes every season whether it be a high-tempo offense with a blue line full of puck movers (Carolina Hurricanes) or a gritty team from the back end out full of high-end skill (Anaheim Ducks).

Once again, the formula will change.

Take this year’s combatants — the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks.  Both teams have strong depth up front and on D. Each team also has an elite-level goaltender in Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas. However, the Canucks and Bruins play a completely different style as Head Coach Alain Vigneault features highly skilled offensive players who are defensively responsible and Claude Julien is more comfortable keeping the games tight and relying on his Vezina Trophy winner and a couple of All-Star defensemen and elite two-way forwards.

Of the two, only the Canucks really compare to the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks when you consider their sheer top-to-bottom depth. Considering after their salary cap purge the current Blackhawks team almost defeated the heavily favored Canucks, they could be the most dominant team to win a Cup in the post-lockout era.

But how do the two compare?

How they got there:

The Canucks almost blew a 3-0 series lead, allowing the Blackhawks to force a Game 7, and then force an overtime within the game. Less dramatically, they would defeat the Nashville Predators in six games (but could have clinched in five) and made short work of the San Jose Sharks in five. Now, against the Bruins they hold a 1-0 lead in the series with hopes of going back to Boston with a two-game lead.

By comparison, the Blackhawks took the Predators in six, Canucks in six, swept the Sharks and then took the Cup in six games against the Philadelphia Flyers. While the Predators and Canucks both proved to be worthy adversaries, they never pushed the team to the brink of elimination — something the ‘Nucks came face-to-face with in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. They seemed to be the most dominant team in the playoffs, which is something both this year’s tournament lacked as the Bruins faced Game 7 twice as well.

In terms of ease, the Blackhawks take this round.

Photo Credit: Matt Boulton from Vancouver, Canada

Head Coach:

Prior to last season, Joel Quenneville never won a Stanley Cup. After successful campaigns with the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche, the grizzled Head Coach made his way to Chicago in order to push them over the top. His success in the postseason gave him appeal to a young, up-and-coming team as he captured the game’s greatest trophy after only two seasons with the Blackhawks organization. His lowest winning percentage for any full season he coached was over 53 percent, making him a highly regarded bench boss.

Vigneault now enters his fifth season in charge of the Canucks and has won the Northwest Division four out of those five years. Unlike Quenneville, four of his nine years he missed the playoffs and he came to Vancouver after four relatively poor seasons in Montreal (missed playoffs three of four seasons). He was nominated for the Jack Adams Trophy while with the Canadiens but was fired the season after since the team once again missed the tournament.

Considering both coaches never won the Cup prior to their current teams, neither typically has an advantage. However, Quenneville held more past success which gives him the slight nod here again.

Photo Credit: Iwona Erskine-Kellie from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Forwards:

Depth, depth and more depth. Not the kind traded for at the deadline like stopgaps Maxim Lapierre or Christopher Higgins.  This Blackhawks team had the high-end talent in Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews and the complementary players in Kris Versteeg, Dustin Byfuglien, Troy Brouwer, Dave Bolland and Andrew Ladd. Couple them with gritty defensive forwards like John Madden, Tomas Kopecky, Adam Burish and Ben Eager and we can determine that this could be one of the strongest groups of forwards assembled in the post-lockout era. Even with an implosion which severed ties with Versteeg, Byfuglien, Ladd, Madden, Burish and Eager the Blackhawks still clawed their way back into the playoffs which emphasizes just how good this team was last year.

Similarly, the Canucks have elite talent in The Sedin Twins and Ryan Kesler. Alex Burrows might even be able to force his way into that equation considering just how affective he has been in this year’s show. They also boast some tough defensive forwards like Jannik Hansen, Raffi Torres, Tanner Glass and Lapierre. Their calvary has been adequate in Higgins, the now-injured Mikael Samuelsson and regular season whipping boy Mason Raymond but the bottom end is one of uncertainty and inconsistency. Vigneault has rotated Victor Oreskovich, Jeff Tambellini, Alex Bolduc and Cody Hodgson in an attempt to find a perfect medium. Perhaps the return of Manny Malhotra could alleviate this issue.

Regardless, the Blackhawks take this by a mile as the top-end talent is there but the depth is simply not comparable.

Defensemen:

Photo Credit: CANUCKS HOCKEY BLOG

Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith set the tempo as a perfect combination of ying and yang last season. Both mobile defenders, Seabrook’s intelligence allowed Keith to pick his spots in the offensive zone. Their stability allowed the second pairing of Niklas Hjalmarsson and Brian Campbell to flourish and make up for the third pairing of Nick Boynton, Brent Sopel and Jordan Hendry. When all of these guys were on their game, they had Keith at over 28 minutes, Seabrook 24 and Hjalmarsson 21 with no other blue liner surpassing 20 minutes.

This may be where the Canucks first hold an advantage as they boast six quality defenders and three others capable of playing decent minutes. Their top pairing of Christian Ehrhoff and Alexander Edler fits very well with the Sedins while Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Bieksa have formed a formidable shutdown pairing. The bottom set features some combination of Sami Salo and either Keith Ballard or Aaron Rome with mean d-man Andrew Alberts waiting to get into games. If Vigneault opts for a more mobile substitute, rookie Chris Tanev seemed up for the challenge in his limited playing time.

While the Blackhawks arguably have a higher end, the Canucks feature a more well rounded attack with the option of choosing mobility or snarl. Nobody has a more established top six in the League at this moment which gives the Canucks their first edge in the comparison.

Starting Goalies:

Niemi won the backup job from now-current starter Corey Crawford and then overtook Cristobal Huet for the starting gig in late March. As a veritable unknown, the Finnish rookie managed to get the job done despite what was considered a sub-par performance in the Finals. His success was questioned after winning as his arbitration reward earned him a ticket out of Chicago and into San Jose, where he would once again flourish. Due to his rookie status, the Blackhawks were able to win with a very tight budget which spawned the “don’t pay for goalies theory.” With two Vezina Trophy finalists vying for a championship, that theory has been debunked.

Luongo happens to be one of those finalists as he attempts to prove he can be the best goalie in the world. After toiling on the awful New York Islanders and Florida Panthers, Luongo was expected to win quickly and often in Vancouver. So far he somewhat disappointed fans after losing consistently to the Blackhawks in the playoffs but his ability to step up in big games like Game 7 of this year’s first round and in the Olympics last year has given him the confidence to try and take Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Elite netminder vs. raw rookie? Luongo and the Canucks take this one.

Photo Credit: Matt Boulton from Vancouver, Canada

Special Teams:

The Blackhawks got the job done with a 22.5 percent success rate on the powerplay and a 83.3 percent penalty kill. Their PP ranked fifth in the League but only second in the Western Conference while the PK ranked fourth but first amongst their Conference peers. While not necessarily dominating, the special teams was not a problem on either end which allowed them to continue their winning ways.

On the other hand, the Canucks PP has been a strength as they rank third in the League with a 25.8 percent success rate. The powerplay has been able to adapt from the hard-working Predators to the shot-blocking Sharks with ease making it a force to be reckoned with. Their penalty kill, however, has been a bit worse, succeeding at a 82.3 rate. Considering they lack actual shutdown forwards, players like Kesler and Burrows are forced to take on even more minutes.

The Canucks hold a better PP but the Blackhawks could shut them down better. Push.

The Bottom Line:

As both Jeff Quirin and Dave Strehle predicted, the Canucks should wrap up this series. Of course, we likely counted the Bruins out of the playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens, the Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning so anything can happen. As far as comparability to last year’s formula, the ‘Nucks are the closest thing to last year’s Blackhawks but the latter takes the small edge due to depth up front, more experience behind the bench and ease in getting to where they need to go.

Feel free to post in the comments your thoughts on the matter as this article is merely the tip of the iceberg, not a definitive conclusion.

The Panthers, the day’s most active sellers, went about blowing up the roster in four separate deals, which were as follows:

Radek Dvorak and a 5th round pick this year to Atlanta for Niclas Bergfors and Patrick Rissmiller. Hockey experts barely had a chance to put down their cups of Tim Horton’s coffee before Florida sent Dvorak, a two-time Cat, to Southeast Division foe Atlanta. The loss of Dvorak, a UFA after this season, won’t help Florida’s PK, but the team gets a solid scorer and former first-round selection in Bergfors, who has 33 goals in 142 career games. His scoring skills will be a plus to the offensively-challenged Panthers. Rissmiller is a big body who can check, and the fifth-rounder going back is the one acquired in the Cory Stillman deal with Carolina. Hockey experts unanimously had Florida coming out ahead in this deal.

Dennis Wideman to Washington for Jake Hauswirth and a 3rd round pick this year.Wideman, the league’s top goal scorer among defensemen on the power play this year, clearly had value, and with Mike Green questionable, the Capitals were looking for some help as they chase Tampa Bay for the top spot in the division. This move gets Wideman’s salary ($4.5 million next year) off the books, the pick will add more assets and Hauswirth is a 6-foot-5 left winger who just turned 23.

Bryan Allen to Carolina for Sergei Samsonov. Allen was an outstanding character player for the Cats — solid in the dressing room and on the ice in standing up for his teammates. However, his knees aren’t nearly as durable as they once were. Worse, his contract next year calls for $3.15 million before it expires. Samsonov is a UFA after this season and likely won’t return to South Florida. Ironically, Florida and Carolina play Tuesday night in Raleigh Tuesday, where Allen scored the game-winning goal to beat the Hurricanes in overtime on Jan. 3.

Chris Higgins to Vancouver for Evan Oberg and a 3rd round pick in 2013. Higgins has a broken finger and has been snakebit throughout the season, hitting too many posts and missing many opportunities. However, the UFA winger was one of Florida’s more skilled offensive players and had some moments. Higgins’ injury was thought to be more long-term, but when it was reduced to a week instead of a month, he became available and a deal was struck near the deadline. Oberg is a young defenseman who has played in Manitoba and shown some offensive upside. In the odd stat department, Oberg and Hauswirth, acquired in the Wideman deal with Washington, were born on the same day.

“Today, and the previous few weeks, were extremely significant for the Florida Panthers franchise,” club GM Dale Tallon said in a press release. “We acquired a number of assets that fit our plan, we raised our number of 2011 draft picks to a total of ten, and we put ourselves in a position to be aggressive in pursuing top notch free agents come July 1.”

Two things stand out from the frenzied day — getting a talented offensive player like Bergfors and dumping a ton of salary. I was hoping Florida would add Bergfors when Atlanta placed him on waivers recently, but getting him now and freeing up salary for talented UFAs on July 1 is a major plus. A quick look at the UFA list shows Brad Richards, Jason Arnott, Brooks Laich, Jussi Jokinen, Nikolay Zherdev, Marco Sturm, Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble among others, some who have earned between $1-2 million this season and could get a decent raise due to their performances.

During Monday’s crazy deadline doings, which was full of Twitter refreshing and tuning in to media outlets north of the border, I also watched Miracle, rejoicing in one of the greatest U.S. sports moments ever, which occurred 31 years and one week ago on Tuesday. I can’t say that Florida fans will necessarily feel the immediate jubilation those folks in Lake Placid, N.Y, felt three decades ago, but the Panthers took a major step in the right direction Monday in following Tallon’s blueprint for success.

That’s something Florida fans can rejoice in right now. Simply put, Monday was a great day for the Cats and showed the organization’s commitment to the future.

Miracles don’t happen overnight.

By Bill Whitehead
NHLHS Florida Panthers Credentialed Correspondent
Twitter: @BillWhiteheadFL
Email: BillWhiteheadFL@hotmail.com