By Alexander Monaghan
President 

By Matt Boulton from Vancouver, Canada

…but they really should.

Roberto Luongo will have 10 years left on his contract after this season with an annual cap hit of $5.33 million. The 32-year-0ld is just a season removed from being a Vezina Trophy finalist, but none of that matters now.

During last season’s Stanley Cup Finals, he looked spooked and at times couldn’t track the puck. Much like the Olympics — another platform he was highly scrutinized — Bobby Lu fought off the puck, leading his doubters to pile on the jeers. The veteran was slumping, and continued to slump in this season’s early going, while his backup. Cory Schneider, simply looked much better. Something needs to be done, and, in theory, the worse goalie needs to go.

That exact thought process is why Ek****-esque rumor monger Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun claims the Vancouver Canucks have dangled their longtime goaler. While we agree that it would be proper asset management to get rid of such an expensive player when Schneider can handle the job at a much cheaper rate, it would also be poor asset management to give away an elite player for close to nothing.

In his 11th season as a starting goalie, the Montreal native is on pace for his second-worst career GAA with a 2.90 not to mention he could post a sub-.900 save percentage for the first time in his NHL career. Nevertheless, he will not finish with those totals, or anything worse than those for that matter.

This season, Luongo was especially bad in October — a month in which he is typically awful. This October, he posted an atrocious 3.54 GAA and .869 SV%, but still only finished the month with an even 3-3-1 record. Keep in mind he kept this team in the game without Ryan Kesler, Mason Raymond, and an otherwise awake hockey team. If the Boston Bruins had a hangover, then the Canucks were on life support with an IV in their arm. They were as close to lifeless as you could get, which led to an all-time low by Luongo.

By Iwona Erskine-Kellie from Vancouver, Canada

Since then, however, Bobby Lu has been just fine. He lost only two starts in November — with a tidy 2.30/.924 — before getting hurt, and only allowed one goal over his last two starts. He’s allowed three goals only twice over his last seven starts which started once the dreaded ‘O’ month ended.

Right now, the Canucks are back in a familiar situation. They have one of the better goalies in the League and arguably the best backup. While it’s fun to speculate whether he will go to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Vincent Lecavalier or to the New Jersey Devils as the heir apparent to Martin Brodeur, it simply does not make sense for the ‘Nucks to trade away a core member of their team while they attempt to win the League’s highest prize.

Luongo is on the upswing and with a miraculous run could challenge yet again for the Vezina Trophy. However, he will need to overcome injury concerns that knocked him out for six games last month and most recently the team’s 6-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Such concerns could keep both Luongo and Schneider in Green and Blue for the foreseeable future in order to ensure the team has a top-notch netminder in their crease at all times.

So yes, expect these trade rumors to continue in vein. In fact, Garrioch hedged his statement  and later tried to explain that Schneider would indeed be on his way out of British Columbia. While that may be a situation that eventually plays out (likely not this season), this one-two combination is simply carrying this team back to the top of the standings.

The Canucks are a fully working being at this point and GM Mike Gillis would be foolish to do anything but add to the NHL team, not subtract. Even though the Sedin twins may be the brain and Kesler is the heart, stable goaltending is the backbone of this club, and without it they simply will not survive.

Simply put, an asset is an entity which holds value, and a liability is risk or something which diminishes the value of an entity.

Since we are entering the holiday season, let’s explore an example of attrition from a favorite holiday movie in the Powell household, 1954’s “White Christmas.” One of the key elements of the film deals with retired General Waverly’s (played brilliantly by Dean Jagger, I might add) inability to accept his current role in society as a bed & breakfast owner/proprietor as he still fancies his heroic days on the battlefields during World War II. Towards the end of the film, two of his former infantrymen, Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye, who has a colorful nickname in another Powell family favorite, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”) gather the men of the General’s former unit for a surprise dinner show on Christmas Eve. The General realizes his positive impact on the lives of his unit, and he begins to accept that he has made his mark, and that it is time for him to enjoy the rest of his life. In real life (and in fiction), people can overvalue their assets to the point that depreciation sneaks up on them, and they suddenly realize that they actually hold a liability.

In the NHL, one of the greatest assets is a stud, veteran goaltender with a young, sharp apprentice waiting in the wings. With respect to assets and liabilities, the team needs to play their cards correctly in regards to developing the youngster versus understanding when the veteran has peaked. Eventually, the youngster will need to be utilized as a chip to acquire a missing piece for a deep Stanley Cup playoff run, or the veteran will need to go in favor of the youngster as the club gains the salary cap flexibility to add new pieces.

Currently, the Vancouver Canucks are dealing with this very situation. Olympic gold medal winner Roberto Luongo (32) has been unable to produce in the playoffs, and Cory Schneider (25) has been a subject of interest of other clubs over the last couple years.
The Canucks are one of five teams that are on pace to spend over the $64.3 million cap set for the 2011-2012 (long term injury reserve exceptions are keeping all five teams cap compliant). Swedish twins, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, eat up $6.1 million each against the salary cap. As the faces (or face since it can be difficult to tell them apart) of the franchise, the Sedins will, in all likelihood, remain in Vancouver for the remainder of their respective contracts (through 2013-2014 season). The next highest cap hit ($5.333 million through the spring of 2022) on the team belongs to beleaguered goaltender Roberto Luongo. To complicate matters for Canucks’ management, Cory Schneider’s contract at $900,000 ends after the spring of 2012. Clearly, D Day is coming.

This season, Luongo holds a 7-5 mark with a 2.97 goals against average and an eyebrow-raising .896 save percentage. He has played better in November (.924 save %) than in October (.869 save %). He suffered what the club terms an “upper body injury” and his status is “day-to-day.” Is this Schneider’s opportunity to prove that the club should extend him? The youngster has struggled of late, posting a dismal .865 save % in three November games. For the season, he holds a 2-4 record with a 2.76 goals against average. If Luongo is unable to play for an extended period of time, Schneider’s shot at shining in the eyes of the Vancouver faithful and Canucks’ management has begun.

If Schneider flops, the decision for the rest of this season becomes obvious: stay with Luongo. With that stated, a diminished trade value for Schneider may not be the best case scenario for the Canucks. If Schneider excels, however; then the immediate decision becomes cloudier, but the Canucks may be able to maximize the return for either Luongo or Schneider in that scenario. In that murky scenario, who goes?

On one hand, Luongo has struggled in his last two playoff runs, particularly last season’s meltdown in Boston in the Stanley Cup Final. Conversely, Schneider has played well in spot duty but has not been a consistent performer (mostly due to lack of opportunity).
The bottom line may be the return. In addition to Luongo’s dismal road performances in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, the Canucks’ defensemen did not play well against the Bruins. Ryan Kesler’s injury didn’t help matters, either. Given that most of the Canucks’ depth forwards and two of their top six defensemen are scheduled for free agency by the end of the 2013 campaign, the Canucks will need to re-build with a young second line forward or a budding star defenseman.

Since the Canucks’ immediate window of opportunity may close in two years, the wise move may be to keep the veteran Luongo in hopes that his skills will not wane to the point that he would be virtually untradeable in two years. If Luongo can fetch the Canucks’ a more significant return, and if Schneider is playing well, however; then Canucks’ management may have to give serious consideration to dealing Luongo by this season’s trade deadline. If the Canucks keep both goaltenders through the end of the season, they would run the risk of being unable to trade Luongo for a fair return, especially if he were to struggle again in the playoffs. Moreover, Schneider is unlikely to re-sign with the Canucks for $900,000. Rather, he figures to find a job as a starting goaltender with another team on a lucrative multi-year deal. At any rate, D Day for the Canucks will come later this season.

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 Matt Boulton from Vancouver, Canada (Luongo) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org /licenses/by-sa/2.0

Just four games into the 2011-2012 regular season and the biggest storyline from last postseason is still one of the biggest points of discussion. Roberto Luongo continues to allow soft goals and play worse than his backup Cory Schneider yet he still holds a job as the team’s starting goalie.

Coming into this season, Luongo was a ‘changed man’. No longer would he speak to his local media in a slapdash manner, giving candid answers which downplayed his opponents value. If tires were to be pumped, the Montreal native would pump them. He now would take responsibility for his actions, coming across as ‘humble’, ‘accountable’ and ‘apologetic’.

Following a poor season opener, where he allowed a soft, off-angle goal, he understood he wasn’t playing at his best. From The White Towel:

After six years in Vancouver, he got it right Thursday. He had built in excuses about losing a month to training and not getting enough preseason games. He passed.

Instead, he copped to the are-you-kidding-me first goal, he apologized for the whiff on the third and then took responsibility for the shootout.

And when asked about the fans jeering him, calling for Ccory Schneider to start in the first 60 minutes of hockey this season, he basically said he would have done the same thing.Disarming, wasn’t it.It’s not going to win everyone over, and it may not last. But for one game he handled it perfectly.

By Danny Di Nicolantonio

You want to play fantasy hockey, and think you have what it takes to win?  Well, you’ll be one step closer to winning your league after this week’s fantasy hockey preview series.  There is no better place to start than the guys between the pipes:  Goaltenders.

During most drafts you will be required to have two starting goaltender roster spots, then one or two backup slots on the bench.  Even though forwards are the first to be drafted in the beginning, there are statistics out there that indicate goaltenders are going toward the backend of that first round.

Depending on the size of the league you are in, the average being 8-12 teams per league, and where you are positioned to pick, this will help you develop a strategy for the draft.  Logically the reason why we see goaltenders picked toward the end of the first round is because, the draft is about to head back in the other direction giving this team two picks fairly close together, if not back to back.  As a result, it gives a team the opportunity to select a forward and a goaltender right off the bat.  There are players in the league that I refer to as “trend setters”, and these are the teams that may not have had an opportunity to select a star player at the beginning of the draft and may nab two goaltenders with their first two picks that create a wave of three or four goaltenders being selected.

There are many factors that go into ranking and drafting a goaltender that include, risk, reward, age, prone to injury.

Ranked Goaltenders 2011-2012 Fantasy Hockey:

Player Team GP SA GA GAA W L OT SV SV% Shutouts
Tim Thomas BOS 57 1811 112 2.00 35 11 9 1699 0.938 9
Roberto Luongo VAN 60 1753 126 2.11 38 15 7 1627 0.928 4
Pekka Rinne NSH 64 1905 134 2.12 33 22 9 1771 0.930 6
Tomas Vokoun WSH 57 1753 137 2.55 22 28 5 1616 0.922 6
Jonathan Quick LAK 61 1631 134 2.24 35 22 3 1497 0.918 6
Henrik Lundqvist NYR 68 1965 152 2.28 36 27 5 1813 0.923 11
Ryan Miller BUF 66 1964 165 2.59 34 22 8 1799 0.916 5
Corey Crawford CHI 57 1545 128 2.30 33 18 6 1417 0.917 4
Jimmy Howard DET 63 1830 168 2.79 37 17 5 1662 0.908 2
Marc-Andre Fleury PIT 65 1742 143 2.32 36 20 5 1599 0.918 3
Carey Price MTL 72 2147 165 2.35 38 28 6 1982 0.923 8
Ilya Bryzgalov PHI 68 2125 168 2.48 36 20 10 1957 0.921 7
Antti Niemi SJS 60 1741 140 2.38 35 18 6 1601 0.920 6
Miikka Kiprusoff CGY 71 1935 182 2.63 37 24 6 1753 0.906 6
Dwayne Roloson TBL 54 1596 138 2.59 24 25 5 1458 0.914 4
Cam Ward CAR 74 2375 184 2.56 37 26 10 2191 0.923 4
Steve Mason CBJ 54 1541 153 3.03 24 21 7 1388 0.901 3
Martin Brodeur NJD 56 1313 127 2.45 23 26 3 1186 0.903 6
Kari Lehtonen DAL 69 2043 175 2.55 34 24 11 1868 0.914 3
Jonas Hiller ANA 49 1493 114 2.56 26 16 3 1379 0.924 5
James Reimer TOR 37 1134 90 2.60 20 10 5 1044 0.921 3
Mike Smith PHX 22 576 58 2.90 13 6 1 518 0.899 1
Ondrej Pavelec WPG 58 1558 147 2.73 21 23 9 1558 0.914 4
Niklas Backstrom MIN 51 1566 132 2.66 22 23 5 1434 0.916 3
Jaroslav Halak STL 57 1518 136 2.48 27 21 7 1382 0.910 7
Craig Anderson OTT 51 1546 135 2.66 24 20 4 1411 0.918 2
Nikolai Khabibulin EDM 47 1389 153 3.40 10 32 4 1236 0.890 2

We’ll take an in-depth look at defensemen tomorrow, left and right wingers on Thursday, and centers on Friday.

Chris Osgood has finally hung up the skates and the pads.

Chris Osgood has had a pretty dang good career.

Chris Osgood is one of ten goalies to hit the four-hundred career wins benchmark.

Chris Osgood could be considered one of the most controversial goalies in all of Detroit Red Wings’ history.

Chris Osgood

There’s a lot that can be said about the man known as Osgood, Ozzie, the Wizard of Oz, and many other names, and it’s a mix of good and bad. If you run around the Metro Detroit area and ask hockey fans what they think of Ozzie, the responses you’ll get are astronomically different. For the most part, people either love him or hate him. There isn’t much grey area between the two choices.

But you can’t argue with the fact that he has been a key player for this franchise when it was needed. He was around for three Stanley Cup championships, and was one of the key reasons the Red Wings won their last championship in 2008. How many other goalies can step in for Hall-of-Fame-bound Dominik Hasek and win nine games in a row?

Someone asked me at work once earlier this year if Ozzie’s number should be retired and hang in the rafters. My initial response was yes, mostly because I thought he was asking if he should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame. But reflecting on it for a bit, I don’t think his number should hang in the rafters. If it does at some point in the future, I wouldn’t be upset at all. Is that oxymoronic, to say he should be in the Hall of Fame, but his number shouldn’t be retired by his team? Well…

Osgood kissing one of the three Stanley Cups during his time.

Ozzie has been a fantastic goalie when it was called upon him. He’s one of only ten goalies who have hit the four-hundred career wins mark. He has the statistics and numbers on his side for his case to enter the Hall of Fame. But does his number 30 deserve to be hanging with the likes of Steve Yzerman, Sid Abel, Alex Delvecchio, Ted Lindsay, Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, and sometime in the future Nicklas Lidstrom? You can’t argue with the numbers, both Ozzie’s statistics and the retired jerseys.

You can’t argue with his numbers. His overall goals-against average in the regular season is 2.48, ranking 23rd overall. In the playoffs, he’s even better. He’s eighth overall in playoff wins with 74, three behind Mike Vernon and six behind Ken Dryden. He’s fourth in playoff shutouts with 15, just behind Curtis Joseph.

Among the active goaltenders in the NHL, he’s second in regular-season wins (401) (because no one can catch Martin Brodeur), tied for third in shutouts with Evgeni Nabokov at fifty (five behind Roberto Luongo), eighth in GAA (2.48), second in playoff wins behind Brodeur (74), and second in playoff shutouts behind Brodeur (15). Heck, he’s even scored a goal against the Hartford Whalers.

The argument against these statistics is that he has always had a dominant, reliable, successful team playing in front of him. Less shots in a game means less chances for the puck to slide in past him, meaning that his stats look pretty damn good. But just because there’s a good team playing in front of him doesn’t mean that he’s a terrible goaltender who relies on a six-time Norris-winning defenseman playing in front of him. The goalie is the last line of defense and time and time again, Osgood has proved that he can be relied upon when it comes down to the bitter end. He may not be as flashy as Roy or Brodeur or Sawchuk, but he gets the job done.

Brian Compton, one of the writers on NHL.com, mentioned this little fact on his Twitter the other day: Ozzie had 30-win seasons on three different teams. He may not have been away from the Red Wings for very long to get those other 30-win seasons, but it proves he was still a solid goaltender, no matter the team in front of him.

Of course, in the past few seasons, Ozzie has not played up to the standards that the Red Wings organization and fans alike wanted him to play. As of late, he has not been the Chris Osgood fans have known to be that reliable. Most fans came to know that in a game when he’s between the pipes, he’s likely to let in at least one soft goal. He always looks rusty in the first periods of games he starts, but he warms up as the play goes on and makes some stellar saves.

Is he HHoF worthy?

His lack of decent play in the past few seasons had many people saying the 400-win milestone should have been hit sometime last year, if not two years ago. Well, it wasn’t, and nothing’s going to change that fact. But Ozzie made it to that milestone and surpassed it by one.

The argument of whether Ozzie should be in the Hockey Hall of Fame will not stop anytime soon, even now that he’s retired. And even if/when he gets voted in, the people who were against it will claim that the HHOF is a joke.

Chris Osgood just can’t win with some people.

But no matter what people may say…

Chris Osgood has had a hell of a career with the Red Wings.

Chris Osgood will always have a home in Hockeytown.

Chris Osgood will always be loved and hated. But mostly – and more importantly – loved.

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

By David Strehle
NHL Hot Stove Creative Editor

With Ilya Bryzgalov and his agent Ritch Winter in town until sometime today,  negotiations with Philadelphia Flyers’ GM Paul Holmgren remain ongoing for the services of the unrestricted free agent netminder.

Following the sweep at the hands of the eventual-Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, Ed Snider said the uneasy situation in the club’s crease would not continue.  That was as a certain guarantee that the team would finally rectify its goal position after nearly two decades of neglect.

Christian Petersen / Getty Images North America

“Spent the day getting to know Ilya and Jeniya.  There will be no comment on discussions that are ongoing,” Holmgren said yesterday on the Flyers’ official site.

You can’t blame Holmgren for being gun shy about revealing the progression of negotiations after what happened last year.  He had made bold moves in acquiring the rights to two UFAs – defenseman Dan Hamhuis and goalie Evgeni Nabokov.  But when all was said and done, Holmgren was unable to sign either.

After acquiring the negotiating rights to Bryzgalov from the Phoenix Coyotes on June 7th, there has been much speculation as to whether or not the Flyers’ GM will be able to satisfy Winter’s contract demands.

Rumors have Winter looking for somewhere in the 5-7 year range in length, for anywhere from $30-$49 million.

As talks continue, it seems certain there will be changes if the Flyers are indeed able to ink Bryzgalov to a long-term deal.  The very philosophy of the team will likely even be altered.

The general idealogy of head coach Peter Laviolette has been defense-first, forecheck and pressure the puck, and attack in transition.  The fact that his team couldn’t lock down leads over the last half of the season led to a game plan of trying to outgun their opposition.

That, as the history books will show, did not work out well for Philadelphia.

With youngster Sergei Bobrovsky and veterans Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton in the crease, Laviolette was forced to play an embarassing game of musical goaltenders for a good portion of the last month before his team was eliminated.

As much as everyone in the area discounted the importance that Philadelphia failed to register a single shutout in a season for the first time in 30 years, the postseason should suggest otherwise.

Ryan Miller was spectacular in net for the Buffalo Sabres against the Flyers in the first round before finally succumbing in the seventh game.  Miller posted two 1-0 white-washes of the Orange-and-Black, and nearly stole the series for the Sabres.

Boston’s Tim Thomas and Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks were the goaltenders in the Cup Finals, and both played major roles in their club’s respective postseason success.

Thomas justifiably won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs,  posting a miniscule 1.98 GAA and .940 save percentage – and recording four shutouts, including a 4-0 decision in the Cup-clincher.

Although dramatically inconsistent, Luongo almost pulled off a miracle in the Finals.  Even though his team managed to score just eight goals in the seven-game series, Luongo posted two 1-0 blankings of the Bruins in getting his team to a deciding Game 7.

The point being here that there will always be times when your club goes into scoring slumps from time-to-time.  That is a given, and it is just the nature of the sport.

Philadelphia experienced their fair share of offensive slumps down the stretch and in the playoffs, but the team’s netminders were rarely able to steal a game for them.

Bryzgalov will be that type of a clutch goaltender that can win a game – and possibly even a series – when the team isn’t playing at its best.

Norm Hall / NHLI via Getty Images

He showed the inate ability to steal games for an offensively bland Phoenix club.  The Flyers – even with the realization that they will have to part with (an) asset(s), dependent on the size of the pact Bryzgalov will surely get, if signed - will still have much more in the way of offensive firepower at their disposal.

But the reality is that Bryzgalov will allow Philadelphia to gut out those 1-0 victories that have been one-sided wins for the opposition for over a year.  Opponents blanked the Flyers on nine occasions this past season - seven in the regular season – so that was nine contests that Philly had no chance at winning.

With Bryzgalov backstopping the Orange-and-Black, Laviolette should be able to expect a clutch save at the most important point of a game – much the same way he did with Cam Ward in net when he coached the Carolina Hurricanes to the 2006 Stanley Cup.

For much of the latter part of the year, those who followed the Flyers held their breath much of the time when the puck was in the Philadelphia end of the ice late in tight contests.  The nervous anxiety of the back-breaking goal was realized more often than not.

Trust can be a fleeting thing, and Laviolette’s was understandably lost late in the season.  With Bryzgalov in the fold, that trust should be unwavering from the coach.

And with that type of trust, Laviolette’s stifling, air-tight defense and counter-punching style should be able to be employed to the maximum next year.

Of course, much of that will also depend on the health of the club’s top two defensemen, Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen.  But that is an issue for another time.

The groundwork is apparently laid for a deal, as both sides have met extensively this week.  As long as both sides are reasonable, a pact could be in place and announced sometime around Bryzgalov’s 31st birthday on June 22nd.

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 Jeff Quirin

Only one long standing drought would end Wednesday night in Vancouver. With a Bruins standard issue effort best described as “gutsy”, Boston quenched their 39 year thirst. Defeating the Canucks and their ravenous fans 4-0 to earn the franchise’s 6th championship.

Tim Thomas was up to his old tricks, Venturing as far out of his crease as he dared, resulting in another commanding performance with key saves and a little help from his defensemen at the right time. By the final horn’s call Thomas stopped all 37 shots against his net en route to his second shutout of the series and the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Offensive contributions came from brash rookie Brad Marchand and the usually mild mannered Patrice Bergeron. The duo provided a pair of goals each with Bergeron nabbing the game winner at the 14:37 mark of the first period. A clean win off the draw by Bergeron allowed Marchand to circle the near corner and send a centering pass back to the face off winner for a one timer past Roberto Luongo.

Marchand stretched the lead to 2-0 when his relentless work low in the offensive zone lead to a wrap around score with 7:47 left in the second set. The Canucks were down but not out till Bergeron’s tallied his second of the night. With less than three minutes left in the second period he is hauled down by Vancouver defenseman Christian Ehrhoff on a partial break away. While a clean shot was never taken Luongo, was unable to keep the puck from sliding through him as crashing bodies invaded his crease. The play was reviewed, but the call would stand as a good goal.

Marchand would cap off the night’s scoring with an empty net goal at the 17:16 mark of the third period.

Some credit for the chemistry between the goal scorers can be attributed to the third man on the line, Mark Recchi. The ageless wonder, appearing in his last game of his 22-year career, was the perfect steadying force for the Bruins second line. He added an assist on Marchand’s first goal and his third Stanley Cup victory.

On the Vancouver side of the equation all was not well.

The Canucks brought speed and physical play to the forefront, but lacked mental focus, discipline and properly channeled emotion. As highlighted by the NBC crew during Wednesday night’s coverage, the Bruins goals came off of mental breakdowns by Canuck skaters. Slow line changes and missed markings on face offs. Small details that can be easily over come from October to April are not so easy in June.

In a series where home ice has meant everything, optimism was high for Luongo to throw more critics off his large chest protector. In three previous games at Rogers Arena Roberto stopped 95 of 97 Bruins shots — a .979 save percentage. Instead he was unable to come up with a momentum turning save to keep the difference more manageable. Stopping only 17 of 20 shots against. Just a .850 save percentage. Maybe the water Nathan Horton brought from Boston that was deviously sprayed on to the ice reverted Luongo’s capabilities to those displayed across the continent.

The focus cannot solely be on the netminder. With a lineup as talented and deep as the Canucks finding a way to score three of four goals is a norm, not an exception.

Credit the play of Boston’s top pairing of captain Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg for neutralizing Vancouver’s primary offensive threats. Both Henrik and Daniel Sedin, as well as Ryan Kesler, were largely forced to less than ideal scoring areas and held pointless. In the series the big three combined for 1 goal, 2 assists and a minus-25 rating in the four Bruins wins.

The typically dominate Kesler was anything but in the face off circle. Going 8 for 21 (38%) on the draw.  However, the rest of his game was effectively where it should have been.

Agitating forward Alex Burrows was a non factor in the outcome. With a generous six hits, two shots on goal and a minus-3 rating in over 20 minutes of action.

As Thomas said after the game, “Being the last game, we didn’t save anything. That was the difference.” In a one game, winner take all throwdown generally the victor leaves nothing for tomorrow. Boston threw everything possible at Vancouver and found a way to dig for even more. The Canucks desire just never seemed to reach that bloodthirsty level. The difference between a team thinking “they should win” compared to a team “thinking they can if the fight to the death”. That sense of urgency made all the difference.

Random Game / Series Notes

- Boston is the fourth consecutive Stanley Cup champion to not win on home ice. The last to do so was the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.

- Boston is the fourth Winter Classic participant to make it to the Stanley Cup finals. The third to win. The Pittsburgh Penguins (2009) and Chicago Blackhawks (2010) are the other two.

- Boston is the third Original Six team to win the Stanley Cup in the last four seasons. The Detroit Red Wings in 2008 and Blackhawks in 2010 are the other two.

- Chara is the second European born captain to win the Cup. The first was Nicklas Lidstrom of the Red Wings in 2008. He also lead all players with a plus-14 rating in the playoffs.

- Thomas owns the NHL record for most saves in the postseason with 798. He is also the first goalie to post a Game 7 shutout on the road. His post season GAA of 2.06 was only .06 off from his regular season mark of 2.00. Both are the best in the League.

- David Krejci lead the Bruins in postseason scoring with 12 goals and 23 points in 24 games. He also lead all players with four Game Winning Goals in the post season as well.

- Ehrhoff had a playoff low Minus-14 rating in 22 games.

- Canucks instigator Max Lapierre lead all players with 66 penalty minutes throughout the playoffs.

- Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa lead topped the postseason Hit chart with 81.

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Tonight, the Boston Bruins hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972, turning Beantown back into a hockeytown.

Bostonians can now bask in the fact that their four franchises all earned the highest honors in their respective sports in the shortest time period. In short, the city has bragging rights.

When the series first began, we wondered how this Bruins team would react to such a powerhouse in the Vancouver Canucks as the latter was fresh off an impressive and decisive Western Conference Finals victory over the San Jose Sharks, taking the matchup in the only five games.

Meanwhile, the Bruins were just this same, blue collar team. They fought hard against the Montreal Canadiens, dominated a Pronger-less Philadelphia Flyers and snuck by a cinderella story in the Tampa Bay Lightning, stealing their identity with Nathan Horton‘s Game 7, overtime game winner. If you were to ask me, I thought they were out of the playoffs in each respective series but clearly what do I know.

As an up-and-down team during the regular season, this group seemed to win the Northeast Division by default. The Canadiens struggled down the stretch due to their beat-up blue line. Their only other competition, the Buffalo Sabres, needed to be one of the best teams in hockey just to make the show. Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators improved later into the season but still finished in the bottom-10 in overall standings.

To say the least, this team became an underdog despite their high seeding and Vezina/Norris Trophy finalists.

We know they were not expected to win. However, what we are more concerned about is explaining exactly why this Bruins team actually won this series when most pundits put them out of the Cup in six or seven. Instead of breaking out the tape and analyzing this series in a game-by-game basis we found ten solid reasons why this team takes possession of Lord Stanley’s goblet and 29 other teams regroup for another grueling season.

Without further ado, we bring you a plethora of reasons why one team came away victorious.

1. Tim Thomas. Thomas was an absolute rock. He never allowed more than three goals, and never allowed more than two in regulation. When all the media focused on the struggles of Roberto Luongo and how he would handle the pressure, Thomas once again took control of the game and ultimately took home the Cup. He carried a very strong, record breaking season into the playoffs and never looked back. When anyone doubted him, or attempted to pump his tires he never looked back. With his back up against the wall, he stopped the last 73 of 75 shots, winning both games including a 37-save Game 7 shutout. There is absolutely no chance he would not have won the Conn Smythe as the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP.
2. Motivation. Horton left the series early into Game 3. As their most clutch performer, the team clearly needed him as he scored the game winner in two Game 7 overtime wins. Although he would not return to the series, the team hoisted the motto of “Do it for Horton.” The first-year playoff performer served as a motivator, showing up for Game 6 and then pouring water from the TD Garden ice onto the ice in the Rogers Arena prior to Game 7. The hit served as the turning point of the series as Aaron Rome used too much force to injure a player while his team was up in the series 2-0, changing the momentum as a result.
3. Physical Play. Dan Hamhuis got knocked out of the series after playing only 8:09 in Game 1. Mason Raymond left in Game 6 and may never skate the same again. The walking wounded of Christian Ehrhoff, Ryan Kesler and Alexander Edler were all consistently pounded to the point where they were rendered ineffective. Rome tried to answer their physicality but wound out missing the rest of the playoffs.
4. Efficient defense. The top defensive pairing of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg not only shut down their opponent’s top line, they also improved their teammates’ games by doing so. Johnny Boychuk and Andrew Ference played excellent hockey on both end of the ice mainly due to their team-low quality of competition in 5×5 situations. Additionally, they also displayed much better zone rate finishes, making what should have been a weakness in a third pairing into a strength.
5. Primary Scoring. David Krejci finished the playoffs as the points leader with 23 during the 2011 NHL Playoffs. His chemistry with winger Milan Lucic allowed Michael Ryder and eventually Rich Peverley to continue to contribute in the offensive zone, quietly outplaying some of the best players in the League.
6. Secondary Scoring. Just like the Krejci line, the secondary scoring was just better. Most of the talk surrounded Kesler as the firepower on Vancouver but the second line with Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi stepped up in time of need. The troika combined for an even more impressive four goals and six points in Game 7, leading their team to the Cup.
7. Forechecking. When the team was able to establish their forecheck, they created all kinds of problems for The Sedin Twins, Alex Burrows and Kesler not to mention the defense. They forced turnovers, took advantage of bad line changes and put pucks behind Luongo before he ever saw them coming.  Combined with their physical play, the Bruins used their cumulative team speed to out-work and simply out-play their opponents.
8. Discipline. Unlike the Canucks, the Bruins never seemed flustered. They rarely took bad penalties and honestly head coach Claude Julien would not allow it. They maintained their focus throughout the series, allowing the Canucks to play themselves out of the series due to frustration and simply not being the better team.
9. Perseverence. Down 2-0 in the series, they won two straight. Down 3-2 in the series, they sweep a series of two. They came back from their initial series 2-0. These guys were the ultimate comeback kids, never down and out.
10. Leadership. Neither team held a great deal of experience but keeping both Recchi and enforcer Shawn Thornton in the lineup helped the younger group gain confidence. Since his return in Game 3, Thornton acted as a voal leader for the rest of the series, taking a good deal of interviews after the game and showing his love for the city of Boston. These two in addition to seasoned veterans like the captain Chara gave this team a winning direction and identity.

These grouling playoffs are over. Congratulations to the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. You guys earned it and should be ready to defend that title in a few months.