NHL’s Quarterly Review
Alright, NHL, let’s do a little quarterly review and see if you deserve a raise.
Mmhmm…. yep… mhmm… everything looks pretty good. Off to a real nice start. Just a couple things: We’ve discussed head shots a few times now, and it doesn’t appear you’ve done anything to fix that problem. You see, we’re attaching a cover sheet to all our TPS Reports now…
Oh, and, tone down the injuries. Then you can get your raise.
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Our USA Today bi-weekly Power Rankings came out today, and look pretty good. My own Top Ten Teams is little different – here’s how I see it thus far.
- Chicago Blackhawks
- New Jersey Devils
- San Jose Sharks
- Washington Capitals
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Calgary Flames
- Colorado Avalanche
- Buffalo Sabres
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Detroit Red Wings
We aren’t all going to agree, but feel free to sway my opinion – why am I wrong (or right) on this? Oh, and keep in mind, it was submitted before last nights games.
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And the race for the Hart Trophy? Here’s how I see the first quarter:
- Alex Ovechkin
- Ilya Kovalchuk
- Ryan Miller
- Anze Kopitar
- Marion Gaborik
Thoughts?
What about D-Rol? Can we call him D-Rol?
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How much higher would Dwayne Roloson’s status be if his name wasn’t Dwayne? Dwayne has to be the english language’s worst male name. Y’know, aside from some ahem… football player names (see: D’Brickashaw).
Like Blaze. Blaze Roloson. We’d be like… “Damn. That Blaze is quick. What an apt name”. Just like that. That’s what we’d be like.
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Congrats to college teammate Jay Beagle on his first NHL goal. Excuse me while I take a kerosene shower in a room full of candles.
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When USA Today ran my article on gay slurs, a lotta stuff happened. All the sudden I was on the phone with GLAAD, discussing getting media trained to speak on TV about the issue. And, courtesy a few less-than-polite readers, I found out that, apparently, contrary my own (or fiance’s) knowledge, it turns out that I myself am not-so-into the ladyfolk.
Most note-worthy was an email I got from Brendan Burke, son of Leafs GM Brian Burke. After that, I corresponded with him and his brother, and got the go ahead from big Burke to write Brendan’s story. That same day, Brendan found out he had the opportunity to have his story be seen by more eyes, and heard by more ears, so I let the story be told with the most exposure possible. ESPN’s John Buccigross posted Brendan’s story today (and did a nice job), and tomorrow, he’ll be plugging Bourne’s Blog and running a little response I gave him during our email correspondance. So everybody be on your best behaviour when our new guests arrive then. Dress nice.
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Anybody else get the vibe that Detroit is gonna limp around all year, beat some teams, lose some games, start getting healthy in Febuary, start clicking in March, and be the world’s scariest 6/7/8 seed? Y’know, assuming Jimmy Howard gets hot too? (insert “Chris Osgood is a Hall-of-Famer” comments here. ….Yeah, and maybe he’ll bring Kurt Warner as his date to the induction)
I do love me some hip-hop culture though.
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I’m really looking forward to the Flyers getting home ice in playoffs (again), looking nearly unbeatable (again), putting up a really good fight (again), and having their hearts ripped out by weak goaltending when they need it the most (again).
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I’m also really looking forward to the chaos that is playoffs, since some of the best teams in the league have mediocre goaltending. I think Chicago and Washington have the best teams, but by having ”decent” goaltending (too generous?), the door gets opened up for teams like Calgary, San Jose, and… and… f**k. Why am I having trouble convincing myself New Jersey is a top team, especially after such a great start?
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Thanks for your continued support of the blog. If you don’t already, you can follow me on twitter at http://twitter.com/jtbourne
Stanley Cup Frontrunners
Contributing to the Power Rankings for USA Today each couple weeks really makes me think about where teams in the NHL are at. These are the left-over thought nuggets from this weeks edition.
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Carolina - In last years playoffs, Bourne’s Blog became a forum for a quality back and forth with some of the Carolina faithful about their team (mostly because I was treating the ‘Canes like I’ve been treating Phoenix this year), and somewhere along the way I got convinced that they weren’t all that bad. It made sense that they wouldn’t be – Eric Staal is worthy of having a team built around him, Cam Ward is one of the best goalies in the NHL, and I thought Paul Maurice was a pretty good coach.
When we did our pre-season predictions, we got some static about the lack of Carolina love. I had debated whether or not to include them, but we were only asked to pick division and conference winners, not playoff teams, so it made no sense to mention them. Playoffs, yes, top team, no.
So what the f**k is going on down there?
And now the two players I mentioned before are hurt? They’re worse than my Isles? The Leafs? Hit that “comment” button ‘Canes fans. Explain yourselves.
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I can’t help but think that there’s about a 20% chance the Cup winner comes out of the Western Conference this year.
Who looks like a Cup threat right now? I mean, you can say the Colorado Avalanche, but you don’t mean that. You’re aware they’re still a “good young team”, right? It’s okay to say that they’re legit. Tons of up-and-coming talent. But I don’t see a whole lot of “crap, I don’t want to play that team in playoffs” on their roster. I do see a whole lot of “crap, I really don’t feel like playing this mid-season game, can someone get a leash on Wolski? Stastny? O’Reilly? Duchene? CAN SOMEONE GET A BELL ON DUCHENE!??”
Name another threat with a straight face right now.
The Sharks?
I’d agree, if they didn’t play in the the Pacific Division, or as it’s better known, the ”try-to-gage-a-team-in-a-division-with-LA-Phoenix-and-Dallas” group. Heatley was a massive pick-up. Fine. He makes them the West’s best hope until Chicago inevitably wakes from it’s slumber. But there’s still something that doesn’t feel right about calling the Sharks a Cup contender. What does it mean that when I picture the Pacific Division, I picture a train going over some old wooden tressel bridge, only nobody knows the wood is rotten beneath? I feel like every passing train (game?) is one closer to the utter collapse of the whole thing. Combine that with a history of playoff failure, and it’s hard to be too sold on the Teal Trainwrecks Titans.
I know you can only beat the teams you play (the Boise State football problem), it’s just tough to tell if they’re actually good, or playing bad opponents. But, they will be a top three seed again, so here’s to hoping that they can break the same mold they built.
How about this: If I were to say “for a thousand dollars, will the Stanley Cup come out of the Western Conference, or the Atlantic Division?” - which one are you picking?
Atlantic Division
| GP | W | L | OT | Pts | GF | GA | Home | Away | L10 | Streak | |
 |
17 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 24 | 54 | 44 | 5-3-0 | 7-2-0 | 6-4-0 | Lost 2 |
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15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 22 | 39 | 33 | 3-4-0 | 8-0-0 | 8-2-0 | Won 5 |
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18 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 21 | 56 | 48 | 6-2-0 | 4-5-1 | 3-6-1 | Lost 1 |
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14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 19 | 52 | 37 | 6-2-1 | 3-2-0 | 6-3-1 | Won 4 |
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17 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 17 | 44 | 50 | 5-2-2 | 1-4-3 | 5-3-2 | Won 1 |
You know what I’d pick? I’d pick to complain that it’s NO WONDER THE ISLES STRUGGLE SO BAD.
This is what makes the NHL playoffs so great. It’s not accurate to gage a team based strictly on their record, since head-to-head is the only undeniable measuring stick for “who’s-better-than-who”. In the ever-popular BCS, strength of schedule is a heavy factory in determining the best teams. Fortunately for us, the NHL has a playoff format, so we actually get to watch the “I wonder who’s actually better” questions play out.
And who’s actually better?
The Stanley Cup Champion Penguins, my friend. That’s not just picking the obvious – at this point in the season, it’s picking correctly.
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And last, I wanted to give a shout-out to the reader who read my USA Today article, found my blog, tracked down my email, then wrote me the following email, which is printed below, unedited:
“you smoke pickle”
And so, I laughed.
Capitalizing at Home
One game tonight? What is this, the third round?
It’s okay… I’m talking myself through it. Maybe I could watch a basketball game after… or, I suppose I could get a life and leave my house on a Friday night. Or, just watch a basketball game. Yeah, I’ll do that.
(2) Caps / (7) Rangers tonight folks. Do or die time for the Washington Funtowatchitals. Back into that crazy sea of red.
Lundqvist is going to have to come up big for the Rangers tonight or it could be a beat down. A desperate young team, back at home, playing with their backs against the wall… I think we might see a little pace outta the Ovi-led Caps. All they need is Vaslav Fomich Nijinsky (I think that’s his name) to play well in net tonight and they’ll be fine.
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I’m up to 3-0 in my playoff predictions, but it’s looking like a series other than the Caps one is in serious jeopardy. The (1) San Jose Sharks are on the verge of having to answer a whole host of awkward questions I’m sure they don’t feel like answering, questions along the line of “What the f*** was that?”
I really do think Anaheim has put together a nice little playoff squad over there, but that’s not supposed to matter. Breaking news San Jose, you’re the Presidents Trophy winner. You’ve got a nice little squad too. I was really hoping for better for Thornton, he seems like one of the good guys. But you know what they say. Nice guys finish first, but only until playoffs.
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I’m gonna do a little 180 here and ask a few non-hockey questions, because apparently there’s an entire world happening off the ice. But they’re still about sports. Let’s not get too crazy.
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- Isn’t saying Bocci-ball a bit redundant? “Bocci” is pretty self-explanatory, really. There’s not much chance of us playing Bocci fork, or Bocci wheels, is there?
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- How tragic is John Madden retiring? You know you had the career of a legend when people reflect on it, and they realize you managed to trademark words like “Boom!” and “Turduchen”, while gambling websites offered less than one to one odds that you would make more than three food references during any given telecast.
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- Doesn’t it suck that TCIKG (The Completely Insane Kevin Garnett, as labelled by Bill Simmons) is missing the post-season for the Celtics? You know you’re a guy teetering on the brink of madness when PTI sets the over/under at three for ”how many on-camera profanities will viewers at home be able to discern from Garnetts mouth”
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- Have Alaskans officially crossed the line to crazy? Occasionally I get invited to join a group on Facebook called “conceal and carry on campus” for Alaskans, a state of people who are already allowed to be packing heat in their belt, and would like to be able to do it on University Campuses as well. …yeah… I see nothing wrong with that.
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- Why does Bill Simmons have to love basketball so much? The guy’s writing makes me laugh everytime, even when it’s about a sport I don’t pay a ton of attention to. My favourite recent explanation of his was that it’s easy to tell that someone is an a-hole if someone describes a person by using their own name.
“How’re things working out with Bill lately?”
“Well, you know, Bill is Bill. He’s gonna do his thing…”
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Alrighty folks. My next piece for THN was just sent in, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Also, The Hockey News just sent me five copies of their April 26 magazine, the first one I’ve had an actual print article in. So that was kinda neat.
Also, the lady and I have recently set our sights on Scottsdale (or Glendale) for a home. She got a nice job offer, and I’ve got a meeting with the Coyotes marketing guy Monday (assuming the Coyotes don’t move). And hey, who out there isn’t aching for an increase in Coyotes coverage 
Tune in to TSN tonight so you can catch the Caps thumping the Rangers!
I'm a hockey player turned writer. After playing for Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA (NCAA), I carried on with a NHL tryout (New York Islanders in 2007) before spending a couple seasons in the AHL/ECHL. My father, Bob Bourne, won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders in the '80's, as did my fiancee's dad, Clark Gillies. I'm now a columnist for USA Today, The Hockey News and Hockey Primetime.com.