Here are my NHL thoughts for the week...
1 a – Daily Oiler Bashing – Buffalo 10, Edmonton 2. It's self explanitory.
1 b – Edmonton 3, Minnesota 1. But I gotta say, after watching the highlights, Edmonton seemed lucky to get those 3 goals: Hemsky's was a horrible bad break off of Burns' skate, Moreau's knuckler handcuffed Backstrom, and Lubo went in un-touched through a surprisingly unattentive Minni D.
1 c – Backstrom is still 10-1 against Edmonton in his career. Wow.
1 d – Robert Nilsson doesn't even make the bubble for Sweden. Common Sporer. 'On the Bubble' means has a real legitiate shot of making the team, it doesn't mean 'lets name any Swedish player in the league'. 1 e – Here are some stats: 26th in faceoff %, 30th in hits, 2nd in give-away (that's 2nd worst). I tend to remember hearing hockey analysts from far-and-wide preach about 'key faceoffs' or 'the long grind of the playoffs' or 'puck posession', which are all things that the Oilers currently struggle with. If they are going to make the playoffs, it certainly doesn't look like it's going to be a lengthy stay...
2 – With all the negativity in the media, locker-room and on the ice, the Dallas Stars have a seriously realistic shot at the playoffs. They are currently in 9th, 2 points back of 8th, but with: 3 games in hand on Phoenix, 2 on Colombus, 1 on Edmonton and FIVE on Anaheim. If Turco can just play medicore, and not horrible, they can sneak into the playoffs. Again, I don't think it would be a long stay, but 2 home playoff games brings in an exra $2-3 million for the off-season market. 2 b – While still on the playoffs in the West, Global News went to the U of A and did a story on the probablility that Edmonton would make the playoffs. The formula is a simple combination of winning % of the current team and the winning % of their opponents, it doesn't take into account home/away, roster changes, momentum or anything else. Here is how the computer data plotted the NHL...
WEST
1. SJ - 100%
2. Detroit – 99.98%
3. Calgary – 99.98%
4. Chicago – 98.82%
5. Minnesota – 70.72%
6. Edmonton – 64.98%
7. Phoenix – 58.82%
8. Columbus – 40.88%
Vancouver – 37.48%
Dallas – 37.44%
Anaheim – 36.44%
LA – 32.38%
Colorado – 14.90%
Nashville – 10.00%
St. Louis – 2.20%
EAST
1. Boston – 100.00%
2. NJD – 99.80%
3. Washington – 99.74%
4. NYR – 96.64%
5. Montreal – 96.28%
6. Philadelphia – 93.02%
7. Buffalo – 70.70%
8. Florida – 61.58%
Pittsburgh – 46.28
Carolina – 35.86
Ottawa – 1.20%
Toronto – 0.86%
Tampa Bay – 0.54%
Atlanta – 0.02%
NYI – 0.00%
3 a – After hearing of Henrik Zetterberg's new 12-year deal, it made me hate Klowe and Tambellini even more. Calgary is able to hold on to Iginla, Phaneuf, Kiprusoff... Detroit is able to hold on to Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg... Edmonton has failed to hold on to anyone in the same class as those players or even attract players of that calibre, sans Chris Pronger. 3 b – The new deal also made me think about Brian Burke blaming Klowe for eliminating the 'second contract' and, with such superstars as Ovechkin, Vinny, Zetterberg, Vanek, Phaneuf all signing huge deals in length, I can't say I disagree with him. While Klowe's moves were either bold, stupid, mis-used, un-just, genius or fair-game, he certainly wasn't the the sole reason for it; however, he did exploit a tactic that changed the way free-agency is being dealt with today.
3 c – With the CBA capping the amount of money one player can make and placing a restriction on UFA age limits, I wonder if they will ever set a cap on HOW LONG a player could be signed for. Interesting.
4 – I saw on Sportsnet that Doug MacLean coached the 1997 Eastern All-star sqaud in San Jose. Okay, no big deal. Then it said that, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey were all out for the final shift. Those are possibly, the five greatest players of our generation. In 1998, The Hockey News ranked them ALL-TIME as follows: Gretz (1), Lemieux (4), Messier (12), Bourque (14), Coffey (28). Incredible.
5 – Craig Hartsberg became the 4th coach to be fired this NHL season, joining Denis Savard, Barry Melrose and Peter Laviolette. Can't say I'm too surprised at this one, although, with all the rumors swirling around and everyone giving their 2-cents on how to fix this team; I would NOT trade away any of the big 3. Superstars like them don't fall into your lap every day.
5 b – Remember when Ray Emery was shipped out and was made the scape-goat for the Sens? Yea, doesn't look like the trouble was centered around him afterall. Plus, I'm sure his goaltending skills would be greatly welcomed back: 20 wins, 6 loses, 2.00 GAA and a .930 Save%.
Here are my non-NHL thoughts for the week...
1 – The NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers are 22-0 at home this season, thats ridiculous. Here are some other home-winning-streaks from the other major sports... NHL – 1929/30 Boston Bruins & 1975/76 Phili Flyers – 20 games won
MLB – 1988 Boston Red Sox – 24 games won
NFL – 1971/74 Miami Dolphins – 27 games won
b – It's not a consecutive Win streak, but it is a consecutive UNBEATEN streak...
Soccer – 2004/08 Chelsea Blues – 86 games at Stamford Bridge
2 – The Uconn Huskies are the new #1 team in the AP College Basketball poll, this marks the 2nd time in history that 4 different teams have been ranked #1 in 4 consecutive weeks (Duke, Wake Forest and Pitt). The record is 7 different teams in 7 consecutive weeks back in 93/93 season. Now that's what I call parody.
3 – Rafa Nadal. I need to mention his win at the Aussie Open; however, to me (and I watched 4 hours of the 4 hours 22 minutes) it was Federer who lost the match, rather then Nadal winning the match. Federer had 23 MORE unforced errors then Nadal, yet Nadal had 21 LESS winners then Federer...
3 b – Serena Williams is a beast. Gross.
4 a – Bud Selig is the MLB commissioner. Great. It was reported that his annual salary is around 17.3 million buck-a-roos. Wow. Here's what other sport's commishs are making...
NHL – Gary Bettman – $5.9 million
NFL – Roger Goodell – $11.2 million
NBA – David Stern – $10 million
MLS – Don Garber – $1.25 million
President of the USA – Barack Obama - $400,000
4 b – Tiger tops the list of highest paid athletes with: $22,902,706 in winnings/salary and $105,000,000 in endorsements, for a total of $127,902,706; rounding out the rest of the top 10 is... 2. Phil Mickelson – $9,372,685 winnings/salary + $53,000,000 endors. = $62,372,685
3. LeBron James - $12,455,000 winnings/salary + $28,000,000 endors. = $40,455,000
4. Floyd Mayweather Jr. - $20,000,000 winnings/salary + $20,250,000 endors. = $40,250,000
5. Kobe Bryant - $19,490,625 winnings/salary + $16,000,000 endors. = $35,490,625
6. Shaquille O'Neal - $20,000,000 winnings/salary + $15,000,000 endors. = $35,000,000
7. Alex Rodriguez - $29,000,000 winnings/salary + $6,000,000 endors. = $35,000,000
8. Kevin Garnett - $22,000,000 winnings/salary + $9,000,000 endorsements = $31,000,000
9. Peyton Manning - $17,500,000 winnings/salary + $13,000,000 endors. = $30,500,000
10. Derek Jeter - $22,000,000 winnings/salary + $8,000,000 endors. = $30,000,000
4 c – The top 20 International athletes features: 9 soccer players, 3 formula one drivers, 3 baseball players, 2 basketball players, 2 tennis players and 1 motorcycle racer. The top five are...
1. David Beckham – $48,200,000
2. Kimi Raikkonen - $46,000,000
3. Ronaldinho - $37,500,000
4. Lionel Messi - $35,800,000
5. Roger Federer - $35,130,620
5 a – With the Superbowl only a memory for an hour, Vegas bookies were already predicting next years Superbowl odds. The Pats lead the way at 8/1 followed by the 9/1 Cowboys, 10/1 NYG, 10/1 Steelers and the 12/1 Colts. The Chiefs and Lions are this years' cinderella teams as they are 100/1 underdogs. 5 b – A Superbowl edition will be followed shortly...
Cheers.
-Smith
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