Blackhawks and Panthers Are Sneaking up on the Wild

The race atop of the NHL standings is really heating up.  The Wild continue their Cinderella run but they are now tied at the top with the Blackhawks.  The Cinderella tag may not be enough for the Wild to stave off all comers.  We think the Blackhawks are the obvious threat to the Wild for first place and we like the Panthers and give them an outside chance of reaching number one.

Both teams are similar in that they have a good veteran core complimented with solid young talent.  The steamroller in Chicago is chugging along led by the usual suspects including Toews, Sharp, Hossa, and Kane.  Toews is playing so well at both ends of the ice that he looks like the favorite for the MVP title in the NHL.  I am sure the Hawks Captain would gladly give that award up for another Stanley Cup ring.  He might yet get his chance.   Joel Quennville has got his boys flying because he knows how to relate to his players.  He has their respect because he took them to the last Cup win and he knows how to win.  It also helps that he was in the NHL for years and which helps him identify the hot points to motivate his team.

The Panthers are also led by an NHL vet in Kevin Dineen.  Just like the Hawks' coach; Dineen can relate to his players and he has the team clicking and threatening for number one. The Panthers made some good moves in the post season and they are paying off. Kris Versteeg is arguably their best acquisition.  Versteeg ,who played for the Hawks when they won the Cup, has a +/- of +17 and he has scored 17 goals.   We think Florida could surprise if Boston cools down and the Wild's Cinderella clock strike midnight.  The Flyers are without Giroux and Pronger now so they are a lame ducks.  Now is the time for Florida to turn it on and start chasing Chicago and the Wild.

The Chicago Blackhawks Have the Best Forwards in the NHL

"An abundance of riches" should be the motto of the Chicago Blackhawks.  While many teams scramble to find a franchise player;  Chicago has four of them patrolling upfront.   The United Center in downtown Chicago is home to some of the best fireworks in hockey as the Blackhawks forwards light the lamp at an unseen pace in the NHL.  So far; Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, and Jonathan Toews have amassed a combined 122 points and a plus/minus rating of +45.  If these guys are on the ice chances are Chicago has the puck.  They are scary good and fun to watch. The Hawks offense is on cruise control and it shows no sign of slowing down.  This solid performance upfront has given their fans reason to believe that another Stanley Cup could be around the corner.

The last Stanley Cup win for the Blackhawks was a surprise to everyone except the Hawks.  They drafted well and traded even better and amassed a group of players who had a sense of destiny.  Some key players left Chi-Town after the last win but for some reason; Hossa, Kane, Sharp, and Toews all agreed to stay in Chicago for the long haul.  Their dedication to the team is a testament to the quality of the organization. The team and their fans treat their Fab Four with respect and these superstars have responded accordingly.  Kane and Toews (the Hawks captain) are the flashiest of the group but Hossa and Sharp are equally skilled in any situation.  If these players get the same feeling of destiny that they did last time; a push deep into the playoffs could be a problem for the Bruins who are trying to repeat this year.  Their captain could be the best player in the NHL and if he has anything to say about it a repeat for the Bruins will be just a thought and not a reality.

Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers - This is consistent hockey !!!

Many times you turn on ESPN or TSN and you see stories on the Penguins, the Capitals, and the Bruins.  Hockey fans love the Ovie vs Crosby story and the turnaround in Bean Town.  However, some teams are playing great hockey and have yet to receive the media attention they deserve.  We think the Chicago Blackhawks and the New York Rangers are two consistent NHL teams that should be getting more coverage.  

The Blackhawks and the Rangers near the top of the league standings with Chicago in 3rd  and New York in 4th. Both teams have strong home records and they know how to win games based on their strengths.  Chicago has the benefit of a more powerful offense with 91 goals while New York lives and dies with complete hockey. The Rangers have a plus/minus of +18 vs the Blackhawks who come in with a plus/minus of +6.  The Rangers have four games in hand over the  Blackhawks so they could switch spots a few times before the regular season wraps up.

The Blackhawks are a fun team to watch with Hossa, Toews, and Kane lightning  the lamp on a regular basis.  We think they are back in the zone which made them Stanley Cup champions; two years ago.  They are as deep as they were during that season and they have to be counted as a serious threat to the Bruins. The rivalry with the Canucks is still strong and the inter-divisional play will keep the Blackhawks sharp all season.  Toews is near the top of the table in terms of scoring and we expect that to remain the same as we near mid-season.

The Rangers are also a treat to watch in action.  They are more balanced than Chicago but the question is will they have the juice to keep up with the big boys come post season.  This question could be answered by Fodotenko and Richards if they come alive in the playoffs.  New York is consistent like a clock and we think they will stay close or the near the top of the standings till the end of the year. 

Make sure you catch the Blackhawks and Rangers in action when they come to play for your team.  If you are a Blackhawks or Rangers fan; good for you. Both teams are excellent and good luck with the rest of the season.  

PLAYOFF REFLECTIONS FROM THURSDAY NIGHT

Although it is impossible to truly follow all of the games here are some reflections and opinions from last night’s playoff action:

 1)    Choke Jobs – Three series were in action on Thursday, and all three are staring at rather large comebacks, or choke jobs, depending how you look at it. The Sharks blasted the Kings in the 3^rd period to take a 3-1 series lead, capitalizing on the momentum they gained from the comeback from 4 goals down in game 3 (which should have put the Kings up 2-1 in the series).  Just two games ago, the Bruins looked done and I was calling them playoff failures. Now, the series is tied at two games heading back to Boston. Montreal fans are going crazy, and now Boston believes they are every bit as good as they were supposed to be.  Confidence issues and questions about beating the Blackhawks have to be be going through the heads of the Vancouver Canucks players, especially Roberto Luongo. The Canucks goalie stood on his head in game 3 to give the heavily favored Canucks a 3-0 series lead. Now, just two games later, some are wondering if Luongo should even start game 6 in Chicago.  Two blowouts later, the Hawks are believing they can do what the Flyers did to the Bruins last year, and come back from an 0-3 deficit to take the series.

2)     Live and die with your best – No matter how bad Roberto Luongo has been in the last two games (.750 save %) you have to play him in game 6. It is on the road in a hostile environment, but he has played very well in Chicago over the years. Not starting him would show desperation and weakness. Getting over the Blackhawks hump looks much harder today, than it did Sunday night. The only way to do it, is with your best!

3)     OT goals – When was the last time an overtime ended with a really nice goal that showcased skill? Too often OT winners are decided because of mental blunders and bad bounces. P.K. Subban added to this list last night with his brutal line change that caused a 3 on 1. The Bruins did not score on the 3 on 1, but did immediately after as the Habs were scrambling to find their defensive zone coverage (Watch it here:  http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030134). Both OT winners from Wednesday were brutal. James Neal’s shot from the boards is one Dwayne Roloson will relive many times, (Watch it here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030144) and Marian Gaborik’s  error in taking the puck away from his goalie will haunt the Rangers as they are now down 3-1 (Watch it here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2010030114).  OT is great, but can we just see something remotely close to a brilliant play to end a game? Think back even to Patrick Kane’s goal to end the Stanley Cup last year….. utterly horrible! (Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdVn42-vOt8)

Here is the schedule for today’s games.

Buffalo @ Philadelphia 7:30pm

Nashville @ Anaheim  10:00pm

Tweets tonight of the Flyers/Sabres game @getrealhockey.

Follow my articles and tweets @Chyz1

-Mark Chyz

Blackhawks' Depth Take a(nother) Major Hit with Injury to Kane

Yes, the Chicago Blackhawks still won 4-2 on Sunday, despite star Patrick Kane getting injured in the first minute of play. And, yes, the Hawks are in fifth place in the Western conference, despite everyone counting them out this off-season after they were forced into trading away about a third of their Stanley Cup-winning line-up.

Still, there's little denying the fact that Kane, not including Sunday's game, is one of two point-per-game players (Patrick Sharp) on the team and arguably their most valuable, that he was in the midst of his hottest streak of the season, scoring 12 points in the last nine games, and that the Hawks were thriving as a whole during that stretch, going 6-3.

And, oh, yeah, there's also the fact that they were playing Calgary, hardly much of a challenge even if they had to play two men down. I mean, yeah, the Flames did account for one of Chicago's three losses in those last nine games, winning 7-2, but those were not the Flames we've come to know and pity... those were the Flames that had just gotten rid of, coincidentally, Patrick Kane-impersonator Brett Sutter, and had just had the benefit of getting a load of tremendous proportions off their collective back with something to prove. Needless to say, a much different team now that the reality of the situation, that cabbie-suckerpunching Sutter's no cabbie-suckerpunching Kane, has sunk in and that losing him doesn't really alter the make-up of the team all that much... they're still a bunch of gross underachievers that wouldn't win consistently even if their opponents were to be handicapped for an entire game... which is what they proved yesterday.

In any case, now that Kane is out, the Hawks need to realize that they won't have the benefit of playing the Flames every game. Admittedly, head-coach Joel Quenneville said that it's nothing really serious, but he preceded that by saying: "Kaner will probably be out a bit. We'll know more [Monday]." So what to gather from that is that hockey nicknames are so ridiculously stupid that players sometime even add a syllable for no apparent reason, and that it could very well be serious. No one really knows yet.

For the record, when the team was without Marian Hossa for five games in late October, early November, the team went 2-3, with losses against the Edmonton Oilers and the New Jersey Devils. Ouch. As such, no injury on any team should be taken lightly, especially seeing as Brett Sutter is currently in the AHL.

Thrashers and Big Buff Baffle the Masses with Move back to Defense

"I enjoy defence more than I enjoy forward" (an actual quote).

Some may call it a move made out of luxury, but it’s more so one of stupidity.

Blessed with the versatility of Dustin Byfuglien, who can play both the wing and defense, the Atlanta Thrashers finally lifted the curtain of secrecy to reveal their true idiotic nature after weeks of behind-the-scenes whispers. Indeed, in moving the power forward to the blue line on Monday the Thrashers are making a bid to negate a productive off-season by needlessly taking away one of their potential premier offensive weapons out of the picture.

One doesn’t need a PhD in hockey to get a decent handle on just how valuable Byfuglien was to the Chicago Blackhawks during their Stanley Cup run last spring. Even a trained monkey would know the significance of the term “game-winning” as it would pertain to goals scored in the sport. And one certainly doesn’t need to be Koko the ape to understand that scoring five of the 16 needed to win it all is a lot. Except in the case of Thrashers management, that is. 

Conversely, while playing as a defenseman in those same playoffs in the six-game first round against the Nashville Predators, Byfuglien was held pointless. Taking into account the fact that Byfuglien scored 16 points in 22 total playoff games, he actually scored a point per game as a forward. And still head coach Craig Ramsay wants to move him from forward. At this point, the team had better rename themselves the Birdbrains as a pre-emptive strike against all their naysayers for when the white stuff hits the fan. Reports indicate that Ramsay’s system is very offensive-minded and Byfuglien should have no problem finding the net as a blueliner, but to that argument I ask what kind of system were the Hawks, who scored over three goals per game, playing all of last year?

"Booyah! Yeah! Defence is so much more fun than forward!"

There’s little disputing that Byfuglien benefitted from playing with stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews over much of the course of those last 16 games, but to deny that his leviathan 6’5”, 265-pound physical presence in the crease and around the net didn’t in some way contribute to his point totals is akin to saying that known Hawks fan Vince Vaughn’s deadpan comedic skills did not at all add to the cult classic that is Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.

Without Vaughn all you have are hilarious cameos from William Shatner, Chuck Norris, and David Hasselhoff... and that one scene where Justin Long confesses his love for cheerleader Amber only to get hit in the head with a ball for all his trouble. Undeniably laugh-out-loud material, but definitely not enough for a full-length movie. Not even as funny as this comedy of errors Atlanta started playing out in 1999 when it entered the league.

If you want a really true underdog story, look no further than the Thrashers who are trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006-2007. After acquiring the likes of Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Nigel Dawes, Fredrik Modin, and Ben Eager to boost their offensive depth (Patrick Rissmiller doesn’t count and Donald Brashear should really count as minus-one player) as well as defenseman Brent Sopel and goalie Chris Mason, the Thrashers seemed destined to at least compete for one of the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference this year, especially taking into account how they finished a mere five points out last season. But they already have four capable offensive defensemen to man the point thanks to Tobias Enstrom, Zach Bogosian, Ron Hainsey, and Johnny Oduya, who more than proved himself capable of moving the puck with the New Jersey Devils of all teams in 2008-2009.

Stay-at-home specialists Sopel and Boris Valabik should complement those four very well, while Byfuglien would just take away one of their spots. Meanwhile, utilizing Byfuglien on one of the top two lines would allow the Thrashers to move a player like Ladd further down as a checking-line winger, a role in which he flourished in Chicago. Rich Peverley would also be one hoping for lower offensive expectations after putting up a career-high 55 points last season as the beneficiary of Ilya Kovalchuk’s sniping skills. With Kovy now patrolling greener pastures in Jersey (figuratively speaking, of course), Peverley had better pray for less on-ice responsibility lest he be found out for the checker in top-six forward’s clothing he really is.

"I have no idea why anybody would ever choose to play forward. Defence is soooo much more fun!!!!"

Byfuglien’s versatility makes him a valuable player, but there’s little value in moving him to defense when the Thrashers’ defensive corps is already complete. Moves such as this won’t just leave analysts scratching their heads... it will lead the Thrashers a few steps back in the team’s evolution. Even the dodo had the good sense to go extinct rather than regress intellectually.