Kings Gameday: Way to Go, Sean

LA Kings (10-10-3) @ Phoenix Coyotes (10-11-2)

6:30 PST, Fox Sports West


Last night the Kings were leading, 1-0, going into the 3rd period. They hadn't played particularly well, but had used a fast start to gain an advantage on the scoreboard. During the 2nd intermission, Terry Murray stressed the importance of not taking a penalty because the Kings had just been given a 5-on-3 (which of course they didn't score on) late in the 2nd. The very first shift of the 3rd period, Sean O'Donnell carried the puck up ice and attempted to pass it out of his own zone. Unfortunately, he bounced it off a Toronto player and then hooked another Toronto player that was attempting to skate the puck into the zone. Penalty, Sean O'Donnell. The penalty was exacerbated by an unfortunate Dustin Brown trip and the Maple Leafs scored on the two-man advantage.



Way to go, Sean.

Still, the Kings were tied and only had to kill off the rest of Dustin Brown's penalty. O'Donnell was rested because he had been in the box and came out to kill the penalty. He made a nice play to corral the puck behind his own net and tried to pass it to Drew Doughty. Unfortunately, there was a Toronto player standing in the way; the Toronto player easily intercepted the pass and relayed it to a teammate in front of the net for an easy goal.


Way to go, Sean.

No King had a good game last night, with the possible exception of Alex Frolov, but I don't think I've seen one player screw up a team's chances of winning a game that much since Denis Gauthier thought he was a Red Wing at the beginning of the season. I think of players as contributing positively and negatively; some players, like Tom Preissing, are going to make a lot of good plays that contribute to goals but they're also going to fuck up and cost the team goals. The trick is to get more positive plays than negative plays. Sean O'Donnell does not make many positive plays but he usually doesn't make many negative plays. I like O'Donnell and I don't want to be mean to him or anything, but he cost the Kings the game last night.

***

Kind of funny: last night, some shitheel named Andre Deveaux got feisty with Anze Kopitar, hoping to send a message to the Kings or some such. Brown bumped Deveaux, then Peter Harrold came over and shoved him. Then Raitis Ivanans came out on the ice. Ivanans followed Deveaux all over the ice, trying to convince Deveaux to drop the gloves. Deveaux refused, both because he was trying to goad Ivanans into a penalty and because he didn't want to die. Then, after the whistle, Wayne Simmonds tried to get Devaux to go and again was refused. It's good to see teammates standing up for one another.

***

Phoenix has kind of sucked this year, huh? They're 28th in the league in scoring, which is not what I expected. They're also missing Olli "Big Baby" Jokinen, who is out with a shoulder injury, so this is another game that the Kings should win. Let's hope the Kings play a little better tonight.

Prediction: Kings win, 4-2. Goals by... whoever.

So, who the hell is going to win the Pacific?

That's the question heading into this season. It's reasonable to say that 4/5 Pacific teams could win it (sorry Kings, but enjoy your complimentary fruit basket!). With that in mind, let's take a quick look at the three big dogs and the sweaty dark horse in the sun.

Naturally, leave your predictions and dissenting opinions in the comments.

San Jose Sharks

Most years, these media darlings are the team to beat on paper. This year? You get the feeling that people are starting to sour on the Teal force.

It's crazy just how much this team changed in the last couple years. There's still some solid youth on the team, but the parallels to those "fuck the future I want it now" Colorado Avalanche teams are pretty damning. (They even have Rob Blake) Still, that team did win two Cups before they devolved into a glorified vehicle for the annual Peter Forsberg saga.

10 of his 14 goals last year were game winners ... seriously.

The thing that makes this team so difficult to judge is that they're such a gamble: they have a coach who's wet behind the ears, a vastly different defense and it's unclear which offense will show up. Here's the questions that need to be answered:

• Will the ousting of Ron Wilson reanimate the corpse previously known as Patrick Marleau?

• How good is Dan Boyle, really?

• Can the Cheechoo Train ride again?

• Speaking of corpses, is that really Jeremy Roenick? He's still alive?
  

This team is a mystery wrapped in bacon.

Anaheim Ducks

After the Stompy controversies and the "will they or won't they?" retirement questions, it's mind blowing to realize that the Ducks might just be a model of stability this season.

Sure, the salary cap will make things interesting and Brian Burke's heavily rumored dalliance with the Maple Leafs might crop up again. The Ducks return the same core group that dominated its way to a Stanley Cup two years ago (with a possible bonus of Bobby Ryan if they can make the money work).

Will Burke go to Toronto if the Ducks win another Cup?

A full season of Scott Niedermayer and the Finnish Flash should provide the Ducks with a fourth gear. Their biggest problem now is that they are a top heavy team, but its not crazy to wonder if this is just the beginning for Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

From everything I've heard, J.S. Giguere's weight fluctuates worse than Oprah's from game to game (doesn't he lose about 4-6 lbs. per game?) so he might not be able to take on a Marty Brodeur-like workload. For that reason, the Ducks might not win the division but they have the best chance of any Pacific team to win the Cup this year.

There, I said it.

Dallas Stars

It's amazing how much public perception can change with a little playoff success. The Stars handed the Sharks and Ducks 4-2 losses before being manhandled by a vastly superior Detroit Red Wings team. It was a borderline magical journey for a club that lead the league in postseason frustrations.

The Stars' midcard will be vastly different this year. Niklas Hagman, Antii Miettinen, Stu Barnes and Mattias Norstrom are gone. At the same time, the Stars will enjoy a full season of Brad Richards and will ... try to enjoy a full season of Avery the unsavory.

Avery, Morrow and Ott give the Stars an abrasive trio and Avery certainly increases the team's quotability. (BTW, he's right about Don Cherry)

How well will this fashionisto match the Stars?

The Stars should continue some of that good momentum, but good lord is this it for Sergei Zubov and Boucher? This injury trend isn't a surprise with Boucher but with Zubov it's getting scary.

An unhealthy Zubov makes a Pacific Division win unlikely.

Phoenix Coyotes

This year's dark horse is a canine.

(Kill me. The world will understand.)

Last year, I was all over the Stars trading for Olli Jokinen at the trade deadline. Well, he came to the Pacific ... only for the "Desert Dogs." If any player has lived through the Gretzky-Gary Bettman expansion era, it might be Jokinen with his stops with the pitiful Florida Panthers and now the Phoenix Coyotes.

Apparently, Jokinen already has a little BoC experience

A full season with Bryzgalov and Jokinen could make the Coyotes very interesting. Without Keith Ballard, their D takes a bit of a hit but they still seem to have quite a D focus under the watch of The Not So Great coach. But it must be mentioned that they are highly reliant on Jovocop, the Marian Gaborik of defensemen.

Even though the Coyotes will be interesting this year, I don't see them leapfrogging the Stars, Sharks and Ducks.

So, what do YOU think?

Finished!

Whew! Sleek's been a busy guy lately, not only contributing to BoC's regular reporting brilliance, but doing Pacific Division previews for AOL Fanhouse as well. Today that whole stint got finished up -- my Sharks preview will run later this morning, finishing off my previewing duties there. I can't say that there's anything too brilliant in these previews (I get awfully wishy-washy when it comes to predicting things), but I did draw a cartoon for each team -- that's something, at least.

Anyways, I figured I'd link them all here, not only for convenient clicking but also just as an excuse for my recent busy streak.

• Los Angeles Kings


• Phoenix Coyotes


• Dallas Stars


• Anaheim Ducks


• San Jose Sharks

So there you have it. I've managed to write all five without picking a winner of the Pacific; who do you figure has the best shot at it? Comments are open.

P.S. You do know that I am not the only Pacific Division blogger who draws cartoons, right?

Did You Know Raitis Ivanans is a Bad Man?

I think Ivanans stopped punching him because his hand was hurting.

Random Pacific Questions: Who Has the Best Goalie?

He looks like the dog at the end of those Honda Element commercials. "Hey, what's going on back there?" ...I'm not good at captions.

The Kings, right? No? Okay, someone else then.

Marty Turco- 62 GP, 32 wins, 24.9 shots/game, 2.31 GAA, .909 SV%

Ilya Bryzgalov- 64 GP, 38 wins, 28.6 shots/game, 2.44 GAA, .920 SV%

Jean-Sebastien Giguere- 58 GP, 35 wins, 26 shots/game, 2.12 GAA, .922 SV%

Evgeni Nabokov- 77 GP, 46 wins, 23.4 shots/game, 2.14 GAA, .910 SV%


I'd put it Bryzgalov-Giguere-Nabokov-Turco, but that's just me. Giguere has the best numbers but he didn't play nearly as much as the others, while Nabokov has relatively weak numbers but played a ton. I didn't realize Turco had a subpar season (by his standards) last year, but then he picked it up in the post-season while Giguere faltered. Say it with me, folks: clutch doesn't exist.

I'll be very interested to see how JS Giguere, Evgeni Nabokov and Marty Turco react to next season. All three are getting into their 30's all three have carried their teams the last few years. The Ducks are in pretty good shape if Giguere misses more time next year because Jonas Hiller is a bad man, but the other two have question marks behind their starters. I imagine Nabby will take a few more games off as Dmitri Patzold and Thomas Greiss mature and it'll work because their San Jose goaltenders, but the Stars don't really have anyone currently with the team or in the pipeline to fill Turco's shoes. Could this be the year those three start to fall off? God I hope so.

Letter From a Coyotes Fan

SOS

its so hot

send water

and maybe sunscreen

SPF 15 is recommended

hey look a jack rabbit

please help m

Knucklehead Proliferation

Two years ago, the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup thanks to George Parros' moustache and Brad May's right fist. Since then, the other teams in the Pacific have gathered their own eclectic mix of goons, ruffians and whelps to combat the OC menace. Last year the Pacific was the best division in hockey and this year I think it'll be the fightingest. Since there's not much going on these days, I thought it'd be fun to take a look at the fighting prospects of the teams in the Pacific, broken down by role. Be warned: these are my fight roles and they're complicated and more than a little insane, so try to keep up.



Goons: George Parros, Raitis Ivanans, Jody Shelley, Brian McGratton

Goons are guys who play about 5-7 minutes a game and don't really have an impact. They'll skate around and hit someone, get knocked down and then square off with a fellow goon to give the masses a little excitement. It's awesome. Every team has a goon except Dallas, who have a couple of tweeners to do their dirty work. The Kings have the best enforcer because Raitis Ivanans is 1) the best hockey player of the group, and 2) Ivanans isn't keeping someone good out of the line-up like everyone else. Brian McGratton is the new guy in Phoenix and I imagine he'll fight a lot in the beginning. Jody Shelley sucks.


Tweeners: Brad May, Krys Barch, Brad Winchester, Craig Weller, BJ Crombeen, Chris Kunitz

Tweeners are like goons but smaller and better at hockey (though still not good). They fight well and usually beat up on lesser fighters. Brad May pretty much sets the standard for tweeners in the NHL, as he can fight any weight class and do some damage with hooks and slashes as well. Barch and Winchester teamed up to fill the role in Dallas, although I'm not sure if they're going to make the team. Crombeen might take their slot next year and he's pretty fucking crazy. Scott Thornton did fill this slot for the Kings, but he retired. Brian Boyle will probably try to take that role next year.


Avengers: Douglas Murray (of Sweden), Matt Greene, Sean O'Donnell, Brendan Morrow

Avengers and tweeners are similar, in that they're both light heavyweights, but the difference is that the primary role of an avenger is usually hockey-related, not goon-related. Avengers fight when a teammate has been wronged and usually kick ass. Doug Murray excelled at this last year, often coming to the aid of any teammate that had his knee messed with. (Doug Murray hates it when people get kneed.) Matt Greene comes in to fill the role for the Kings this season, while Sean O'Donnell will continue fighting in defense of his teammates in Anaheim. Brendan Morrow is excellent at this role, but he's probably too good a hockey player to fight too much. Phoenix had two players that defended their teammates last year, Nick Boynton and Keith Ballard, but they both left in the Jokinen trade. Someone is going to have to step in and fill that void for them. Criag Rivet also protected San Jose last year, but he's gone now so they can have Rob Blake shoot 9,000 feet wide of the net.


Punching Bags: Todd Fedoruk, Travis Moen, Brian Sutherby, Kyle McLaren, Craig Weller

Punching bags are sacrificial lambs. When someone on their team does something that goes against the code, these men are usually sent out to get their asses kicked in order to end the retaliation. They'll fight anyone and usually lose, but at least the important players on the team are spared. Todd "Ow my face!" Fedoruk is the standard in punching bags, but every team besides the Kings and the Stars have one on their team. Brian Sutherby probably doesn't belong here because he usually starts fights; he just kind of sucks at it.


Pests: Danny Carcillo, Sean Avery, Steve Ott, Corey Perry(?)

These guys are like goons except they usually skate a regular shift. Their job isn't primarily fighting, it's more annoying-related. Lots of stick work, lots of trash talk. They are usually held accountable sooner or later, fighting mostly each other or avengers. Danny Carcillo is the cream of the Pest crop because he's fucking insane and will fight anyone. Avery and Ott will form a dynamic duo of douche baggery in Dallas, making up for Dallas' lack of a straight Goon. Corey Perry isn't so much a pest because he's good at hockey, but he's a little bitch nonetheless so he goes here.

So that pretty much runs down the people you're going to see fighting in the Pacific. Overall, the Ducks still have the best fighters in the division, but the Stars have a variety of people to throw out there if things get crazy. The Kings and Sharks are basically only avengers and 1 goon each, while the Coyotes have two goons, big and small. The Pacific Division is shaping up to be the fightingest division in hockey next year and it's going to be awesome.

Anaheim Ducks Announce 2008 Preseason Schedule

The Anaheim Ducks today announced the 2008 preseason schedule. The schedule features eight games, all keeping the Ducks close to the Pacific Ocean.

Below is the Ducks’ complete 2008 preseason schedule:

DATE	OPPONENT	VENUE	TIME (Pacific)
Wed., Sept. 24	SAN JOSE	Honda Center	7:05 p.m.
Fri., Sept. 26	@ San Jose	HP Pavilion	7:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 27	@ Phoenix	Jobing.com Arena	7 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 28	VANCOUVER	Honda Center	5:05 p.m.
Tues., Sept. 30	@ Los Angeles	STAPLES Center	7:30 p.m.
Wed., Oct. 1	LOS ANGELES	Honda Center	7:05 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 3	PHOENIX	Honda Center	7:05 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 5	@ Vancouver	GM Place	7 p.m.

Every single one of these games bores the living hell out of me! Why can't we play people we won't play 1,000 times this season?! Hell, toss in an interesting location like the Kings are doing in Vegas. The Ducks got London last year, and the Kings get Vegas and Kansas City! That's bullshit!

So, Battle of the Pacific?

Well, I guess I should get back in the blogging game here at BoC, and what better topic to come back on than official blog business? Specifically, while I’ve been distracting myself with GTA4 and Galactica after the Ducks got eliminated, James O’Brien has been offering thoughts on the Dallas Stars most of this postseason, and has been as subtle as a Pronger-elbow-to-the-head in hinting that this blog should be renamed “The Battle of the Pacific” in the not-too-distant future.

I’ve gone back and forth on this issue, and I think in the end I’m against the notion of blog re-branding at least at this point in time, though I am willing to listen to counterarguments in the comments. For one, there’s the matter of blog contributors—if this blog’s purpose is to be a somewhat even-handed approach to the Pacific Division, that would require definitely a strong Coyotes voice and possibly even another Stars voice—and I’m not even sure that this blog has a glaring need for any more regular contributors.

Secondly, from a technical standpoint, I’m not the savviest blog administrator on the internet, but I do put a huge priority in preserving this blog’s archives. I’m confident that Blogger has the capability to mass-transfer old BoC posts to a new “Battle of the Pacific” domain, but I really don’t want to go around and try to get other sites to update old links, whether in blog listings or in actual posts.

Also, I think I have a bit of a philosophical hurdle to overcome. While the Stars perspective is certainly relevant to the BoC’s Pacific Division standings, there are still some geographical differences that continue to differentiate fans of the two teams, namely two time zones—nobody on the east coast is complaining that they have to stay up too late to see Stars games, or that their team has to travel as far west as Texas. I mean, certainly we’ll have similarities being mocked as non-traditional hockey fans, but Texas is nearer to the NHL’s east-coast bias than any CA team will ever be. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like I empathize with the plight of the Kings fan or the Sharks fan much more than do a Stars fan, and idealistically it’s probably that commonality that this blog promotes.

Suffice to say that there’s a fair amount of work to be done in representing a “Battle of the Pacific” blog, and I don’t think I’m up to it anytime too soon (heck, I’m not sure I’m ready to stop saying “BoC”). Even if Stars and Coyotes posts become regular features, I don’t think that it demands a blog rebranding; accuracy has never been our strong point, why try to start now? So unless I hear of any particularly compelling comments, my plan is to just continue operating under the Battle of California web address, and we’ll continue to write about whatever we want, including opinions on the Dallas Stars.

Anyway, let me open it up to the comments: How important is it that the blog name align with possibly expanded coverage? Also, is anybody interested in supplying Stars or Coyotes posts?

[Author’s note: Earl does plan on covering the Ducks again real soon. First issue to be discussed: why I am not panicking about Brian Burke Leafs GM rumors.]

Ducks Gameday—Updated Logo

Phoenix Coyotes (38-37-6, 12th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (46-27-8, 3rd in west)

Memo to the league: Pronger's back, so watch your head (and shins)! In fact, I've gone ahead and updated my re-designed Ducks logo to help remind opponents of the constant danger they are in:

Note: Ducking might not prevent getting stomped on.
Prediction: Ducks 3, Coyotes 2, in the last meaningless game of the year. Goals by the thugs: Pronger, Mayday, and Bertuzzi.

Go Ducks.

Kings Gameday: So Far, So Good: Part I

LA Kings (bleep) vs. Phoenix Coyotes (nobody cares)

7:30 PST, FSN Prime Ticket

and

Tampa Bay Lightning (68 points) vs. Washington Capitals (Ovechkin w/ 61 goals)

The Kings suck. Our shutdown line is Michal Handzus, Raitis Ivanans and Mark Ellis. Our second line center is Derek Armstrong.* We're not good. Help is on the way, however. The Kings' lesser known prospects have been putting on a show recently, so I thought I'd highlight that. Turn that frown upside down, sally, we're taking a tour of the minors! First up: the WHL.

*I want to nickname him "Dump;" one, because all he ever does is dump the puck, and two, because his presence on our second line makes me feel like someone is taking a dump on my brain.

WHL

The Kings dominated the Western Conference First All-Star team, with Kings' properties taking up half the roster. Oscar Moller, Thomas Hickey, and TJ Fast were all named to the team. Moller and Hickey were both relatively expected but Fast was a bit of a surprise. He's older than everyone else in the league (he's 20 and was picked in 2005), but it's still an accomplishment for him. Bud Holloway was not named to either team, despite leading his team in points and playing a solid all-round game; I think it's an anti-Bud conspiracy. He and Fast may move to the ECHL/AHL next year to continue their development, while I don't know with Hickey and Moller. They may stay in the WHL one more year (although they doesn't have much left to do except put on weight), or they may step onto the Kings. I have no idea. I probably shouldn't admit that.

Moller kinda looks like one of the friends from Rookie of the Year.

Another surprise was the selection of goaltender Linden Rowat to the Eastern Conference First All-Star team. Rowat, a 5th round pick last year, had a 2.68 GAA and a .904 SV% and led Regina (teehee) to the playoffs. I normally wouldn't think he was anything special, but since Dean Lombardi drafted him, I'm going to go ahead and congratulate Calgary on their new Vezina-winning goaltender. Just give him 6 years.

***

The Manchester Monarchs defeated the Portland (Maine) Pirates last night, winning by a score of 2-0. The Monarchs are on a 3-game winning streak and currently have a hold on the final playoff spot in their division. They are a very young team; AHL teams are allowed 5 "veterans" on the team and the Monarchs have none. They've managed to win in spite of that (and in spite of the fact that Dan Cloutier was their goalie for a while) and should hopefully make the playoffs.

Marc-Andre Cliche, looking older than your dad.

I'm intrigued by 2 players on the team: Trevor Lewis and Marc-Andre Cliche. Lewis was drafted with the pick the Kings got for Pavol Demitra. He was projected as a 2nd line center not too long ago but has struggled to adjust to the AHL game. Still, he has a good all-round game and could hopefully slide into a stopper role for us. Cliche (20) was obtained in the Avery deal and is good friends with Jonathan Bernier. He is the holy grail of players, a Sammy Pahlsson type, and has played very well since returning from an injury. These 2 are probably the next in line behind Boyle and Purcell in terms of players who could one day have a significant impact on the Kings.

***

Brian Willsie? Goddammit, Crawford.

Prediction: None of those players are here yet. Kings lose, 3-2, with goals by Handzus and Frolov. (I don't know why we haven't been scoring; maybe it's because we have Kopitar, Frolov, and then pbbbbt.)

Ducks Gameday—Refocusing on the playoffs

Anaheim Ducks (42-26-8, 3rd in west) at Phoenix Coyotes (36-33-6, 11th in west)

Well, like Rudy below, with last night's result against the Sharks, I'm not sure I'm overly concerned with Duck game outcomes from here on out; they don't all need to be wins. It certainly seems that upward mobility in the standings is out of the question, as is dropping out of the playoff picture completely; now it's just about getting enough points to not slide very far. I've always been less concerned with playoff seeding than I probably ought to be; the more crucial thing has always been playing well when the playoffs arrive. Let's put it this way: there's no comfortable seeds in the west. It's a deep conference, and any team is capable of a first-round win. Last year the Ducks won the cup as a 2nd seed, but they've had fantastic runs from the 6 and 7 spots.

So to me, the bigger question isn't: can the Ducks hold off Dallas & friends for the fourth seed and home ice? Rather, it is: can the Ducks start the playoffs with the best roster available?

Last night Giguere pulled up lame with back spasms before the game, and was a surprise non-starter, throwing rookie Jonas Hiller to the bloodthirsty Sharks. This is pretty significant as each of the last two playoff years, Giguere has similarly been a surprise no-show for the postseason opener. Fortunately, the Ducks had a crazy Russian in reserve both those years (one whom they'll be visiting tonight) that was capable of dominating a series. It will probably be Giguere's decision when he returns, but hopefully he can sense that there's not a terrible rush for regular season wins. What's really critical is that he is game-ready for the first game of the postseason, wherever it is.

This principle can somewhat apply to any of Anaheim's major players--Niedermayer, Pahlsson, Selanne, or Getzlaf--there's no need now to be overextending those players in a quest for a higher fourth seed. Pronger, I guess fortunately, is having his jaw rested through league enforcement. Now perhaps Giguere can keep him company a few games before they return saved up for the postseason.

Political aside: I'm never one for presidential politics. I'm cynical and lazy about the voting process, and don't much care for anyone who passes for a legitimate candidate. Still, I am willing to reconsider, if only they'd address my issues:

Independent-voting Ducks fans in swing states, order yours today!
Prediction: Hiller was really encouraging with his surprise-start 41 saves last night; he was shaky in his first minute, but after that surrendered only a 5-on-3 goal in a game where'd you'd think "only one?". Should Giguere pull his usual G1 crap in a few weeks, I'm already feeling better about that potential Bryzgalovless scenario. As for offense, generating zero shots in the 3rd period looks worse on paper than it did on the ice, but I think that'll help spark the Ducks' forwards tonight. Ducks 4, Coyotes 2. Goals by Kunitz, Huskins, Pahlsson, and Bertuzzi.

Go Ducks.

Kings Gameday: Is The Season Over Yet?

LA Kings (pbbbbttt!!!) @ Phoenix (36-33-5, 11th in West)

7:00 PST, FSN Prime Ticket

You said it, pal.

Well, this season's basically over. Jack Johnson broke his foot and is out for the rest of the season. (Lousy Marleau, I'll kill you!) I'm not sure if the Kings are going to call any one up from Manchester that will actually play (both Joe Piskula and Richard Petiot are hurt right now), so I guess Jon Klemm will move back to defense and... fuck... Brian Willsie will dress. Just to give you an idea of what our lines will be like:

O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown
Frolov-Armstrong-Cammalleri
Ivanans-Handzus-Ellis
Calder-Giuliano-Willsie

Visnovsky-Preissing
Blake-Harrold
Dallman-Klemm

Erik Ersberg
Dan Cloutier

Jesus. When I do my off-season preview, 5 of these guys will not be on my hopeful team. Maybe 6. In the meantime, here's A Handy Guide for Beginners: Dealing With Another Lost Season by Kevin Schultz, AKA the guy from Barry Melrose Rocks. I prefer steps #1 and #2, with a heavy dose of #6. You can't do #6, though; I don't need the competition.

***

Pop quiz, hot shot. You're the Kings coach. There is 1:40 left in the game. Your team is down, 2-1, but has had fairly constant pressure on the Sharks goaltender for the last 5 minutes. Your top line of Brown-Kopitar-O'Sullivan has been on the ice for the last minute and they're looking to change. You have 3 options:

1) Keep them out there. They're your top line and the game's almost over.

2) Put Frolov-Armstrong-Cammy out on the ice. They've been your best line all night.

3) Put Ivanans-Handzus-Frolov out there. ????????????????????????????????????????????

What do you do? WHAT do you do???

(If you said #3, congratulations! You're an idiot/Marc Crawford!)

Prediction: Kings lose, 5-2. Goals by Frolov and Cammalleri. Lousy bums.

Ducks Gameday—Reviewing the goaltender giveaway

Anaheim Ducks (39-25-7, 4th in west) at Phoenix Coyotes (34-30-5, t-10th in west)

I made this table below to show how the Coyotes have improved since they picked up Ilya Bryzgalov on waivers, including beating both J.S. Giguere and Jonas Hiller in shootouts. Interesting, since he'd never won a shootout for the Ducks, but then again, the Ducks have one of the worst shootout lineups around.

	Pre-Bryzgalov	Post-Bryzgalov
Games Played	17	52
Record	7-10-0	27-20-5
Win Pct.	.412	.567
GF/gm	2.41	2.63
GA/gm	3.29	2.40
PP Pct.	13.0%	19.4%
PK Pct.	77.1%	83.6%
Opp. Shoot%	11.2%	7.8%

Of course there's been more going on than just Bryzgalov since mid-November, but damn that's a mean improvement in goals-against. Also, somehow Breezy has managed to improve both the power play and the penalty kill by 6.4%. Crazy Russian.

You should definitely read Rudy's King-bracket breakdown below. My vote goes to Tomas Sandstrom, as his one-timer in NHL 94 is the reason I'm a hockey fan today. Speaking of brackets, thanks to my inability to turn down a bet BoC has been engaged in some sort of March Madness blog battle between The Play in California and Gossip on Sports (and maybe others). What this means is that we will go through the pretense of filling out a college basketball bracket, then once it's proved we're incompetent some other blog will be writing gloat posts here for a day. Anyway, if anyone wants to offer any good advice picks, leave 'em in the comments and we'll try to go down swinging.

Prediction: Bobby Ryan had a good re-debut on the 2nd line, which gives me some optimism about playing without Perry. Still, the 'Yotes have been playing the Ducks pretty tough all year. Ducks 3, Coyotes 1. Goals by Selanne, Pahlsson, and Kunitz.

Go Ducks.

I'd like to trade Blogger's Autosave feature for a 4th round draft pick

So...I had this verbose trade deadline post that I erased on accident. It is now gone forever. I am going to have to drink the anger away. Anyway...

• Overall, the Brad Richards trade is fantastic for the Stars. The West is wide open now that the Red Wings are hurting and Richards might immediately become their best forward. He'll have to move mountains to prove he's worth $7.8 million, but I don't think anyone really is expecting that from him.

Losing Mike Smith helps Tampa Bay more than it hurts Dallas. It's probably going to be a poor man's version of the Iginla for Joey N. trade.

Smith has a bright future in this league, although I'm not certain about his ceiling on a bad defensive team like the Lightning. Then again, look what a puck moving goalie did for a woeful defense in Pittsburgh.

• Speaking of Pittsburgh, they received Mary Ann Hossa in possibly the biggest trade deadline move. At first, as a Pens devotee, I was very sad to lose the mysterious promise of Angelo Esposito and the wooden comic delivery of Colby Armstrong. But that won't be too hard to deal with once I'm using a first line of Hossa-Crosby-Roberts in NHL '08. Yeah, I'm that easy.

EDIT: I think one possibility people might be overlooking is that this deal could be a good one if they even signed Hossa to a short term contract. Honestly, him signing a one-year big salary contract could actually be feasible (since Malkin won't be on the market for another year). It'll be an interesting story to follow for sure.

• The Sharks made a nice move by getting Brian Campbell without moving Matt Carle or Patrick Marleau. One criticism of the trade was that Campbell may not remain in the Sharks' tacky uniforms beyond this year, but I would argue that might not be that bad of a thing. I just don't think that Campbell will live up to the bloated contract he's about to receive. I have a "Brad Richards albatross contract" feeling for whomever overpays Campbell. He's good, don't get me wrong. But a $6 million defenseman has to be special.

Campbell's really only special to pun headline writers who are clamoring to use the headline "Campbell's Soup-er!" after he scores a playoff GWG.

• The Habs are probably the biggest losers of the deadline, as they were the logical destination for Marian Hossa and foolishly moved Cristobal Huet for a meager second round pick.

• They traded Huet to one of the winners of this deadline in Washington. Now Caps fans can be spared the undoubtedly painful sight of witnessing Godzilla die via heat rays from Father Time.

• Sergei Fedorov can mentor up and coming Russian star Alex O on such issues as...uh...banging hot Russian blondes, I guess.

• The Kings and Leafs should have asked John Davidson for some smart firesale advice. They both blew it.

• The sleeper steal of the draft might have been the Hurricanes snatching oft-injured center Tuomo Ruutu. Then again he probably will be injured next week.

EDIT 2: One trade that went way below the radar involved former NCAA standout goalie Al Montoya being shipped to Phoenix in a random grab bag. Montoya and Bryzgalov? I like what the Coyotes are doing this year.

Note: perhaps Blogger has feelings, because this re-write featured numerous Autosave failures.

Jokinen and the Yotes

My computer went kaput last week, so I was unable to follow up on my promise for a bad Olli Jokinen-related headline (it would have been: "The Stars should trade for Olli: I'm not Jokinen!" by the way). For that, I apologize.

So instead, I'll include that Jokinen thought along with another tidbit from the NHL/BoC:

• When I decided to start covering the Stars, I made some harsh jokes at the expense of the Phoenix Coyotes. After watching them take it to the Stars, who happen to be one of the hottest teams in the NHL, I must say: a Battle of the Pacific blog might be more and more worthwhile now.

The Coyotes have more than just Ilya Bryzgalov, although he probably sparked Phoenix's climb to puck relevance. That Mueller kid is another great rookie wearing Lindros's No. 88, Jovocop is having a startling resurgence and Shane Doan has a really cool beard. Plus, Wayne Gretzky seems like he dyes his hair and Rick Tocchet looks like he's going to whack somebody. This team has some definite upside.

Battle of Pacific next year? Just throwin' it out there...

• Since I'm lazy and dumb, I don't really know much about the Stars' cap situation. And a case can be made that Dallas is looking so great right now that it might be foolish to mess with a good thing.

But after watching a startlingly sluggish Detroit Red Wings team on Sunday, it made me feel that much more confident that the Stars should not let current success deter them from making that one extra trade that would make them a Western Conference playoff force.

At first, I thought Mats Sundin would be a great fit and that Michael Ryder could follow in Mike Ribeiro's footsteps and go from struggling Hab talent to burgeoning Dallas Star.

But then I remembered that, of all the teams in the NHL, the Stars might resemble the Finnish Olympic team the most. Not only do they have a crapton of Finns (relatively speaking), they also play that smart, defense-first style that every non-Selanne Finn seems to adhere to.

So, after much deliberation I decided that Olli Jokinen would be the best target for the Stars to snatch up before the trade deadline (again, under the assumption he could fit into their cap and the Panthers would once again decide to foolishly trade their best player).

A quick glance at his statistics indicates that, honestly, there aren't many players on the Stars roster who would be "untouchable" in such a trade (at least straight up). The only guys I'd say "no way" to are probably Marty Turco and Brendan Morrow. But that's more for the Ambassador of Fun to decide.

Depending on who you trade, there are quite a few options for Jokinen linemates. You could opt for the Finning Hair Line (good god I deserve to die for that) of Jere Lehtinen - Olli Jokinen - Jussi Jokinen. You could keep the productive Morrow-Ribeiro combo together and give yourself a nice 1-2 line punch by having Modano or Jokinen move to a wing and form a line together. There's a lot of exciting possibilities.

Jokinen would be a great trade move because of his aforementioned Finn background and his good fit as a power forward. You also cannot look past the fact that Jokinen is wallowing in awful Florida Panther obscurity, and must be hungry to finally play for a good team. Couple that with the Stars growing exasperation over playoff failures and I think you'd have a perfect fit.

Another exciting factor is that Olli Jokinen wears the 'C' in FLA. Just look at the leadership in Dallas, just counting former/current NHL captains: Jokinen, Modano, Morrow, Stu Barnes, Matt Norstrom and Jeff Halpern. That's a lot of leadership for one team.

No one wants to give the Stars credit for this year's amazing success, but put Jokinen on this team and the West better be scared...just throwin' it out there.

Kings Gameday: Is This Irony?

LA Kings (*flush) vs. Phoenix Coyotes (30-25-4, 10th in West)


7:30 PST, FSN West


Irony is a difficult thing to diagnose. I can never tell if it really is irony or if it's just coincidence. So, you'll have to tell me:

Rob Blake demands a trade at the trade deadline in 2001 and the fans hate him for it because they want him to stay.

Rob Blake wants to stay in LA instead of being traded at the trade deadline in 2008 and the fans hate him for it because they want him to leave.


Is this irony, or just kind of funny? I like to think that it was Bowlby that wanted to leave and Rob Blake who wants to stay.


***

If Blake is being honest (and I'm sure he does want to finish his career in LA), then our potential trade deadline haul just got a little less impressive. On the plus side, this could make Brad Stuart more desirable and I think fans of other teams will inevitably talk themselves into Stuart because he has the body of a prototypical defenseman. That'll last until the first time he passes the puck directly to the other team, and then they'll hate him. He's really the only piece we have left, besides maybe Derek Armstrong. I think there's a market out there for Armstrong, if a team wants a solid 4th line center who is a good locker room guy. I don't know, we have 12 days before everything shakes out, but I think Kings fans may have aimed a little too high and will inevitably be disappointed.

Goal by Mueller, assists by Doan and Stuart

And you know, I didn't hate Ladislav Nagy when he was signed to a one year, $3.75 million dollar contract; I didn't hate him when he failed to really win a spot on the line with Frolov; I didn't even hate him when he failed to outplay Jeff Giuliano and got himself benched. But now that he has some mysterious neck injury that will prevent the Kings from trading him at the deadline? I hate him.

***

Lauri Tukonen was called up at the expense of Brian Boyle yesterday. (What, Boyle only had 4 goals in 8 games? Send him down!) I imagine they're just giving Tukonen a shot at the show to see if he has a chance to win a job on our third or fourth line in the future. (They could be planning on trading him as well.) Boyle had been playing wing (not his natural position) with Frolov and Armstrong the last two games anyway so I imagine they'll just move Purcell up to his spot and let Tukonen play with Calder and Handzus. And still, Brian Willsie continues to wear an NHL uniform...


Prediction: Kings lose, 4-3. They'll be foiled once again by the dastardly Radim Vrbata. VRBATA!!!!!!! Anyway, goals by Frolov, Giuliano, and Preissing.

Kings Gameday: Poor Dion

LA Kings (arr?) @ Phoenix Coyotes (29-25-4)

6:00 PST, FSN West






In the first period, Phaneuf tried to hit 6'7" Brian Boyle and got dropped like a sack of shit. He got his revenge later, hitting Boyle from behind as Boyle beat out an icing call.

In the second period, Phaneuf got bowled over by Dustin Brown. He slashed Brown out of frustration and got a penalty, putting his team down 2 men. Whoops!

In the third, Phaneuf got rocked in the corner by 5'9" Jeff Giuliano. Everyone just kind of felt embarrassed for him by that point.

Guh?

Later in the third, Phaneuf missed a check on little Kevin Dallman (who played an amazing game, by the way) and lost his helmet. Finally, dejected and morose, Phaneuf silently said to himself, "Fuck this," and went to the bench. Not his best night.

So, to recap, Phaneuf got embarrassed all night, Iginla had one measly second assist, and Kipprusoff let in 6 goals on 25 shots. Nice core, Calgary, good thing they took hometown discounts (They graciously accepted $6 million? Saints!) or else your team might be fucked. Don't worry, though, there's no precedent for signing 3 great players and then sliding into last place because you can't fill in the rest of your team. (Psst! I'm talking about Tampa. And relax, Calgary fans, I'm just dicking around, don't leave me 5,000 word essays in the comments about how different Calgary is from Tampa.)

***

Old friend Craig Conroy played last night and did a pretty good job shutting down Anze Kopitar. He had a little tiff with Jack Johnson, but I'm willing to give Craig the benefit of the doubt on that one. Kopitar's line has trouble when another team puts their best line out against them, as Calgary did last night, but it doesn't really matter if Alex Frolov is going to pretend he's Joe Thornton out there. Honestly, I'm starting to fall in love.

***

Who in the hell are you?!?!?

Phoenix has been a nice little story all season, but they finally looked in the mirror and said, "Hey, we're Phoenix, we can't be good!" and started sucking again. I would think they were only good because of Ilya Bryzgalov, but if you look at their stats a big part of their success has been francophobe Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata. Radim Vrbata has 25 goals this season! Radim Vrbata! Who the hell is that? I like to think I am pretty up to date on the workings of the Pacific Division, but I have to admit I was barely aware the guy existed until 10 minutes ago. "Radim Vrbata" sounds like something my sister would make up in Scrabble. Still, he allegedly has 25 goals this year, so I guess he's good. The Pacific Division is probably the best division in hockey and I can't really see it getting any easier next season.

Prediction: Kings win, 3-2. Goals by Frolov, Purcell, and Brown. Phaneuf gets checked by the bus driver on the trip over to Anaheim and gets all huffy about it.

Ducks Gameday—Rolling up standings points, katamari-style

Anaheim Ducks (21-17-5, 7th in west) at Phoenix Coyotes (20-18-1, t-11th in west)

Since Scott Niedermayer's return, the Ducks have an impressive 6-2-1 record, but it's been a tense and tedious stretch; 7 of the 9 games featured three or less combined goals. Still, hockey is only boring when you're losing, I guess. At this point the focus needs to be standings points, and in that regard it's been a success.

Na nah, na na na na na na na, na naa na naa na nah.
Second game in two nights tonight (doesn't it seem that the Ducks have this a lot, despite having played more games than anyone?) against Phoenix; PB has a quality post from the Coyote angle.

Prediction: The Niedermayer Ducks have won four games by a 2-1 score; why not add another? Goals by Schneider and the pseudo-Pahlsson (Ryan Carter, who's been excellent filling in the tough minutes).

Go Ducks.

2007 NHL fan map

Commoncensus.org is an open source mapping project using user input to generate interactive maps on a local, regional and national level. The reliability of the data hinges on the amount of participation from the public, but there are a few interesting "sphere of influence" trends that can be examined as the project builds a userbase.

The Common Census projects measures the sports sphere of influence with data from 25270 NFL fans, 25099 MLB fans, 19144 NBA fans, and 17412 NHL fans. Looking at the 2007 NHL Fan Map geographically, the Dallas Stars (1260) have the largest sphere of influence drawing fans from 9 states, with Colorado (886) and San Jose (622) coming in second and third. Numerically, the Detroit Red Wings (1491), Boston Bruins (1332), and Dallas Stars (1260) have the most data to draw from with this project.

With 622 entries from San Jose fans, 307 from Los Angeles, 229 from Anaheim, and 157 from Phoenix, it is possible to draw an early map of fan support for different NHL teams in the Southwest. The Sharks have large blobs of support in the SF Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, and northern Oregon regions. Allegiences are a little mixed between the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings in southern California, Phoenix holds sway over Arizona, Las Vegas appears to be conflicted.

Cross-posted on Sharkspage.