Puck Talk
Busy few weeks with the long-anticipated return of the NHL. There’s much to discuss so let’s get right into it.
-Kind of a mixed bag out of the Bruins so far with a 3-3 start to the season. Tough loss to the Habs on opening night after they basically outplayed them all night. I thought the late penalty they called on Tom Fitzgerald that set up the winner for Montreal was terrible. Then a brutal 4-1 loss to the Sabres to start their long, circus-induced road trip. Buffalo looks like a much better team than they were before the lockout but still. Very poor effort from the black and gold in that one. Then they had that crazy 7-6 come from behind win over the Penguins in overtime. Then two solid wins over Tampa and Florida. And then finally a humbling 5-1 loss to the Senators where they looked they weren’t even in the same league as the division leaders.
They got Nick Boynton back but lost Joe Thornton to a back injury. Unfortunately, in the games Joe did play, he didn’t look any more interested in shooting the puck or taking it to the net as he was when we last saw him. Great player, obviously, but please get that puck to the net when you come back Joe. Please. Alexi Zhamnov is still yet to play his first game for the club. Patrice Bergeron continues to impress. He’s been just phenomenal so far. Glen Murray’s been solid. Brad Boyes looks like he can play a little bit. Brad Isbister’s been fine. Pat Leahy’s been fine. In general, I’m OK with the forwards, especially when Joe and Zhamnov get in the lineup. But the D, as feared, has been mediocre at best. Hal Gill looks lost with the new rules. Jiri Slegr looks awful. Brian Leetch can still play but his body might explode in the middle of a game if they keep playing him 30 minutes a night. Boynton needs more time to work out the kinks. Dallman and Alberts have both shown flashes but are going to need to time to mature into their roles. And the goaltending? Kind of mediocre too. Raycroft hasn’t been terrible but he hasn’t looked overly sharp either. Same with Toivenen in the games he’s played.
-Ottawa has easily been the best looking team I’ve seen so far this year but it bears mentioning that the entire division looks pretty solid. Remember that the unbalanced schedule this year means the Bruins will play 8 games each against Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Buffalo. Very important that they hold their own against that group.
-Huge thumbs up from me on the rule changes. I hear people talk about the refs calling too many penalties but, to me, that’s a necessary evil if they’re committed to changing the game. It’s up to the players to adjust to the way they’re calling it. But everything else, from shootouts to taking out the two-line offsides pass, has been an overwhelming success. I don’t think anyone can dispute that the game we’re seeing now is a huge improvement over where we were two years ago. Scoring’s up (although maybe not as people would have you believe), teams are coming back from 2-3 goal deficits and there’s far more up and down action in general. Two years ago there was no way you could watch a random regular season game between, say, Pittsburgh and Buffalo. It would’ve been boring beyond belief. But I could watch those same two teams play now, and really any two teams, and see a much better product.
-To follow up on an earlier comment about scoring not being up as much as some are saying, and if I can plagiarize something I wrote on the Barstool message board last week, here’s something to keep in mind:
The highest scoring team in the league as of last week, Detroit, was averaging 4.25 goals per game. The highest scoring team in '71, the Bruins, averaged 5.11 goals per game. The '84 Oilers averaged 5.4. Offense is up but the best team in the league right now is way behind the best offensive teams of the 70's and 80's. Now obviously, there's a long, long way to go this year and who knows what'll happen beyond that. But I think there's a definite tendency to exaggerate what we're seeing in the NHL so far since the rule changes. It's putting the numbers more in line with what happened between 1967-1994. It's not exploding to levels we've never seen.
Remember that when people are speculating about how we could have 10 50-goal scorers this year (which I actually heard someone say) and other wild predictions.
-Things I’ve learned about the NHL through my fantasy team: 1)Atlanta either explodes for 8-9 goals or gets shutout. But mostly they just get shutout. 2)Scott Niedermayer has done nothing so far for the Ducks. 3)Martin St. Louis has done next to nothing for Tampa. 4)Alex Ovechkin is legit.
-Listening to Dale Arnold call a game still has the same effect on me as hearing someone scrape their nails across a chalkboard. His whole “gosh, golly and fiddlesticks” routine drives me nuts. And his big rant on opening night about the fans embarrassing themselves by throwing cups on the ice, like that hasn’t been going on at Bruins games for decades, was very annoying.
-I don’t know if anyone caught Brett Hull’s retirement press conference the other day but at one point he was listing off the names of all the great players he’s played with in his career. You know, Brendan Shanahan and Steve Yzerman and Mike Modano. Guys like that. Oh yeah, and Shane Doan too. In the middle of rattling off a bunch of hall of famers, Brett threw Shane Doan’s name like it was no big deal. Well, pardon me but Shane Doan? Come on Brett. Let’s not get nuts.
-Finally, what to make of Sidney Crosby? Not bad so far. Not bad. I’m not convinced he’s going to make me forget about Wayne Gretzky but the kid can definitely play. There’s no doubt about that.
Questions? Comments? Please send feedback to Michael James at feedback@barstoolsports.com