Puck Talk
Random thoughts while waiting for the playoffs to begin on Wednesday night…
-I wanted to do a full first round playoff preview, which I’ve done in years past, but the schedule has once again conspired against me. As I write this on Monday morning more than half of the seeding is still up in the air. The Eastern Conference, in particular, is so bunched together that it’s almost impossible to predict what the match-ups are going to be. Carolina and Ottawa are going to finish 1-2 but we don’t know the order. The Rangers, Devils and Flyers could finish in any order for the 3, 5 and 6 spots. Montreal, Tampa Bay and Atlanta are still jockeying for the 7 and 8 spots. The only thing I know for sure at this point is that Buffalo is the 4-seed. That’s it. So, unfortunately, no first-round predictions this year.
-There’s been a lot of talk in the last few weeks, since Joe Thornton carried the Sharks down the stretch and took over the scoring lead from Jaromir Jagr, about who should win the MVP. And it basically boils down to those two guys…Thornton and Jagr. There’s some support out there for guys like Miikka Kiprusoff of the Flames, Teemu Selanne and Alex Ovechkin. And they’ve all had great years. But I tend to agree with the majority. It’s either Thornton or Jagr.
The case for Joe is pretty simple. The Sharks are about 20 games over .500 since they picked him up and went from last place in the division to the 6th seed in the conference. And as of Monday, Joe’s 125 points leads the league. Plus, playing with Joe, Jonathan Cheechoo leads the league in goals. Jonathan Freaking Cheechoo. The case for Jagr is similar. 54 goals and 122 points to help lead a team that was a disgrace before the lockout to a guaranteed top-6 finish this year, and maybe as high as 3rd.
So who’s the pick? Well, I think either one would be a worthy choice. There really isn’t that much between them. Both have to get a lot of credit for turning their teams around. Both have put up big numbers. Jagr gets a slight edge from me for scoring 50+ goals. Thornton gets a slight edge in the defensive end. I guess, if I’m forced to pick, I’ll go with the result that makes the Bruins look worst and give it to Joe. I still think he needs to prove himself in the playoffs at some point if he’s really going to make the leap to the next level. But you have to give credit where credit is due. He’s been terrific since the trade.
-Hockey, obviously, is much bigger in Canada than it is down here in the lower 48. But just to give a sense of how much important it is to our neighbors from the north consider the front page of a Vancouver newspaper the day after the Canucks were officially eliminated from the 8th playoff spot in the Western Conference. No headline. No story. Just a giant picture of a plate of toast with the Canucks logo on it.
-Worst break of the season has to go to Nashville who lost their starting goalie Tomas Vokoun to some kind of weird blood condition for the rest of the season. With Vokoun, the Predators were a legit dark-horse in the West. I’ve been riding their bandwagon all year telling anyone who would listen to watch out for them come playoff time. Then Vokoun comes down with this strange condition where he’s got blood clots in his stomach or his pelvic region (note-I hate the term “pelvic region”) or wherever. And the doctor that diagnosed him says it’s the first case of this happening in a male that he’s seen in 25 years. Bizarre. Highly, highly bizarre.
-I noticed where there was a thread on the Barstool message board last week about Nintendo Ice Hockey vs. Blades of Steel. Let me end that debate right now and for all time. Ice Hockey was ten times better than Blades of Steel. End of discussion.
-I mentioned Jonathan Cheechoo, he of the league-leading 56 goals, above in the MVP discussion. I mention him here again because, in looking up his career stats, I happened to notice in his bio that Jonathan hails from, I kid you not, Moose Factory, Ontario.
-You’ll all be happy to know that my fantasy squad, Nevin Markwart’s Power Skating Camp, rolled to the title last week with a thrilling win in the finals. A win, I might add, that would’ve been a lot less thrilling if I didn’t leave Patrick Elias’ hat trick on the bench. But even with that dubious coaching decision Alex Ovechkin, Brian Gionta & Co were more than enough to skate off with the hardware.
-Alarming Bruins Stat of the Year #1: Joe Thornton played 23 games for Boston before the trade and he’s currently still 6th on the team in points.
-Alarming Bruins Stat of the Year #2: Combined record against Buffalo and Montreal? 2-14.
-Alarming Bruins Stat of the Year #3: There are 47 goalies in the league that played at least 27 games this year. Andrew Raycroft ranks 47th, dead last, in both goals against average and save percentage.
-Alarming Bruins Stat of the Year #4: At $53.05, the Bruins had the 4th highest average ticket price in the league for 2005-06. At $18.00, the Bruins had the 2nd highest parking price in the league. And their overall FCI (Fan Cost Index), which measures the price for a family of 4 to attend a game, of $309.22 was the 2nd highest in the league.
Until next time…