(I've got to know, is she just a plaything?)

Random musings and notes from the weekend.

1. Kevin Weekes - 'd-lee' and 'phil' take me to task for chiding goalie Kevin Weekes of the Ranger$.

(Phil) I'm a Ranger fan and I agree the Rangers are going to suck, but can someone please explain to me why Kevin Weekes is considered bad? With the friggin Carolina Hurricanes in front of him, he's put up a 2.55 and 2.33 GAA the last two seasons (the 2.33 being last season) with a SV% of .912. For comparison, Dan Cloutier only had a GAA 0.06 better than Weekes last year, and a SV% only .002 better, and thats behind the Canucks. Over a 60 game period, that's only 3 more goals let up. So if someone could explain why Weekes is so bad, that would be helpful.

A Rangers fan? My condolences ;) (Not really, I'm still sore about 1994)

Looking at the stats, Kevin Weekes finished 24th in Save Percentage in 03/04 and 16th in 02/03 and doesn't appear in the Top 10 or Bottom 10 of Daryl Shilling's 2004 Goalie Ratings.
Given the defense in front of Kevin, the last two seasons have seen him give middle-of-the-road goaltending. That's about as good as you'll get with the guy. I've defended him on other forums in the past because he is better than people tend to give him credit for.

Now, he's always been extremely athletic and talented, but, as Canucks know, he's a few bubbles short of a carbonated beverage. His tall tale of being involved in a carjacking incident gave Canucks ex-GM Brian Burke a good laugh, and got Weekes a quick ticket out of Vancouver.

Playing in Carolina was probably the best thing for Weekes. Playing in an intense market like Vancouver proved too much pressure for him and he might falter under the bright lights of the Big Apple.

At the very least, he'll be an improvement over the overrated and always injured Mike Dunham, but he's not going to carry the Rangers...the games he steals are offset by some very shaky outings. For all of the money the Rangers have thrown around over the years, they've never addressed their goalie position very well.

As for Dan Cloutier, Canucks fans are aware that Cloutier is no great shakes...and we're stuck with him for 2 more years at $2.5mil a yar. The only positive I thing I can saw about Cloutier is that he'll take any other goalie in a fight ;)

2. Slovak Stat Split of the Day:

NHL Players, logically, have better stats in their team's victories compared to their team's losses.

Now, just how important was Miroslav Satan to the 2003/04 Buffalo Sabres?

In Wins: 37GP 23-22-45 +17 10PP
In Losses: 38GP 5-6-11 -33 1PP
In Ties: 7GP 1-0-1 +1 2

Wow, the results of the Sabres seem very heavily weighted upon the shoulders of the Lord of Darkness. When Sabres fans are laughing at how little Satan meant to them, just point out this stat split and let them know that Satan was a real difference maker. Where were Miro's teammates? Picking their noses?

Slovak Stat Split #2

Jozef Stumpel, who will now being playing his game in a very strange place (Sunrise, Florida) seems to be comfortable playing anywhere.

Home: 32GP 4-15-19 +3
Road: 32GP 4-14-18 +2

3. Why did I pick the Boston Bruins to finish #1 in the Eastern Conference?

The Bruins finished with 104 points and in 2nd place in the East in 03/04. While their performance was partially a Pythagorean fluke, I really like the fact that they have a deep and offensively talented roster heading into this season. The Senators are trying hard to keep everyone in the fold and will likely have to lose some strength as they can't keep all of their talent (buh-buy Maid Marian).
While the Sens were underpeforming their Expected Win% in past seasons (no surprise given who was coaching them), I believe the new CBA is putting them in the hurt locker...same goes for Tampa and Martin St-Louis.

Looking at Boston's current depth chart.

Goal:
Andrew Raycroft
Hannu Toivonen

Defense:
Brian Leetch - Nick Boynton
Hal Gill - Jonathan Girard
Jiri Slegr - Marc Stuart
Milan Jurcina - Ian Moran

Forwards:
Sergei Samsonov - Joe Thornton - Glen Murray
Brad Isbister - Alexei Zhamnov - Patrice Bergeron
PJ Axelsson - Dave Scatchard - Shawn McEachern
Tom Fitzgerald - Travis Green - Brad Boyes
Andy Hilbert - Colton Orr

The Bruins have an incredible amount of offense talent up front and on the backend with puck-moving defensemen such as Brian Leetch, Jiri Slegr, and Jon Girard. Andrew Raycroft is a strong goaltender and I think the Bruins will be piling up bushels of goals almost every night.

4. While slow-footed defensemen like Derian "Hacker" Hatcher may be hurt when the NHL opens up, they won't be hurt as badly as you would expect.

i. These stay-at-home defensemen will simply stay at home more to bake cookies for the GI's off at war in the offensive zone. Coaches know that they'll have to have their slower d-men hang back farther to protect against the long breakout/breakaway pass. Don't expect Hatcher to pitch in quite as often...

ii. The NHL did not increase the ice surface. In IIHF tournaments played in Europe, Zdeno Chara, Marek Malik and other giant beasts of burden are obviously less effective than in the NHL because their reach isn't as useful and their lack of quickness is exposed. In the NHL, the smaller rink width protects them from being beaten to the outside and that aspect of the game won't change. Hatcher can still use his massive frame to protect the smaller portion in the middle of the ice and then slam some unsuspecting fool into the boards when they are close enough. Much of the play will be down low in the offensive zone, and big lugs like Hatcher will still be force in the trenches. If anything, the new NHL might hurt the offensive production (mainly goals) of the stay-at-home types, but don't expect them to just suddenly become obsolete.

5. I see the Tampa Bay Lightning signed goaltender Brian Eklund to a contract. I didn't know they needed a crappy blogger on the roster. I'm still available as an Unrestricted Free Agent if the Canucks are so inclined to offer me a contract ;)

(edited 12:09pm)