Monday, February 19, 2007
NyQuil Dreams and DayQuil Delusions
By Jes
Damn this cold!! If only I had taken $3,000 worth of ColdFX, I might be OK...the ramblings of a stuffed up blogger.
Everyone knows Sidney Crosby is the king of the scoring race, but who's #2?
Vincent Lecavalier! Here's a name that doesn't get a lot of attention these days.
For the longest time, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards were the superior players down in TBay and Prince Vince wasn't living up to his potential.
This season? Vincent is first in goals with 39, second in points with 80, and even has 3 short-handed goals to his credit. HE's also cut down on the stupid penalties, and has just 38 minutes to his name this year. Between him. St. Louis, and Brad Richards, the Lightning have an amazing trio of scorers that stay out of the box. If only they had the defence and goaltending to go along with that...
When do you give up hope?
Looking at the standings, Greg's Avalanche are 'just' 9 points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand. That's 4 wins and an OT loss. Seems doable, right?
Well, looking at James Mirtle's "Push for 95", we see the Avs need a 17-5-1 run to get to the magical 95 mark, while the Canucks need just 11-11-1 and the Wild need a 13-9-0 mark.
The Canucks and Wild...getting those records seems very easy to do for them. Can you imagine the Avalanche suddenly getting hot and going 17-5-1, especially with their goaltending issues? Can you imagine the Oilers getting the 17-6 record they need with their defensive problems?
Yeah, these teams are pretty much done. How do you feel, as a fan of such a team...do you give up now? Keep going until the math gods say you are eliminated? Cheer against the Avs and hope they get a better draft position?
Which of these names is not like the other?
Lidstrom, Souray, Gonchar, Niedermayer, Kaberle, Visnovsky, Boyle, Pronger, Whitney, McCabe.
Yeah, that's RYAN Whitney, who is 9th in defensemen scoring with 43 points in 58 games. While Malkin, Recchi, Gonchar, and Crosby get most of the attention, Ryan Whitney has quietly put up a great season and has made awesome strides both offensively and defensively.
Eye-popping stat of the day: Tom Preissing of Ottawa and his +34!
Sure, Lidstrom has a higher +38 (Which is amazing given who he plays against every night), but would you ever expect a Tom Preissing to be second? There always seems to be one defenseman that just had a gaudy +/- out of the blue.
Speaking of such defensemen, Marek Malik is at it again with a +21.
His past 4 seasons? +23, +35, +28, +21. I am guessing that is the highest 4-year total in the NHL.
Who are the Cy Young candidates this season? there aren't a lot of great ones, but here's the field.
Simon Gagne: 31 GOALS, 18 ASSISTS
Jordan Staal: 24 GOALS, 6 ASSISTS
On the flip side, Henrik Sedin definitely gets the Care Bear Helper Award with 8 goals and 48 assists. Ales Hemsky (shooooooot!) is a distant 2nd with 9 goals and 37 assists.
Damn this cold!! If only I had taken $3,000 worth of ColdFX, I might be OK...the ramblings of a stuffed up blogger.
Vincent Lecavalier! Here's a name that doesn't get a lot of attention these days.
For the longest time, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards were the superior players down in TBay and Prince Vince wasn't living up to his potential.
This season? Vincent is first in goals with 39, second in points with 80, and even has 3 short-handed goals to his credit. HE's also cut down on the stupid penalties, and has just 38 minutes to his name this year. Between him. St. Louis, and Brad Richards, the Lightning have an amazing trio of scorers that stay out of the box. If only they had the defence and goaltending to go along with that...
Looking at the standings, Greg's Avalanche are 'just' 9 points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand. That's 4 wins and an OT loss. Seems doable, right?
Well, looking at James Mirtle's "Push for 95", we see the Avs need a 17-5-1 run to get to the magical 95 mark, while the Canucks need just 11-11-1 and the Wild need a 13-9-0 mark.
The Canucks and Wild...getting those records seems very easy to do for them. Can you imagine the Avalanche suddenly getting hot and going 17-5-1, especially with their goaltending issues? Can you imagine the Oilers getting the 17-6 record they need with their defensive problems?
Yeah, these teams are pretty much done. How do you feel, as a fan of such a team...do you give up now? Keep going until the math gods say you are eliminated? Cheer against the Avs and hope they get a better draft position?
Lidstrom, Souray, Gonchar, Niedermayer, Kaberle, Visnovsky, Boyle, Pronger, Whitney, McCabe.
Yeah, that's RYAN Whitney, who is 9th in defensemen scoring with 43 points in 58 games. While Malkin, Recchi, Gonchar, and Crosby get most of the attention, Ryan Whitney has quietly put up a great season and has made awesome strides both offensively and defensively.
Sure, Lidstrom has a higher +38 (Which is amazing given who he plays against every night), but would you ever expect a Tom Preissing to be second? There always seems to be one defenseman that just had a gaudy +/- out of the blue.
Speaking of such defensemen, Marek Malik is at it again with a +21.
His past 4 seasons? +23, +35, +28, +21. I am guessing that is the highest 4-year total in the NHL.
Simon Gagne: 31 GOALS, 18 ASSISTS
Jordan Staal: 24 GOALS, 6 ASSISTS
On the flip side, Henrik Sedin definitely gets the Care Bear Helper Award with 8 goals and 48 assists. Ales Hemsky (shooooooot!) is a distant 2nd with 9 goals and 37 assists.
Labels: Crosby, Cy Young, jes is sick, Lecavalier, Malik, ramblings, Ryan Whitney
Comments:
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That strange +/- guy last year was Andrej Meszaros, the +34 rookie (this year he's -6). I like him but that number was a little out of the blue, though everyone on Ottawa had good +/- last year. This year they've got 4 of the top 10 guys- maybe that explains Preissing?
I hate to say it, but the hottest player right now is Zetterberg. Not because his looks but because he's had 24 points (11+13) in his last 10 games. Thas wicked innit?
I'm only writing this because whenever I write about something they usually go cold.
Gotta share the hate for them Red Wings.
I'm only writing this because whenever I write about something they usually go cold.
Gotta share the hate for them Red Wings.
Preissing admitted himself that alot of it is luck..e.g. he'll just be stepping on the ice and the stragglers from the last shift score.
He really doesn't get much recognition for it here, but I guess when you're 4 or 5th behind Phillips, Redden and Volchenkov it's hard to get noticed.
Definitely the better offseason D pickup for Ottawa...I can't even count how many times I've yelled "Corvo sucks" this season.
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He really doesn't get much recognition for it here, but I guess when you're 4 or 5th behind Phillips, Redden and Volchenkov it's hard to get noticed.
Definitely the better offseason D pickup for Ottawa...I can't even count how many times I've yelled "Corvo sucks" this season.
# posted by 
: 5:47 am
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