Rookie Report

Well we are halfway through the 08-09 NHL season so it's time to talk aboutj who the possible Calder finalists could be. "Seen Stamkos," well not so much. Stamkos has been a major disappointment for the Tampa Bay Lightning, but please TB fans, don't give up on him. Keep in mind that he is still 18 and will definitely become a great player in the years to come. Drew Doughty has been a pleasant surprise. Not that anyone thought he would be a mediocre player for the Kings this season, but I don't think even Doughty expected to play this pivotal a role for the team right off the bat. He's a fun one to watch and will continue to be for a LONG time. Schenn = hurt, Bogosian = hurt, Pietrangelo = meh, Karl Alzner = Impressive and has made an impact similar to Doughty.
My Calder Trophy winner for this season without question is Steve Mason for the Columbus Bluejackets. After I finally was lucky enough to see this emerging superstar in action last Friday, he solidified himself as the Calder winner in my eyes. If only that actually meant something other than being traded to my team in NHL 09 for Xbox 360.

Milan Jurcina...pack your bags

If only Milan Jurcina has a two contract he would have an all expense paid trip to Hershey, PA in the AHL. The uncoordinated defenseman allowed the Habs to score a game wining goal Saturday night with only 21 seconds left on the clock. After he lost the puck between his skates, he stood there as Montreal stole the puck and barried it for the win in the back of Brent Johnson's goal. Jurcina apparently sat at his locker for several minutes after the game with his head burried in his hands after he committed the turnover to cost the Caps the game and a point in the standings. Jurcina...you suck! Not only did the Caps lose, but now coach Boudreau isn't the assistant coach for the Eastern All-Star team. Once Poti or Schultz is back from IR, Jurcina is GONE!

Donald Brashear

Ok here's my problem with the ol' enforcer. Those of you who watched last nights game know that he possibly cost the Caps a comeback. Late in the third period Brashear cold cocked a Bluejackets defenseman and received a double minor for his actions. The Jackets went on to score on the first powerplay and locked up the win. Brashear may be an alternate captain. Brashear may be the guy who protects the young star players. But when you look at what he did last night and combine that with how much he makes, he's gotta go. Brashear is getting up there in age and his career is coming to a close. With all of the talent the Cpas having coming in from Hershey, I hate to see a coveted roster spot being wasted on Brashear. Ovechkin gets the team and the crowd going. Jurcina delivers the big hit and protect the other players. There is no need for Brashear in a Capitals uniform. Oh and you can throw this same argument Chris Clark's way as well. Overpaid and overrated.

No Federov Tonight

HA! No kidding. Sergei....it's time to hang um up. Federov will miss the game tonight against the Canadians and has missed way more games than he has been a part of. I really hope the Caps don't re-sign him. Also, Nylander needs to get waived. This guy is not worth the money that has been paid to him either. NO one will take him as a trade right now, since the only goal I've seen him get came against Montreal and it was accidental. $4 million/year for 18 points through 40 games.....no...get out.

Mason and the Goal Posts Shutout Caps

Steve Mason.....WOW. This 20 year old kid made 45 saves on Friday night to shut out the Caps. He was amazing in goal. I can remember one shot that he blocked from Ovie that Mason took off the shoulder and had to shrug it off, but he made the save. AWESOME! I'm a huge Caps fan and I'm pretty pissed when they get shutout on my night off, but Mason's performance was incredible.
No Steve Nash and Nakita Filatov didn't do a whole lot (he had one good SOG), but it was an interesting game. I was very disappointed that the Caps couldn't take advantage of the Bluejackets injuries, especially since they were playing at home. I don't know if getting Federov and Fleischmann back disrupted the chemistry of the team, but they didn't look like they were a cohesive unit like they usually do.
The point is, Mason was great (give him his credit, he's 20 and leads the NHL in SO) and the Caps were lackluster. They got good shots off and even hit the post quite a few times, but Mason was better than the Caps on Friday night. Now, lets take it out on Montreal tonight!

Staal to be traded?

Jordan Staal just signed a four year contract extension with the Pens last night and now rumors are circling the intraweb about him being shipped out. I would be surprised by the Pens trading him, but you never know since they are currently on the outside looking in at the playoffs.
Staal is a good player. Not great, but good. He is a great penalty killer and for right now, he is a secondary scorer. Last season was a disaster for Staal who played well below expectations, and declined a contract in the off-season from the Pens. Stall knew he could play better and he was right.
Rumors around the league are saying that Staal is now being shopped for a veteran scoring winger. A move that I could see working for both clubs would be the Hawks trading Martin Havlat to the Pens for Staal. He is a much more dynamic scorer, but he is an UFA at the end of the season. He also comes with a hefty 6 million dollar price tag and the uncertainty of his durability. HOWEVER, when he is healthy, he is a lightning fast skater and a pretty good shot. Imagine his sniping ability combined with Crosby's play making skills, and you have possibly replaced Marian Hossa on that first line....maybe....just saying.
Personally, I think Staal would be a great addition to any team he plays for. The Pens would like to keep him, but if someone offers a good winger at the deadline, don't be surprised if he is dealt. Just remember, you heard it here first.

NHL needs contraction

Lets face it, the NHL can forget about expansion talk. Instead, they need to focus more on contraction and even moving some teams to more hockey friendly markets (yes I'm talking about you Phoenix, Florida, Nashville, Atlanta, and Columbus).
I'm so sick of hearing about teams like Phoenix going through financial problems because no one will buy tickets to see their crappy teams. The truth is that a fat-greasy rich old man bought the rights to have a franchise in the NHL. So he decided that the NHL fan is everywhere. It doesn't matter where he puts the new franchise because NHL fans will eat this team up no matter what. Well guess what said team owner, you were incorrect. Now the NHL is stuck with these POS teams in terrible hockey markets and yet nothing is being done to eliminate them and buildup the rest of the NHL.
It drives me insane when you have a business man like Jim Balsillie, who knows where you SHOULD put a hockey team, and he has the money and passion to make a team successful in the NHL, yet he is denied a chance to buy one of the struggling teams. The fact of the matter is that hockey is hard to sell to the southern United States. People in the northern United States and Canada grow up playing hockey their entire lives on frozen ponds in their back yards or even on lakes. Believe it or not, but it's hard to play hockey on a pond in Phoenix. For some reason it just doesn't freeze...EVER. Instead of hockey, the people of these areas like to play football, baseball, basketball...ANY SPORT THAT DOESN'T REQUIRE ICE BECAUSE IT'S RARE THERE!
The simple truth is that you can not put an NHL team anywhere and expect it to be a cash cow. It can't happen. The NHL is growing through great events like the Winter Classic and the young talent that is being displayed in NHL games every night, more and more people are following the NHL. However, these smaller market teams that are in terrible locations need to be cut in order to make the league continue to grow instead of wasting money. The teams I have mentioned are dieing and are soon so be dead markets. That's the sad truth. Gary Bettman needs to find his balls and pull the plug on these teams and let them either move to new markets like Hamilton, Ontario or be contracted all together.

NHL All-Star game is CRAP!

The NHL announced the rest of the roster for the 2009 NHL All-Star game this morning, and this was not the right way to start my day. Alexander Ovechkin was the only Cap to make the team, but he isn't even starting. Ok, here's the deal, I'm glad Ovechkin is on the team, but the fact that Mike Green isn't on the team is extremely disappointing. He has quickly become one of the best defensemen in the league, and this season has been no different. The fact that Mike Green isn't on the team (because the fans of Montreal cheated their players into the game) has freed up a few hours of my weekend in a couple weeks because I won't be watching the game anymore. The league needs to change the format of All-Star voting because there is no way this many Montreal Canadians should be on the team over a guy like Mike Green.

Washington Capitals

First of all, the Washington Capitals are my favorite hockey team, and I'm pretty sure that they are going to make some serious noise in the playoffs this season. Last season, the Capitals made the playoffs after a very late season push brought on by newly appointed head coach Bruce Boudreau. They pushed past the Carolina Hurricanes and won the South Eastern division title. They were later eliminated by the (hated) Philadelphia Flyers in seven games, but it was an incredible series and it gave Caps fans everywhere reason to believe that the 08-09 season would have the Capitals right back in the mix to win the Eastern Conference. Thus far the Caps have not disappointed. Injuries have attempted to destroy a team poised to win their second straight division title, but they are still ten points ahead of second place Carolina.
This Friday, the Caps have to face the Columbus Bluejackets at Verizon Center in Washington D.C.. The Caps are riding a seven game win streak going into this match up, while the Bluejackets have lost their last two games in a row. According to the Washington-Post's Capitals insider Tarik El-Bashir, Caps fans are looking forward to the possibility of getting Tomas Fleischmann back from missing games due to pneumonia , but it appears that Sergei Federov will not be playing. Maybe Saturday we will be able to see Sergei Federov,the $4 million dollar man, in action for the first time in far too long. I understand that when he was healthy he was almost a point per game player, but he is in no way worth $4 million per year. Now the Caps are going to be in trouble when Federov does decide to grace us with his presence, because they will have salary cap issues. One option Caps GM George McPhee has to consider is sending Karl Alzner, who has been one of our best defenders since being called up, back to the AHL Hershey Bears. If he does this, I will be pissed. Alzner and Green are the future of the defensive core in Washington, and since he is already playing so well, it doesn't make sense to send him back to Hershey. It will be very interesting to see how McPhee handles this, but I highly doubt that Alzner will be sent down.
I'm really looking forward to the game on Friday. This will be my first chance to see Steve Mason in goal for the Bluejackets, and from what I've heard, he is worth the price of admission. To be honest, I kind of like the Bluejackets. Rick Nash is one of the most underappreciated talents in the NHL. Since he plays on a crappy team in an even worse hockey market, no one really cares about him, but you should. This guy is the real deal, and I love his style of play. Mason has been incredible in goal for Columbus, but he will be put to the test by Ovechkin and company. I'll write a post game blog over the weekend. GO CAPS!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my new sports blog! I've never done this before, but I have been subscribing to others blogs for quite some time now, so I've decided to give it a shot myself. At Stackthepads, my primary source of discussion will be hockey, most notably Washington Capitals hockey. However, I love all sports so who knows where this blog will go. So for now I'm just going to say welcome, and thank you for checking out my blog. I have a lot to say and probably no one to say it to, but if I get a few people to check it out once in a while, then it's all worth while. BRING ON THE NEWS!