CrashingTheGoalie

by Ron Spence
I was curious about the Team Canada selections – how many of them were 1st or 2nd round picks when they were drafted by NHL teams.

All of the goalies were drafted in the 1st round, and only one forward wasn’t. It was Patrice Bergeron, who was drafted in the 2nd round in 2003.
Dan [...]

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by Ron Spence
According to numerous pundits, the Canucks are in a hole. They have 24 points to show for 23 games, and are in 11th place in the Western Conference.
Columbus holds 8th place with 27 points.

The experts tell us that the Canucks will need to win 60 to 65% of their remaining games – to [...]

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by Ron Spence
Numbers don’t lie – as the saying goes. But, they don’t always tell the truth.
When you compare the 1st quarter of the NHL season – Team Points versus Man Games Lost – you can’t tell if it’s an impact player or a 4th liner who has been injured.
However, that being said, some interesting [...]

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by Ron Spence
Manny Legace was a nuck for about five minutes.
He was claimed off of waivers by Vancouver on September 30, 1999. And then, Brian Burke – protecting his goalie of the future Kevin Weekes and Garth Snow – placed Legace on waivers and he was claimed back by Detroit on October 13, 1999.
Legace starred for the [...]

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by Ron Spence
There’s been a recent trend: when a player is hit – cleanly by NHL standards – his teammates go after the hitter.
This accounts for many of the NHL’s fighting majors.
Our penal systems are based on deterrence and punishment.
Beating up a player is a punishment, but is it a deterrent?

courtesy of cbc.ca
The Daily Herald’s [...]

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by Ron Spence
NHL goaltenders may travel a direct – or circuitous route – to the Big Tent.
Cory Schneider’s journey is tending towards the latter.
He has played in 76 AHL games – during the regular season – and 28 during the playoffs. He has only played in 8 NHL games and is 23-years-old.
CORY SCHNEIDER – AHL [...]

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by Ron Spence
Cory Schneider was presented with the “Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award” as the AHL’s best goalie for 2008-09.
Canucks’ fans believe that he will thus become the next Roberto or Martin, but the history of the award doesn’t support this belief:

A few of the Baz winners have become good NHL goalies.
Most teams today would take [...]

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by Ron Spence
As I read about Cody Hodgson and Patrick Kane, I think of Stan Mikita. 
Mikita played in 1394 NHL games – over 22 seasons – and scored 541 goals along with 926 assists for 1467 total points. 

courtesy of blackhawks.nhl.com
He tops the Blackhawks in many categories – except goals – as Bobby Hull scored 604 [...]

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“One thing that happened for sure with the tough guys is their salaries have gone down because people don’t want to spend as much on them because they need the money for more talent. The next step is, do we really need it at all, or should we take a page from Detroit’s book and [...]

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by Ron Spence
There’s been considerable bashing of Brian Burke’s and Dave Nonis’ draft selections.
I would start off by saying that it’s unfair to lump Nonis in with Burke. 
Also, Nonis oversaw four drafts, and had to work around Burke’s trades in his first – 2004.
In August, 2003 Vancouver acquired Johan Hedberg for a second round pick. [...]

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