CrashingTheGoalie

This from John Vogl of The Buffalo News:
“The Sabres have signed veteran left winger Jeff Cowan, who more than likely will earn a ticket to Portland rather than a spot on Buffalo’s already crowded forward lines.
Cowan has played in 413 NHL games since debuting with Calgary in the 1999-2000 season. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder has also played [...]

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The Penguins re-signed Bill Guerin and it wasn’t just because he’s a very good player.
He’s both a leader and a bonding agent in his team’s dressing room.
Todd Reirden – the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins – recalls:
“I played my very first NHL game in Phoenix against the Coyotes. It was well documented I was [...]

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“I think it’s a great opportunity for me. I was ecstatic when they called and I felt from the beginning this is the place I wanted to be. It felt right and felt like something I wanted to be part of. Having said that I’m also grateful for the 11 years I played with Vancouver. [...]

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by Ron Spence
Dave Nonis – and most of the NHL’s other GM’s – had wet dreams about a late-blooming Swede named Fabian Brunnstrom.

“This is a player,” said TSN’s Bob McKenzie, “who, right now, is demanding ‘Top 5′ entry draft-level money. If you draft a guy in the Top 5, you have to pay out all those [...]

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by Ron Spence
Mike and Marian Ilitch have a framed one dollar bill hanging on a wall in one of their offices. And, it wasn’t the first dollar that they’d earned when they were establishing their Little Caesars Pizza empire.
On June 30, 1993, the Wings had acquired Kris Draper for future considerations. 
Draper had played in only [...]

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“I think there were some major adjustments that I had to make,” Cory Schneider said. He was answering a question about his first season in Manitoba. 
“I think you feel like you kind of feel like you know everything, and you can keep doing what you had been doing in school, and you’re going to be [...]

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by Ron Spence
Mario almost has his new arena.
He has a talented team led by superstars, and Pittsburgh is playing in their second Stanley Cup finals in a row.
What does he want next?
A third ring to compliment the two below. 
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS – STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS  - 1992

 
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS – STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS 1991

 
Mario would then have [...]

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Canucks fans should submit questions to the AHL’s Goalie of the Year:

LINK – AHL CHATROOM

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by Ron Spence
Few NHLers suffer from Stockholm Syndrome – they don’t identify and sympathize with their martinette coaches.
And when their tyrant taskmasters are fired, they don’t shed many tears, or make comments to the media.
 MICHEL THERRIEN
“I didn’t like … the direction the team was headed,” Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero said after he had fired Therrien. [...]

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by Ron Spence
Bob Essensa was one of my favourite Canucks’ goalies – and a finer person to boot.
He was a standup guy who could get down and stack his pads with the best of them.
And he was another goalie who was dicked around by the ‘nucks.
He helped to carry Felix Potvin through the regular 2000-01 [...]

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