Bubble Night in the NHL: Links and league sundry
by Dominik on Apr 2, 2010 12:51 PM EDT
in Bits o' Islanders News
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How odd was last night? Jon Sim has scored 21 goals as an Islander in 21 separate games, several of those coming on nights when Sean Bergenheim or Trent Hunter also scored. But never have all three of them scored in the same game. Grinders with a touch of scoring punch, unite!
I'm an NHL fan. The playoffs drive my pulse whether or not I'm emotionally invested in the participants. (That's diplomacy-speak for, "I have not had a dog in the playoff fight in three years. It's cold in here.")
So as the Islanders season winds down, you'll see a lot of playoff bits here, as well as Islanders "report card"-type analysis. Around here, there will be draft talk, Bridgeport playoff (hopefully) talk, franchise planning talk, and general NHL stuff. Whether you tune out after the Isles are done or follow the playoffs no matter what, it will be worth your sticking around. (On that note, if you haven't submitted your own end-of-season Islanders awards, here's the thread.)
More coverage from last night's 6-4 win, plus league-wide links, after the jump.
Links and Sundry
>>About that general NHL stuff: For Center Ice subscribers and Web-savvy addicts, tonight features two intriguing showdowns for the low-hanging playoff seeds: Calgary-Colorado and Montreal-Philadelphia. If you want to gawk at the fans agonizing over the stakes, SBN's sites for those teams are: M&G (Calgary), Mile High Hockey (Col), Broad Street Hockey (Phi) and Eyes on the Prize (Habs).
>>About last night ... more coverage of the Isles win: Post | FanHouse | Daily News (w/ random Moulson non-contract bit) | Eric's 'stat trick' | Broad Street Hockey | Phi. Daily News | Inquirer | BS Bull (Inq. blog) | Incredibly, the Flyers have resorted to signing Sebastian Caron.
>>Colby Armstrong: This hit is just Exhibit #4,873 that most NHLers don't know how to bodycheck.
>>Another example of the Oilers messing up player development?
>>An update on Taylor Pyatt, one year after the death of his fiance at age 27.
>>An interesting missive and discussion at Copper & Blue that gets to the heart of why it's important to use more than goals/points/GAA/plus-minus to try to under what's happening on the ice. Regulars probably know that I like checking "advanced" stats for deeper perspective on what's going on. (You cannot watch all 18 skaters' every shift on any night, and the standard stat sheet cannot tell you the full story.) But these stats are hardly what drives my appreciation of the game. Regardless, a balance of observation and checking your observation against numbers is required. Watching this game is about entertainment, in whatever form floats your boat.
>>Finally, this quote -- from an old-school soccer coach, Peter Nowak in Philadelphia -- has been tickling my fancy for the past week. Because it speaks to the situation every coach, in any sport, on a "rebuilding" squad faces:
"Sooner or later, these young men with great potential will realize that potential needs to be shown on the field. It’s good for a coach to have a team with potential, but potential will get you fired at some point."
With a GM who trusts him and wants a long-term relationship, Scott Gordon has the luxury to try to bring such potential along slowly. But you know that a few years from now, reality will need to catch up with potential. Or else.
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Think the Flyers might be kicking themselves just a tad for letting Scott Munroe walk? Despite what you may think of his possible ability or non ability on the NHL level, Caron wasn’t even putting up good numbers for the Swiss League, a 91.6 Sv% and 2.94 GAA during last season.
Come on Isles! 11-0-0 or 10-0-1 I'm not picky! Playoffs!
That team’s goaltending decisions for the past two decades are amazing. This year’s perfect storm feels like what happens when you go on the cheap for too long.
For Caron, it’s a nice way for him to pick up some extra cash, I guess.
Lighthouse Hockey: What's wrong with lotteries? I've been in lots of lotteries.
Its remarkable how many goalies we had here in our organization who could have helped them LOL.
As far as the Flyers go, its almost like they think goaltending hardly even matters
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
by TheMetalChick on Apr 2, 2010 1:37 PM EDT up reply actions
If only Dominic Roussel, Brian Boucher Part I, Roman Chechmanek, Maxime Ouellet, Brian Boucher Part II, Tommy Soderstrom, Robert Esche, Jeff Hackett, or John Vanbiesbrouck had worked out.
Actually, going through some of those names, the old Flyers would totally sign Marty Turco this offseason. I think the new enlightened Flyers know they need someone else, though. How they get him is another story.
Lighthouse Hockey: What's wrong with lotteries? I've been in lots of lotteries.
Can it be that the Flyers are yearning for the halcyon days of Ron Hextall?
We're doomed. Doomed!
by David Hanssen on Apr 2, 2010 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions
They certainly have no assets to trade for one unless they throw in VanRiemsdyck or however you spell his name and Giroux (they have no prospects of note). So making salary cap room for a goalie signing might be the only way
The Nowak comments are interesting and true. It’s just odd that a coach literally a game into his tenure at an expansion club would say something like that. It seems like a statement a coach two or three years down the line in that job would say to spur on his young, potential laden squad.
We're doomed. Doomed!
Too true. Nowak is definitely a different bird. I wonder if he ever busts out, “Have you ever had to wait in a bread line?!?” at practice.
Lighthouse Hockey: What's wrong with lotteries? I've been in lots of lotteries.
Yeah, he’s like the exact opposite of Hans Backe at Metro. Backe is very laid back, he’s a big Arctic Monkeys fan (Yes a 62 year old Swede is a big Arctic Monkeys fan) and he makes fun of Tim Ream for having a porn star name. Nowak, is pretty much a dick, but gets the job done.
We're doomed. Doomed!
by David Hanssen on Apr 2, 2010 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Holy…that does it, Backe is now my favorite coach. (Well, no. Arsene Wenger still is. But Backe sounds hilarious.)
Lighthouse Hockey: What's wrong with lotteries? I've been in lots of lotteries.
Wenger is my hero.
Though I wish people would quit getting hurt so damn much…
Perhaps today IS a good day to die.
- Klingon proverb
by Thomas Wachtel on Apr 2, 2010 5:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Eh, I’m Wenger neutral. I really have no feelings either way for most of the Premiership managers.
I despised Jurgen Klinsmann as a player (Example 1, example 2) but I liked him as manager of Germany and thought he didn’t get a fare shake at Bayern. He had Beckenbauer and Rumminge interfering with him too much and he wasn’t allowed to buy the players he wanted and sell the ones he didn’t.
We're doomed. Doomed!
by David Hanssen on Apr 2, 2010 6:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Ah! That dive!
Wow! I remember that (Example 1) but literally haven’t seen it in 20 years. That was surreal to watch…like being transported back in time with no warning.
But anyway, I loved what he did with Germany in the World Cup. On Wenger, I just love the style he advocates and the fact he sticks with it no matter what. For someone who doesn’t have to live and die with that team, it’s just constant entertainment and I can afford to be disappointed. (And his management of assets on a lower budget compared to the other Big Four is nice.) Part of me loves that he’s a Frenchman succeeding in England for so long, too.
Lighthouse Hockey: What's wrong with lotteries? I've been in lots of lotteries.
I definitely respect Wenger, he did orchestrate the Invincibles of 03-04 and has produced a wealth of talent out of his academy. I just don’t watch enough of the EPL to form an opinion on many of the managers.
We're doomed. Doomed!
by David Hanssen on Apr 3, 2010 9:52 AM EDT up reply actions
I cannot believe their injuries...
Unreal luck. But this seems to afflict most teams I follow.
Lighthouse Hockey: What's wrong with lotteries? I've been in lots of lotteries.
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1979-80
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May 24, 1980: Tonelli to Nystrom. At long last, the steady build of the New York Islanders from expansion doormat to surprise semifinalist to annual contender reaches the promised land: Buoyed by a late season trade for Butch Goring that gave the team the depth up the middle GM Bill Torrey had been seeking, the Islanders knock off the Philadelphia Flyers in six games.
The victory justified the faith in coach Al Arbour who guided them from their second season to their first Stanley Cup seven seasons later. The Islanders would not be the first expansion team to win the Stanley Cup, but they would be the only one capable of a dynasty.
1980-81
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May 21, 1981: This time it was much easier. After falling to "only" 91 points in the 1979-80 season, the Islanders returned to their division title tradition, piling up 110 points -- a whole 13 points over second-place Philadelphia.
Between the quarterfinals (where they beat the upstart Oilers in six games) and the finals, the Islanders reeled off eight consecutive wins -- with a four-game sweep of archrival Rangers in between. As they defeated the Minnesota North Stars in five games for their second Cup, their goal difference in the final was a combined +10.
1981-82
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May 16, 1982: Another year, another landslide title. The Islanders won the Patrick Division by a whopping 26 points over the second-place Rangers, and were seven points clear of their nearest competition for the President's Trophy, the still-not-quite-ripe Edmonton Oilers.
A first-round scare against the Pittsburgh Penguins turned in the Isles' favor thanks to John Tonelli's heroics, and a true dynasty was on its way: Past the Rangers in six games, then an eight-game sweep of the Quebec Nordiques and Vancouver Canucks to run away with the Stanley Cup.
1982-83
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May 17, 1983: Not so fast, whipper-snappers. The Edmonton Oilers' steadily rising challenge for league supremacy took them all the way to the finals for the first time, where the New York Islanders summarily dispatched them in a four-game sweep. For the Islanders, the Dynasty was secured. For the Oilers, it was a powerful lesson in where talent ends and the demands of playoff hockey begin.
Four years, four Cups, 16 consecutive playoff series wins (a record that would grow to 19 until the rematch with the Oilers the following year). Mike Bossy scored 60 goals yet again, and Wayne Gretzky became acquainted with Billy Smith's crease.
