Haha sloppy seconds

This is probably why we have the tag "Sean Avery is the biggest asshole in the NHL"...

Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Tuesday, pending a hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The League said the suspension was issued in accordance with the provisions of By-Law 17 and Article 6 of the NHL Constitution for conduct "detrimental to the League or game of hockey." The suspension was imposed following inappropriate public comments about the personal lives of opposing players, and not pertaining to the game, made by Avery earlier in the day.

Boy, what could Avery have ever said this morning, on camera...

"I am really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. Enjoy the game tonight."

But c'mon, it's not like Sean Avery pulled a Plaxico "Cheddar Bob" Burress or anything...Sure it's not professional conduct, but what did he do? Speak his mind? In America we call that 1st amendment rights. Dion Phaneuf is a big boy and arguably the NHL's best checking defensemen, and especially when pissed off you would think he could take care of this himself. Of course that could have gotten out of control, but hey, that's the element of excitement.

Also, we may not be following our Elisha Cuthbert hockey player timeline close enough, but wasn't Avery technically picking Mike Komisarek's sloppy seconds?

Sydor for Boucher and the implications that follow...

Sooner or later you had to figure Darryl Sydor would be waived or traded. Sydor wants to play, and unfortunately for him with the emergence of young defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski over the past two seasons the reality was clear: Sydor just isn’t among the top 6 defensemen the Penguins have anymore. To his credit Sydor was the ultimate professional while going through this frustrating time. While others in his shoes coughMark Recchicough often loudly voiced displeasure and anger at having a diminished role; Sydor kept quiet and continued to be a positive example to the boys in the room. The leadership he brought off the ice, especially lately, was very commendable and he deserves much respect for that and we wish him well in Dallas.

On the other hand, we welcome Phillipe Boucher. This is an interesting acquisition; right handed defensemen are in short supply and Boucher did score 19 goals two season ago before battling all sorts of injuries. If nothing else, Boucher should provide a little more “oomph” on the power-play than say, Brooks Orpik, and hopefully steady what’s been, at times a shaky unit on the man advantage. If Boucher can remain healthy (and obviously that’s a big if) he could be a key player down the stretch.

Our forward thinking mind though can’t help but wonder what will happen when Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar return. Whitney is already practicing and should be back sometime in December—though it is too early to say if that will be in the earlier or later part of the month. Gonchar is still in a sling and no where close to coming back, but he should be around come March. It’s a great thing to have a surplus of defensemen at the NHL, especially given the injuries that can happen at any given moment. But having too many NHL caliber players could poison the drinking water—like it may have if Sydor wasn’t such a good sport—and that would be a terrible thing. Boucher, for instance, has said that he is playing for a contract next year and we can’t imagine him being happy or quiet if he’s the odd man out. A lot of the logjam has been created by Goligoski establishing himself as a full-time NHL defenseman right off the bat. If his play wasn’t at such a high level it would be easy to demote him to the minors for further work. But that probably isn’t an option at this point.

So which two of the eight defensemen (this includes Whitney) are the odd men out? Surely not a healthy Whitney or Orpik. Letang’s played well in an expanded role, and as mentioned, Goligoski has been awesome. The team has been very high on Gill (remember Therrien called him a top 4 guy a couple weeks ago) so seemingly he’s in too. This would leave one playing spot for three veteran defensemen: Boucher, Rob Scuderi and Mark Eaton. Eaton’s had a rough season so far and Scuderi, though a solid shot-blocker and reliable guy, is a 5/6 guy that could be replaceable.

If all are healthy, would another trade be coming? In that case it would seem that Eaton or Scuderi would be the most likely candidates.

Whitney-Orpik
Gill-Letang
Goligoski-Boucher

That’s probably how we would line them up, provided Boucher plays well. We realize the risks in looking even that far down the line, but what do you think? Sooner or later when reinforcements trickle back in the Penguins are going to have some decisions to make.

Report: Brunnstrom picks Dallas

We're not bragging, but we were among the first places that reported about Fabian Brunnstrom, the 23 year old Swedish enigma/wonderkid with a Youtube highlight video (with now over 40,000 hits). The Hockey News called him the next Daniel Alfreddson. Though on many teams' radar, Brunnstrom was never drafted to the NHL and too old to be drafted in the entry draft so he is free to select whatever team he wanted to join.

He visited a couple NHL clubs this spring but seemed to have the most intrest in Vancouver, Detroit, Montreal, Dallas and Toronto....Vancouver was the favorite, but reportedly Brunnstrom was not pleased with the uncertainty when they fired GM Dave Nonis. Detroit with plenty of Swedes and rich markets like Montreal and Toronto figured to out-bid about anyone.

But the choice is apparantely in and it's Dallas. With guys like Jere Lehtinen and Niklas Hagman, Brunnstrom will feel comfortable. With skill centers like Mikey Ribs and Brad Richards, he'll have support.

It'll be interesting to see how his rookie campaign goes. Brunnstrom is arguably going to be the most famous new face in the league next season (depending how you feel about rookie Steven Stamkos) and FB will certaintly be the most touted and hype....It'll be interesting to see if he can live up to it.

Prediction: Western Conference Finals

Last round we were a respectable 3-1 (bringing our overall playoff predictions to 9-3), so here's a quick and dirty look at the Western Conference Finals....


Detroit Red Wings (1) v. Dallas Stars (5)


There's no doubt Dallas belongs here; beating the defending champion Anaheim Ducks and then dispatching the very well-rounded San Jose Sharks team. Detroit's road (as a #1 seed) was signigificantly easier. They survived a little hiccup from Dominik Hasek during the Nashville series and then completely over-matched and out-classed an injury riddled Colorado team.

But, in a workman like fashion, Detroit has shown their dominance. Johan Franzen leads the league with an amazing 11 goals (in 10 games)...Hardly anyone is even mentioning the Red Wings usual top guns of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg and they both have 13 points. Ever the machine, Nicklas Lidstrom is chewing up 25+ minutes a night and is reliable and steady as always. Chris Osgood is 6-0 with a 1.57 GAA and a 93.7 save percentage. They are humming along perfectly.

But Dallas knows how to play against such a buzzsaw. They've been under-dogs in their first two series and haven't backed down. The Stars have great depth at center (Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards, Mike Modano). Their best defensemen (Sergei Zubov) is back from injury and back into form. Marty Turco has exorcised any and all playoff demons that may have haunted him. An unsung hero, Stephane Robidas, is playing excellent and quietly coming into his own.

Also, don't sleep on a key for Dallas: fast starts. They've started the first two series on the road and won both of those games both times. We don't have the stat-book handy, but anytime a team goes 0-2 at home the odds of them winning that seven game series is not very good.

Two great teams, but only one will emerge. To us, it's looked like a Detroit/Pittsburgh show down has been inevitable for a while now. But something just doesn't feel right about this matchup. Detroit has no shortage of hard-working, honest players, but in Dallas' two earlier series it's just looked like they've wanted it more. Wanted to get to loose pucks, wanted to initiate contact, wanted to block shots, wanted to make saves. We think that same desire will hold and be enough to oust the more talented team.


Series key: What style prevails; Detroit's puck possession or Dallas' uptempo game

Dallas in 6