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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Point Shots from around the League

A tour of the NHL, B.OP style.....so much garrr-bazh has gone on in the last week or so...

The Philadelphia Flyers have now lost both Claude Giroux and Chris Pronger.  Giroux for nobody knows how long, and Pronger possibly for good.  And yet they keep on winning.  One wonders for how long.  A better question would be how long before Paul Holmgren decides to shore up his backline corps through a potential trade.

Lots of eyes as well as ears on Teemu Selanne's much anticipated homecoming to Winnipeg.  I for one wouldn't be surprised if the fans there boo the hell out of him the whole game.

Fresh off the wire--the Montreal Canadiens have become the latest team to give their coach walking papers.  That's right, Jacques Martin, he of the miracle 2010 playoff run, is now the former coach of Les Habitants.
The interim coach, Randy Cunneyworth, immediately faces a language barrier.  Not exactly a good first step. Here's a good first phrase:  Je deteste perdre.  It means, "I hate losing."

From the "so sad I had to laugh but not really" department.  First we have one of my least favorite people Matthew Barnaby making an ass out of himself with his vehicular antics and possibly getting deported.  Now we have another idiot talking head who is well known for his hatred of the Caps in trouble with the law.  Mad Mike Milbury it seems has finally met his equal--a twelve year old.  Seems while serving as the assistant coach of his son's peewee hockey team he interceded on his kid's behalf when he physically assaulted an opposing player who was "jawing" with his son. Not funny, I know.  But what's more surprising in this case?  Is it that he would stoop so low as to manhandle a preteen or that he only managed to be an assistant coach of a peewee team?

The Coyotes' Kyle Turris just recently ended his holdout and signed with his team before the league mandated deadline.  Now he's been dealt to Ottawa for blueliner Dave Rundblad and a draft pick.  You know who figured this would happen and called this?  Doug Stolhand over at the Puck Podcast.  So, Mr. Glenn Healy, please just keep on saying how fans in so-called non-traditional markets know absolutely nothing about hockey.  We all need a good laugh every now and then.

The Sidney Watch, part deux:  Mr. Crosby is out again, obviously not good for the league.  The obvious and painful question is, how long will be long enough before he returns?  Never mind a certain other question that none of us, no matter how we feel about the Pens, wants to ask.

Back to the coaching carousel we go.  So far Davis Payne, Bruce Boudreau (temporarily), Paul Maurice, Randy Carlyle, Terry Murray, and now Jacques Martin have all lost their jobs.  The next?  No, not Columbus' Scott Arniel. Not Calgary's Brent Sutter either.  It'll be Colorado's Joe Sacco.  In a matter of just over 2 seasons, he's gone from low expectations to high, now back to low.  The Avalanche have gone about as far as they'll go with this guy and while he may last the rest of the season, he'll be gone before next season. Too bad for the ex-Cap as the team's woes are more the fault of poor management than anything else.

Lights, Camera, Action!  All of it will be on the Rangers and Flyers for HBO's 24/7 special.  Anybody want to take any wagers on how long it takes before John Tortorella smashes a camera?

The team that gets it done--Minnesota Wild.  Even with Dany Heatley the Wild aren't exactly lighting it up, so they're relying on solid defense and crazy goaltending.  They're second in the league with a Save Percentage over 93%.  It sure would be nice to be able to have something even close to that.....









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