Around The Rink 03.11.08: A Surprising Struggle in the Northeast

Posted by Jeremy Yoder on 03.11.2008

Around The Rink this week, another laceration in the NHL and two different teams suspend their own players. We’ll examine a pretty amazing development in the Eastern Conference’s Northeast Division. We’ll also summarize an exciting week in Penguins hockey as the Crosby the captain returned to the ice!

Main Topics...

The scene was not as frightening as when Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers severed the carotid artery in his neck in Buffalo on February 10, but another player suffered a cut from a skate blade in NHL action this week. That player was Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks. The incident happened on Thursday, March the 6th during a game in Colorado against the Avalanche. During the third period of the game, Perry was driving to the net when Avalanche goaltender Jose Theodore accidentally hit him in the leg with his skate. The skate cut into tendons and muscles just above the knee and Perry was rushed to the hospital for surgery. The surgery was successful and Perry is expected to be out six weeks, which would bring him back during the playoffs.

The Ducks lose their leading goal scorer and second leading points scorer in Perry. That didn't seem to affect the team a whole lot as they won their first game without him on Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens. However, going into the playoffs you want to have your full team roster on the ice, especially you're scorers. The injury doesn't hurt the team now as much as it would have earlier in the season thanks to the arrival of Teemu Selanne a few weeks back.

Before the Zednik incident, the last time I can remember a player being cut by a skate was when it happened to Clint Malarchuk, as I mentioned in a previous blog. It's very strange to see two of these kinds of incidents in one year. Maybe this is something that occurs more regularly than we realize? I doubt it. In this day and age of communication and media coverage, not many injuries slip through the cracks. These kinds of incidents are unfortunate, but are also few and far in between...until this year, anyway.

The other thing that caught my eye in NHL news this week were stories about two teams suspending their own players. These caught my eye because it's somewhat abnormal for a team to suspend their own player. The Islanders asked Chris Simon to take a leave of absence from the team earlier this year, but these kinds of requests are not at all common place in any sport. The two teams that did this over the past week were the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The suspensions were for two very different reasons.

The Florida Panthers suspended a player who has never even skated for them last Wednesday. Chad Kilger, who was acquired from Toronto at the trade deadline for a 2008 3rd round draft pick, was suspended without pay. The details are sketchy and no definite timeline for the suspension was given. It seems though, that after the trade Kilger requested a leave of absence. The Panthers gave him that leave of absence, but apparently Kilger did not report to the team when expected. I can't wait to get some more details about this. I find it kind of odd that a team would suspend a player so quickly. I guess I would need to know the circumstances a little better, but I still find this kind of odd. I also think that, depending on the circumstances, the move could make the Florida brass look kind of foolish in the end.

The other suspension also came out of a Florida team in the form of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Andre Roy has been suspended for a week, with pay, following an incident in a game in Philadelphia on March 6th. Apparently Roy was involved in two separate fights with Flyers tough guy Riley Cote. Roy did not fair well in the second fight. When the replay was shown on the screen at the Wachovia Center, players on the Flyers bench began jeering and taunting Roy sending him into a fit. Roy needed to be restrained by a linesman and then head coach John Tortorella once he got to the bench. The Lightning then sent Roy home the next day and, after meeting with him and Tortorella, management decided it best that Roy take a one week leave from the team.

This move makes sense to me. Andre Roy has always been a bit of a hot head in the NHL, though I don't know that he has ever crossed the line in a real major way. The Lightning officials said the decision was based not only on the incident in Philly, but also some other issues throughout the season. I think this was a good move by the Lightning. They are having a terrible season and don't need it to get any worse by having a player doing something despicable on the ice. Give him some time to clear his head and I'm sure he'll be fine.

Senators Stock Falling In The Northeast

Another division, another team proving me wrong. When I last reviewed the Northeast Division, the Ottawa Senators were the crème de la crème in the division and the conference. My how things change in a little over a month. The Senators have relinquished first in all of the ‘afore mentioned places. Taking their place atop at least the Northeast Division are the Montreal Canadiens. The Canadiens are having a good season at 38-23-9 with 85 points. The Habs are a dangerous team with all the tools necessary to win big games. Up front, they are being led by Alex Kovalev who is having an outstanding year. They go much deeper than one player on offense though. The Canadiens are tied for the league lead in goals scored with the Senators with 223. That means they are getting production from a lot of people on their roster. Guys like Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn and Christopher Higgins are all coming up big for the Habs on the offensive front. Defensively they are pretty solid too with guys like Mike Komisarek, Mark Streit, Roman Hamrlik and Andrei Markov. They have all been coming together very nicely throughout the season for the Canadiens and don't show any sign of slowing down. The only concern I had with the Canadiens was that they traded their number one goaltender in Cristobal Huet. However, the young 20-year old star Carey Price has stepped up to the task of filling the net for the Canadiens. How scary is this kid? 20 years old in the NHL and anchoring a strong playoff team. If he continues to improve the way he has, this kid is going to be a force in the NHL for a long time. Because I predicted it last time I wrote about the Northeast, I'm sticking to this team finishing second in this division. They're strong, but I still think the Senators will snap out of this funk and take over the division again. Fortunately for the Canadiens and their fans, second place in this division comes with a playoff berth.

Surprisingly sitting in second place in this division right now are the Ottawa Senators. The Senators are 38-25-7 with 83 points right now despite struggling mightily since the All-Star break. As I mentioned last week, they made a change behind the bench by firing head coach John Paddock. Taking over for him was GM, and last years head coach, Bryan Murray. That change hasn't sparked quite the resurgence I imagine the Sens were looking for as the team is 2-3-1 since Murray has taken over. Recently I was watching a hockey program, probably on the NHL Network, where the analysts were talking about the Senators struggling to make the playoffs. I kind of laughed it off at the time, but upon further inspection, they are absolutely right. This is a team that needs to get off the snide sooner than later. Currently, with their 83 points, they are only five points ahead of the eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The good news is that they are nine points ahead of the ninth place team. As does every team down the stretch, the Senators play a bunch of divisional games. I believe they will use those games to their advantage and bring themselves back to the top of the division. I don't think it will be enough to win the conference, but at least the division. I just don't think this team can stay down as far as they are right now for too much longer. They have entirely too much talent and leadership on the club to allow that to happen.

Third place sees the Boston Bruins with a record of 36-25-8 good for 80 points. The Bruins are a team that has been quietly going about their business this season. That's a double-edged sword. On one hand, it means that you're not playing too horrible but on the other, it means that you're not playing that great either. The Bruins wanted to make a big splash at the trade deadline and were looking to acquire Marian Hossa from the Thrashers. Looking at the team stats, it's easy to see why. The Bruins lack that player that can really break a game for a team. Marco Sturm is the teams leading goal-scorer and that's bad news. No knock on Sturm, he is good at what he does, but he's not the guy you want to be counting on to score your big goals for you. None the less, the Bruins find a way to win and are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games. The last time I wrote about this division, I said the Bruins would place third in it. I stand by that prediction this time around. Third place in the Northeast will also see the Bruins sneak into the playoffs as the seventh or eighth seed.

The Buffalo Sabres have managed to climb out of the basement into the fourth position in this division. They are currently 32-27-10 with 74 points. The Sabres got off to a really slow start and have been trying to make up for lost time and ground. That hasn't been going entirely well for them and they find themselves fighting for their playoff lives. Currently, they are four points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Sabres may be struggling, but seem to be getting a little better with each week. Players who were underachieving at the beginning of the season such as Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Ales Kotalik are coming around and putting the puck in the net. Unfortunately for the Sabres, I think it's going to be a case of too little too late. They'll make things interesting for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, but that's about all they'll do. They will finish in fourth in this division and just miss the playoffs. That's what I predicted last time and that's what I predict this time!

Rounding out the division in last place are the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs are 30-30-10 for 70 points. The Leafs were foiled at the trade deadline by a few players with no-trade clauses in their contracts. Players like Mats Sundin, Darcy Tucker and Pavel Kubina who would have garnered good deals for the Leafs. I really admire those players for wanting to stick it out with their team though. I give them respect for that. For a little, it looked as if it just might work out too. Unfortunately, I don't think this team has quite enough to get into the playoffs this year. It's a shame to see this team fall short again. While I loathe Mats Sundin when he plays the Pens, I respect him and am a fan of his any other time. Mats is having a fantastic year and it would be nice to see what he could do in the playoffs this year. However, that's just not going to happen. We'll see what happens in the offseason, but the Leafs could be a team to contend with next year. Unfortunately that means getting through the rest of this one though. The rest of this season is one that will end with the Leafs falling short of the playoffs and finishing last in the Northeast Division.

Weekly Pens Update

This past week saw the Pens win two games and lose one. Tuesday night they won a tight game in Tampa Bay against the Lightning by a score of 2-0, Thursday they played an uninspired game and lost 5-2 against the Florida Panthers and Sunday they won a whale of a hockey game against the Washington Capitals 4-2. It was an interesting week as the Pens enjoyed some really good times and some not so good times. All in all, it was a character building week.

The biggest story of the week, by far, was the return of Sidney Crosby to the Penguins lineup. Sid returned to the lineup on Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. His return was a little earlier than most expected coming at just a couple of days over six weeks after he was injured. The original estimation was that he would be out 6-8 weeks and many expected him to be closer to the eight week mark to return. However, Sid showed that he is very resilient through injuries and returned early. He made an instant impact assisting on the game winning goal by Maxime Talbot.

Sid looked a little tentative at times throughout the Tampa game, but for someone who missed 21 games, he looked amazing. There aren't many players in the league today that could undergo that kind of layoff and return to play at the level that Sid did. Thursday night, while no one was looking particularly good, Sid picked up another point with an assist on a Kris Letang goal. Sunday came the showdown against Ovechkin and the Caps and Sid was up to the task. He played a great game and ended with two goals including the game winner. Of course it wasn't without a little help from Nicklas Backstrom of the Capitals who put the puck in his own net, but Sid deserved the goal all the same. It's great to have him back in the lineup.

This week also saw coach Michel Therrien make a statement about who the starting goalie of this team will be down the stretch. That choice seems to be Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury shut out the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday, but followed that up with a shaky performance against the Panthers. He was actually replaced in that game by Ty Conklin. However, on Sunday Fleury was again in the net against the Washington Capitals stopping 36 of 38 shots.

Fleury has looked pretty good since his return to the Pens lineup. He has been playing his angles well and really seeing the puck. He has also seemingly been playing the puck more. Could that be a sign of some pressure put on him by Ty Conklin who moves the puck very well? It's hard to say, but I wouldn't be surprised. The Pens defensemen seemed to like Conklin in net because he moves the puck so well. The other thing about Fleury's play is his rebound control. To me, this is the final skill Fleury needs to become a truly elite goalie in the NHL. It's something that he's been getting better with, but is still largely inconsistent with. If he can start consistently controlling his rebounds better, I think he will do a great job of anchoring this team through their playoff run this year, and in years to come.

Right now the only missing pieces to this Pens team are Marian Hossa, Gary Roberts and Rob Scuderi. Hossa is expected back this week against either the Sabres on Wednesday or the Flyers on Sunday. Roberts isn't expected back until the end of this month, just in time for the playoffs. Scuderi should also return around the same time as Roberts. Each of these players has a role to play on this team and it will be great to see them back in the lineup. Not to diminish the roles of Roberts and Scuderi, but it will be particularly interesting to watch Hossa skate with Sidney Crosby. One of the best, if not the best, playmakers in the league in Crosby setting up one of the best goal scorers in the league. It will be a lot of fun to watch.

This week, as I just kind of mentioned, the Pens have a nice short week playing the Sabres at home on Wednesday and the Flyers at home on Sunday. With Hossa returning to the Pens lineup and Sid already there, it will be another exciting week of Penguins hockey!

Random Thoughts

The NHL Network is, at least to me, the greatest channel on television. I understand it's probably just because I'm a hockey junky, but it's fantastic to have a channel dedicated totally to something you love 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I love their classic replays that they do of both particular games and playoff series. I also enjoy most of the top 10 countdowns that they do. What I really like is their NHL on the Fly program. It's Sportscenter for the hockey fan. Raw hockey highlights including the fights and it's awesome. A buddy of mine did recently point out though that the real Sportscenter started out the same way, showing just highlights, but eventually turned mostly into an opinionated talk show. My buddy fears that NHL on the Fly is headed in the same direction and I can see why. They have already started bringing in more personalities and filling more time with the personalities talking. Regardless, the NHL Network is a huge hit with me and even if NHL on the Fly does continue going, for lack of a better word, downhill, at least it's still hockey!

More Next Tuesday...

I'll be back next week with another column. Please send any comments, questions, suggestions or a topic that would interest you to [e-mail].