WEEK #3 REVIEW

With 3 weeks in the can in the NHL, we bring you another installment of the top stories, teams, players, and significant individual efforts from around the league in the last week. Without further adieu,


THUMBS UP - The tandem of Centres Jeff Carter and Mike Richards

-With an incredibly slow start to the year, the Flyers were finding themselves in familiar territory of the 2007 season, sitting in the basement of the Atlantic division. But in the last 5 games, centres Jeff Carter, and team captain Mike Richards have combined for 6 goals and 10 assists to lead their team to 4 straight wins. The Oilers actually ended this winning streak today with a 5-4 victory, but if the stellar play from these two Canadian young stars continue, they will be making a run for the East's elite.










THUMBS DOWN - Any team interested in Mats Sundin

-We've made it quite clear here that we are fans of Mats Sundin, but the shit that some of these players pull with the NHL clubs is beyond me. Last year it took forever for Anaheim Ducks Scott Niedermeyer and Teemu Selanne to make up their mind as to whether they would retire or not. Ducks GM Brian Burke actually made it clear to the two that it would not be tolerated again. I know Sundin is a +500 goal scorer and all, but should teams really be sitting on the edge of their seat waiting for this guy, when he has yet to make up his mind? Sundin should not be thinking of himself as the "missing link" for any of these teams, and these teams should not be treating him as the cure for cancer. To play in this league, it should be a privelage, and a duty to fulfill 110% for your respective club, and Sundin has missed over 10 games already because he hasn't made up his mind yet. Shame on the GMs for allowing this type of behavior, and can we please end this bullshit so we can continue with our every day lives, rather than us all sitting on the edge of our seat, waiting. Gimme a fuckin break.


THUMBS UP - CALGARY FLAMES

-I must show some love for the Flames this week, as Calgary has been one of the hottest teams in the league as of late. After a slow start, the Flames went on a 6 game winning streak, eventually falling 3-2 to the Ducks last night. This tremendous effort was due to the elevated game play of captain Jarome Iginla, newcomer Mike Camalerri, and goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. Iginla and Camalerri have combined for 26 points this season, and Kiprusoff must have realized that Goals Against actually does matter in this league, and carried his team to all 7 victories they've had so far. It's not like backup keeper Curtis McElhinney's number will be called too often this year (maybe 12 games or so), so we have to get used to every win going into Kipper's collection. Good on the Flames this past week, and the always tight Northwest division just got a whole lot closer, with Minnesota still having a slight edge.


THUMBS DOWN - THE SOUTHEAST DIVISION

-If nobody else is going to say it, I guess we have to. The Southeast division is garbage. I know what you're thinking...50% of the last 4 Stanley Cup teams have come out of the Southeast (Tampa in 2004, Carolina in 2006), and I know you must be thinking that Alex Ovechkin, Eric Staal, and Ilya Kovalchuk play in the Southeast, but if we look at the division as a whole, it's first class garbage. Out of the Atlanta Thrashers, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Washington Capitals, in the last 5 seasons, an average of 1.6 of these teams played in the playoffs. In 2003/2004, Tampa Bay was the lone representative of the Southeast (won the cup), and last year, if we remember Carolina's last game of the regular season, if they were to win that game, Carolina would take the Southeast title, with Washington missing playoffs, but instead they lost, and Washington was crowned Southeast Champs. The way that the league standings are set up means that in both 2004 and 2008, a conference title separated 1st place from 10th in 2004 and 3rd from 9th in 2008. The remedy? Get rid of teams like Florida or Atlanta that are dragging this division down, because if the standings right now are any indication for the playoffs this year, we'll only see one Southeast team in the playoffs once again.


THUMBS UP - C Steven Stamkos - Tampa Bay Lightning

-While on the subject of the basement dwellers of the Southeast, a congratulations and a pat on the back is due for rookie Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who after being snake bitten at the beginning of the season finally registered his first point of the NHL with his first professional goal, only to notch another and add a helper to round off a 3-point night on October 30th against the Buffalo Sabres. Although Stamkos has a long way to match fellow rookies Fabian Brunnstrom and Derrek Brassard in the race for the Calder trophy, the PrairiePuck is happy it finally happened. We were afraid it was going to be a Pavel Brendl situation with this kid.


Thats all for now folks,


PP