Category Archives: NHL

Calling All Goalies: Florida Panthers Looking for Practice Goalie

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By Ellen Chlumecky

March 10, 2015

On Thursday, March 5, the Florida Panthers announced that they will be holding open tryouts for any goalies or even fans to be hired as their practice goalie for one day. This whole experience is a contest proposed by the Panthers. The Panthers executive chairman Peter Luukko is hopeful the contest expects a great turnout for such an amazing ultimate fan experience. Successful applicants will invited to a tryout on March 16th. Two finalists will then go head-to-head during an intermission of Florida’s game against Montreal on March 17th. The winner will then get a contract.

This is a dream come true for any aspiring goalie that never got the opportunity to make it to the big leagues or even a fan whose dream is to experience what it’s like to play in the NHL. So what inspired this somewhat unusual contest? If you weren’t watching the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs game, you might have some insight on what inspired the contest.

During the game, both Panthers’ goalies – Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya – suffered injuries. Not having another backup goalie, the goalie coach for the Panthers had to quickly suit up to serve as the backup. Robert Tallas last played against the New York Rangers in 2001.

In the first period, Luongo was injured by a shot from Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov. He stayed in a game till the end of the period. Then he was replaced by Al Montoya. Early on in the second, Montoya gets injured as well. This meant that the Panthers were without a healthy goalie.

It was believed that Derek MacKenzie and Scottie Upshall might dress as emergency goalies as they both went down the tunnel to the locker room while Montoya was struggling on the ice. Luongo was also seen in the tunnel in street clothes as they were trying to figure out who was going to be put in. However, the person who ended up suiting up was Tallas. Two years prior he was put in the same situation so it was not too unusual to ask of him.

At the end of the day, Montoya attempted to play through his injury until Luongo suited up again to finish the game. The team was trying to get Tallas cleared by the NHL to play in the game but during this process, they realized that Luongo would just have to finish off the game.

It’s unfortunate that a hectic and panic-inducing event had to occur for the Panthers, especially since they ended up losing 3-2 in spite of the situation. In the end, they got a great promotional deal out of the event. So I guess it’s about looking at the glass half full, right?

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Does the Crime Fit the Punishment?

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By Ellen Chlumecky

February 23, 2015

Star player for the Dallas Stars, Tyler Seguin was hit on February 13th. The results for the Tyler Seguin hit came out on Monday, February 16th. Dmitry Kulikov is suspended for four games and in accordance with that will forfeit more than $93,000 in salary. While on the other hand, Seguin has a lower-body injury and could miss up to three to six weeks. Seems fair, right? It does not exactly add up in my mind, but maybe that’s just a personal opinion.

While I know it’s completely unrealistic to award Kulikov a three to six-week suspension, it also doesn’t seem fair taking into the account the brutality of the hit. A knee injury is a very detrimental to a hockey player’s game. Their knees help them skate fast, use the force from them to hit other players, and are needed for the general premise of practicing and improving themselves on the ice. They’re pretty important if that wasn’t already obvious.

The Miami Herald seemed to describe the incident as an “accident.” They stated the “Kulikov appeared to mis-time his hip check and took out Seguin at the knees with his upper body. They did point out that Seguin did not see Kulikov coming. I just find it difficult to believe that you can make that kind of hit on someone without an intention of hurting them seriously.

Patrick Burke, an NHL player-safety director, said, “It’s illegal to throw a body check below the knees. Kulikov delivered a dangerous hit that is excessively low leaving the opposing player no way to defend or brace for the contact.” I completely agree with him. A hockey player cannot brace themselves when a player comes at their knees especially when they don’t see the player coming. Which is why I’m personally surprised that there wasn’t a bigger penalty given to Kulikov when he could’ve very well done permanent damage to Seguin.

I am not the biggest fan of Tyler Seguin. I am not oblivious either, though. He is a talented and tough hockey player. The Dallas Stars losing him for three to six weeks is a huge detriment to their game. Yes, they have Jamie Benn, Jason Spezza, Antoine Roussel, John Lingberg, Erik Cole, but at the end of the day Tyler Seguin helps pull that dynamic together. While Jamie Benn will probably try to take the lead while Seguin is out, it’s going to be a huge setback for the Dallas Stars.

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Super “Star” Fallen: Tyler Seguin

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By Ellen Chlumecky

February 16, 2015

I have said it once and I will say it again, hockey players don’t understand how to hit people without permanently injuring other players. There is a difference between a clean hit and a cheap shot. Hockey players start to practice hitting other players as soon as they are out of squirts and pee wees. Hitting is a part of the game, there is no way to get rid of hitting in the game of hockey. There also seems to be no way of convincing bull-headed players to stop making these kinds of moves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V46mXRsmkA

This cheap shot placed Tyler Seguin of the Dallas Stars on injured reserve on Friday night. On Saturday the 14th, Coach Lindy Ruff stated that Seguin had a knee injury and could miss two to four weeks. The Stars officially announced on Sunday, February 15th that Seguin has a lower-body injury and now could miss up to three to six weeks.

Seguin was hit by Dmitry Kulikov of the Florida Panthers and had to be helped off the ice. As you can see in the video, Kulikov went low and hit Seguin on his right knee right after he made a pass. Kulikov was ejected from the game. While it’s not official, it looks like Kulikov will be suspended indefinitely pending the hearing but could be suspended for more than five games.

Coach Ruff and players were irate with the whole situation. Teammate Vernon Fiddler described the play as “gutless.” Coach Ruff said it’s a play that “I don’t like” and, “It’s a dirty low play that the league doesn’t like, and I want to see the league deal with it.” I completely agree.

I don’t know how many times a player has to get injured the way Seguin currently is before players get it through their heads that they can’t keep making hits like this. Hitting is one of the entertainment factors for many fans of hockey. I would never say to remove hitting from the game. I would enjoy seeing players hitting people smarter than they currently are hitting fellow players.

The NHL Department of Player Safety needs to review these tapes further in-depth, consider the injury and the length of the time the injured player with be out. Then they need to assess the injury accordingly. Clipping is a type of hitting that could permanently end a player’s career. It is not something they should take lightly. Players need to be smarter about hitting or abstain from it if they can’t learn the correct way to do it.

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You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

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By Ellen Chlumecky

February 5, 2015

Sometimes hockey players who have been playing the same way for an extended period of time are naive to change. This might be the case for Daniel Carcillo of the Chicago Blackhawks. Scratch the “might be,” he refuses to change his game for the rules of the NHL.

I wrote about Daniel Carcillo’s cross check to Mathieu Perreault about two weeks ago. On February 3rd, he came out with a statement about the incident. Carcillo stated, “I had thoughts when it happened, but right now I’m just trying to get past it. I don’t really see a point in rehashing any emotions that I had. You can’t do what I did in the league today; there’s no room for it.” Seems like a pretty sincere comment, right?

However he went on to say that despite his lengthy history with the league, it’s not going to change the way he plays the game, it hasn’t yet and it won’t in the future.  He made it clear that even after this serious offense, he still will not change his ways.

Even coach Joel Quenneville, who I rarely disagree with, made a statement saying that Daniel Carcillo did what he did because he has to bring an energy to the game. He said that he didn’t believe his resume has hurt him as far as how he’s competing and how he’s playing. Quenneville asserted that he thinks Carcillo sees the balance between rough play and having control over the situation.

I honestly couldn’t disagree with Quenneville more. I don’t believe Carcillo tries to control his game at all. I believe that sometimes he just blindly hits other players and doesn’t really think about what it will do to them or himself.

While I understand there are an excessive amount of reasons why a hockey player might hit another player, many that are reasonable. I also believe that these players make a conscious decision about whether or not they’re going to hurt another player.

While the enforcer’s job is be the tough guy and push around the team, I don’t feel it’s completely necessary to permanently or seriously injure another player. So no, with Carcillo’s current track record I don’t think he knows the balance between rough play and control.

While I want my team to be tough and be intimidating, there are other ways to do that. Carcillo needs to realize that if he continues to act the way he does, he’ll have to deal with serious consequences.

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Hockey: A Numbers Game?

By Savannah Malnar

February 2, 2015

Statistics play a large role in sports. People are hired just to analyze stats and make team and player predictions based on simply numbers. For a long time, baseball has been the frontrunner in using more advanced statistics as a part of the game. Whenever a player is up to bat, dozens of numbers appear on your television screen; combinations and decimals all formed from a few swings of a bat. While baseball has embraced this sort of statistical nature, other sports have been slow to adopt it. One of these sports is hockey.

When it comes to hockey, most fans have only wanted to know three things on a player-to-player basis: goals, assists, and penalty minutes. As for teams, they just want the points and maybe some fact mentioned by their Fox Sports announcer about a winning or losing streak. But that has been slowly changing over the past few years.

Analysts have emerged themselves in the sport of hockey taking advantage of and perfecting some of the more “fancy” stats that have always existed. The most predominant being corsi and its variations. For being an advanced stat, corsi is extremely simple (and maybe that’s why it’s become attractive to the hockey community): blocked shots + missed shots + shots on goal. Usually shown as a percentage or a decimal compared to total shots in a game and is the best available statistic to measure puck possession. Mess around with the numbers a little and you can calculate individual corsi, team corsi, and see how it changes in different stages of the game.

Now with that sliver of context, it’s time to ask: why does it matter? And the answer is an honest one, it hasn’t, at least to the league. Until now, these stats have been calculated and distributed by fans. Some coaches and players have said they pay attention and use them, some had no idea what they meant. But fans have a growing desire of a better understanding of the game past the “score goals and maim the other team” mentality, and the NHL has decided to cater to that. The league has promised a revamp to their website’s stat page, and it will include corsi and many other statistics that seem ridiculous to the casual fan but craved by the diehard fan.

This news isn’t getting much coverage. Yahoo! Sports and NBC Sports both featured a short article about it, but that was it. No local media from any team picked up on the fact that the NHL is finally accepting that the game is moving towards a more statistical standpoint thanks to a fan-based push for it. This should be a much bigger deal, it shows just how powerful the fans of any sport can be in determining how it is analyzed and, eventually, coached and played across professional leagues.

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From Goalie to Front Office: Always a St. Louis Blue

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By Ellen Chlumecky

January 29, 2015

Playing as a goalie for the New Jersey Devils and the St. Louis Blues for almost 24 years, Martin Brodeur has decided to retire. While he has only played about seven games with the St. Louis Blues, his time with the New Jersey Devils was anything but short or ordinary. In his career with the New Jersey Devils he lifted three Stanley Cups, has won two Olympic gold medals, and several other medals with Team Canada in other international competitions. He is currently the NHL’s all-time leader in regular season wins. He is also the only goalie in NHL history with eight 40-win seasons.

Martin Brodeur will be hanging up his skates and his goalie pads and will be stepping into a suit as he becomes the assistant general manager for the St. Louis Blues. Brodeur has developed a positive relationship with the Blues since his started as their replacement goalie. It seemed only reasonable to take a front office job with them, right?

While it may have seemed to be a smart move, most Devils fan are left scratching their heads. Brodeur spent about 21 years with the Devils. He still stays in contact with their general manager, Lou Lamoriello. He left on great terms with them, as well. Why wouldn’t he take a job with the front office of the Devils?

Lou Lamoriello made a public statement saying that Brodeur has a position with the company, whenever he decides that he wants the job. Lamoriello said, “he’ll be back here, in my opinion, as long as he wants.” Lamoriello sounds pretty confident that he knows where Brodeur’s loyalty lies. He believes that Brodeur is only taking the job because he doesn’t want to leave having bad blood with the Blues.

Doug Armstrong, general manager of the St. Louis Blues, confirms this suspicion. He had spoken to Lamoriello because he didn’t want to appear to be “stealing” the star goalie away. He will continue the job for the rest of the year and see where he stands after that. Lamoriello stated he’d be very surprised if he stayed there longer than that.

Brodeur has always been a dedicated player and I believe that he applies that to his business personality as well. He won’t leave without finishing out the season and I believe that’s what he’s doing with the Blues. Brodeur has been named one of the best goalies of all time, can you blame the Blues for wanting him to stay? Maybe getting him at the end of his career was the smartest move they could’ve made.

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Chris Sutter is Running the Show: NHL All Star Game

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By Ellen Chlumecky

January 27, 2015

The 2015 NHL All Star Game in Columbus was once again a huge hit for all hockey fans. Players from Toews to Stamkos to Ovechkin to Foligno battled it out in competitions and the final game to see who was the best of the best. While the game was fast paced and entertaining, I couldn’t help notice something even better on the bench of Team Foligno. Darryl Sutter who was coaching Team Foligno brought his son, Chris, to help him coach.

Chris Sutter was born in 1993 with a type of Down Syndrome called Trisomy 21. Trisomy 21 is a genetic disorder that impacts a child’s physical and mental development.  While most people tend to keep personal details about their life under wraps, Darryl Sutter is very open about discussing his son’s long battle. Darryl Sutter spoke to the LA Kings’s writer about the trials and tribulations that his son has gone through during his life. He even discusses how when Chris was born, how the doctors didn’t believe that he would live for very long. The doctors said that if he did manage to live long, he would spend the majority of his life in an institution.

http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=624631

Chris has certainly defied the odds. When the LA Kings won the Stanley Cup in 2014, he was one of the proud few that were able to lift the Stanley Cup over his head. I’m sure the doctors that delivered him never could have predicted that. I’m sure they also could have never predicted him sitting next to his proud father at the NHL All Star game.

Chris was giving a pep talk to Patrick Kane after Team Foligno was losing in the third period to Team Toews. He was congratulating his players and giving Bobby Ryan a fist bump when he scored a goal. He helped coach with his dad throughout the whole game and the players listened intently to his instruction.

I am so proud of the NHL in how far they have come in terms of acceptance. Darryl Sutter said that he would not be a coach for the ALL Star game if his son couldn’t sit on the bench with him. The NHL had no hesitation to let him to do it and all for Chris being the assistant coach to his father. I am proud to be a fan of such an amazing organization that wants everyone’s dreams to come true.

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Put Me in Coach, I’m Ready to Play: Filip Forsberg

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By Ellen Chlumecky

January 26, 2015

On Tuesday, January 20th, Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins was checked by trainers during the second period of their game against Philadelphia. He was given a full check, returned to the game, and finished. However the next day Wednesday, January 21st, Malkin  couldn’t play against the Chicago Blackhawks after testing himself during warm ups. As of now, there is no set date or time-table for his return.

While this would have been no big deal any other day during this time of the year, it’s not exactly a lucky time this time around. Unfortunately for Malkin, due to this lower-body injury he will not be able to participate in the NHL All-Star Game. In addition to Malkin, Sidney Crosby will also be missing the All-Star game due to a lower-body injury as announced by general manager Jim Rutherford on Friday. However you all know that someone’s loss is always someone’s gain.

While Malkin and his fellow teammate Sidney Crosby are planning on taking this All-Star game off, their loss is another player’s gain. Predators forward Filip Forsberg has been added to the NHL All-Star Game roster. He will be playing Sunday. Adding him to the roster will make him the only rookie in the lineup. Forsberg will be joining his fellow Nashville teammate and captain Shea Weber and Predators coach Peter Laviolette in the All-Star game.

While I’m sure most of the Pittsburgh Penguins fans might be in an uproar about two of their favorite players not playing, this is the Predators rookie’s chance to show the NHL and their fans what he can do. Forsberg is only 20 years old and he has a chance to show these players and fans that he has something to show for it.

Forsberg has already won Rookie of the Month in November of 2014. He won gold in the world junior championships in 2012 at Calgary for team Sweden. He also won silver in the world junior championships in 2014 Malmo and 2013 Ufa. In addition, he was selected 11th overall in 2012 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals.

While I am not personally a Predators fan, Forsberg has often caught my eye with his high intensity attitude, speed, and his great stick handling skills. There are many opportunities for him to shine at the All-Star Game and I for one am very excited to see what captain will choose him to be on his team. While both captains have made it clear that there is no bad picks this year, it will be interesting to see where he ends up.

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Daniel Carcillo: A Liability or an Asset?

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By Ellen Chlumecky

January 22, 2015

As one of many long time Blackhawks fans, we have been through many ups and downs throughout our time as fans. We have encountered a long dry spell of losing, coaches who didn’t fit the bill, and players who sometimes seemed like they didn’t have a clue. Recently, one of the Blackhawks’ players has been acting inappropriately on the ice and is being rightly punished for it. This player is Daniel Carcillo.

Daniel Carcillo was suspended for six games on Monday because of his actions. Carcillo crosschecked Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault on Friday, January 16th. Carcillo skated up behind Perreault and cross checked him in a downward motion. Carcillo connected his stick to Perreault’s left arm in the final seconds of the second period. Perreault did not return to the game after that and did not play again for the Jets on Sunday.

The league’s department of player safety discussed how they took into account the incident and Carcillo’s disciplinary history in deciding the appropriate length of the suspension. Carcillo will forfeit six games’ worth of salary, which equates to $40, 243.92.

This isn’t Carcillo’s first time with the Blackhawks. He had a one-year deal with the Blackhawks for the 2011-2012 season. This also isn’t the first time Carcillo has been suspended. Carcillo has been suspended or fined eleven previous times in his nine NHL seasons. Carcillo was last suspended in the playoffs last season when he elbowed a linesman in the face while Carcillo was being restrained. He was initially suspended ten games for abuse of officials and later had the suspension reduced to six games.

While Carcillo did not believe he did anything wrong or malicious, Winnipeg Jets’ coach thought a little differently. Paul Maurice who is the Winnipeg Jets; head coach said, “It was a vicious crosscheck to an unsuspecting player.” I personally fully agree with Maurice, even as a dedicated Blackhawks fan, I truly believe what Carcillo did wasn’t appropriate.

While of course hockey is an aggressive sport, there needs to be a line drawn in terms of safety. There have been far too many incidents in the sport of hockey where people have been permanently injured because certain players have a lack of respect for other people’s safety. There are ways to hit someone in the sport of hockey that don’t lead to permanent or career-ending damage.

I understand that hockey teams need tough players to defend their smaller players, however there is a line what they should or should not be allowed to do. While Carcillo said he had no intentions of hurting another player, I don’t believe you crosscheck without some intention of hurting someone an exponential amount. Many of these players need to understand that one wrong move and they could damage or permanently end someone’s career.

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The Crashing Toronto Maple Leafs: Is it Really the Coaching?

By Savannah Malnar

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a great history as an Original Six hockey team in the NHL. Unfortunately lately they have had more downs than ups and have not won a Stanley Cup since 1967. With this drought has come a multitude of personnel changes. Toronto fans are used to coaches being temporary, so it was no shock to them when coach Randy Carlyle, coach of only roughly two and a half seasons, was terminated.

His success with the Anaheim Ducks (who he led to a Stanley Cup) did not transfer to the Leafs. Fans and management hoped his defensive mind would bring a new perspective to the Leafs’ locker room, but instead the team only made the playoffs once under his coaching and then in the 2013-2014 season went 2-12 to end the season and fall out of what looked like to be a clinched playoff spot.

This was when management and fans really began to look at Carlyle’s effectiveness. The decision to fire Carlyle followed a barely winning record of 21-16-3 that left the Leafs grasping onto a wild card playoff spot to start the 2014-2015 season; it was most likely heavily influenced by recently hired (as of the end of the 2013-2014 season) President of the team, hall of fame player and previous Director of Player Safety, Brendan Shanahan.

Prominent hockey writer Greg Wyshynski for Yahoo! Sports authored an article titled: “Randy Carlyle fired by Toronto Maple Leafs, finally.” A writer for CBS Sports says this shows the Leafs have “learned from their mistakes.” So it seems the national media agrees with the call. A different view comes from an article from a more local source, the Toronto Star. Rosie DiManno instead goes straight to the top, calling out Brendan Shanahan for not doing enough in his first season as President. She stated she believes General Manager Dave Nonis could be the next piece to go if Shanahan really wants to turn Toronto around. In her words, “And Carlyle, for his sins, was miscast as the old-style coach who could reach deep inside this lineup and come up with a fistful of guts. That’s on management, those who’ve departed and those still here.”

DiManno appears to be among the loyal Toronto fans and media who are desperate for a turnaround for a team with such a strong past. Perhaps Carlyle being sacked will be the beginning of that, or maybe they just have to wait for something bigger.

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