Daniel Wagner

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Can we give the idea of ‘Canada’s Team’ a rest?

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Rant on Apr 30, 2013

(Claus Anderson, Getty Images)

(Claus Anderson, Getty Images)

This year is the 20th anniversary of both the seminal NHL ’94 and the last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup. Way back in 1993, the Montreal Canadiens, with Patrick Roy in net and Jacques Demers behind the bench, defeated the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings in five games for their NHL-record 24th Stanley Cup as a franchise.

18 seasons have come and gone since then. Canadian teams have come close since — the Canucks made it to game seven of the Finals twice, the Flames and Oilers once each, and the Senators lost in five games — but haven’t been able to carve their names into the Cup itself.

As a result, every year around playoff time, the debate rages over who will be “Canada’s Team,” the marginally non-racist version of the “Great White Hope” that will battle for the pride of Canada and wrest the Stanley Cup from the evil clutches of the United States. For the first time since the 2005-06 season, there are four Canadian teams in the playoffs and thus four claimants to the throne. Who will be Canada’s Team? Who?

How about none of them, since the entire concept is idiotic.

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Three reasons why Martin St. Louis (potentially) winning the Art Ross Trophy is incredible

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Lists, Opinion on Apr 25, 2013

(Scott Audette, Getty Images)

(Scott Audette, Getty Images)

It’s been nearly a month since Sidney Crosby played a game and someone finally passed him for the league-lead in scoring on Wednesday. That’s remarkable on it’s own, but what’s truly remarkable is who passed him.

With a hattrick against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Martin St. Louis took over the lead for the Art Ross Trophy and with just a two or three games remaining for his closest competitors, it appears that he’ll hang onto that lead. Barring heroics from Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, or some insane pre-playoff comeback attempt by Sidney Crosby, it seems safe to say that St. Louis will win the second Art Ross Trophy of his career.

Here are three reasons why that is incredible:

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Five reasons the Columbus Blue Jackets making the playoffs would be awesome

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Lists, Opinion on Apr 23, 2013

162316918 - Dave Reginek

(Dave Reginek, Getty Images)

It seems like every hockey fan online, other than those in Detroit, Dallas and Minnesota, has jumped on the Columbus Blue Jackets bandwagon, rooting for them to make the playoffs. Fans on Twitter have latched on to the #Lumbus hashtag, started by the Los Angeles Kings’ twitter account, with every improbable victory leading to eruptions of virtual support.

I admit, I have a purely selfish reason to be rooting for Columbus. At the start of the season, I made the absolutely crazy prediction that the Blue Jackets would make the playoffs, before they had played enough games to make any statistical analysis worthwhile. I was just going with my gut. A month later, the Blue Jackets were 5-12-2 and I was feeling like the biggest idiot in the blogosphere.

Then the Blue Jackets started grinding games into overtime and the shootout and began stringing wins together. They currently sit in eighth in the Western Conference, tied with the Minnesota Wild in points and just one point ahead of the Detroit Red Wings. The Wild and Red Wings both have a game in hand, as do the Dallas Stars, who sit three points back. If the Blue Jackets make the playoffs, I get to play the only-guy-who-predicted-the-Blue-Jackets-would-make-the-playoffs card. If they don’t, I get to play the at-least-I-was-close card, which isn’t anywhere near as fun.

Here are 5 much better reasons why it would be awesome for the Blue Jackets to make the playoffs.

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Who is the real runner-up in the Western Conference?

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Opinion on Apr 18, 2013

165112954 - Bill Smith

Jonathan Toews and Jake Muzzin watch Evil Dead. “Ah! No, she cut her tongue in half! Why? Why would she do that?” (Bill Smith, Getty Images)

There’s no disputing that the Chicago Blackhawks are the best team in the West, if not the entire NHL, this season. They are 10 points ahead of the second-place Anaheim Ducks and lead the league in goal-differential by a wide margin. Starting the season with 24 straight games without a regulation loss tends to have that effect and the Blackhawks are currently on another streak, winning 6 straight and going 9 games without a regulation loss.

Everything’s going right for the Blackhawks: their offence, defence, and goaltending are among the best in the league. Astonishingly, they’ve had incredible success this season with a thoroughly mediocre powerplay. Considering the offensive talent they have at their disposal, I shudder to think of how good the Blackhawks could be in the playoffs if their powerplay starts clicking.

So, if the Blackhawks are so clearly the best team in the Western Conference, which team is second best? That question is a lot more difficult to answer.

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Which of the NHL’s top scorers have struggled against playoff-bound teams?

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Analysis, Charts on Apr 16, 2013

Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews are two players that have actually performed better against playoff-bound competition. (Bill Smith, Getty Images)

Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews are two players that have actually performed better against playoff-bound competition. (Bill Smith, Getty Images)

As we near the playoffs, I’m beginning to see a common criticism of certain players around the league. It goes a little something like this: these players only seem to rack up points against lesser competition, but can’t score against playoff teams — once the playoffs come around, these players will wilt under the pressure and won’t produce.

Many have looked askance at Alex Ovechkin’s resurgence for this reason, particularly after he scored a hattrick against Florida. I saw comments pointing out how many of his multi-point games and most of his 9-game point streak came against teams that in all likelihood will not make the playoffs. Scoring a hattrick against the Florida Panthers is no great feat, according to this group of people, as the Panthers are a terrible team set to finish last in the NHL.

Ovechkin isn’t the only target for this line of reasoning. I’ve seen the Sedins derided for padded their stats against lesser competition in the Northwest Division for years, for instance. I’m curious to see if this is true, however. Has Ovechkin scored less against playoff-bound opponents than he has against non-playoff teams? If he has, is the difference in scoring that significant compared to other top scorers from around the league?

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Busting open an awful NHL chocolate Easter egg

Posted by Daniel Wagner under General Amusement on Apr 11, 2013

One of my favourite parts of Easter (other than the whole resurrection thing) is going to the stores the next day or two and getting a nice big discount on all the candy that they weren’t able to sell. While this generally means shelves full of lousy candy, you can get some great deals on candy that is the same as its usual form, only egg-shaped and, now, cheaper.

This time around, something caught my eye. Along with the usual assortment of pastel M&Ms, gummy bunnies, and Peeps that aren’t yellow (the way God intended them to be), there was a whole shelf full of giant, foil-wrapped chocolate eggs with a big NHL logo on them. They had so many there, it seemed almost certain that they had barely sold any prior to Easter. Out of curiosity, I took a closer look. These chocolate eggs even had a prize inside: a tiny goalie mask.

Normally I wouldn’t have considered it, but I thought it might be worth a blogpost. I was right, since it’s one of the most poorly thought-out items I have seen in a long time.

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‘I don’t care about your Vegas trip’ – J.S. Giguere tears into Avalanche teammates

Posted by Daniel Wagner under News, Ouch on Apr 09, 2013

J.S. Giguere - 165220232 - Michael Martin

(Michael Martin, Getty Images)

At this point, the Colorado Avalanche are likely thankful for the NHL lockout: 82 games of this level of mediocrity would have been unbearable. As it is, the team has just 9 games left until they’re put out of their misery. It would be completely understandable if the team just mailed it in down the stretch, accepted their last place finish, and started making their off-season plans.

On Monday night, that’s exactly what Colorado goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere accused his teammates of doing, unleashing some of the most devastating denunciations that I have ever seen a player direct at his own team. And, while understandable, giving up is also unacceptable.

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