Daniel Wagner

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Cody Hodgson is the early leader for best sophomore of the year

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Analysis, Thoughts on Mar 04, 2013

(Bill Wippert, Getty Images)

(Bill Wippert, Getty Images)

The battle for the Calder trophy is shaping up to be a good one: Cory Conacher’s 18 points in 21 games has him as the favourite, but Jonathan Huberdeau’s 10 goals is tops among rookies and Justin Schultz is playing nearly 23 minutes a night for the Oilers. A strong push from Brendan Gallagher, Nail Yakupov, Alex Galchenyuk, Dougie Hamilton, or one of half-a-dozen other rookies could see them in the running by the end of the season.

But what about last year’s rookies? Early last season, it looked like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was going to run away with the Calder, but an injury and strong all-around play from Gabriel Landeskog saw him lose out in the end. Meanwhile, Adam Henrique and Matt Read made a case for themselves with their two-way play and solid offensive numbers.

How are this season’s second-year players handling the dreaded sophomore slump and who is making a case for being the best sophomore this season? So far, Cody Hodgson is leading the way thanks to a great offensive start to the season and the struggles of last season’s Calder candidates.

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Unexpected candidates for NHL awards

Posted by Daniel Wagner under NHL, Opinion on Feb 28, 2013

Thomas Vanek and Craig Anderson may both be up for awards at the end of the season. (Andre Ringuette, Getty Images)

Thomas Vanek and Craig Anderson may both be up for awards at the end of the season. (Andre Ringuette, Getty Images)

When it comes to the NHL awards, there are certain names that are a pretty safe bet to see among the nominees. You know that if he’s healthy, Sidney Crosby will be in the conversation for the Hart. Shea Weber, even if he’s never won the darn thing, will get plenty of votes for the Norris. And Henrik Lundqvist is going to be in the running for the Vezina year-after-year.

There always seems to be someone, however, who makes a run for each of the awards that no one saw coming. Consider Brian Elliott, who went from being the worst goaltender (if not worst player) in the NHL in 2010-11, to leading the league in save percentage and goals against average, being named to the All-Star Game, and garnering a first place vote for the Vezina in 2011-12. Granted, it was the only vote he received, but it’s still remarkable. This season, unfortunately, the universe has righted itself and Elliott has the second worst save percentage in the league, but that’s beside the point.

While no one quite as surprising as Elliott has emerged, each of the awards has a surprise candidate (or two) that has seemingly come out of nowhere.

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NHL Referees on pace to call over 650 more interference penalties this season than in 2011-12

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Charts, Statistics on Feb 26, 2013

(Drew Hallowell, Getty Images)

(Drew Hallowell, Getty Images)

Coming out of the most recent lockout, there was a lot of talk that the NHL was going to re-commit to cracking down on obstruction. Last season, referees called drastically fewer hooking and holding penalties, leading to a number of claims in the media that the NHL was on its way back to the Dead Puck Era. While that seemed like an overreaction, the NHL’s Hockey Operations Department did address the issue of interference at their August meetings, leading to speculation that it would be called to a tighter standard.

The general feeling I’ve been getting this season is that this is the case and that referees are calling far more obstruction penalties, particularly interference, but I wanted to see if this was backed up in the numbers. Are penalties back up to where they were after the last lockout, when the crackdown in obstruction led to a more open game and more scoring?

PIM since lockoutIf you look just at penalty minutes, it certainly seems like the NHL is heading back in the right direction. Penalties were way up in the first season after the 2004-05 lockout, but stabilized for a few seasons after that around 34,000 total penalty minutes. After 2008-09, however, penalties began dropping steadily, reaching 27,570 total penalty minutes last season. Read the rest of this entry »

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Perception and how fans can love dirty players

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Opinion, Thoughts on Feb 21, 2013

(Bill Wippert, Getty Images)

(Bill Wippert, Getty Images)

Jannik Hansen is a goon. Jannik Hansen is a clean, honest player.

Matt Cooke is reckless and dangerous. Matt Cooke is a changed man.

Danny Briere is the dirtiest player in the league. Danny Briere is a lovable little guy.

Perception is a funny thing: the same play, player, game, or season can be viewed in thousands of different ways, depending on your frame of reference. If you’re a Blackhawks fan, you’re more likely to have seen Jannik Hansen’s hit on Marian Hossa as intentional and malicious than if you were, say, a Canucks fan. If you thought that Matt Cooke sliced Erik Karlsson’s achilles tendon with his skate on purpose, you’re probably not a Penguins fan. If you find the idea laughable that lovable little Danny Briere could be called dirty, you’re probably a Flyers fan.

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Manny Malhotra, injury, and risk: Do players need to be saved from themselves?

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Opinion, Thoughts on Feb 19, 2013

Manny Malhotra is done for the season, but it wasn't up to him. (Jeff Vinnick, Getty Images)

Manny Malhotra is done for the season, but it wasn’t up to him. (Jeff Vinnick, Getty Images)

Manny Malhotra wasn’t a healthy scratch for the Vancouver Canucks last Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild. He wasn’t injured, either, apparently. Instead, he came out of the lineup for “personal reasons.” Two days later it became clear that was a bit of misdirection on the part of the Canucks, as they placed Malhotra on the Injured Reserve list and announced that he was done for the season.

This wasn’t because of a new injury, but because of concerns over an old one. Back in March of 2011, in a game against the Colorado Avalanche, the puck deflected off a stick and impacted Malhotra in his left eye. It was a brutal, devastating injury that cause him to miss the remainder of the regular season and nearly all of the postseason, as he only returned in the Stanley Cup Final.

Malhotra returned and played a full season in 2011-12 in a diminished capacity, but concerns for his safety began to develop in the Canucks’ front office and, just last week, Mike Gillis, the GM of the Canucks, made the call to end his season.

It was a decision that Malhotra didn’t entirely agree with and one that raises a number of questions. The most far-reaching question is who gets to decide when an injured player should play? Who is responsible for that decision?

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Brown draws them, Coburn takes them: Penalty plus-minus at the quarter mark of the season

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Statistics on Feb 14, 2013

Who's drawing the most penalties? Dustin Brown is really curious to find out. (Christian Pederson, Getty Images)

Who’s drawing the most penalties? Dustin Brown is really curious to find out. (Christian Pederson, Getty Images)

So far this season, penalties are being called at a higher rate than in the 2011-12 season. 1720 minor penalties have been called this season, which works out to 4.55 minor penalties per game. All of last season, 9082 minor penalties were called, an average of 3.69 per game. The new penalties for concealing the puck and using your hand in the faceoff circle, as well as the renewed crackdown on obstruction have resulted in a little short of one extra minor penalty per game.

The renewed focus on obstruction should help players with speed draw more penalties and will once again make life hard on big-bodied defencemen with questionable skating or decision-making skills. So which players have been helping their team out by drawing extra penalties and which players have been boosting the ice-time of their team’s penalty killers? Looking at penalty plus/minus will let us know.

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Danny Taylor, Barry Brust, and picking style over substance

Posted by Daniel Wagner under Calgary Flames on Feb 07, 2013

Danny Taylor (Clint Trahan, Abbotsford Heat Media)

Danny Taylor (Clint Trahan, Abbotsford Heat Media)

These are nervous times in Calgary. A few weeks ago, the Flames waived, then traded Henrik Karlsson, as Leland Irving out-battled him for the job to backup the incumbent Miikka Kiprusoff. This didn’t cause much of a ripple, as Kiprusoff tends to play 70+ games in a regular 82-game season; in a 48-game season, the Flames’ backup could conceivably start just 4-5 games.

Then Kiprusoff came down with an apparently minor knee injury, but one serious enough to keep him out of action for at least a couple games. And the Flames were left with one goaltender, when just one month ago they had three. The only other goaltenders in the organization were either in Junior (Brossoit), the NCAA (Gillies), Finland (Ortio), or Russia (Ramo). Heck, Brossoit and Gillies haven’t even signed entry-level deals yet and Ramo doesn’t have a contract with the Flames either.

What the Flames did have, however, was two of the best goaltenders in the AHL playing for their affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. The solution for the Flames was easy: sign one of them to a two-way deal and have him back up Irving. It would be an unfamiliar situation for both of them, however, as they had both out-battled Irving in Abbotsford. That’s right, the Flames’ backup, and current starter while Kiprusoff is out, was the third-string goalie for the Heat.

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