Archive for the ‘One Man’s Opinion’ Category

As you likely heard today (because for some reason I assume everyone does what I do all day, which is sift the hockey interwebs for interesting things), Jake Gardiner has been recalled by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

For the uninformed, Jake Gardiner is a 22-year-old Leafs’ prospect who…wait – do you still call a player with 77 NHL games-played and 30 NHL points as a defenseman a prospect? – I suppose you’re allowed to. Okay – Jake Gardiner is a 22-year-old Leafs prospect who has played 57 AHL games over parts of the past three seasons, scoring 36 points along the way. For clarity, that’s 134 pro games since he left college, and 66 points from the back end as a young kid, which is excellent output.

I’ve seen Gardiner play in person a few times, and to me, he falls into a certain category: some kids just aren’t going to miss unless something goes drastically wrong. There’s no guarantee that a player is going to be an NHL star or anything, but some kids, as much much as we love to pretend most do it all on hard work, are just too gifted to miss.

Jake Gardiner is an NHL player. And from what I’ve seen of guys like him that I’ve played with, I feel comfortable unequivocally stating that there’s no point messing with the psyche of guys in that situation. Bubble wrap over barbed wire. There’s no reason or excuse to potentially damage the relationship between player and organization when the latter is banking on the former being a key piece, or at the very least, a piece. You’re going to be roommates, so maybe try to avoid the fight for the good spot in the parking lot on day one.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not that black and white, of course, but were I the General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks, I would be actively pursuing a possible trade for widely-beloved offense-first Big Body Ryan Getzlaf, and possibly former Hart Trophy winner and Stanley Cup champion Corey Perry  (Jason Brough wrote the opposite on Perry here at Pro Hockey Talk). Both will be unrestricted free agents this summer – as in, they can sign with anyone – and neither seems to want to sign an extension before hitting the open market (though Getzlaf is apparently the more willing of the two). They could lose them both for nothing by taking a run at the Cup.

Let me explain my opinion here:

This is the Anaheim Ducks, not the Vancouver Canucks or Toronto Maple Leafs. That means that this isn’t a team who’s that far removed from winning the Cup (2007), so there’s less desperation. There is less clamoring for this team to Get It Done At All Costs from their fans and media, as much as they’d like the team to win it all.

This is also Anaheim, which again, is not Philadelphia or Chicago. That means that if their team is terrible for an extended period of time, there is no guarantee of continued attendance and interest. It’s not that California doesn’t love is its hockey, but even Californian hockey fans would note that it’s not the same there as it is in Canada or the big US markets (if they aren’t willing to, they’re wrong). It’s a niche sport in the state, it’s not The Sport.

What those things mean, is that maintaining a good club there matters, which is okay. That’s allowed. Peaks and valleys are less desirable in a 30-team league where there’s no guarantee of the peak, no matter how good you may be. And, the Ducks have enough good young talent that if they add to it, they can maintain a competitive team for many years to come, which has to be awfully appealing in the eyes of team ownership, and thus, for the GMs job security.  Read the rest of this entry »

Last night I was watching a game between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Colorado Avalanche in which, get this, the Blackhawks pulled out a victory. Along the way, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much the way Matt Duchene handles the puck reminds me of the way Pat “The Professor” Kane handles it. (I’m going to keep pushing that nickname until it sticks.)

And in the past, I’ve mentally linked the way Rick Nash plays to the way Marian Hossa plays to the way Evgeni Malkin plays, so I figured it might be fun to see what type of star-labels I could come up with for forwards, and then figure out who would fit where.

I’ve narrowed it down to six groups, with a handful of guys falling under the “hybrid” label. Also, I used the expression “star” lightly, given that I’ve categorized like, 60 players.

Those “star” classes are as follows:

Long Bodies, Wizard Wands, Bombers, Big Boys and Lurkers, with “Workers” as the sort-of-dicey label for the last group. Read the rest of this entry »