If You Could Be Any NHL Player, Who Would It Be?

I converse on a daily basis with hockey fans on the NHL Digest Twitter feed and Facebook Page. These conversations typically involve questions and scenarios being debated back and forth – some more interesting than others, of course.

A couple of days ago I asked the question:

“If you could be any NHL player, who would it be and why?”

With the variety of hockey fans on Facebook and Twitter, I expected a plethora of different answers and reasons. What I wasn’t prepared for was such a tiny amount of responses that actually mentioned anything to do with hockey skill.

Of course some of the answers were funny, others tried to be but failed, and a few were serious and gave legitimate reasons for their choice.

The following are a few of the favorite responses.

Henny Penny chimed in to vote for Winnipeg Jets / Phoenix Coyotes Captain, Shane Doan.

Henny calls Doan the “greatest, most humble captain out there”

Vancouver Canucks fan, Peter James Woods, loves him some Rick Rypien toughness!

Peter would love to step into Rypien’s Skates because he “chops down fools who step to him”.

Craig Kanalley, better known as the Traffic and Trends Editor at the Huffington Post, shows his hockey knowledge with his description of Ryan Miller.

Craig opines: “Ryan Miller. Calm, cool, collected. Passionate and just plays the game. All admirable qualities”.

We won’t mention anything about the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal game to Craig. Nothing good can come from dwelling on losses.

I suppose that’s a good a segue as any to start talking about the Leafs.

Justin, from the Hockey Card Show, referred to Dion Pahneuf’s bold move of walking into the Leafs dressing room and taking control of the music just after being traded to Toronto from Calgary.

Justin bows down to Dion with this tweet: “Phaneuf…I never get the change the music at work right now”.

The most popular player selected, believe it or not, was retired Flyers’ Goaltender Ron Hextall. Two of the best replies to the posed question featured Hextall as their choice.

The first reply was from Anthony Curatolo, who waxed a little poetic about the Broadstreet Bullies.

Ron Hextall – The man was the definition of a Flyers goaltender. had heart, soul and a temper. My idol growing up!

And, last but certainly not least, the most enthusiastic reply and my selection for tweet of the day goes to Patrice Leonard.  Patrice also chose Ron Hextall, and in did so in most convincing fashion. I wonder if she’s ever seen his naked interview?

The news may be slow, but there are still entertaining hockey conversations going on, so feel free to participate.

Not sure I’ll be running out to get a tattoo of an NHL player’s autograph any time soon (although it’s really hardcore), but calling someone the “badassiest of all bad asses” is now on my bucket list.

Which NHL player would you choose to be and why? Drop your answer in the comments – I’d love to hear from you!

Who Was In Goal For The Bruins When Darryl Sittler Score His 10 Points?

We All Focus on the Winners, Right?

Darryl Sittler’s record for most points (10) in one game still stands. He scored his amazing six goals and four assists on February 7^th 1976 for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Boston Bruins. This is a legendary record that many hockey fans will never forget. But there is one person who would like nothing more than to forget that night!

Who Else, But the Goaltender for the Bruins?

Dave Reece was in goal for the Bruins as their starter that season, Gilles Gilbert, was injured and they opted not to take the risk with the Gerry Cheevers; who was just back from a stint in the WHA with the Clevland Crusaders. Don Cherry, who was coaching the Bruins at the time, was saving Cheevers for a game versus Detroit the next night in Boston.  Cherry claims he had to hang Reece out to dry because Cheevers hadn’t even practiced with the team since returning.
(Source: Don Cherry video on Sittler’s 10 point game)

Maybe it was Cherry’s decision to leave Reece in goal? Or, maybe it was a matter of chance or coincidence?  Whatever the cause, this chain of events led to Darryl Sittler setting the NHL record for best individual statistical performance in a single game.

Unfortunately, the result of this accomplishment is what Dave Reece became infamous for. In fact, he was even nicknamed “In the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time Reece” and is remembered by the moniker to this day.

Reece, a fantastic college and minor league goaltender, did not have any more memorable achievements with either the Boston Bruins or the United States Olympic Team. Certainly, nothing that would overshadow that night.  In fact, Reece never did play another NHL game after that fateful Saturday night in Toronto.

Food For Thought

Reece was allegedly told prior to that game that he would be sent to the minors in order to make a roster spot available for the newly acquired Cheevers. That said, is it possible that Reece was so distraught about the news that he intentionally played poorly? Highly unlikely, but considering the circumstances, it begs the question.

Could this record ever be broken? It’s possible, though highly unlikely, that a player might get 10 points in one game again. But, how probable is it that a goaltender would be left in the game after giving up 6,7,8… goals? Especially if they all came from the stick of the same player?

Luongo Could Have Been A Maple Leaf!

On this date (March 13) back in 1997 a significant trade in the history of both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders was made.

Toronto obtained Wendel Clark, Mathieu Schneider and D.J. Smith from the New York Islanders. Sent to the Islanders were Darby Hendrickson, Kenny Jonsson, Sean Haggerty and the Leafs’ 1st round pick in the 1997 Entry Draft.

On the surface, this trade doesn’t seem too earth shattering. However, the Leafs first round pick in 1997 (4th overall) turned out to be Roberto Luongo! And, as much as this was a fantastic trade for the Islanders at the time in hindsight, they managed to unload Luongo later in what many Islanders fans believe to be the worst trade in franchise history.

Islanders Trade Luongo to Florida

At the 2000 NHL entry draft, the Islanders selected Rick DiPietro with their first overall pick. This, of course, made Luongo expendable. So, on June 23, 2000, the Islanders dealt Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers with Oilli Jokinen for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.

Of course, Luongo and Jokinen went on to be NHL All-stars and franchise players for the Florida Panthers.  Both have also since won Olympic medals for their respective countries. Parrish and Kvasha on the other hand… There’s a reason this was one of the worst trades in the history of the National Hockey League.

While the Toronto Maple Leafs could have sorely used the services of Luongo, the services of Felix Potvin and Curtis Joseph over tha tperiod of time resulted in similar statistics. After playing a significant chunk of his career with the pernially challenged Florida Panthers, Luongo still has a career Save Percentage of .919 and a career GAA of 2.56. Both of those stats very similar to those of Potvin and Joseph while with the Leafs.

Felix Potvin with Leafs 1992-1999 – 2.87 GAA , Save % .908
Eddie Belfour with Leafs 2003-2006 – 2.51 GAA, Save%.912
Curtis Joseph with Leafs 199-2009 – 2.49 GAA, Save% .910

Your Call on Luongo

What do you think? Would the Leafs have been better off with Luongo? Or did they make the right move obtaining Clark and Schnieder at the end of 1997? Both of whom were not on the Leafs roster after the 1997-98 season.

Video: Colton Orr Fights Milan Lucic

When the Boston Bruins visited Toronto to play the Maple Leafs, many hockey fans wondered if Colton Orr would drop the gloves with Milan Lucic. Lucic, even though there is no doubt he is a tough customer, had only fought three times this season prior to this tilt with Orr.  One has to wonder if his early season injury has played a factor in his confidence?

Orr on the other hand has racked up 18 fighting majors this season with Toronto, exhibiting the truculence that GM Brian Burke so desires.  There is no doubt after watching the video of this fight between Lucic and Orr that Orr certainly got the better of Milan in this one.

After watching the video of this fight, I still wonder why Lucic wasn’t more aggressive in throwing punches early in the fight when he had Orr’s jersey over his head. Of course, that’s easy to say when you’re sitting behind a keyboard and not tangled up with one of the NHL’s toughest customers!

Colton Orr Fights Matt Carkner

In last night’s game Toronto’s Colton Orr and Ottawa’s Matt Carkner fought for the third time this season.  A head injury was incurred during this fight and the fight was clearly staged.
Read on to watch the video and please comment with your thoughts and opinions of this fight versus head shots from a body check.

A Staged Fight, No Doubt

This is one of those hockey fights that the NHL is supposedly trying to get rid of – the staged fight.

Here is an excerpt  on the matter from the NHL meeting last year:

“The presentation (Monday) on our stats, the history of fighting, where we are at today, injuries, was very extensive,” NHL Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell said. “We tried to categorize staged fights, fights that were responding to legal and illegal hits, a lot of things. The idea was to understand where fighting is at today and what the League has done about fighting over the years when they thought fighting had became unfair and where and if fighting belonged in the game.”

There was no doubt going into the game that these two were going to fight. Orr and Carkner had each gotten the better of the other in one of the two previous fights this season.

This time, it was Colton Orr that sent Carkner to the ice with a series of 3-4 solid right hands. The last of which had Carkner seeing stars.

Video of the Orr vs. Carkner  fight

Assessing A Head Injury

As the announcers in the video mention, it was good work by the officials and the trainers to get Carkner off of the ice and into the locker room for examination.  However, Carkner was back on the bench several minutes later and resumed regular shifts for the balance of the game.

There is no doubt that this fight resulted in at least some measure of head trauma for Carkner, and we can applaud the staff for taking precautions by getting him examined. As a non-medical professional, I cannot question the decision to let Carkner return to the game, but I do wonder what the true extend of the injury might be.

Supplemental Discipline For This “Head Shot”?

It is interesting that this fight resulted in a head injury and that these types of “staged fights” that the NHL is trying to avoid go unpunished.  It is extremely disturbing to me as a hockey fan to see bodychecks to the head, during the heat of the play (intentional or not – which is a different matter) receive lengthy suspensions, while staged fights like this one that serve no purpose to the game but results in similar injury, go unpunished.

I mean, if any fight was predetermined/staged, it was this fight between Orr and Carkner. The game was 1-0 and it was the first period. No reason to fight for either team to “shift momentum” etc. It happened right off of a faceoff where neither player was lined up directly opposite to the other. Completely unnecessary.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a good tilt just as much as the next guy, but to me an unnecessary fight causing a head injury needs more policing from the league than the currently legal hits (with shoulder/not charging) to the head that happen in the heat of the moment.

Yes, there are two willing combatants that know what they are getting themselves into. But, if the NHL really wants to deter these so-called staged fights, then they have to act accordingly. That said, I’m not so sure that it’s not just lip service from the league at this point.

What do you think?

NHL Season Predictions!

Thank goodness it’s Pucktober! And not a moment too soon for us hockey fans!

The 2009-2010 NHL regular season officially gets underway tonight, and I’m stoked. I’ll bet you are too.

This season promises to be filled to the brim with interesting teams, players, stories and controversies. We had a very busy off season that saw a great draft in Montreal, a lot of players changing addresses in free agency, a tug of war over the Phoenix Coyotes, yet more turmoil within the NHLPA, and announcements of Olympic hockey team hopefuls.

No matter which team you follow, there’s something to look forward to, or to keep a very close eye on for signs of trouble. These things all set up the kick-off to the season, that begins tonight. Yes, TONIGHT! Mere hours from now! To quote Terrell Owens: “Getcha popcorn ready!”

Here’s some things I’ll be keeping a close eye on as the season goes along:

• Are the Penguins a dynasty in the making?
• Are the Red Wings going to take a step back? Competition is stiffer and a lot of their players are potential Olympians (will fatigue get to them?)
• Are the Blackhawks poised to overtake the Wings in the Western Conference’s Central Division?
• Can the Maple Leafs, with their lack of offensive punch grind their way to the playoffs through “truculence”?
• Will the Canadiens’ radical facelift pay off for GM Bob Gainey?
• Will the Los Angeles Kings’ & St. Louis Blues’ plethora of young horses bring them back to respectability?
• Is Jacques Lemaire going to turn the 2009-10 Devils in to the 1995-96 Devils?
• How are the top 3 picks of John Tavares, Victor Hedman and Matt Duchene going to fare with their teams?
• The Vancouver 2010 Olympic games…what’s better than Olympic hockey?
• Who will be the first coach to lose his job this season?
• Are the Bruins going to be as good without Kessel as they were last year with him? Can Thomas repeat his Vezina performance?
• How is Alex Kovalev, who left his heart in Montreal, going to perform with the new look Senators?
• Are the Flyers going to pound everyone in to submission? Will Ray Emery keep it on the rails?
• Will the San Jose Sharks, specifically Marleau and Thornton finally make a name for themselves in the playoffs?
• Will “Mr. Glass”, a.k.a. Marian Gaborik stay healthy long enough to make the Rangers competitive?
• Will we hear from Gretzky again this year?

Add your storyline in the comments below. Surely there are tons of other topics worth following this coming year that I have not listed here.

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