Posts Tagged ‘NHL’
National Hockey League: #NHL
Eastern Conference: #NHLE
Atlantic Division
New Jersey Devils: #NJD
New York Islanders: #NYI
New York Rangers: #NYR
Philadelphia Flyers: #PHI
Pittsburgh Penguins: #PIT
Northeast Division
Boston Bruins: #BOS
Buffalo Sabres: #BUF
Montreal Canadiens: #MON
Ottawa Senators: #OTT
Toronto Maple Leafs: #TOR
Southeast Division
Atlanta Thrashers: #ATL
Carolina Hurricanes: #CAR
Florida Panthers: #FLA
Tampa Bay Lightning: #TAM
Washington Capitals: #WAS
Western Conference: #NHLW
Central Division
Chicago Blackhawks: #CHI
Columbus Blue Jackets: #CBJ
Detroit Red Wings: #DET
Nashville Predators: #NSH
St. Louis Blues: #STL
Northwest Division
Calgary Flames: #CGY
Colorado Avalanche: #COL
Edmonton Oilers: #EDM
Minnesota Wild: #MIN
Vancouver Canucks: #VAN
Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks: #ANA
Dallas Stars: #DAL
Los Angeles Kings: #LOS
Phoenix Coyotes: #PHO
San Jose Sharks: #SAN
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Note: Some of these would be the same as other professional sports teams in the same city/state, but if you also included #NHL it would be easy to sort.
Example: If you are talking about Vancouver vs. New York Rangers, it would be easier to include #VAN #NYR and #NHL (12 characters) than #Canucks, #Rangers, and #NHL (21 characters). Plus, people generally following the NHL could just search for #NHL, and the others could sort by one team or both teams in a particular game.
Trade deadline: Include both teams and #NHLTrade. Consider also including #NHL for those following general #NHL activity.
Please comment on any changes you would like to see made and if you think this is viable. I didn’t do the divisions because I don’t think people will generally just follow one division, but those could be done. This is only my humble opinion, too, and I just think it would make it easier to find the most relevant info to what you desire at any given time.
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“That part of the industry has always bothered me – that you try to find a solution and success by making a coaching change, and often times it does not work,” said Keenan. “Probably more often than not it does not work. But it’s a desperate measure at a desperate time when you feel that something of that magnitude has to happen in order to jump-start your team. It’s a little bit of a gamble by a manager to a certain extent, but the manager has to read the situation as well as he can and rely on his own experience and review the history of the team and what he thinks his chances are, what the results might be.”
Obviously this is coming from a biased person. It is an interesting distinction to make — something Keenan hints at here — that sometimes these changes are made because a manager thinks something major could stir the pot, like the year the Devils fired Ftorek with less than 10 games remaining in the season and went on to win the cup. There are also times when it seems a manager is trying to say “it ain’t my fault.” The Renney situation seems like one of those. The Rangers, for all of the money they have spent, have a very unimpressive roster. The players that are solid, like Lundqvist, are products of the system. It wasn’t all that long ago when Glen Sather pledged to build from within, only to quickly go out and spend money on aging veterans.
I remember when Sather was a frustrated manager for the Edmonton Oilers. He had lost a few key players to free agency and spewed that if he were managing the Rangers (with all of their financial resources) he’d never lose a game. Years in, he still hasn’t won a Cup. Have a look in the mirror, Slats.
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Tonight’s game is sure to be a treat. Besides two of the top teams in the league doing battle, we have the Flames coming off of a Darryl Sutter closed-door meeting and a Keenan tirade.
I’m looking forward to this one.
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Brian Costello notes that the Flames are in a good position and must take advantage: Starting tonight against the Islanders and going through March 1 against Tampa Bay, the Flames play 12 of 22 games against teams not holding down playoff positions. Four of the other 10 games are against bubble teams — Minnesota and Phoenix. In other words, just six games of the next 22 are against premium teams.
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It was inevitable that, barring a 5- or 6-0 run to start the season that the Keenan-is-on-the-hot-seat goofballs would be at it already. Even without any apparent evidence writers like Allan Maki of the Globe and Mail are saying things like Keenan is as popular in the dressing room as “foot fungus.” (You might want to check with the Captain on that, Mr. Maki, as it is pretty clear Iginla has had a rebirth under Keenan.) Strangely, though, Mr. Maki also goes on to point out all of the reasons the Flames have started inconsistently for the second straight season — the same reasons this campaign as the first — and none of them are Keenan’s fault.
- Bad defensive corps — while Regehr and Phaneuf are very good, Sarich and Aucoin are puck-panickers while Vandermeer and Giordano are a bit green.
- Very weak centermen — they are unable to win a big faceoff for anything, particularly when they are up a goal in the late stages of the game
- Kiprusoff is one of the worst goaltenders in the league. “What,” you say? Take a look at the numbers. There are 42 goalies currently on pace to play at least 27 games — ESPN.com’s criteria to be among the league leaders in stats — and Kiprosoff is 38th in Goals Against Average and tied for 37th in Save Percentage. Look at the goalies that are around that level in either category and their teams are the worst in the league while Calgary has somehow elevated their record to 3-3-1 after their come-from-behind victory last night where they scored 5 unanswered to beat Nashville 5-3.
I always expect to see these kinds of articles, but it really is amazing how the media is out to get coaches fired. Clearly there is something in it for them — a rash of new article ideas on what kind of car said-new-coach drives and how glued he is to his Blackberry in between periods or whatever other bizarre things they can come up with. The fact is that Keenan has done a very good job with very little performance from some key guys. While some of it is within his control (he needs to start getting tough on these guys that take stupid penalties), you can’t MAKE a goalie play better. With a little better play from Kiprusoff (yes, just a little better), the Flames would be 5-1 right now.
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Two games into the season and some are already calling for Mike Keenan’s head. I’m sure it was his fault that Kiprusoff, a seemingly top-five goaltender in the league, has turned in two stinkers already. I’m sure it is his fault, also, that the referees were quite choosy in swallowing whistles at the end, with the game ending when a non-call on a trip turned around and into the game-winning goal.
All that, and they’ve played two games against one of the most improved teams in the NHL — that’s it — two games against the same team. Perhaps we might have a tad more patience. If the same trend is holding through around year’s end, I can’t say I’d blame them for cutting loose Keenan, Sutter, and the whole lot.
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