Video- The Top 20 Centers In The NHL
08/21/17 at 07:35 AM ET | Comments (0)
via NHL.com,
NHL Network’s countdown show Top 20 Centers Right Now, ranking the best at the center position in the National Hockey League #NHLTopPlayers
Filed in: NHL Teams, | KK Hockey | Permalink
‘Two Things’: On Mike Green and Niklas Kronwall
Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik
08/21/17 at 07:21 AM ET | Comments (14)
Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
1. MLive's Ansar Khan penned an article discussing the 2017-18 season outlook for Mike Green:
Green remains indispensable because he's the team's lone offensive threat on the blue line and a key component on a power play that is capable of being more potent than it was last season (27th at 15.1 percent). That is why the club protected him for the expansion draft.
Green is not likely to be traded if the Red Wings feel they are in playoff contention. If they believe they're out of it at the trade deadline, they'll move Green for a draft pick, unless they were to sign him to a short-term, lower-priced contract by then.
Green managed to double his goal total from the previous season despite registering just one more shot. He needs to get the puck on net more often - or least to the net front, where it can be tipped. His power-play production (three goals, seven assists) were lacking.
Green has never been valued for his defensive ability and struggled at times last season, leading the team in turnovers. But the Red Wings realized they had to take the bad with the good when they signed him. It's imperative for Green to continue utilizing his skating ability and good wrist shot to generate offense.
2. DetroitRedWings.com's Dana Wakiji looked back at Niklas Kronwall's 2016-17 season "By the Numbers":
Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
The overnight report: Two more years of Zetterberg; an obituary, a stat of note and fundraising
Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik
08/21/17 at 12:30 AM ET | Comments (14)
Updated with more Zetterberg stuff at 7:32 AM: Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
1. Henrik Zetterberg gave a long interview to his hometown paper, Sundsvalls Tidning, but the interview is behind a paywall. The interview's teaser suggests that Zetterberg focuses on his foundation's charity work in Africa, that he discusses the close call with career-ending injury that was the Sochi Olympics, and discusses Detroit's situation...
But there's also tidbit about "tricking the system" that drew the interest of Aftonbladet's Andreas Kack, who peers behind the paywall (noting that the interview appeared in several different online newspapers) and shares Zetterberg's take on his contract. What follows is Kack's report, and it's roughly translated:
Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
UFAs Still Without Work
08/20/17 at 07:54 AM ET | Comments (6)
from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,
It’s Aug. 20th. Players are skating and getting in shape for National Hockey League training camps, which open on Sept. 11.
If your name is Daniel Winnik, P.A. Parenteau or Dennis Wideman, the deal your agent was hoping for hasn’t materialized. Now it’s a Professional Try Out, or nothing. Then there are the high-profile names, like Jaromir Jagr, Jarome Iginla and Shane Doan. Surely they wouldn’t stoop to attending a camp on a PTO….
Would they?
A delicious menu of unrestricted free agents remains, with some prime restricted free agents also unsigned late into August. Here is a look at some players without contracts, and what fate might befall them in the next month.
Top UFAs
Jaromir Jagr: You’d think someone would find room for Jagr’s 46 points, even if he does turn 46 in February. Maybe New Jersey, now that centre Travis Zajac is out long-term, will bring the big Czech back. We don’t see Jagr in a Canadian market, and we’re not sure a long playoff run and Stanley Cup hunt are his top priorities. Vegas? No chance. Still, he’s regular-season productive. And he’s still Jaromir Jagr. Somebody…? Anybody…?
Filed in: NHL Teams, | KK Hockey | Permalink
The Five Day Road Trip Ends For The Vegas Golden Knights
08/20/17 at 06:53 AM ET | Comments (0)
from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com,
Remember that this is an expansion team within an expansion team. The media, social media and marketing folks came from different places and must come together to execute their game plan, not unlike the players, coaches and executives. This was a great bonding experience for them, as well as an outreach mission for the Golden Knights.
To this point, they had spent about 38 hours traveling 2,272 miles together on the bus since leaving Las Vegas on Monday, taking naps, watching movies, eating snacks, playing games. They'd been up before dawn at times. They'd eaten on the run at times. They'd checked in and out of a different place each day. They had worked hard, and they had also had fun seeing new places and getting to know each other better.
And they couldn't have been nicer and more welcoming to a writer from NHL.com who wasn't on the team, just along for the ride. I can't thank them enough.
Now it was time to go home to Las Vegas, for more hard work before the veterans report to training camp Sept. 14 and the regular season opens Oct. 6.
The bus pulled out for another seven-something-hour ride over another 430-something miles, and I stayed behind to write and fly home Sunday morning.
The hope is that they will make the Vegas Golden Knights Road Trip an annual thing, a tradition, not a one-timer before the inaugural season. I think I should cover it each year, because, you know, I have experience now and NHL.com needs to be on this story. Right, boss?
Filed in: NHL Teams, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: vegas+golden+knights
The iBench System
08/19/17 at 03:50 PM ET | Comments (2)
from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,
During the 2017 playoffs, the first in which NHL teams used the iBench system, then-Pittsburgh assistant Rick Tocchet regularly used one of the team’s tablets in games to show Kessel what he, his teammates, and opposing penalty kills were doing on the power play. Coach Mike Sullivan does not believe it was a coincidence the Penguins scored on 20.5 percent of their power plays, or that Kessel led all playoff performers with 11 man-up points.
“The main areas where we probably gained the most use out of it was special teams, because you get immediate feedback,” the two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach said of the technology. “You can make subtle adjustments on the fly. In the playoffs, you might only get two power plays a game. So if you have the ability to make an adjustment that might lead to an opportunity to score or generate a scoring chance, that could be the difference between winning and losing.”
Just before the puck dropped on the playoffs, the NHL gave teams the green light to use iBench. It is a system powered by XOS Digital, the Wilmington-based company that provides video solutions to 25 NHL teams, including the Bruins. Based on the teams’ needs, iBench gave coaches like Tocchet and Sullivan any degree of video replay to show their players during TV timeouts or even while play was ongoing.
read on plus many more topic including a bridge deal may work best for the Bruins and David Pastrnak...
Filed in: NHL Teams, NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
The Wrong Way To Build In Montreal
08/19/17 at 08:49 AM ET | Comments (1)
from Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,
When Bergevin signed Price to a long-term deal this summer, the Habs’ GM’s strategy was crystal clear. He’s hoping the Canadiens’ all-world netminder performs the kind of heroics he’s often showcased and bails out the middling team in front of him.
With Anahim Lake, B.C.’s most famous citizen signed through 2025-26 with an annual salary of US$10.5 million, the franchise’s next decade is going to be built around Price.
And that, in my humble opinion, is a big mistake. The big news in hockey this week was the Edmonton Oilers signing centreman Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year US$68 million deal. There was a lot of chatter about the fact that the Oilers are paying Draisaitl all this dough and will also be paying his teammate Connor McDavid a few Brinks truckloads of greenbacks (US$100 million over eight years) as well in the coming years.
But here is the $168-million question — would you rather have Draisaitl and McDavid locked-up to long-term deals or Price and Shea Weber? To ask the question is to answer it.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Montreal Canadiens, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Mikko Koivu Statement On The Stabbing Attacks In Finland
08/19/17 at 07:38 AM ET | Comments (0)
About the attack....
Filed in: NHL Teams, Minnesota Wild, | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: mikko+koivu
The overnight report: Larkin’s pitch(es); a short, hot take; on prospects past and present
Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik
08/19/17 at 12:24 AM ET | Comments (11)
Of Red Wings-related note this morning:
1. Dylan Larkin threw out the first pitch at Friday night's Tigers game as a part of "Michigan Night" at Comerica Park, and he sat down with Fox Sports Detroit's John Keating before delivering the pitch:
The Wings' Twitter account followed Larkin's path to the pitcher's mound as well:
Filed in: | The Malik Report | Permalink
The Colorado Avalanche Will Have An Affiliated AHL Team Joining Them In Colorado
08/18/17 at 05:33 PM ET | Comments (0)
from Mike Chambers of the Denver Post,
The Avalanche will announce an upgraded minor-league partnership with the Loveland-based Colorado Eagles next month, with the current ECHL team becoming the 31st American Hockey League franchise, according to two sources close to the situation.
Beginning with the 2018-19 season, the Avs’ top prospects and veterans on assignments will play for the Colorado Eagles out of the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland. The Budweiser Events Center seats 5,289 for hockey but likely will be renovated to accommodate larger crowds.
Filed in: NHL Teams, Colorado Avalanche, Non-NHL Hockey, Minor League, | KK Hockey | Permalink
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