Kukla's Korner

The Playoffs And Penalty Minutes

Blog: The Puck Stops Here By PuckStopsHere

05/30/09 at 03:13 AM ET | Comments (0)

There is an often repeated hockey maxim that “If you can’t beat them in the alley, you can’t beat them on the ice.”  King Clancy was famous for saying it.  I do not believe that it is true.  This season had a negative correlation between PIMs and points.  There is even stronger evidence that avoiding penalties is a key to success in the playoffs.  The two teams with the least penalty minutes per game in the playoffs are the teams that will meet ion the playoffs.

Pittsburgh leads the league with 11.1 penalty minutes per game and Detroit is a close second at 11.2.  The next team in the league is Washington at 11.6.  On the other end of the scale, the most penalized team is the Montreal Canadiens.  They took 25.8 penalty minutes per game while getting swept in four games.

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Coach Bylsma’s Improbable Success Story

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

05/30/09 at 12:13 AM ET | Comments (0)

From Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail:

Dan Bylsma is the new kid in town, the flavour of the month, the rookie who in his first full season as the head coach of his own team, has gone from running the Pittsburgh Penguins’ minor-league affiliate in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to getting the parent club to within four wins of a Stanley Cup championship.

Not bad for a former NHL journeyman who was once turned down for a job by a Minnesota prep school because of his comparative lack of experience, but now has a chance to be the first rookie coach since Jean Perron in 1986 to lead his team to a Stanley Cup.

continued…

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  Tags: dan+bylsma

Protecting the NHL’s Most Valuable Assets: Hockey Players

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

05/30/09 at 12:07 AM ET | Comments (0)

From Dr. Tim Rindlisbacher of the Cleveland Clinic in Toronto, in the National Post:

In the old-time hockey world, they believed that a severe hit to the head either hurt you right away or not at all. New longitudinal research begs to differ. A recent study in the Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise affirms that minor but repeated blows to the head are associated with clinical depression later in life. Multiple other studies show links with Parkinson’s disease, memory loss, and slowed cognition (think of what happens to many ex-boxers).

You’d think the NHL and the NHLPA (players’ association) would knock themselves out to protect their most valued assets. But the league’s stated commitment to reducing head checking this season has yet to translate into serious fines or suspensions.

read on

In a related story a couple days ago, former NHLer Keith Primeau spoke to the issue of head injuries and the impact of concussions on his own life.

Filed in: Hockey Related Stories, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Blackhawks GM Working On Deals

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

05/29/09 at 11:31 PM ET | Comments (0)

From the CP via TSN:

On Friday, Tallon said he spoke with Allan Walsh, the agent for Martin Havlat, about retaining the forward who could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

“Marty has stated that he wants to stay here and we want Marty back. We’ll just keep working at it and see if we can get it done,” [Dale] Tallon said.

“We’re going to address the free-agent situation here and put the best possible team on the ice again next,” he added.

more on Havlat and other potential free agents on the team

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Mike Danton Edges Closer to Freedom

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

05/29/09 at 10:33 PM ET | Comments (0)

From the CP via the Globe & Mail:

The former pro hockey player imprisoned in a murder-for-hire plot targeting his Kingston, Ont., agent has taken a significant step toward freedom.

The Kingston Whig-Standard reports Mike Danton has been transferred to minimum-security Pittsburgh Institution in Kingston.

Inmates are moved to minimum-security prisons as preparation for release into the community either on parole or through automatic release after serving two-thirds of the sentence.

continued…

The CP notes that Danton has been eligible for full parole since he returned to Canada back in March.

Filed in: Hockey Related Stories, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: mike+danton

Red Wings Blogger Roundtable

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

05/29/09 at 10:09 PM ET | Comments (0)

From Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy:

The Wings face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second consecutive year, in an attempt to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup. We invited some of the best and brightest Red Wings bloggers to take a seat at our roundtable and preview the finals, discuss the Penguins player they most fear and to give their impressions of Penguins fans.

Joining us for the roundtable are Christy Hammond of Winging It In Motown; Matt Saler of On The Wings; George James Malik of Snapshots; blogging pioneer Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner; Tyler from The Triple Deke; and the man, the myth, the legend ... The Chief from Abel To Yzerman.

Coming up, a spirited discussion about confidence, concerns and occasional use of the term “bandwagon.”

read on Pittsburgh blogger roundtable also available here, featuring yet another KK blogger, Tony of The Confluence.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL Media, Hockey Bloggers, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Ok.  Now I’m Ready.

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By IwoCPO

05/29/09 at 08:13 PM ET | Comments (0)

Pissy mood. Pouting around the house.  Starting arguments.  It’s the 24 hours until the Finals start mood swing.  I recognize the signs. I’m sure you do too. Heck, even a Blues fan knows the symptoms of the day-before-the-Finals-start bitch fest.

Oh. Woops.  Sorry.

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What Is It About The Finals That Make Smart People Turn So Very Stupid?

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By IwoCPO

05/29/09 at 05:56 PM ET | Comments (0)

Smartest thing I’ve ever posted on Twitter?  This:  “iwocpo: @Pensblog did you just recommend we follow @eklund ? Hey Dwayne, if you’re reading this…suck it.”

Just read this over on the Empire’s Home Page and figured it would be as good a place as any to start this biotch.

If you stuck Osgood on the Penguins, they probably don’t get out of the first round.

That’s from Seth Rorabaugh and I have no idea what well of idiocy he fell into.  That’s just asinine.

 

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Wings- Both Good & Bad

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/29/09 at 05:29 PM ET | Comments (0)

from Carl Bialik of the Daily Fix at the Wall Street Journal Blogs,

Detroit Red Wings fans who feel inexplicable disappointment about their decorated team’s performance this decade now have an explanation for that feeling: The Red Wings, by one new measure, have been the most successful NHL playoff team since the 2000-2001 season, but also one of the most disappointing.

Tom Awad, writing on Puck Prospectus, used playoff results from the last seven seasons to examine how far a playoff team can expect to advance, given its regular-season record. For each season, Awad calculated the average number of points in the league, calculated for each team how far it deviated from that average, and then plotted that against playoff success, awarding more points for each series won, with a bonus for needing fewer than seven games to advance.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Datsyuk Feels Better

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/29/09 at 05:21 PM ET | Comments (0)

via Elliotte Friedman’s Twitter,

Datsyuk: “I feel more better.” (Not making fun, just quoting.) Game time decision for tomorrow. If I had to bet: Game 3.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: pavel+datsyuk

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