Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: NHL-Talk

The Best Of USA Hockey Players

by Paul on 03/22/07 at 08:55 PM ET
Comments (0)

Here is USA TODAY hockey writer Kevin Allen’s list of top American-born and American trained NHL players:
5. Pat LaFontaine (Hall of fame center): He scored 40 or more goals seven times in his career, with a high of 54 for the New York Islanders in 1989-90. His career was cut short by post-concussion syndrome.

read on for the Top 4…

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Time To Ask The Question

by Paul on 03/22/07 at 07:39 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Pierre Lebrun of the CP via Slam,

It’s time to look at the issue of fighting in the NHL, says the league’s disciplinarian.
“I think it’s time to ask the question,” Colin Campbell told The Canadian Press on Thursday. “I think you have to ask the question because of what’s happening out there. It’s incumbent on me, because of my position, to ask the question.”

continued

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Breaking Down The Shootout

by Paul on 03/22/07 at 04:59 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Jennifer Raimondi at NHL.com,

The dynamics of the penalty shot have come a long way since the inception of the rule.
“I believe the penalty shot is going to be very spectacular,” legendary Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Conn Smythe said in October, 1934.
Later that year, when Montreal Canadiens star Armand Mondou became the first player to take a penalty shot, Mondou stood in a circle 38 feet in front of the goal and was stopped by legendary Maple Leafs goaltender George Hainsworth. No fakes, no ‘spin-a-rama,’ just a standing-still shot from the circle.
In today’s NHL, there is no telling when the next dazzling shootout move will be displayed. Smythe’s words, spoken more than 70 years ago, were prophetic, indeed.

read on... great article with video and stats…

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

“Class” Is In Session

by Paul on 03/22/07 at 03:27 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Terry Frei at ESPN,

In the NHL, it isn’t only about records and record-breaking moments.
It is about the ineffable concept of “class,” a term that always triggers a few e-mail responses from English literature majors who point out that it is a vanilla and misused term. And I always tell them I prefer that they move on to combat the misuse of “hopefully,” “irregardless,” “110 percent,” or “could care less.”
Because don’t we know what “class” is?
It certainly isn’t ignoring a milestone because the player is wearing the “wrong” sweater.
It also involves what often seems to be NHL franchises’ reluctance to mandate and embrace the concept that the game, the sport and the league itself all should be “sold” to a generally savvy fan base that cares about more than the guys on the home-team roster.

read on

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

To Fight Or Not To Fight

by Paul on 03/22/07 at 03:00 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Wade Babineau’s blog at The Guardian,

Those of you with an NHL TV package would have seen it live. The rest of us saw it on the highlight reels later that night, but the fight between Colton Orr of the New York Rangers and Todd Fedorak of the Philadelphia Flyers is on the lips of everyone this morning.
No doubt the anti-hockey fighting groups are writing letters and sending e-mails as I write.
Well let’s analyze the fight. I’ve watched it on YouTube several times and before the fight started Orr had circled the ice and tapped Fedorak on the leg. He turns around sees Orr and immediately drops the gloves.

continued

added 1:40pm, A KK reader passed on an interesting post at Japers’ Rink…

the NHL should pass a rule whereby a) a player who gets in multiple fights over a given span of time gets suspended, and b) a player who receives a concussion in a fight and gets in another fight over a different time period gets similarly suspended.

read on

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Someone Was Watching

by Paul on 03/22/07 at 02:18 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Jim Kelley at Sportsnet,

The Buzz: You can’t get Americans to watch a hockey game without dressing it up with a healthy dollop of good old fist-in-your-face violence.
The BACKHAND: For the record (and you can look it up) the highest-rated Versus Network hockey telecast ever was last week’s game between the swift-skating Buffalo Sabres and the similarly inclined Pittsburgh Penguins. The game didn’t have a single fight, almost no penalties and was a breathtaking, edge-of-your-seat affair that featured Buffalo coming back from a two-goal deficit in the closing minutes of play before Pittsburgh pulled out the win via a walk-off shootout goal from Sidney Crosby before a sellout crown in the supposedly decrepit Mellon Arena.

read on and much more Buzz & Backhand topics…

Filed in: NHL Talk, Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Tight Race For NHL Awards

by Alanah McGinley on 03/22/07 at 01:37 PM ET
Comments (0)

From Wayne Scanlan at CanWest News,

They are a secondary consideration to the playoff races. When the playoffs begin, they will be utterly forgotten until the Stanley Cup has been awarded. Then, the presentation of the NHL individual awards will be the last, glitzy act in a long season. Just because the focus is on team dreams at this time of year, the league's top performers haven't forgotten about the pursuit of individual honours, which involve races just as tight as those conference standings hockey fans pore over every morning.

continued... with speculation on candidates for the Hart, Art Ross, Calder, etc.

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Is The East A Favorite?

by Paul on 03/22/07 at 11:28 AM ET
Comments (0)

from Spector at his Fox Sports Blog,

This isn’t the first time I’ve read and heard of supposed bias against the NHL’s Western Conference from hockey fans, but a closer examination of the facts suggests otherwise.
First, scheduling in terms of travel is considerably tougher for Western teams, but that’s the result of geography. All the Eastern Conference teams are within one time zone and in many cases a quick one or two hour plane trip apart.
In the West, however, the teams are spread further apart and between three time zones (central, mountain and pacific). It’s unfortunate, but not the result of any bias against them.

more.. plus, don’t forget there are two teams in the West that are in the eastern time zone…

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

There Is That Word Again- Respect

by Paul on 03/21/07 at 06:42 PM ET
Comments (0)

from the CP via the Globe and Mail,

Hockey is a tough game and for a team to be successful, it has to be played that way. Against opponents of similar stature, he would do the same.
Only far too often this season, Tkachuk believes, tough play has given way to dirty play. And with a spate of recent ugly incidents in mind, the veteran power forward feels his fellow players need to be a little more considerate toward their opponents.
“I think guys are taking a little more liberties now whereas years ago you had to be held accountable,” Tkachuk said on a conference call Wednesday. “Now with more and more players coming in there’s a lot of guys who aren’t accountable. It’s not fair. You want to go out and do something but you can’t because you’re worried about the consequences.

more...
I have been preaching respect all year- The NHLPA needs to step up and make all players aware of the damage they are doing to the game…

added 5:31pm, You can read the whole transcript of the Tkachuk tele-conference…

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Talk, Atlanta Thrashers, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

According to The Maven…

by Paul on 03/21/07 at 01:58 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Stan Fischler at The Maven,

• If Ryan Smyth bolts from the Islanders at season’s end - and there’s no guarantee that he will - the ex-Oiler won’t return to Edmonton. If Smyth goes west, Calgary will be his destination. However, we’d rather see him back on the Island.
• No expansion is being planned by the NHL - at least not at this moment - but Las Vegas keeps coming up in conversations with hockey people. One apocryphal tale has Sin City so desperate for a big-league hockey team that big-time casinos would combine to ensure sellouts for every single game.
• With all the fuss about Ted Saskin, one fact that most have overlooked is that the union’s leader is innocent until proved otherwise although frequent sinbin-sinner, Chris Chelios would have the world think otherwise.

more

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

« Previous       ‹ First  < 542 543 544 545 546 >  Last ›      Next »