James vanRiemsdyk's first professional goal was the lone offense the Flyers mustered in an exhibition-opening 3-1 loss to the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday.
In his Flyers debut, Ray Emery stopped 23-of-25 shots.
Philly plays the Toronto Maple Leafs in London, Ontario on Thursday.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Hedican retires
Veteran defenseman Bret Hedican, who spent last season with the Anaheim Ducks, announced his retirement on Wednesday.
Hedican posted just one goal and six points in 51 games for Anaheim in 2008-09, after six-plus seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.
"After 17 years of playing, I have decided to move on to the next chapter of my life," Hedican said. "I'm proud to have played this game for as long as I have and I'm leaving with no regrets."
The 39-year-old was a 10th-round selection of the St. Louis Blues in 1988, and made his NHL debut late in the 1991-92 season. After appearing in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, Hedican was dealt along with Pavel Bure in a blockbuster deal to Florida in January, 1999.
Hedican was shipped to the Hurricanes early in the 2001-02 campaign, and posted some of his best years with Carolina, setting a career-high in goals with seven in 2003-04, then posting 27 points in 2005-06 when the 'Canes won the Cup.
In 1,039 total regular-season games with five clubs, the St. Paul, Minnesota native had 55 goals, 294 points and 893 penalty minutes. He added four goals and 26 points in 108 playoff contests.
Hedican posted just one goal and six points in 51 games for Anaheim in 2008-09, after six-plus seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.
"After 17 years of playing, I have decided to move on to the next chapter of my life," Hedican said. "I'm proud to have played this game for as long as I have and I'm leaving with no regrets."
The 39-year-old was a 10th-round selection of the St. Louis Blues in 1988, and made his NHL debut late in the 1991-92 season. After appearing in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, Hedican was dealt along with Pavel Bure in a blockbuster deal to Florida in January, 1999.
Hedican was shipped to the Hurricanes early in the 2001-02 campaign, and posted some of his best years with Carolina, setting a career-high in goals with seven in 2003-04, then posting 27 points in 2005-06 when the 'Canes won the Cup.
In 1,039 total regular-season games with five clubs, the St. Paul, Minnesota native had 55 goals, 294 points and 893 penalty minutes. He added four goals and 26 points in 108 playoff contests.
Devils troubled even before season starts
New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias is expected to miss 3-to-6 weeks with groin issues.
The club announced on Wednesday that Elias, who was set to begin his 13th season with the team, had a procedure to break up scar tissue in his groin which had built up over the last four seasons. The Czech native underwent groin surgery during the 2005-06 campaign which limited him to 38 contests.
Last season, the 33-year-old tallied 31 goals to go with 78 points in 77 games, breaking John MacLean's long-held franchise points record in the process.
New Jersey begins its preseason slate by hosting the New York Rangers Wednesday, then commences the 2009-2010 season October 3 against Philadelphia.
The club announced on Wednesday that Elias, who was set to begin his 13th season with the team, had a procedure to break up scar tissue in his groin which had built up over the last four seasons. The Czech native underwent groin surgery during the 2005-06 campaign which limited him to 38 contests.
Last season, the 33-year-old tallied 31 goals to go with 78 points in 77 games, breaking John MacLean's long-held franchise points record in the process.
New Jersey begins its preseason slate by hosting the New York Rangers Wednesday, then commences the 2009-2010 season October 3 against Philadelphia.
Bruins broadcaster Cusick passes
Fred Cusick, who was the voice of the Boston Bruins for more than four decades, passed away Tuesday.
Cusick, who was 90 years old, broadcast Bruins hockey on radio and television from 1953 until his retirement following the 1996-97 season.
"Those fortunate enough to inherit the position Fred Cusick created are merely playing on the land he cleared," said current Bruins television voice Jack Edwards. "None of us will ever have the impact he had in generating the fan base for this team. We have lost a great pioneer."
During his tenure, the Bruins won Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972, also appearing in eight other Cup Finals. Following his retirement from the Bruins, Cusick also called games for the AHL's Lowell Lock Monsters until 2002.
Cusick, who was 90 years old, broadcast Bruins hockey on radio and television from 1953 until his retirement following the 1996-97 season.
"Those fortunate enough to inherit the position Fred Cusick created are merely playing on the land he cleared," said current Bruins television voice Jack Edwards. "None of us will ever have the impact he had in generating the fan base for this team. We have lost a great pioneer."
During his tenure, the Bruins won Stanley Cups in 1970 and 1972, also appearing in eight other Cup Finals. Following his retirement from the Bruins, Cusick also called games for the AHL's Lowell Lock Monsters until 2002.
Late news but big news nonetheless
The San Jose Sharks won the Dany Heatley lottery as the team acquired the left wing from the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
In exchange for the 28-year-old All-Star, the team sent right wing Jonathan Cheechoo and left wing Milan Michalek along with San Jose's second-round pick in the 2010 draft to Ottawa. San Jose also got a fifth-round pick in the 2010 draft from Ottawa.
On the opening day of training camp, Ottawa shipped out the unhappy winger as he felt he wasn't being used properly on the team. He had earlier refused to waive his no-trade clause in a possible deal to Edmonton.
A dazzling offensive talent, Heatley has twice eclipsed the 100-point plateau in his seven-year career.
Last season, he finished 10th in the league in goals with 39 and added 33 assists while playing in all 82 games. However, the point total was his lowest since the 2003-04 season when he totaled just 25 points in 31 games due to injuries he sustained in a traffic accident that killed his then Atlanta teammate, Dan Snyder.
In his career, the second overall pick of the 2000 draft has appeared in 507 games with Atlanta and Ottawa and has 260 goals and 283 assists. He won the Calder Trophy in 2002 and has been voted into five All-Star games.
Cheechoo is a six-year veteran and has played all 440 NHL games with the Sharks. He has 165 goals and 126 assists during that time.
His best season came during the 2005-06 campaign when he set career highs in points (93), goals (56) and assists (37).
Michalek has played all five of his NHL seasons with San Jose. Over 317 games he has 91 goals and 123 assists.
In exchange for the 28-year-old All-Star, the team sent right wing Jonathan Cheechoo and left wing Milan Michalek along with San Jose's second-round pick in the 2010 draft to Ottawa. San Jose also got a fifth-round pick in the 2010 draft from Ottawa.
On the opening day of training camp, Ottawa shipped out the unhappy winger as he felt he wasn't being used properly on the team. He had earlier refused to waive his no-trade clause in a possible deal to Edmonton.
A dazzling offensive talent, Heatley has twice eclipsed the 100-point plateau in his seven-year career.
Last season, he finished 10th in the league in goals with 39 and added 33 assists while playing in all 82 games. However, the point total was his lowest since the 2003-04 season when he totaled just 25 points in 31 games due to injuries he sustained in a traffic accident that killed his then Atlanta teammate, Dan Snyder.
In his career, the second overall pick of the 2000 draft has appeared in 507 games with Atlanta and Ottawa and has 260 goals and 283 assists. He won the Calder Trophy in 2002 and has been voted into five All-Star games.
Cheechoo is a six-year veteran and has played all 440 NHL games with the Sharks. He has 165 goals and 126 assists during that time.
His best season came during the 2005-06 campaign when he set career highs in points (93), goals (56) and assists (37).
Michalek has played all five of his NHL seasons with San Jose. Over 317 games he has 91 goals and 123 assists.
Monday, September 07, 2009
An Appraisal
I think the only thing more screwed up than the NHL right now is the state of our government with respect to health care and the latent racism it has brought out in these town-hall meetings.
I hate to say it, because I love the league so much, but I see more and more negatives in the sport than positives. Sometimes I pass it off as the accumulation of an average of three games a night in season for the last three years per my job; that's often balanced out by knowing that very often, what I've seen is at least very close to reality.
First of all is this ridiculously drawn-out process with the Coyotes.
I really don't know who to blame but it's hard to defend a power structure which locks out the one person in the whole process who is tailor-made to end the drama. Jim Balsillie can move the team to Hamilton, upgrade Copps Coliseum to NHL standards, pay the transfer fee, pay the indemnity fee to Toronto and Buffalo, AND pay off Jerry Moyes' creditors - THEN still have money left over to run the club on more than a functional level.
But it won't happen because the cabal in charge (30 owners and Gary Bettman) don't want to have that New Money smell hanging around their Old Money ways.
Other than causing a burp in the divisional alignments, the only problem I can see in Balsillie's ownership is that Hamilton itself does not represent the growth potential the league set out in its business model once teams drifted away from small-market Canada in the mid 90's. I'd imagine that the retraction of a team from a metro area of 4 million into one of a million-plus does not look good for the pablum they're trying to push down our throats about hockey being a national and international game.
However, the hockey-readiness of Hamilton far outstrips that of Phoenix even as the Valley of the Sun has been involved in the NHL game for almost 15 years. This is what I want to see in my league, not a ton of bullshit about growth potential and reaching new fans, because that's what got us in the predicament in the first place with Columbus and Atlanta and the 'Yotes.
The second thorn is this tomfoolery with the NHLPA.
Not even a sniff of anything was covered in the United States all summer, but the dominoes have fallen like this: Ombudsman Eric Lindros "tendered his resignation" at the position in the late Spring over constant battles with NHLPA head Paul Kelly and the union. Some guy named Buzz, apparently on more friendly terms with Kelly, got the job.
About a month ago, rumblings out of Canada reported that the players' reps were so dissatisfied with Kelly that they were gathering to decide whether or not to vote him out; that happened early last week.
Then, three days later, NHLPA director of player affairs Glenn Healy quit his post, amidst gossipy recriminations from within. Healy and Kelly were apparently very close, and it was logical that if the players deposed Kelly, Healy wasn't going to last very long.
I understand the core issue was the stark contrast between Kelly's public persona of someone committed to better relations between the union and NHL management and his private distance to the players and his seemingly-growing cabal within his own sphere of influence that grew a little bit too close to Bettman.
Now, Lindros, the uber-sensitive former Golden Child has come out smelling like a rose for putting up with Kelly as long as he did, and the players' union itself is in total disarray having to come up with its fourth head in six years.
The next annoyance is one of fashion.
There has not been too many good-looking third jerseys, or regular jerseys for that matter, released since the NHL went to Reebok Edge unis two years ago. Plus, I'm sick to death of this whole dark-at-home, white-on-road crap that's been going on for seven years.
Calgary this year is joining Edmonton, Buffalo, Philadelphia, the Islanders and Vancouver for whom the third jersey is an almost dead-on replica of beloved classic design. Of these, only Calgary, Edmonton and Buffalo really capture the essence of their former duds. Of all, I'm dismayed that they have to be remade into dark (home? road?) colors only to be worn at home.
By and large since the dark-hued revolution of the 90's, not a lot of jerseys have inspired me. There's in general a lack of color, imagination, jersey design and logo creation. Maybe that has to happen for the evolution in graphic design and most importantly, merchandising, but there's a reason why teams are being smart enough to go retro - while they have to buy in to the corporate merchandising philosophy, they also implicitly agree with a segment of traditional fans that the current designs and colors don't cut it when compared to the old style.
Regardless of what four-toned nightmare gets fronted for what club, I have to renew my assertion that it will help fans new and old in the long run if the league goes back to white at home and dark on the road.
It's been occurring a bit more year after year since the cancelled season, but no more than 10-15 games. It's gotta be all the time. I'm tired of trying to figure out who's home and who's away based on jersey color, especially when I have multiple games going on at work at the same time. I'm tired of my parents and less-tuned-in friends constantly questioning if the Flyers are home when they've been trained to know that dark colors means road game.
Last, is the general blandness of the games anymore.
The day that Sean Avery was demonized and ostracized by his teammates and the league in general over some off-color comments, was the day the old NHL, the fun NHL, died.
Bettman and his boys have constantly missed the forest for the trees, content with the rising impact of concussions, stick fouls, and debilitating injuries to extremities while trying to eradicate the one thing which affords players the chance to police themselves. With the Avery situation in Calgary last December, it's clear that the appearance of propriety above all else is what matters to protect the integrity of the league. Funny, because image concerns is such an 80's thing, and the league was probably at it's zany, brawling, high-scoring peak.
With the retirement of Jeremy Roenick, there are exactly zero players left in the league with anything resembling a personality. There are roughly 600 skaters who are trained automata, programmed in 45-second bursts to do anything within their means to get the puck and score. And the officials do little to back it up.
Where's the good old-fashioned spearing penalty? Willingness to put a team in a hole early/late/whatever with a deserved major for high-sticking, boarding, cross-checking? Any time a brawl erupts with skaters on the ice, four sets of eyes and hands usually combine to do nothing more than put one team down for two minutes, instead of having the stones to
The respect factor is just about gone, and players pretty much feel like they can do anything they want all over the ice (including barreling into the crease because the nets come off faster than a high school slut's prom dress) and they'll get at most a four-minute penalty. That takes away from any drama and tension as to when the inevitable explosion of a line brawl will take place.
On the whole, the best thing I can say is that the games go faster than ever before.
Using the hurry-up facoff rule from Salt Lake City in 2002 on really cut a ton of the petty bullshit surrounding the draw. Even with the extra crutch of a shootout, the average time for a game is a shade under 2 1/2 hours - perfect for people like me who have to write multiple game wraps per night and good for the fans who don't have to alter post-game plans away from the arena.
I never thought I'd get to a 4-to-1 ratio in terms of pro and con with the sport and the NHL in general, but it's sad it's come to this only four years after things were supposedly set right again.
Training camps and preseason games start next week, and that's a good warming up period, albeit not one which will provide many answers as to how the season will progress.
Things are about to get ugly, and I can't help but feel in that cinematic, Coen brothers sort of way with all the intertwining story lines.
I hate to say it, because I love the league so much, but I see more and more negatives in the sport than positives. Sometimes I pass it off as the accumulation of an average of three games a night in season for the last three years per my job; that's often balanced out by knowing that very often, what I've seen is at least very close to reality.
First of all is this ridiculously drawn-out process with the Coyotes.
I really don't know who to blame but it's hard to defend a power structure which locks out the one person in the whole process who is tailor-made to end the drama. Jim Balsillie can move the team to Hamilton, upgrade Copps Coliseum to NHL standards, pay the transfer fee, pay the indemnity fee to Toronto and Buffalo, AND pay off Jerry Moyes' creditors - THEN still have money left over to run the club on more than a functional level.
But it won't happen because the cabal in charge (30 owners and Gary Bettman) don't want to have that New Money smell hanging around their Old Money ways.
Other than causing a burp in the divisional alignments, the only problem I can see in Balsillie's ownership is that Hamilton itself does not represent the growth potential the league set out in its business model once teams drifted away from small-market Canada in the mid 90's. I'd imagine that the retraction of a team from a metro area of 4 million into one of a million-plus does not look good for the pablum they're trying to push down our throats about hockey being a national and international game.
However, the hockey-readiness of Hamilton far outstrips that of Phoenix even as the Valley of the Sun has been involved in the NHL game for almost 15 years. This is what I want to see in my league, not a ton of bullshit about growth potential and reaching new fans, because that's what got us in the predicament in the first place with Columbus and Atlanta and the 'Yotes.
The second thorn is this tomfoolery with the NHLPA.
Not even a sniff of anything was covered in the United States all summer, but the dominoes have fallen like this: Ombudsman Eric Lindros "tendered his resignation" at the position in the late Spring over constant battles with NHLPA head Paul Kelly and the union. Some guy named Buzz, apparently on more friendly terms with Kelly, got the job.
About a month ago, rumblings out of Canada reported that the players' reps were so dissatisfied with Kelly that they were gathering to decide whether or not to vote him out; that happened early last week.
Then, three days later, NHLPA director of player affairs Glenn Healy quit his post, amidst gossipy recriminations from within. Healy and Kelly were apparently very close, and it was logical that if the players deposed Kelly, Healy wasn't going to last very long.
I understand the core issue was the stark contrast between Kelly's public persona of someone committed to better relations between the union and NHL management and his private distance to the players and his seemingly-growing cabal within his own sphere of influence that grew a little bit too close to Bettman.
Now, Lindros, the uber-sensitive former Golden Child has come out smelling like a rose for putting up with Kelly as long as he did, and the players' union itself is in total disarray having to come up with its fourth head in six years.
The next annoyance is one of fashion.
There has not been too many good-looking third jerseys, or regular jerseys for that matter, released since the NHL went to Reebok Edge unis two years ago. Plus, I'm sick to death of this whole dark-at-home, white-on-road crap that's been going on for seven years.
Calgary this year is joining Edmonton, Buffalo, Philadelphia, the Islanders and Vancouver for whom the third jersey is an almost dead-on replica of beloved classic design. Of these, only Calgary, Edmonton and Buffalo really capture the essence of their former duds. Of all, I'm dismayed that they have to be remade into dark (home? road?) colors only to be worn at home.
By and large since the dark-hued revolution of the 90's, not a lot of jerseys have inspired me. There's in general a lack of color, imagination, jersey design and logo creation. Maybe that has to happen for the evolution in graphic design and most importantly, merchandising, but there's a reason why teams are being smart enough to go retro - while they have to buy in to the corporate merchandising philosophy, they also implicitly agree with a segment of traditional fans that the current designs and colors don't cut it when compared to the old style.
Regardless of what four-toned nightmare gets fronted for what club, I have to renew my assertion that it will help fans new and old in the long run if the league goes back to white at home and dark on the road.
It's been occurring a bit more year after year since the cancelled season, but no more than 10-15 games. It's gotta be all the time. I'm tired of trying to figure out who's home and who's away based on jersey color, especially when I have multiple games going on at work at the same time. I'm tired of my parents and less-tuned-in friends constantly questioning if the Flyers are home when they've been trained to know that dark colors means road game.
Last, is the general blandness of the games anymore.
The day that Sean Avery was demonized and ostracized by his teammates and the league in general over some off-color comments, was the day the old NHL, the fun NHL, died.
Bettman and his boys have constantly missed the forest for the trees, content with the rising impact of concussions, stick fouls, and debilitating injuries to extremities while trying to eradicate the one thing which affords players the chance to police themselves. With the Avery situation in Calgary last December, it's clear that the appearance of propriety above all else is what matters to protect the integrity of the league. Funny, because image concerns is such an 80's thing, and the league was probably at it's zany, brawling, high-scoring peak.
With the retirement of Jeremy Roenick, there are exactly zero players left in the league with anything resembling a personality. There are roughly 600 skaters who are trained automata, programmed in 45-second bursts to do anything within their means to get the puck and score. And the officials do little to back it up.
Where's the good old-fashioned spearing penalty? Willingness to put a team in a hole early/late/whatever with a deserved major for high-sticking, boarding, cross-checking? Any time a brawl erupts with skaters on the ice, four sets of eyes and hands usually combine to do nothing more than put one team down for two minutes, instead of having the stones to
The respect factor is just about gone, and players pretty much feel like they can do anything they want all over the ice (including barreling into the crease because the nets come off faster than a high school slut's prom dress) and they'll get at most a four-minute penalty. That takes away from any drama and tension as to when the inevitable explosion of a line brawl will take place.
On the whole, the best thing I can say is that the games go faster than ever before.
Using the hurry-up facoff rule from Salt Lake City in 2002 on really cut a ton of the petty bullshit surrounding the draw. Even with the extra crutch of a shootout, the average time for a game is a shade under 2 1/2 hours - perfect for people like me who have to write multiple game wraps per night and good for the fans who don't have to alter post-game plans away from the arena.
I never thought I'd get to a 4-to-1 ratio in terms of pro and con with the sport and the NHL in general, but it's sad it's come to this only four years after things were supposedly set right again.
Training camps and preseason games start next week, and that's a good warming up period, albeit not one which will provide many answers as to how the season will progress.
Things are about to get ugly, and I can't help but feel in that cinematic, Coen brothers sort of way with all the intertwining story lines.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
