The number one goal scoring left winger in the NHL, James Neal is currently without a spot on the NHL All-Star Game roster and barring injury to a player currently on the roster he’ll be sitting at home watching the game on TV.
The NHL invites 24 total players who play offense onto their All-Star squad. Three of which are voted in by the NHL fans. Three players from Ottawa, the home of the All-Star game, were voted in by the fans. We should all be aware of how the voting works here in Pittsburgh. If you are not, reference how Kristopher Allen Letang landed an All-Star spot last year. Who doesn’t respect a good grass roots voting campaign especially in an election year.
The other 21 players are voted in by what is called the NHL’s Hockey Operations Department. Picking these players would be a seemingly easy task if it wasn’t for the fact that you want to include one player from every team. That starts to complicate things a tiny bit, but the NHL created the “Rookie” All-Star game to help alleviate that problem.
For reasons unknown Alexander Ovechkin is on the All-Star team. Ranked 43rd overall in the NHL in scoring you would think maybe he made it because of the ...
Vincent Lecavalier did the most unmanly thing that I’ve seen on ice since Ned Braden did the striptease at center ice. Lecavalier sucker punches Malkin not once but twice.
If your the best hockey player on the planet the whole idea of re-imagining your game probably sounds like a poor idea at best. If you are the best player on the planet who has been injured and only able to play a handful of games over the course of a year then maybe it’s time to re-invent yourself.
Three games back from his 10 1/2 month concussion hiatus Sidney Crosby found himself in front of his own net defending his goaltender Marc Andre Fleury from Nick Foligno of the Ottawa Senators who just happened to collide “accidentally” with Fleury his second time during the game.
As admirable as Crosby’s deeds were, in hockey there are two types of ...
What if we tried to make Pittsburgh not look stupid & petty tonight for the HBO 24/7 camera’s and national TV? Lemieux once got a standing ovation in Philadelphia when he showed up.
Today all I see and hear is reporters all over the radio, news print and social media telling me about how I should boo Jaromir Jagr tonight. I will not. Here is the truth… Jaromir Jagr was dying alive in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was trading every player around Jagr who made more than league minimum and was keeping Jagr around to sell tickets.
I’ve always been one that gets confused about how Heroes and Villains work in the Pittsburgh sports world. Jaromir Jagr didn’t say a word when the team was ...
Jason Williams scored his first goal as a Pittsburgh Penguin 2 minutes into the game blasting a shot from the blue line past Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller tonight and the Penguins never looked back. Four minutes later Pens Simon Despres scored his first ever NHL goal and a few minutes after that Evgeni Malkin scored his first of three goals on the night and boom Ryan Miller gets yanked from the game.
Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek skated right down the slot in between four Penguins and snapped one past Fluery to close the game to 3 to 1 giving Buffalo a tiny bit of false hope that was taken away no less than 5 minutes later when Malkin tucked a backhander past Buffalo’s goaltender of the moment Jhonas Enroth. Giving the Pens a 4-1 lead at the end of the first.
The start of the second saw the Sabres Ryan Miller start his second stint in net which was going great for him for all of 53 seconds right up until James Neal netted his 18th goal of the season off a nifty pass from Malkin who faked a pass across the slot. Pens defenseman James Engelland scored a goal at the ...
Right now 3 or 4 Penguins are sidelined with concussions. After the NHL completely ignored Philadelphia Flyer Zac Rinaldo’s blind side head hit that gave the Penguins defenseman Bob Bortuzzo a concussion, I think it’s time Matt Cooke goes back to playing hockey the way only he knows how.
I’m not going to hide from the fact that I was one of the people that was happy with the NHL when they gave Matt Cooke the large suspension a few months ago under the ruse that the NHL was going to start cracking down on such acts with all players, not just Cooke. The large suspensions never materialized and here we stand knowing the true reason Cooke was suspended so many games and no one says anything.
It is simple if you follow the timeline:
March 2010 – Matt Cooke concusses Bruins Marc Savard with what was at the time a legal hit.
November 2010 – NHL chief disciplinarian Colin Campbell’s emails are exposed calling Marc Savard a “little fake artist” and “the biggest faker going” in relation to a call on Campbell’s son who is now a team mate of Savard.
March 2011 – Campbell suspends Cooke 17 games for a elbow that was seriously not even one of the 10 worst of the season. In Colin Campbell’s mind he was ...
Where have all the NHL Superstars gone? Even though he was sidelined for 10 1/2 months, Sidney Crosby in a mere five games has returned to his top post among the NHL’s elite.
Captain Crosby’s 11 points in 5 games leads the league with a points per game average of 2.20 points per game. By contrast the NHL leading scorer Phil Kessel is 2nd in the league with a 1.28 points per game average, which just happens to same average Evgeni Malkin has per game. If you talk to anyone, a healthy Crosby winning the scoring title is a matter of when, not if. At the rate Crosby is playing right now the date to take over the scoring lead is January 23rd, when the Washington Capitals roll into Pittsburgh.
For years I have heard about the great up and coming players like Steven Stamkos & John Tavares. While they have ended up great players, I’m still waiting for them to blossom into the superstar flower that has been permanently attached to their names. Both players are victims of poor coaching. Seriously, who puts a team with Stamkos, St. Louis & Lecavier in a 1-3-1 trap. A coach that doesn’t currently own a playoff spot and could be the next coach axed, that’s who.
The Sedin brothers in Vancouver have put up great numbers, but lack the ...
The NHL invites 24 total players who play offense onto their All-Star squad. Three of which are voted in by the NHL fans. Three players from Ottawa, the home of the All-Star game, were voted in by the fans. We should all be aware of how the voting works here in Pittsburgh. If you are not, reference how Kristopher Allen Letang landed an All-Star spot last year. Who doesn’t respect a good grass roots voting campaign especially in an election year.
