The Yardstick: Backups Have Been Good, American of the Week

League Leaders

Offense

Goals: Alex Ovechkin – 10

Assists: Henrik Sedin – 12

Points: Sidney Crosby – 17

Goalies

GAA: Josh Harding – 1.00

SV%: Tuuka Rask – .957

Wins: Antii Niemi – 8

Shutouts: Jean-Sebastian Giguere – 2

Other

Players Suspended: 7*

Games Lost Due to Suspension: 33*

(*Pending John Scott’s meeting with the Shanahammer)

Backstrom Harding Backstrom Harding Backstrom Harding

Dope Things

Backup goalies!

Josh Harding – Harding started the season in Minnesota as a back-up for Niklas Backstrom but became the starter after Backs went down (typical Backstrom) 3 games into the season with a knee strain.  Harding played in 9 games posting a 1.00 GAA and a .953 SV% before going down himself last night with an injury and being replaced by his back-up Backstrom. It’s like a snake eating it’s own tail.

Carter Hutton – Nicknamed “Tiki Hutt” by his teammates, Hutton has been strong in his first season as a first-string back-up for the Nashville Predators.  He’s played in three games, won two of them, has a 1.37 GAA and a .959 SV%.  Hopefully he can keep those numbers up because he’s going to be “in the shit” with Pekka Rinne being injured.

“Well officer, he came at me with a stick and knives on his feet.”

J.S. Gigure – Giguere has been excellent.  It’s crazy. 3-0, .981 SV%, 0.67 GAA, 2 shutouts.  It’s probably just another one of his streaks, but keep in mind his greatest streak won him a Conn Smythe trophy in ’03

The Coyotes

Last year I was like, “Sure am glad the Coyotes aren’t in the playoffs”.  This year I’m like “Why are the Coyotes still so good?!”, although I know the answer is 2 words: RIBEIRO BABY!  9 points in 11 games, this guy is partly to blame for the Coyotes best start since the 2000-01 season.

Nope Things

Suspensions

CLEARLY THE NHL’S DISCIPLINARY TACTICS ARE NOT WORKING BECAUSE NOBODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT MISSING 5 GAMES OR LESS.

Public Smack Talking

In one of my favorite stories of the early season, Montreal Canadiens forward Lars Eller called the visiting Edmonton Oilers a “junior team“.  I mean, it’s kind of true but you probably shouldn’t be saying something like that to the media, especially before a game.  So what happened? The Oilers beat the Canadiens 4-3 and Eller was to blame.  Tsk Tsk

American of the Week

NOT Dustin Byfuglien, OR Craig Smith (this week)

Americans had a pretty good week. Phil Kessel had a hat trick, Craig Anderson had a good game, Bobby Ryan is fitting in behind enemy lines .  BUT I’m gonna give American of the Week honors to one of the USA’s up and coming stars: Seth Jones. WHO?!

SETH JONES!

If you wanna e-mail T-bone and the Hockey Doggz please do: tboneandthehockeydoggz@gmail.com

Follow us on twitter: @tbonehockeydogz

Bye Byeeeeeee!

-T-bone

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Long Island Could Use Ryan Miller More Than Buffalo

Yikes.

It may not look like it from that video, but Ryan Miller is a pretty good goaltender.  He’s a former 41-game winner and has led his team to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals, losing both times.   In a year wear he posted a .926 SV% and a 2.22 GAA, Miller won a Vezina trophy in 2009-2010 as well as a silver medal at the Olympics where he was named tournament MVP and American Hero.

It’s pretty much been downhill from there. In three seasons since winning the Vezina, Miller has yet to finish a year with a SV% higher than .916 and his GAA has been on the wrong side of 2.59.  Granted, the Buffalo Sabres team in front of him has been mismanaged and has gained in crapiness every season since 2010 as well, but there’s no denying Millers game could use some spark.

Miller is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of next year and having to weigh factors like his team being bad, he ain’t gettin’ any younger, and his super-hot wife living in LA, odds are he’s not signing in Buffalo.  Plus the front office knows that he could bring a roster player and a draft pick in a trade.  If you’re privy to the blogosphere (and I know you are) then you have likely heard all kinds of

A vetted and indisputable heaping helping

rumors about R-Mill and what weirdos on the internet think will happen with him.  Here at T-bone and the Hockey Doggz, I, T-bone, love myself a heapin’ helpin’ of outsider speculation based solely on an idea that come to me while washing my butt and research conducted on the internet.  So what ideas do I have about the Miller saga? Glad you asked!

The first question I asked myself was “Where’s the beer?” so I went to the fridge and exclaimed “Eureka!” and cracked open a cold one. Gimme a “Hell Yeah!”.

Then I asked, “Welp, what team is in contention but would benefit from adding an average goalie who has potential to be great and has playoff experience?”  There have been rumors that the Edmonton Oilers have been in trade talks with the Sabres, but it is likely that Edmonton is on his list of teams he’s not tryin’ to get traded to and it is unlikely he would waive his no trade clause to go there.  Plus, why would Edmonton give up on Nail Yakupov less than halfway through his first full season? C’mon!

For my money, a team that could use Miller’s experience and skills the most is the New York Islanders.  Evgeni Nabokov is cool, don’t get me wrong, but in the playoffs last season (and pretty much every post-season), his numbers were pretty terrible: .842 SV% and 4.44 GAA.  Granted he was playing against the Pittsburgh Penguins who have two of the most talented and gifted active players, but if Nabby could have out played Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (which wouldn’t have been too hard) it would have been the Islanders against the Senators in the second round instead of the Penguins.  Nabokov is old and not that great.  Kevin Poulin is young and untested.  The Islanders have a lot of talent up front that could be moved for a solid net minder. According to capgeek they have about 14 million in cap space which is plenty to handle Miller’s 6.25 Million cap hit.  Plus, if Garth snow really wants to shake things up, he could try to wrangle the other hot soon-to-be-UFA Tomas Vanek as well.  If the Isles were able to trade for these two, it would add leadership and most of all playoff experience which, as they move to the next phase of their development, would be good to have.

I told you he was cool

But who would the Islanders be willing to move to get power couple Miller and/or Vanek?  My guess would be Kyle Okposo.  He’s kind of the 5th wheel when it comes to scoring for the Islanders behind Tavares, Moulson, Grabner, and Frans Nielson.  Plus with the addition of Cal Clutterbuck this past offseason, whatever Okposo brought physically has been covered and then some by the hit-happy Clutterbuck. Throw in a couple of draft picks and maybe a prospect in their system, Vanek could be there’s too.

It’s possible that the cunning GM-itude of Garth Snow has another grand plan that does not involve Ryan Miller or Tomas Vanek.  To that I would say, “That’s why you get paid the big bucks”.  Maybe Miller’s not good enough to justify trading away a young player and replacing Evgeni Nabokov.  But a move like this would make a lot of sense I think looking to get more competitive and go deeper into the playoffs.  Although, Ilya Bryzgalov is still available!

-T-bone

The Yardstick: Problems With Authority

League Leaders

“If I say I love you, it means I love you, ok?”
Photo: Getty

Offense

Goals: Thomas Hertl – 7

Assists: Henrik Sedin – 9

Points: Sidney Crosby – 14

Goalies

GAA: Josh Harding – 1.15

Save %: Jonas Hiller – .959

Wins: Marc-Andre Fleury/Antii Niemi – 6

Shutouts: A bunch of guys – 1

So! Huskey and I went to the Pens/Flyers game last night and there’s a few things I’d like to mention about it.  First, the Flyers are in a pretty bad spot and they showed it last night.  They had no business being on the ice with the Pens.  They were able to generate a few chances early but didn’t really get anything going until the end of the 2nd when they scored.  After that it was all Pens.  Second, people haaaaaaaate the refs.  From booing nearly every stoppage in play to the guy sitting in front of us with the #69 “RefUSuck” jersey, the people in Philly have a real problem with authority!

This is worth watching just for the reactions of Mike Haynes, the play-by-play guy in Colorado.

That’s all for now!

T-bone and the Hockey Doggz Podcast: Season 3 Premier!!!!!!!

WELCOME TO SEASON 3 OF YOUR FAVORITE T-BONE AND THE HOCKEY DOGGZ PODCAST! WOOOOOOOO!!!

Yeah! Can you tell how excited we are?! After a long hiatus we’re back with our famous brand of wit and whimsy.  For the first time in a while T-bone, Moonpie, and Huskey made the trek to the podcast studio deep below the Earth and discussed many things related to and about the NHL.  In this episode we discuss this kind of stuff:

• What’s new for the 2013-2014 season?!
• Flip-flop ice skates
• Hockey’s Elder Statesman Jaromir Jagr and his deal with the New Jersey Devil
• New ideas to supplant the shoot-out – NSFW
• Our take on the Patrick Roy freak-out
• Bryzgalov to the Penguins
• Flyers are so bad
• T-bone and the Hockey Doggz Tarot Time.
• Yeah.
• This:

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with another podcast soon so check back later…when you think there’s been enough time for us to make another podcast. Or you can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and it’ll show up when it’s ready.  In the meantime, email us at tboneandthehockeydoggz@gmail.com and follow us on twitter @tbonehockeydogz.

 

The Yardstick: Rangers Stink, Actual Sharks Probably Do Too but the Hockey Team is Pretty Good

I think it’ll be fun to track the league leaders throughout the season so…here

League Leaders

Mike “I don’t practice” Santorelli is the Canucks goal scoring leader with 4. Weird right?
Photo: Getty

Forwards

Goals: Tomas Hertl – 6

Points: Tomas Hertl – 7

Assists: Alex Galchenyuk – 6

+/-: I no longer recognize this stat

Goalies

GAA: Jean-Sebastian Gigure/Ben Scrivens – 0.00

Save %: Jean-Sebastian Gigure/Ben Scrivens – 1.000

Wins: Antti Niemi – 4

Shutouts – A bunch of different guys – 1

 

I have a few questions about this early season and I’m hoping you, the reader, can offer some opinion on the subjects.  The first question I have is:

Alain Vigneault is all like “What da haaaaiiillll”
Photo: Getty

What’s wrong with the Rangers?

Seriously!  They STINK!  They’ve been outscored 20-6 and are 1-3-0 in 4 games, they’re allowing 36.2 shots per game and poor Henrik Lunqvist gave up 6 goals last night against the Ducks.  I know, I know, it’s early.  They have a new coach whose system is totally different then the last guy.  They’ve been all the way across the country from their home.  They’ll probably turn it around, but for now they suuuucccckkk.  Get it together y’all!

 

How about the Sharks?!

D’you see them?! Dey been crazy good!  Niemi’s been able to carry over his play from last season which is to say he’s been excellent.  Tomas (pronounced Tomash (thank you Drew Ramenda)) Hertl has 6 goals, four of them coming in one game.  I want to comment on his fourth goal, you know the super sick one where he scored from between his legs and behind himself.  IT. WAS. AWESOME. Yeah, sure there was a bit of hot-dogging there, but remember this:

That was a bit of hot-doggery too, but it was ALSO AWESOME. Hertl’s last goal was so good that if Joe Thornton scored it, we would have seen his dong.

Just some food for thought for all da homies out there.  Let me know what you think about all this in the comments, on twitter @TboneHockeyDogz, or via e-mail at tboneandthehockeydoggz@gmail.com.  And also get pumped for a podcast! Cause it’s happening! MONDAY BAY-BEE!

 

The Flyers Suck and the Trapezoid is Stupid

Hey! It’s been less than a week since the NHL season started! Let’s talk about it!

OWCHIES!

The first big thing that happened re-sparked a debate that’s been going on for longer than I’ve been around.  On opening night, “The Mustachioed Cat” George Parros fell on his face during a fight against Toronto’s Colton Orr, leaving the ice with a concussion.  So, should we take fighting out of hockey? To that I will only say this: Nope, it has an unquantifiable effect on the momentum of a game and anyone who has witnessed this in action would want to fight anyone who wants to take fighting out of the game.  THAT’S IT!

Going from stale to fresh, the second winningest American coach of all time Peter Laviolette, was fired by the Phiadelphia Flyers.  He was the second victim of circumstance in the Philadelphia sports world (we’ll miss you Charlie!) in a matter of months.  Much like the beloved Philadelphia Phillies, Laviolette’s team was bad due to more than one folly of GM-itude.  Since he’s been around since ’09, he had to take the heat for it.  The good thing about it though is that the Flyers are now 0-3-0, starting a whole new system with a rookie coach, they have a terrible defense and an even worse goaltending tandem.  They’re going to suck!  And that makes us here at T-bone and the Hockey Doggz pret-tay pret-tay happy.  Flyers Suck!

Finally: a rant.

I could use more of this.

Hey! You know what I’m sick of? Well I’ll tell you.  I’m sick of people talkin’ shit about the shootout.  You know what else I’m sick of?!  PEOPLE NOT TALKING SHIT ABOUT THE TRAPEZOID! Since the last lock out, it has been deemed that a hockey game needs a winner, and quickly! No more ties, dammit, we wanna see some fancy stick work and there’s no better way to see that than a shootout.  So along the same vein, why don’t we want to see fancy stick work from a goalie?! There’s no valid reason a goalie shouldn’t be able to handle the puck.  “Because he’s too good at it” is not a reason.  Stick-handling to a goalie is an added skill, one that all goalies have the option to work on.  Everyone knows that Martin Brodeur is one of the best stick handling goalies of all time.  Who else is there right now? Mike Smith? Brodeur is on his way out.  After he’s gone, will we see another great puck moving netminder?   I know I would like to, but with the trapezoid, there’s no real reason for a goalie to polish his stick skills, and I hate that.

GET RID OF THE TRAPEZOID!!!

So, everyone, it’s a new NHL season and a new season for T-bone and the Hockey Doggz.  Get ready for a new podcast coming up in the next week or so wherein we will have some new awesome segments involving 2 cases (yeah around 500 cards) of ’91-’92 NHL Pro Set Series II hockey cards.  There’s also going to be more smart, funny, provocative insight from me T-bone.