Carnival of the NHL #14

This edition of the Carnival begins rather sheepishly.  When volunteering to host, I figured I'd stumbled on a quick and easy way to pull together a posting.  Little did I know that in hosting I would be violating the stern advice offered by Confessed Hockey Fanatic, kind of a “Miss Manners” guide for hockey bloggers. 

The Fanatic's Rule #3 admonishes bloggers who “Post 5,000 links to other blogs without writing anything original.” Yikes, that was my plan for the Carnival – now I have to write something original.  Fine.  I log rain.  Full disclosure – HockeyDirt has also violated the Fanatic's Rule #8 - "Piling on Sean Avery."  He’s right, piling on Avery is as easy as beating the Blues, and we should all refrain, at least until the next time Avery unloads with another of his racist, moronic zingers.

Every Carnival needs a strongman and a clown and it looks like Sharks GM Doug Wilson and the Bruin's Mike O'Connell are up to the task.  Their blockbuster Thornton for Sturm-Stuart-Primeau swap pulled in a big crowd.

Over at the HockeyBlog Steve Ovadia is baffled by the deal.  He suspects the Bruins have a deep and dark fear of success and that the organization never truly embraced Thornton, despite handing him the "C" at the tender of 23.  While Sinden and his cronies never fell for Thornton, the mournful tone of the reaction among Bruin bloggers shows that Big Joe he had won the hearts of Beantown's hockey faithful. 

HockeyAnalysis - “horrible trade for the Bruins”
Wicked Bruin Fan - “this is testing my commitment to the team right now.”
So Very Obsessed - "Maybe I'll wake up and find out that I dreamed up today, the worst Wednesday in the history of Wednesdays."
BSMW Power Play - "This trade leaves the team with out a direction or leader."

J.J. from Canuck’s Hockey agrees, saying that the deal looks “extremely lopsided in favor of the Sharks.”

The Shark Page has exhaustive coverage of the deal from the San Jose perspective, as does Sharks' season ticket holder Mike Chen, noting that the Marleau/Thornton tandem gives the Sharks a devastating 1-2 punch down the middle. He notes, however that loss of the Brad Stuart leaves San Jose very thin on the blueline.  Scott Hannan is already logging 24+ minutes a game, but that is sure that Ron Wilson will be looking for more minutes from both Hannan and Kyle McLaren. 

Prior to the trade there was plenty of talk about the possibility that GM O'Connell would dump Bruins coach Mike Sullivan.  Kuklas Korner suggests that the first coach to be axed will be Pittsburgh's Ed Olczyk or Florida's Jacques Martin.  HockeyNation reports that Panther's Coach Jacques Martin is dealing with a team in free fall, due in no small part to the replacement of goalie coach Clint "My Neck Hurts" Malarchuk by Phil Myre. Myre is of course the goalie coach Martin relied upon to mold Patrick Lalime into the puckstopper he is.  Islanders Report figures the "Fire Stirling" chant will continue to resound through the Nassau Coliseum so long as the Isles continue to flounder.

Moving to other attractions, the Puck Stops Here offers up a history lesson on the NHLPA, including Alan Eagleson's sordid rise to power.  Greg Ballentine raises the frightening prospect of further labour strife if the NHLPA’s dissidents, led by Trent Klatt and Steve Larmer, can oust Ted Saskin.  Saskin succeeded Bob Goodenow as PA Director under circumstances that make North Korea look like a healthy democracy.  Ballentine suggests the dissidents “could even void the current CBA,” conceding that this, or a pre-playoff player, are unlikely developments.

NHL agent Rich Winter played a pivotal role in bringing Eagleson down and according to Tom Benjamin, Winter is now questioning the circumstances surrounding the PA's flip-flop on the salary cap and the Saskin hiring. 

The seediest, sleaziest Carnival has nothing on David Frost.  Frost is the agent/cult leader that former Blues Mike Danton tried to have iced.  The Danton-Frost affair is back in the news following the recent airing of a fabulous documentary by the CBC's the fifth estate.  Never one to mince words, the Acid Queen poses a question that undermines the credibility of the NHLPA far more than the Saskin hiring:  "Why in the Nine Hells is David Frost still being allowed by the NHLPA to represent players?"

Eric the Off Winger reports that just when you thought the Danton story could not get more bizarre, his father gets arrested for allegedly harassing David Frost.

Irrepressible Red Wings fan Christy from Behind the Jersey drops the puck to open the Christmas shopping season with a lengthy posting on gift ideas for hockey fans.  The catalogue includes everything from the NHL Center Ice Package to bobbleheads and your own customized locker room photo.  She also provides detailed coverage of Jiri Fischer's collapse.  Concise medical reports on Fischer's condition are available from Eric at Off Wing Opinion, courtesy of Dr. Robert Centor from Medical Rants.

What would a Carnival be without a little sleight of hand?  The trickery for this show will be provided by the Rangers' Marek Malik. Ranger Pundit retells the story of Malik’s magical goal, which “will be remembered as the most amazing, incredible goal ever scored in the history of hockey.” Holy Gotham Hyperbole Batman! He also calls for some Calder consideration for “Prince” Henrik Lundqvist, who is also feeling the love from HockeyRodent.

Kelly Hrudey's reaction to the Malik goal elicited more venom from The Acid Queen.  Hrudey (rhymes with “Cruddy”) is the CBC’s guy Behind the Mask. In a weak, futile effort to protect his netminding brethren from being embarrassed by future Maliks, Hrudey says the goal should have been disallowed.  Her Highness is calling for a lesson in "Physics for Whiny Ex-goalies".

Jes Golbez from Hockey Rants has done a little home ice advantage number crunching.  As of a week ago, 24 teams had winning home records.  In addition to speculating on the impact of the last line change and last shootout opportunity, Golbez theorizes about the impact of home town fans on referees and power play chances.  Alas, the standardization of NHL rinks has greatly reduced home ice advantage.  The old Boston Garden had unique, smaller dimensions and tight corners that gave the formerly Big Bad Bruins a decided advantage over their opponents.

Over on his Crosby Blog, Golbez dismisses anyone thinking Phaneuf, Lunqvist or LaBarbera will get a sniff of the Calder – which he says will come down to the race between “the typical me-first Russian goalsuck” and “the selfless Canadian who is helping his teammates before he helps himself.”

It there ever a bad time to poke the Leafs? Not really – Leafs fans encourage it with their “center of the hockey universe – we plan our cup parade in September” attitude, all of which prompted Boltsmag to revel in a recent TB Tribune column on the Leaf nation.

Flames Coach Darryl Sutter recently said “there are only about seven or eight No.1 centremen in the NHL” prompting the Battle of Alberta to take a good look around and conclude that Sutter is off by a healthy number – BofA invites reaction to this legit #1’s - Peter Forsberg, Vincent Lecavalier, Mats Sundin, Mike Modano, Patrick Marleau, Brad Richards, Joe Thornton, Craig Conroy, Brendan Morrison, Shawn Horcoff, Eric Staal, Jason Spezza, and Sidney Crosby.  The omission of Rod Brind’amour is further proof of Puck Stop’s argument that the Hurricanes Captain is consistently under-rated and the “best defensive forward at this early point in the season.”

James Mirtle rounds up the Globe & Mail's coverage of the controversy stirred up by Dick Pound.  Pound, the head of the World Anti-Dumping Agency, claims that up to a third of all current NHLers are using performance enhancing drugs.  Quoting GM Columnist Alan Maki, Mirtle says that Pound’s remarks appear to have the desired effect of having the NHL address the drug & drug testing issue.

Any decent carnival needs some tunes.  The Insane Clown Posse is dark enough to accompany the Danton/Frost show.  Testify in Hockey is as mysterious as the Thornton deal, but the Zambonis (North America's Favorite All-Hockey Band!!!) need to update their "Bleed Black & Gold" Bruins song to reflect the new Beantown roster. 

We'll wrap up Carnival #14 with a look at the number itself.  Two NHL teams have retired #14. (NFL, MLB, NBA)  The Blues have honoured the late Doug Wickenheiser, and established the Fourteen Fund, a charitable trust to raise funds for cancer research and other worthy community projects.  In Buffalo, the flashy Rene Robert, the right winger on the famed French Connection line, has been similarly honoured.

The greatest #14 ever is Dave Keon.  Keon won the Calder, Conn Smythe and Lady Byng trophies over the course of 14 seasons in Toronto.  Fed up and embittered with the antics of owner/fraudster Harold Ballard, Keon left Toronto for the WHA in 1975.  He has spurned the overtures the Toronto organization has made to repair the relationship, including an offer to retire his number.

Thanks to all who helped raise the Carnival tent - as Team Quebec would say, bonne chance to the host of the Heatley-Schmidt roundup.

Comments

[The Acid Queen]

Sweet, I got a two-fer!

Great job with the Carnival, chief.

[Michael]

Who determines who's next on the list to do a carnival? Do I have to do one now that my blog is mentioned on 3 of them now?

When done well, a Carnival is exempt from rule #3.

great job, MT.

[The Acid Queen]

Contact Eric McErlain about getting on the bandwagon for a Carnival. Pick a theme (or don't--the last two have done smashingly well without a theme), set a deadline for submissions (usually two weeks), then put the carnival together and post.

AQ

[michael a. savino]

You may have started "sheepishly" but you roared through it to end it "smashingly". Thanks for the double plug. I look forward to the next Carnivale!