Pens losing the draws

The Detroit Red Wings are up 1-0 after a victory that came easier than they expected. Meanwhile the Pens have to win tonight's game to show that Detroit can be beaten at Joe Louis Arena. In the first game faceoffs were a big weakness of the Pens. Crosby went 6/20, Staal 6/19, Malkin 4/9, Talbot 0/4, Adams 0/2 and Kennedy 0/1 for a combined rate of 16/55. Meanwhile Zetterberg was 15/20, Darren Helm (who really stepped up as a defensive forward during Datsyuk's absence) 11/15, Filpulla 6/11 and the other Wings 7/9. Both of the teams seem to base their play on puck possession, so winning the faceoffs gives Detroit an advantage.

The Ducks Connection

38-year old Dan Bylsma has a perfect start to his head-coaching career - he didn't even have a full season as a head coach in the AHL before he was named the Penguins coach and now his team will play in the Stanley Cup Finals. His opponent - Mike Babcock has a lot more coaching experience - in the WHL, AHL and NHL. It is worth to mention that they know each other - In 2002/03 and 2003/04 Babcock coached Bylsma in Anaheim. They reached the Finals together in 2003, but Anaheim lost to New Jersey.

Thus it appears that Bylsma knows Babcock's coaching style and might try to counter some of his tactics in his own strategies. Although Detroit is a lot more offensive team than the pre-lockout Ducks, it is safe to say that Babcock still uses some of his previous tactics. It will be interesting to see whether the Bylsma-Babcock connection will have any actual impact on the upcoming games.

Hawks looking forward

The story of the eliminated Chicago Blackhawks reminds me of the Pittsburgh Penguins - the first playoff appearance of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin ended in the first round. The Blackhawks' dynamic duo - Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane managed to win two rounds before losing to the Detroit Red Wings. Fortunately Kane, Toews and the rest of Chicago's core players - including Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg, Dave Bolland, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook still haven't reached their prime and should be better with each passing year - this is especially true for defencemen. Thus it is safe to say that the Hawks will get another chance to reach the Stanley Cup Finals soon.

Pens are in

I have to admit that I have been sceptical about the Penguins chances of winning the Stanley Cup. I saw a team with suspect defense and little offensive depth beside their biggest two stars. Now, after the sweep of Carolina and injuries to Detroit's Nick Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, even I have to admit that they might even beat the Red Wings (or Blackhawks) in the Finals. We all knew that Crosby and Malkin are great, that Fleury can be solid or that Gonchar is a great powerplay quarterback. But the contributions of deadline acquisitions Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz are also very important to the team. Together with Ruslan Fedotenko and Gonchar's future replacement Kris Letang they have provided enough scoring to stop the opposing teams form concentrating only on the two stars. It's also nice to see Mark Eaton, one of the most underrated defenseman in the league, have four goals and be +10 (third on the team behind Crosby and Guerin)

The Russians are fleeing

With the Pat Quinn story set to take center stage in the world of hockey the other important story might quickly be forgotten. TSN reports that both Sergei Fedeorov and Viktor Kozlov will sign contracts with KHL teams. They were (obviously) not the biggest stars for the Capitals, but still managed to provide some scoring, defensive play and veteran presence. It is doubtful that the Capitals would have resigned them both, but it can be assumed that they wanted at least one of them back. This is a slight blow for the Capitals. What's even more interesting is that none of the two veterans wanted to play alongside their country's biggest star (sorry Geno).

Young goalie's chance

With the NHL playoffs being so interesting, the AHL's battle for the Calder Cup gets almost no attention. Only the story of Tony Hrkac got some publicity. It's interesting to see four young goalies battling in the Conference Finals. Cory Schneider, Michal Neuvirth and Tukka Rask are the usual suspects - top prospects ready for the NHL, but waiting for a roster spot. Houston Aeros' Anton Khudobin is the weakest of the four statistically, so his performance might be overlooked. The 23-year old Russian was Minnesota's seventh round pick in 2004 and although he played for the Russian junior team at the WJC (silver medals in 2005 and 2006), almost no one expected him to make it to the NHL - even after his 20-1-4 rookie season in the ECHL in 07-08. He actually spent most of the current season in the ECHL and couldn't find his game in the short time he had spent with the Aeros. He still hasn't reached the level of Schneider or Rask, but his performance in the playoffs might make him a candidate to be Niklas Backstrom's backup in Minnesota if Josh Harding gets traded.

Another end for Iron Mike

Mike Keenan's firing shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. He spent two years as the head coach of the Calgary Flames - his teams qualified for the playoffs twice but never won a playoff round. When he was hired, everyone was afraid that his coaching style will lead to conflicts with the team's forwards - fortunately for the Flames this wasn't the case. He did not limit the offensive production of Jarome Iginla and Mike Cammalleri reached 80 points for the second time in his career.

The surprise of Keenan's tenure was that the Flames, an elite defensive team, were the playoff team that allowed the most goals in the regular season - both the goalie and the defense failed. Keenan didn't fin a way to stabilize Miikka Kiprusoff's stats (regular season GAA from 05-06 till 08-09: 2.07, 2.46, 2.69, 2.84; sv%: .923, .917, .906, .903) and appeared to overwork him. Furthermore Dion Phaneuf, Calgary's young defensive star, had his worst season this year - not only offensively, but also on D. his willingness to get out of position to make a hit was often the reason the Flames lost a goal. The coach had a lot of chances to try and correct Phaenuf's and Kiprusoff's mistakes but wasn't able to do it. Thus Keenan's firing was expected.

Keenan is an interesting case - despite failing as a coach in seven cities (he won a Cup in his only season in New York, but it's argued that his influence on the team was marginal), he will probably be hired soon to "lead his new team to the Stanley Cup".

Huet in, finally

Whether Nikolai Khabibulin really had an injury or just the coach felt that his performance hurt the team remains unkown, but the fact is that Cristobal Huet got the first chance to play in this years' playoffs. He didn't have much to do, but he managed to stop six shots in a little more than one period - before Patrick Sharp ended the game in OT.

Khabibulin was undoubtedly the weakest goalie remaining in the playoffs - although he is a former Cup winner, his performance in the playoffs was subpar. He outplayed Huet in the regular season, but now the Frenchman has a chance to step up. If he can play, like he did last year for Washington, the Blackhawks could actually beat the Detroit (I think that they have just enough depth to compensate for the loss of Martin Havlat).

Nice move!

Evgeni Malkin had the most spectacular game of his career and the Penguins inched closer to the Finals. Malkin's third goal is on all highlight reels because of the no-look backhand, but that play had two other interesting aspects. Malkin had the puck on his stick coming from behind the net, but let it go for a moment, as if he wanted to begin a toe-drag move - this appeared to freeze Cam Ward. As a result Ward was setup too low and too far from the post to stop Malkin's great shot. Although Malkin probably didn't plan it exactly that way, the goal is still a sign that he is a great player.

Say no to Giggy

Everyone's favorite rumor creator Eklund has posted that acquiring Jean-Sebastien Giguere is Flyers GM's Paul Holmgren's offseason priority. Most of the Flyers fans seem to be ok with it, but this acqusition would have a lot of drawbacks. His $6 million cap hit would force the Flyers to clear room by trading Briere (hopefully), Lupul or Jones and letting Knuble walk. But the recent play of Giguere is a bigger concern - he had the worst season of his career in terms of GAA and SV% and lost the starting job to Jonas Hiller. He seems to have lost his confidence and it lead to some soft goals. There is no guarantee that he'll bounce back and his price tag doesn't give any team the luxury of being patient.

It's interesting that Flyers fans are quick to point out that the Vanbiesbrouck signing from 1998 was a mistake, because he was past his prime and there were better options available (CuJo). Giguere has actually had worse numbers than "Beezer" in 1997/98. The problem for the Flyers is that there are no good alternatives - Biron is not a goalie that can steal a series, Niittymaki is streaky and the management doesn't trust him. Kari Lehtonen is inconsistent and it is hard to predict his performance on a team better than the Thrashers. Niklas Backstrom and Tim Thomas - two players the Flyers were also rumored to be after - are gone from the market. This leaves the option of trading for Josh Harding (if he doesn't figure into Minnesota's new management's vision of the team) as the best one - although he too is unproven, he has shown remarkable consistency and rarely made mistakes. His price tag should also be lower than Lehtonen's and and the cap hit a lot lower than Giguere's.

Not a trade-bait anymore

With the Chicago Blackhawks down 0-2, the great play of Brent Seabrook and Martin Havlat's fight for a new contract it is easy to overlook the contributions of Cam Barker. During the first half of the regular season he was featured in almost all the trade rumors - according to most of them he was supposed to be dealt to Ottawa. Fortunately Chicago avoided a Braydon Coburn situation and kept the former third overall pick. Barker responded with 40 points in 68 games - he benefited from an extended powerplay role (29 PPP) but, although his defensive game needs some improvement, was also quite solid in even strength situations. He continued to play good in the playoffs - he was arguably Chicago's best defenceman against the Flames, but disappeared a little in the series against Vancouver.

Despite great offensive numbers he still remains in the shadow of Brian Campbell, but at least almost everyone agrees that the Blackhawks should do everything to resign him in the summer. If the team lets Havlat go (or at least signs him for no more than 5 million) and hands the goaltending reigns to Cristobal Huet, it will surely have the cap room to keep Barker and another important RFA - Versteeg. But with the Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews duo (now earning less than 0.9 million each) due for a raise next year and the albatross contracts of Brian Campbell and Huet the Blackhawks must leave themselves some cap room for next year.

Tavares-Hedman deal won't happen

TSN's Bob McKenzie has speculated that the Islanders will trade down from first to second overall in this years' draft and get Victor Hedman, a 6'6'' Swedish defenceman. This is the kind of move, that Mike Milbury would be proud of - without a surefire offensive prospect (Kyle Okposo is good, albeit streaky, but his development has slowed down) the Islanders, lead by their former backup goalie and current GM Garth Snow, will remain bottom-feeders for the next few years. John Tavares could play in New York in October and has a good chance to be a star as early as in his first season. On the other hand Hedman (like all defenceman) will need more time to develop. And without offensive support on the Islanders, Hedman's progress might be even slower. The fact that the Tampa Bay Lightning, currently holding the second overall pick, already have two forwards, who were first overall picks - Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos and a shallow prospect pool on D, also points to the fact that the situation suggested by McKenzie is not likely to happen.

The next one?

Here we go.

As of right now Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are respectively first and second in both playoff points and playoff goals. It’s a nice story for the league and it confirms the league’s marketing department’s vision on who the best players are. Ovechkin will not get another point in these playoffs but Crosby statistically has a chance for his first NHL record. Reggie Leach (1975-76) and Jarri Kurri (1984-85) are currently tied for most goals in one playoff year with 19. Crosby’s 12 goals in 14 games put him on a pace for 21 goals in 25 games – a seven game series in the Conference Finals and a four game series in the Cup Finals at the current clip will make him the first playoff 20-goal scorer in the history of NHL. Will he get there? Actually it’s doubtful – in his four years in the NHL he never scored as often as now for a longer period of time. There’s also a high chance of him getting finally tired from other teams’ physical play and the higher tempo of play in the playoffs.