HabsCast Hockey Blog

Well, the Ducks aren’t fairing well so far in the season. Cup hangover? Is it Brian Burkes fault though? Lost his 2 leading goal scorers of last year, and didn’t replace either of them.
His 2 major off-season acquisitions were both older, injury prone players (both have been hurt early in this season) in Bertuzzi and [...]

1. Which rookie has made the greatest impact so far out of Price, Kostitsyn, Grabovski, and Chipchura?
2. Are you pleased with the play of Alex Kovalev so far?
3. Will Andrei Markov be an All-Star this year?
4. Through 14 games, Chris Higgins and Tomas Plekanec each have recorded 11 points, and respectively are +1, and -3. [...]

I was browsing through Pavel Bure’s stats, and this really jumped out at me…
In 2000-01 with the Florida Panthers, Bure had 59 goals and 92 points. The next highest total on his team was 14 goals and 37 points, by Viktor Kozlov.
Bure had over 20 more goals than anyone else had points!
No wonder he cherry [...]

Some are going to mention Gretzky leaving Edmonton, but the Oilers were still competitive after he departed (ie Cup win in ‘90).
No doubt Gordie Howe is Mr. Hockey, but the Red Wings lost a lot when Ted Lindsay was held accountable for trying to form a player’s association.
To a smaller scale, the Sabres were among [...]

Look at his numbers man! He’s got some sick for stats for the era he played in. I’m sure there are other remarkable goaltending feats from then that I am currently overlooking, but I was just thinking about how goalies in his day still primarily played stand-up style. To think of Mr. Dryden compiling those [...]

I always have trouble placing Henri Richard (who I only saw play over about half his career) accurately within the rankings of hockey greats (Jean Beliveau, Yvan Cournoyer, Larry Robinson, Ken Dryden, Bob Gainey, Guy Lafleur, The list goes on…).
Henri’s eleven Stanley Cup Rings constitute one of the most impressive achievements in hockey (maybe [...]

The Ultimate NHL Road Trip

Last night I started the trip that I’ve been dreaming about for years. I’m going to see 30 hockey games, one in each of the 30 NHL arenas, in 30 consecutive nights! It’s the Ultimate Hockey Road Trip, and to the best of my knowledge, no one has ever done it [...]

Information
- Drafted in 2001 (around 26 years old).
- Discovered late in the French/Swiss hockey leagues.

Honors
- Albert Hassler Trophy (MVP French Elite League) 1997/98
- Jean Ferrand Trophy (MV Goalie French Elite League) 1996/97 and 1997/98
- Jacques Plante Trophy (Best GAA Swiss National A League) 1999/00 and 2000/01
- Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award (Best Save% NHL) 2005/06
Regular [...]

My personal favorites are Getzlaf and Semin… Mostly because both players have something the Habs are missing.
Getzlaf is the complete package. He has hands, size, speed, and even playoff experience (won the cup). Semin has scoring touch, he might be overshadowed by Ovechkin, but damn is he quick and agile. Also, seeing as Edmonton stole [...]