Ok, back to hockey!

I found this article on TSN: http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=244291&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl#videoyourcallarticle

I agree with the revenue sharing but not moving teams back to Canada. He states, “”I mean the Canadian fans are like no others,” he continued. “They’re passionate, they come out and support it, they buy the merchandise, and they’re knowledgeable about the sport.”

Wow, so does that mean us American fans are not passionate and know nothing about the sport? I’ve met many people in America that are both passionate and knowledgable. I think the main problem is, the league isn’t marketing the teams/sports the best in America. Everyone I have taken to a game has fallen in love with the sport. It takes time to get them to be knowledgable but if the sport was more out there, these fans could become more knowledgable.

He also states, “You know, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Quebec City, perhaps Halifax if they had an arena that could sustain an NHL team.” Am I mistaken but didn’t Winnipeg and Quebec already have hockey teams? Didn’t those teams start to lose money and were bought by Americans? Yah, so lets move the teams back and see if they do better. Initially, they may do better because it’s new but it will taper off. It did once before. Although maybe after losing their team, they have realized what they were missing out on. I say no moving of the teams and no adding new teams, especially right now with so much economic uncertainty and us taxpayers having to bail out all the irresponsible people who bought more house than they could afford.

I think the league needs to work on keeping the current teams where they are. Obviously the fans in Nashville cared enough to stop the Blackberry guy from buying their team. Their fans came out of the woodwork to protect their team. I think you would have that with other southern/southwest teams too. I know I would do whatever possible to keep the coyotes here (although, the lease with Glendale pretty much says that even if the team is sold, the new owner probably couldn’t pay the fines to move the team). Some fans are passionate but may not be able to support the team by buying tickets and merchandise. I would love to add a few more jerseys, sweatshirts and other items I’ve seen online to my collection but I’m not going to go into debt buying NHL licensed products. Some of their prices are just outrageous.

In other news, Mike York signed with Columbus Blue Jackets. This really surprised me. I was thinking York would be headed to Europe.
From the Hockey News:
York agreed to a one-year deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.Analysis: York is expected to add depth on the top three lines for the Blue Jackets. The 30-year-old York had six goals and eight assists in 63 gamers last season with Phoenix. During his eight seasons, he has 127 goals and 195 assists in 578 games with the New York Rangers, Edmonton, New York Islanders, Philadelphia and the Coyotes.

Top three lines? Were they watching him last year on the Coyotes? He was lucky if he made the top three lines! He also could barely crack the lineup by the end of the season. He was a healthy scratch quite a bit. I really think York’s time in the NHL is coming to an end. But then again, maybe he will have a great season with Columbus. I doubt it though.

According to Spector’s Fredrik Sjostrom has signed a one year deal with the Rangers worth 840K. The link is in Swedish, so I am trusting that Spector’s has translated this correctly. I am happy for Sjo. I always liked the guy. He is definitely not a top line guy, but he is a hard worker and a good role player/4th liner. He is good defensively and good on the PK. I think the problem in Phoenix was he was taken so high in the draft, that everyone expected him to be amazing and reach his full potential. Unfortunately, he never lived up to that potential. I liked him for what he brought to the game though and wish him all the luck in the world.

ESPN’s power rankings have been up for a few days. They are the first (and only) I’ve seen so far. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=3504426
Coyotes are ranked 11th in the Western Conference. “The Coyotes now have the big center they’ve been lacking in Olli Jokinen, but they still don’t have enough scoring and they’re going to miss Keith Ballard along the blue line and in the dressing room.”
Ever since Ballard was traded, all I’ve heard is how much he sucked and how much better off we are without him (these would be from fans). Thanks ESPN for pointing out what I have been saying all along. I would rather have Ballard on my blueline than on the opponents. Ballard did regress a little bit form the previous two seasons but this was his first season as a top line shut down pair. You have got to expect he’s not going to be the same player, especially since he’s in a new role. As far as the scoring, if the young guys can step up and produce like expected, we will have no problem scoring. Below us in the rankings are Vancouver, Colorado, St Louis and the Kings. Those teams don’t really surprise me. Although, if the Kings have solved their goalie problem, they may cause some trouble and upsets. Kings will be a team that I will keep a close eye on this year. They started to turn around and were getting better at the end of the last season.

Playoffs, Yet Again

Both the Caps and Canadiens won tonight. That means the Habs move on and Caps force game 7.

San Antonio Rampage won against the Toronto Marlies tonight. 3-2. They now lead the series 2-1.

That’s it for me tonight. I can’t think much after spending the day looking at housing websites. haha

I checked the rumors and there wasn’t anything that interesting out there. The one somewhat involving the Coyotes has Mike York going back the Germany to play next season. I predict this will probably happen because he didn’t really prove that he belonged in the NHL this past season. All he proved was he was good at falling down. 🙂

New Hiring at Coyotes HQ

Sean Burke was hired as “director of prospect development”. Neither azcentral nor the coyotes website states what that is. My guess (and appears to be the guess of others) is that he was hired to help montoya, tordjman and maybe some of our other goalie prospects. Someone said he might have been at the Rampage practice, but she wasnt sure if it was him or not as she didnt get a good view. He also has the time to help in business operations as a liason for corporate customers and season ticket holders. Again, job description not included. Im not sure if his liason to STH includes all or just corporate STH. Or exactly what it is he is going to be doing for the corporate customers/STH.

I have never had a huge problem with my ticket reps. The only problem i had was when there was poor planning and decision making at the Bobby Hull signing. And even then, my ticket rep addressed the problem right away and got me the two autographed figures I waited in line for but did not receive. So, I was satisfied with that service. I think some of it boils down to how you approach your reps. Ive only heard one person complain and Ive seen this person in action and after having been in customer service/retail I know that the way this person goes about it, isnt the best way. People are willing to do things for you and give you things if you treat them with respect. But I digress.

In other news, Carcillo has a torn PCL. His quote from Jim G’s blog on azc:
“It’s a bit better, just frustrating,” said Carcillo. “It was a complete tear of the PCL — I guess that’s the one you don’t need when you play hockey, that’s what they’re telling me. I don’t imagine how you don’t need a ligament in your knee to play hockey, but I don’t know.
” … Obvioulsy, I don’t want to have surgery, nobody ever does. It’s kind of a last-case scenario, but I definitely want to come back and help this team get into the playoffs, but it might not be in the cards this year. So I’ve just got to wait and see.”
It also said in the article he skated Tuesday and that it felt better. I guess we just wait and see. I hope its nothing too bad and hes able to come back before the end of the season.

There was no update on York, so Im guessing he is just day to day.

And from the sounds of it, Gretzky is going back to what worked before. Another excerpt from Jom G’s blog:
Against Dallas on Wednesday night, Joel Perrault will center a line with Shane Doan and Peter Mueller; and Radim Vrbata is back with center Steven Reinprecht, with Marcel Hossa likely on the left wing.
The big line of Daniel Winnik, Martin Hanzal and Craig Weller joins forces again, and Niko Kapanen, Mathias Tjarnqvist and either Mike York or Enver Lisin comprise the remaining line.

I hope they give Lisin a chance. Let him play and let York rest. Obviously the coaches think York contributes more than I think he does but youve called up Lisin at least let him play.Plus it gives York a little more time to heal.

I didnt get a chance to watch the game on versus tonight. I believe it was the Penguins. I worked out instead. But i will be watching the Coyotes/Stars game tomorrow night. (Im going to get a quick workout before the 630 start time) So far we have 3 of the 5 wins. I hope we can win this series this season. We need a win tomorrow night and hopefully putting the lines back together will help out with that. Although, I did like the line of Winnik, Kapanen, and Weller.

The rest of the week brings Montreal, Ottawa and Game night. My brother and I will be going down for the backstage pass for Ottawa. Him and I will also be attending game night. I went last year and had a really good time. There is also a Don Maloney chalk talk before the Ottawa game, which again, my brother and I will be attending. So its a big week for hockey. Lets go yotes!

Oh yah, we also got our Season Ticket Holder packet for next year, which includes presale for the White Out. I still have hope that we can make the playoffs.

Random Stuff

The coyotes lost again saturday night. There were so many things that i would like to change about the team/play from the last couple of games. So here goes, my changes:

1) Stop passing across the ice. Pass up the ice. Ive been watching some games (rangers/flyers, caps/bruins) and what do the teams do? they have good passes up the ice which creates good scoring chances (8 of them so far for the caps, ok , make that 9)

2) Stop the dump and chase. Im sick of this move. the other team always beats us to the puck. and why are we doing this on the power play? we have an extra guy, we shouldnt have to dump and chase

3) Get in front of the net when you are in the other teams zone. The only player we have who has consistantly planted himself in front of the net is Carcillo. With him out on Saturday, i dont remember seeing anyone consistantly getting in there and looking for the rebound. They all stand around the perimeter and practice their passing. You can pass, we get it. Now shoot and get some freaking goals!

4) Dont stand behind your own net for what seems like hours. Settle the puck down and get out of there. Catch the other team doing their line change and take advantage.

Which leads me to 5) Make quicker line changes!!!! They seem so slow when switching lines. And the do it every 2 seconds it seems. Comparing the yotes line changes to any other team and our guys seem like they are skating in molases.

and 6) Be physical. Dont be afraid to hit or be hit. When they play physically, they seem to have a better game.

Now, this is all my opinion, obviously. I dont have anything factual to back this up, just my own observations and those of others i talk to and/or read.

I dont know what happend to Joel Perrault, but he looked just bad saturday night. He looked chicken shit all of a sudden. This is the same guy who was pushing Pronger, starting the scrum in San Jose. Im wondering if he got a little hurt Thursday night in Chicago. He took a couple really hard hits that game. If so, thats fine but then dont leave the puck just sitting there for Iginla to grab!

Jones made me remember why i wanted Yandle in the lineup. Hopefully Yandle got a good dose of reality as the scratch saturday night.

Lisin was recalled for emergency purposes. Besides Carcillo, York is injured. He got a hip pointer in Saturdays game. Im glad that York is out (not glad that hes hurt) I just havent been impressed with his play much. Im also glad Lisin will be given another chance. (trade chip for the future maybe? maybe to see if hes ready for the big club?) I say put him in the top 6 and move Hossa down to the bottom 6.

Hossa has pretty much been invisible for me in the games. I only notice him on the PK and maybe once or twice in full strength.

And can i just say boynton is one of my favorites purely because hes not afraid to speak his mind? I guess he called out some of his teammates (not by name) and just basically said some of them have, more or less, given up. I love that he is brutally honest. I get sick of all the players/coaches pussy-footing around. Tell me like it is. i just wish boynton wouldnt take some of his stupid penalties, but thats part of his character/game and i deal with it and move on.

Ok, well i think thats enough for now. I started off not having much to write and apparently i had quite a bit to say.