David is currently at the Red Wings/Bruins game, so I am filling in tonight.
- For those who enjoyed Gabriel Morency at The Score, he has apparently been fired, writes William Houston. While he could be a bit over the top and needlessly swore, I found Morency to be entertaining. He was knowledgeable, pretty funny and pretty exciting. Not sure who is going to replace him at The Score, but that station’s decisions as of late (not good ones in my opinion) lead one to wonder what direction they are heading.
- Damien Cox comments on the crowd in Phoenix last night and the fact that now no one cares about Coyotes both in the U.S. or in Canada. He’s right and David wrote about this exact point in his Morning Papers Take earlier today.
- Kevin Allen tells Leafs fans that this next four-game stretch looks like the perfect medicine for a team turnaround. Allen is right. The Bolts haven’t won on the road, the Hurricanes look awful, the Wings are still good but not as good and the Wild isn’t anything to write home about. Only problem is, neither are the Leafs.
- Adam Proteau of The Hockey News thinks now is the time to explore a Tomas Kaberle deal. I disagree and I disagreed last season when the same suggestions were made. However now I especially disagree because the Leafs have traded draft picks. The fact is, Kaberle is an elite puck-moving defenseman who comes in at $4.25 million this season and $4.25 million next season. With Schenn and Komisarek on the back-end, the Leafs really need a valuable puck-mover like Kaberle.
- Gabriel Desjardins takes a look at the emergence of Kyle Quincey in Colorado and whether we should expect the former King to sustain his current pace. I saw Quincey play in person before the Wings let him go and was impressed–probably more so by the fact that the Wings had a defenseman in the AHL that could easily have been in the AHL but also with Quincey’s skills. He does a lot of things well but the role he has been cast into in the Rockies seems like a little much and Gabe does a terrific job of pointing out why we should expect his current numbers to drop.
- Ken Hitchcock isn’t ashamed to admit that his team targets Alexander Ovechkin. Why is this a story? Everyone who has ever played hockey knows that the best players get targeted on nightly basis. To think otherwise or complain about it is foolish.
- Nikolai Khabibulin has been added to the Russian Olympic roster for consideration for Vancouver 2010. He’s played very well in Edmonton and certainly warrants serious consideration.
Just got back from tonight’s Wings/Bruins game. The NHL was shooting a commercial and everyone in attendance was given a Hockeytown poster and asked to make some noise, flash the poster. Curious to see what the end product will look like but here is some video I shot.