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• Welcome Outside the Crease

  My earliest memory of hockey comes from an old grainy picture of me holding a hockey stick before I could even stand up. Growing up in Southern Ontario hockey has been a part of my family for generations. Raised by an Islanders following father and a Habs crazed mother, with a grandfather obsessed with the OHL, [...]

• better ideas

  The Canucks will get a better idea with how some of their young prospects have developed and the mindset of the youngsters when the rookie camp opens a week ahead in advance of the main camp at UBC on the 13th and 14th of September. They then head to Camrose, AB. to faceoff in a mini-tournament [...]

• Larry Brooks war mongers some more

  In an effort to create more hype and in order to ’scoop’ the Sundin story from everyone else, reporter Larry Brooks has cited ‘credible’ sources and has announced that Mats would like to sign for the Blueshirts on Broadway. While New York would seem like a good fit for Mats and boasts both Markus Naslund and [...]

• THN Rankings - East

  1 Montreal Canadiens 2 Pittsburgh Penguins 3 Washington Capitals 4 Philadelphia Flyers 5 Ottawa Senators 6 NY Rangers 7 New Jersey Devils 8 Carolina Hurricanes 9 Tampa Bay Lightning 10 Boston Bruins 11 Buffalo Sabres 12 Florida Panthers 13 Atlanta Thrashers 14 Toronto Maple Leafs 15 NY Islanders Again, I’m going to have to disagree with THN over this. If the Pens had managed to keep Ryan Malone and/or Marian [...]

• THN Rankings - West

  The Hockey News’ Rankings in the Yearly Yearbook were released, and for the West they’re as follows: 1 Detroit Red Wings 2 San Jose Sharks 3 Minnesota Wild 4 Dallas Stars 5 Anaheim Ducks 6 Edmonton Oilers 7 Chicago Blackhawks 8 Calgary Flames 9 Nashville Predators 10 Phoenix Coyotes 11 Vancouver Canucks 12 Columbus Blue Jackets 13 Los Angeles Kings 14 Colorado Avalanche 15 St. Louis Blues Detroit at the top [...]

• Pacific Preseason Preview: Are you afraid of the new look Coyotes?

  Since there’s just not that much to talk about and the subject of how the Sharks are going to get under the cap totally beaten to death, let’s start to take a look at the Pacific Division and the state of our competition, shall we? The Phoenix Coyotes came on strong at the end of season [...]

• (top) Six in the City

  Does Ottawa have their secondary scoring resolved? More specifically, is secondary scoring really an issue on Ottawa, considering they were the highest scoring team in the NHL? It is my view that Ottawa’s second line will resemble the top line of the Detroit Red Wings, albeit not nearly as offensively gifted. Like the Wings [...]

• NHL 09 Releases Ratings

  For those out there wondering who’ll be the top-ranked player in EA’s winning hockey sim, you’ll just have to wait. However, IGN has provided a sneak peak at the ratings of players for all 30 teams. An overall rating will not be released until the game is finished. You can view it here.

• Free Meal Coupons

  The best way to get a free meal is to just visit potential new homes for the Penguins. Just ask Mario Lemieux. In the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Lemieux revealed that it was never a possibility in his mind that the Penguins would leave Pittsburgh. In order to pressure the city into funding and building a new [...]

• DOH 8

  The numbers for the latest podcast are much lower than usual, and I realized this morning it’s because I didn’t mention it here.  As an avid RSS user both with blog feeds and podcast feeds, I hope all you out there in the series of tubes are keen to the wonders of automatic XML-driven updating.  [...]

• rename digs

  The Canucks will be getting down to business in a newly-named arena this fall. GM Place will be named what speculators thought, “Canada Hockey Place“. Now, my first thought about a week ago when I heard the news start up, was elation. I am partial to the honesty and integrity of the game. [...]

• Cost of success

  The summer doldrums are here…the season is still almost two months away, and the excitement of free agency is far in the rearview mirror. So I thought this would be a good time to do a little thought experiment. But first, a refresher: The year coming out of the lockout was the most exciting one [...]

• Isles to be aggressive, but that's been their problem

  Listening to Scott Gordon, the newest in a long line of Islanders head coaches, speak, I got the feeling that I had heard all of this before. Gordon, the reigning AHL Coach of the Year who beat out a handful of NHL-experienced candidates, some even with Stanley Cup championships on their resume, says the rebuilding Islanders [...]

• Auld man….in or out?

  Oh the agony of the off-season. While the hockey writers throw out the odd report on the big 2, the rest of us have to just sit back and wait for the season to near before having any attention (fabricated or not) paid to our teams. So, I’ll do my best to fill [...]

• Panthers and Leafs Talking?

  It has been reported that Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman Bryan McCabe has waived his no trade clause and has listed the Florida Panthers as one of the teams he would be willing to go to. While I am not one to write about rumours and speculation, I am so bored with the lack of hockey activity, [...]

• New Cat on the Block

  As many as 5 different sources are saying that Bryan McCabe has waived his NMC to go to Florida. Long Island was rumoured to be the favoured destination, as McCabe’s wife is from the area, but it seems like sunny Florida sounded like a good spot too. It’s funny how Florida is always able to [...]

• Trading Partners?

  Ok, so according to this morning’s Toronto Sun, Bryan McCabe is just waiting out his $2 million signing bonus, and then he’ll be available to the highest bidder. According to the article Bryan has suggested he’s willing to go to Florida, Philadelphia, Boston, the Island, or the Rangers. The Lightning are also rumoured [...]

• TSN Shortcuts

  As Canada’s #1 sports network, and hockey obviously at the forefront, I’m a little disappointed and frustrated at times by their hockey coverage, especially those of their staff writers. They’ve recently coughed up a short article on the Canucks. (The Leafs and Habs have also been covered). You’d think that for a sports network as [...]

• Koules Satisfied, Parrish Likes Vancouver

  Despite the fact that the Lightning defense still seems a little suspect, boasting little veteran presence or even a big name, Oren Koules maintains that he is satisfied with his current defensive corps. The Lightning still have to get under the cap enough to ensure that they can accommodate Steven Stamkos‘ cap hit, which would [...]

• Lightning Look to Repeat Flyers Success

  Last season the Tampa Bay Lightning fell apart at the seams and had a downright awful year which led to the trading of two of their top players and a significant overhaul of their roster. At the trade deadline Brad Richards was traded to the Dallas Stars for Mike Smith, Jeff Halpern and Jussi [...]

• Goals For vs. Goals Against and Next Years Leafs

  Ok, I’ve been punching numbers for most of the night in response to some comments left on my last posting. I ended up writing 3 long winded responses, and instead I’ve decided to summarize my findings in another blog posting. So here goes. What’s going to happen to the Leafs offense minus Mats Sundin, and [...]

• Search Over: Gordon Gets Isles' Gig

  Obviously this has already been reported by David. I’m excited about Scott Gordon because who better to lead a massive rebuilding project than a guy who just won AHL Coach of the Year? Everyone seems to rave about Gordon, so I guess we’ll see. A lot of Isles’ fans will be disappointed they didn’t go with John [...]

• Gordon Tapped, Cammi Heads for US Hall

  The Islanders just earlier today named Scott Gordon as their new head coach for the upcoming season. The AHL coach of the year will not return to Providence to defend his coaching title, moving up the ranks for his first big league job. I’m sure Garth Snow is hoping that Gordon will grow with this [...]

• Hull to USA Hockey Hall of Fame

  The press release reads that Cammi Granato, Brett Hull, Brian Leetch and Mike Richter will be enshrined in the USA hockey hall of fame, which apparently is in Minnesota. I wouldn’t think we’d need another hockey hall of fame on this continent, but the more the merrier? Mike Modano was recently inducted into the Texas Sports [...]

• they called me Eddie

  Welcome once again to “An Expert’s Audit”.  This audit will also be posted here as well as on my fantasy hockey blog at www.dobberhockey.com .  During the season I also do weekly reviews of teams for people who email in to me for a look-see.  I consider myself a pretty nice guy … well, I like [...]

• Who should stay and who should go now?

  With a glut of bottom six forwards carrying one way contracts, Canada’s Team has to soon sort out who is going to likely stick on the big club, and who is up for a trade. The top six ranks, unfortunately, are still thin by one, but I surmise (at this point, and based on nothing [...]

• Preseason Schedule Musings…

  The NHL just recently released their preseason schedule, and you can see the entire list here. A couple things that are sticking points… - I like the fact that instead of having regular season games in Europe they’re playing preseason games, and against European clubs, no less. The games mean less to them and their jetlag [...]

• Ron Wilson Has Been Here Before

  I know many have already decided the Leafs are going to finish in the bottom 2 or 3 teams in the NHL this coming season. Right there alongside the LA Kings (who I think prognosticators are under-rating), St. Louis Blues, and Florida Panthers. We’ll be in the thick of things for John Tavares [...]

• Nashville Wants More Punch, Doughty Signs

  Mark Parrish and Glen Murray may find a new home soon. The Predators counted on Alexander Radulov entering the season as one of their main scoring threats, but now that the emerging sniper has returned to Russia, it leaves a big hole on their offense. Although the Preds have decent offensive punch, without Radulov they [...]

• Canucks at Team Canada World Junior camp

  Forgetting the speculation that Cody Hodgson has stated that it is his intention to work hard and be a character guy in order to make the Vancouver Canucks this fall, Hodgson joins defenseman Yann Sauve in the Team Canada World Junior selection camp. The two were recently selected in the first and second rounds (respectively) of [...]