Flames sign former Bruins pylon Dennis Wideman

The Calgary Flames just pulled off what many would probably consider as one of the worst moves of the summer to date. In what universe is Wideman worth that kind of money? While Wideman is a is a good offensive defensman -  he is not what I would consider a very good defenseman in the defensive zone and was a minus 26 in 2010-11.

Wideman also has a no movement clause as well.Thank God that Wideman is going to he Calgary Flames and not some team that I follow.

CALGARY, AB – The Calgary Flames announced today that they have acquired and signed defenceman Dennis Wideman from Washington in exchange for Jordan Henry and a 5th round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.

Wideman, a native of Kitchener, Ontario, has played over 500 career games with 67 goals, 184 assists for 251 points over the course of seven NHL seasons with time spent in St. Louis, Boston, Florida and Washington. Last season with the Capitals, Wideman had his second best offensive season tallying 11 goals along with a team high 35 assists for 46 points in 82 games which tied him for third in team scoring and lead all blue-liners with the Capitals.

Contract terms: 5 year contract with an Average Annual Value of $5,250,000

Leave hockey alone

Recently there has been this call to end shot blocking in hockey to facilitate more scoring in hockey. Here is the latest silly idea to be thrown out there. My suggestion is to leave the game of hockey alone and not start suggesting a bunch of gimmicks to make it more exciting.

Eric Duhatschek The Globe and Mail --- What’s on display in these playoffs isn’t hockey, it’s pinball.

Seeking a way to enhance offence, Pagé proposed that the NHL introduce a modified version of basketball’s three-in-the-key rule. The rule states that an offensive player shall not remain in the key for more than three seconds. Pagé’s application to hockey would affect both offensive and defensive players, with the primary goal to keep the area in front of the net unclogged.

It’s an idea worth considering, given how established the shot-blocking trend is today. Teams all collapse back toward the goal, with every player instructed to get in front of shots, even if they happen to screen the goaltenders. Under the Pagé plan, hockey could create a zone in front of the goaltender that perhaps only three, or even two, players a team could enter at the same time.

Naturally, purists would hate this innovation because it would mean drawing more lines on the ice, but for the sake of argument, let’s say the NHL designated the area from the goal to the outer edges of the lower faceoff circles as hockey’s key. If you permitted only two defenders to enter that area at a time, you might see some creative plays down low instead of the gridlock we have now.

You might be thinking the same thing that I am thinking? If you unclog the area around the net, the goalie is going to have a more un-obstructed view around the net and the goaltender is going to have a better chance of seeing the puck and you could end up with less scoring.

Getting traffic in front of the net and blocking shots can cause a variety of things to happen - the puck can be blocked and no goal is scored - the puck can change direction, or be directed into the net off the opposition or the defenders in front of the net.

Seriously! Defensive hockey is about teams collapsing around their nets and playing air tight defense, that’s what teams do when they don’t have the fire power to play run and gun hockey. If you watch the Capitals in this season’s Stanley Cup Playoffs this is exactly what they have done, they have effectively gotten into the shooting lanes and have clogged up the front of their net and the Capitals have blocked a ton of shots.

It even raises the larger question, which seems to have gone unasked in these playoffs. Is shot-blocking good for the game? Unquestionably, it takes courage to block shots. Nowadays, players can all rifle the puck, and as good as it is, today’s equipment cannot completely protect against the tiny gaps where the human body is exposed. If the puck hits you just right, it can do some serious damage. One of these days, a puck is going to deflect off a stick, into the face of a player and there will be a tragedy on the ice.

Hockey is a contact sport where people are going to get hurt, if you don’t want to get hurt play tennis. One of the problems is that a lot of people that have never played the sport of hockey on any level tend to be the ones that write about hockey. These are the same people that want to take fighting out of hockey.

Classy fan posts to Brendan Shanahan - No they're not fakes

There are fans that just take it too far – rewind to game seven between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals – as soon as Joel Ward scored the game winning goal against the Boston Bruins racist tweets started showing up on twitter. 

Fast forward to May 7^th 2012 the National Hockey league suspended Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux one game for his hit to the head on Devils forward Dainius Zubrus. These are some of the tweets that I found on line as fans displayed their displeasure with Brendan Shanaha.  

I apologize for the coarse language on these tweets but I am using them to illustrate a point and I think it's necesarry and important to see first hand what kind of what kind of trash fans are posting on twitter and on the internet. Some of this stuff is down right disgusting and transcend normal and decent human behavior and in my opinion is almost as bad as the objectionable and racist tweets that were targeted at Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward.

I get it, people are upset with Brendan Shanahan but come on people, lets show some decency.  

A tale of two hits

There were two hits on the ice this weekend that have gotten a bit of scrutiny. 

The first one is the hit that Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Rostislav Klesla put on Nashville Predators forward Matt Halischuk. Klesla was given a two minute penalty on the play and has a hearing on Sunday with the National Hockey League's department of player safety.

With the inconsistency with the National Hockey League’s Department of player safety there is no clue what kind of a suspension or fine we can expect in this situation, Klesla is not really a known superstar so we could expect a one or two game suspension.
This was the hit that Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin put on Rangers Dan Girardi. Ovechkin was given a charging penalty on the hit. I don't think the Ovechkin hit is overly egregious and since he's a super star the league is very reluctant to suspend him so don't count on Ovechkin getting suspended and frankly I don't think as suspension is warranted in this situation. 

Girardi had this to say about the hit: "He hit me in the head first," Girardi said. "I think it was the right call. I'm not sure what it was, whether it was charging or interference or whatever, but my head's there, and he hits it. But I think he was just playing the game hard. I don't know."

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Ovechkin's game winning goal.

This was a nice goal to win the game for the Washington Capitals - what they don't say is that the game winning goal by Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin was the result of a "very" weak call against  Rangers forward Brad Richards at the 12:29 mark of the third period, that would lead to the Capitals game winning goal four seconds later at the 12:33 mark of the third period.

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Ron Borges sticks his foot in his mouth

A friend of mine from twitter made me aware of this ridiculous, buffoonish and moronic tweet. Is this supposed to be funny? Borges also posted this retraction or apology at the Boston Herald.

I am getting sick and tired of people ripping on Tim Thomas; he's a solid American and one of the best American goalies in the game of hockey. I wish people would also realize that Tim Thomas failed to go to the White House because of his political views not because he is racist.

 Ron Borges, Boston Herald --- Few would argue that among the very rarest of things in North American team sports are hockey players of color, although Grant Fuhr was among the greatest of goaltenders, and certainly Willie O’Ree and Anson Carter acquitted themselves with distinction during their years with the Bruins.

Lastly, the team that sent Thomas home was, of all teams, the Washington Capitals, the team representing the city where Barack Obama lives and works ... apparently not to Thomas’ satisfaction.

Karma, in case you are unfamiliar with the concept, is considered “the sum and consequences of a person’s actions during the successive phases of his existence, regarded as determining his destiny.’’

So what struck me was this karmic notion: Thomas refuses to go to Washington, thus snubbing the first black president in our country’s history, and is a few months later eliminated by a black hockey player who had only six goals all season — and only that one in the seven-game playoff series.

It didn’t strike me as racial, it struck me as ironic.

If you look at the comments that are connected to this article you will see that the readers weren't very impressed with  Borges' comments either, this guy is probably lucky to still have a job with the Boston Herald. [Click to view]

Lastly, the game and series winning goal was scored by Joel Ward - who is a hockey player. 

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Thomas Clarifies the We/They statements

Goalie Tim Thomas, NHL Hockey player for the Boston Bruins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas has clarified his we/they statements that he made during the post game press conference. Personally, I think there are some in the Boston Media that are trying to make an issue out of Thomas' comments and looking further into them than they need to.

Thomas for his part clarified his “we/they” statements after Game 7 by saying he was using the word “they” to make sure his teammates were getting credit without him involving himself in the complimentary statements.

“It’s because I’m trying to give them credit without giving credit to myself. They deserve a huge amount of credit. Don’t read too much in the ‘they/us’ thing, please. What I’m trying to say is that this is a special group of guys in here. Whether we won the Cup last year or whether we failed this time. It’s a special group of guys that bodes well for the future of the Boston Bruins.” [Joe Haggerty, CSNNE]

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More hating on Timmy Thomas?

First off, if you cover hockey or watched it for more than a minute you will know that goalie are weird ducks. You have to be odd to stand in front of a rubber disk that is going 85-95 miles an hour. Like my buddies kid said once, there is no team in goalie but there is a big friggen "I"... In other words, goalies are basically in their own worlds and the game starts with and revolves around them. Think about it - a lot of times when things are going bad, goalies are the ones that the fans focus their attention on and a lot of times they get blamed when their favorite team's loses.

Of course there are some in the Boston Media that have hung on ever word that Tim Thomas has said this season, the Facebook posts brought some unneeded attention his way and you can tell by reading some of the articles in the Boston Media that there are some that want to run Timmy him out of town.

Then there were the references to the rest of the Bruins team as “they” at least five times during his postgame interview. If one were a conspiracy theorist it sounds like there is a clear separation of State and Tim Thomas going on.

"What it says about our guys is that they’re battlers and they’re still champions," he said. "They gave everything they had to the bitter end. Unfortunately this is sports and they fell short this time."

The remarks were consistent with Thomas' tendency to paint himself as an individual. [Joe Haggerty, CSNNE.COM]

Thomas would not be the first professional athlete to feel the wrath in Boston, it's a tough city to play in for professional athletes if you catch the ire of the fans, just ask Bill Buckner and Bob Stanley of the 1986 Red Sox, it's not quite as bad as Montreal but it up there.

Sifting through the debris one day after the loss

Goalie Tim Thomas, NHL Hockey player for the Boston Bruins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Boston Bruins roller coaster season has come to an uneventful and disappointing end.

Last night the Bruins were eliminated by the Washington Capitals in game seven in overtime by a score of 2-1. Before the T.D. North Bank Arena was empty, the hockey pundits were also discussing Tim Thomas’ future/fate.

With the Bruins loss, the NHL has only one high seed left in the East in the New York Rangers, whose season could come to an end at the hands of that Ottawa Senators.

I wonder if NBC execs love the prospects of a possible match-up between the Florida Panthers and the L.A. Kings in the Stanley Cup Finals as  all of their pretty match-ups have gone by the wayside. None the less, I will still be watching no matter who is playing.

Who would have thought that Detroit, Vancouver, Boston, Chicago Pittsburgh would all be out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Most of those teams were built to go deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs and are now golfing. 

So after one round the in the Stanley Cup playoffs we have lost Gary Bettman’s team the Penguins, who bowed out gracefully in game six against the Philadelphia Flyers – the defending Stanley Cup Champions the Boston Bruins, who went down with a thud to the Washington Capitals. Finally the Presidents’ Trophy winner the top seeded Vancouver Canucks fell on their nose quicker than Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler in full dive mode, as they were eliminated last week by the eight seed the L.A. Kings in six games.

I can only imagine that the NHL front office is probably pulling For New Jersey and or the New York to win their game sevens tonight so the NHL doesn’t have to face the possibility of having the Panthers and the Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Elephant in the room

So the re-emerging theme that didn’t want to go away during the second half of the station was the Tim Thomas snub and him failing to go to the White House to see the President with the rest of the game back in January. One of the questions to immediately emerge in the locker room after the game was whether the Boston Bruins are behind their former Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas.

“I think he’s a great goalie,’’ Johnny Boychuk said. “He’s saved our butts a lot throughout the year. Throughout the series, he made plenty of saves and you know he’s going to be battling for you every night. And when you have a guy like that behind you, you don’t have any worries.’’

The issue now, though, is the long summer ahead. [Boston.com]

Some of the reports don’t sound so good coming out of the Boston Bruins Locker-room. There seems to be a bit of a of a disconnect between Thomas and his fellow teammates; or this story is being manufacturing in the media? It's hard to tell because a few of the Boston media guys have failed to let Thomas live down the "famous" White House snub last January.


While I admire Tim Thomas for making a stand personally and holding true to his core beliefs, I sometimes wonder if Thomas would have been better off just going to the White House with the rest of his teammates.

"Our best players, we probably needed more out of their game," said Boston coach Claude Julien, referring to a number of Bruins. "I didn't think our team was in tune as much as it was this time last year."

And with that, a year in which Boston's season was at least partly defined by Thomas' refusal to visit the President in the White House with his teammates in January ended with some degree of irony. Some Boston reporters said Thomas walked on the sacred Bruins logo after the game; there is speculation that the divisive former Vezina winner will be on the market this summer. And it was Ward and the Capitals who sent him there. [Montreal Gazette]

This little tidbit from the Obnoxious Boston Sports fan, apparently Tim Thomas referred to his fellow teammates as they. Boy what a difference a year makes and how soon they all forget, last year the fans and media in Boston were singing Tim Thomas’ praise as he was leading the Boston Bruins through the Stanley Cup playoffs. What have you done for me lately?

With the Bruins' exit, Thomas will be freed up to focus on Mitt Romney's choice of a running mate. Thomas, who played good but not great, will draw the ire of plenty of fans and others, who will continually make the mistake of linking his Facebook posts and political edicts to the fact that his GAA ballooned to 2.14 in the playoffs this season and his save percentage tumbled to .923. Tuukka time was likely going to arrive whether or not Thomas went to the White House and appears even more likely with Thomas' use of the dreaded "they" word while discussing his teammates last night. [Boston.com]

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‘Capitals GWG shouldn't have counted’ - per Kerry Fraser

When I watched the Washington Capitals score the game winning goal I thought that the refs blew that call and while the officials can't review that goal, the rules should be tweaked to allow a review. I thought there was some interference on Thomas by Mike Knuble. According to Veteran NHL Officials Kerry Frasier that goal shouldn't have counted.

Last night in Boston reality struck when the series ended with a Game 7 overtime goal that was manufactured by Mike Knuble in another example of goalkeeper interference. After taking a backhand shot from close in that Tim Thomas saved Knuble continued on his path entering deep into the goal crease and made sufficient physical contact with the Bruins goalie to knock him off his set position and back toward the goal line. The undetected rebound was shot past Thomas as he attempted to pull his head out of Knuble's midsection and right arm.

It would defy logic to maintain that rule 69, as it is written, was not sufficiently violated for the referee to disallow this goal.

Rule 69.1 — "Interference on the Goalkeeper...Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper's ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal; or (2) an attacking player initiates intentional or deliberate contact with a goalkeeper, inside or outside of his goal crease.

"The overriding rationale of this rule is that a goalkeeper should have the ability to move freely within his goal crease without being hindered by the actions of an attacking player. If an attacking player enters the goal crease and, by his actions, impairs the goalkeeper's ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed."
[Kerry Fraiser TSN]

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A couple of nice goals - Kreider and Zajac

Here are a couple of great goals to prepare us for game seven between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals. This is the first career NHL goal of former Boston College Eagles Chris Kreider, who is now a member of the New York Rangers. The box score read - Chris Kreider (1) Wrist - ASST: Derek. Stepan (2) AND Mark. Staal (1)... Nice to see two former Division I college hockey players leaving their mark on the score sheet.



While I am not a fan of the New Jersey Devils, however as a Fighting Sioux hockey fan this line in the box score makes me happy - Travis Zajac score his third goal of the NHL -playoffs with an assist from Kovalchuk and former Fighting Sioux star forward Zach Parise. Congrats to the former Sioux hockey players that helped the New Jersey Devils extend the Devils season.

Caps want to take advantage of wear and tear on Bruins

Alzner Shoots (Photo credit: clydeorama)

After reading this blog post and some of the other ones from the Capitals media, it kind of hit me that the Washington Capitals have done a lot of extra talking and at times some serious whining during this hard fought series.

Maybe it's a difference in the two teams and their leadership. Frankly, you haven't heard the Boston Bruins doing this much talking.

Obviously I follow the Boston Bruins and I haven't watched the Capitals enough this season to know if it's their modus operandi or not. Lastly, if the Capitals think they are going to run the Boston Bruins out of the building playing a physical game they are sorely mistaken.That plays right into the Boston Bruins Hands.

Katie Carrera, Capitals Insider --- “You can tell by the way they play and where they go on the ice and where they don’t go on the ice and if they’re rushing off or if they’re on the play. You can definitely tell,” Karl Alzner said. “You’ve just got to — it’s like we said at the beginning of the series — you plant the seed. If it’s mentally with hitting them or getting in their face, or if it’s dumping the puck in every single time, then they start to know — and that’s when you start to take advantage.”

While some injuries are readily apparent — Patrice Bergeron is dealing with an upper-body ailment that likely will prevent him from taking face-offs again in Game 7, Joe Corvo missed Game 6 after taking a puck off the leg — others are less visible. Alzner said the Capitals have discussed who they think is hurting and how to put extra pressure on the Bruins in this contest.

“There’s a couple guys I know — and we talked about it — that they’re cheating,” Alzner said. “You can see where they’re cheating, and we’re waiting to for an opportunity to take advantage of it, and you’ve got to wait for that chance. It’s not always there, but sometimes it is, and it’s a fatigue thing. Hopefully you take advantage of it the next game.”

Chimera says that Marchand a diver.

The Washington Capitals forward Jason Chimera and others from the Capitals and their media has called Boston Bruins forward Brad "the Little Ball of Hate" Marchand a diver.

“No matter how much Marchand’s diving and stuff like that, is embellishing a bit, but you can’t do stuff like that because it’s going to be called.” [Capitals Insider]

The Little ball of hate, Marchand has been less than thrilled with being called a diver. Here is what he has to say. Just for the record Marchand was cut on the play in question.

“For them to judge what knocks you down, they don’t know your balance or what not on the play,” Marchand told reporters. “They’re sitting at home watching on TV. I don’t really care what they say. They have no impact on my game, my life. They mean nothing.” [Capital's Insider]

Tim Thomas not done yet

There are some that want to run the Boston Bruins starting goalie Tim Thomas out of town, these are the same people that have all but blamed the veteran goalie for a for the Bruins loses against the Washington Capitals. I know it's cliche but there is no "I" in team, hockey is a team game and loses don't happen in a vacuum. Pretty tough to win a game if your team is only scoring one to two goals per game.

If you have been watching the series against the Washington Capitals for more than a minute you will know that Tim Thomas has not been the reason the Bruins have been pushed to the brink of elimination in their first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Bruins have looked sluggish and at times disinterested in playing hockey. Offense points from their top six forwards has been the main problem for the Boston Bruins.

It's still easier to blame the goalie for the teams problems. I also got to give credit where credit is due, the Washington Capitals are not an easy out and they have played the Boston Bruins hard and have not given the Bruins much of a chance to get chances from the slot. A lot of the Bruins offensive opportunities have been from the perimeter.

Joe Haggerty, Bruins Insider ---- It would have been difficult for the Bruins to even entertain dealing Thomas heading into next season if he’d repeated his Conn Smythe, Vezina and Stanley Cup efforts again this spring, but that doesn’t appear to be happening. But his average playoff performance after turning Boston’s regular season into his own personal political agenda loosens up their attachment to the veteran goaltender quite a bit.

Thomas’ no-trade clause is gone as of July 1 and his actual 2012-13 salary drops to $3 million while retaining a $5 million cap hit – a wrinkle that will make the veteran netminder attractive to a goalie-starved team looking to hit the cap floor while saving ownership a few bucks.

While it’s clear to those that closely watched the Bruins Thomas wasn’t the same goalie this year once the calendar hit January, there is still enough value associated with the goalie to net the Bruins a few picks and a prospect this summer.

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