Scandella Gets Two Games

Minnesota defender, Marco Scandella, looks to move the puck last week against the
Montreal Canadians. Minnesota won the game 2-1.

Recently reported today, the Department of NHL Players Safety has given out a two game suspension to Minnesota Wild defender Marco Scandella.

In Tuesday night's contest against the New York Islanders, Scandella came across in his defensive zone and caught Brock Nelson in the head with an elbow. During the contest, Scandella was given a two minute minor penalty for illegal contact to the head.

Minnesota fans may argue that how can he get a penalty and suspended when there was no penalty for the Ballard hit earlier that night? The difference in the two hits was if you notice, Ballard turned and tried to brace himself for that lethal hit, which may have created greater injury to him. However, it still doesn't make the hit right and probably should have been given a minor penalty on the play. However, the Scandella hit is his second offence of the season, the first coming in the form of a fine for another elbow to the head of St. Louis forward TJ Oshie.

Central Division Preview

With most training camps about to begin, I thought it would be appropriate to preview each division in the NHL. I will highlight a little about each team in the division, highlight key players on their teams, and how I think each team will end up come April.

Lets start off by giving praise to the surprise division champs of last season, the Colorado Avalanche. Forward Matt Duchene was plagued with injury last season, and was not much help in the playoffs because of this. He now is at 100% and ready to lead this team into another division title battle. This, however, will be done without the liking of Paul Stastny due to him moving on to St. Louis this upcoming season. This young team lead by Patrick Roy behind the bench will be a tough match up for anyone in the NHL and are once again a threat to win the division once again. However, one question I have on my mind, is will Nathan MacKinnon have the sophomore slump, or will he shine like his amazing rookie season? The Avalanche open up the season October 9th in Minnesota against their heated division rival.

Moving east, we have the team that fell and went splat at the end of the season, and in the first round of the playoffs, the St. Louis Blues. With the addition of Paul Stastny, the Blues hope that all of the pieces are now in place for a legitimate Stanley Cup run. With the leadership of David Backes

and TJ Oshie, the team is looking for a rebound after a terrible end to last season. The goalie situation is also solidified as well with the net belonging to Brian Elliot. St. Louis did bring in Ryan Miller for the stretch run last season, but didn't turn out too well for them. This is one of the deepest teams on paper in the entire NHL with the likes of Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen, among many others and will post a legit threat to a division crown, if not a Stanley Cup crown. The Blues open up the season October 9th at home against the New York Rangers.

Finishing third in the standings last season, the Chicago Blackhawks are looking to make their way back to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in the last five years. As if this team couldn't find any more offensive depth, the Blackhawks went out to sign Brad Richards during free agency. However, he is a wild card. Will he play to his full potential, or will he be the inconsistent player the New York Rangers had seen the past couple seasons? One constant will be that no matter which line is on the ice, there always will be a threat to score. Whether it is Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Andrew Shaw, I think you get the point, there are 20 players on that bench who can step up and score when called upon.

That is what makes this team one of the most dangerous teams in the entire NHL. The Blackhawks open up the season by heading to Dallas to play the Stars on October 9th.

Finishing fourth was a very young, but surprisingly talented, Minnesota Wild team. It seemed like this team played with a grit after their dreadful six game losing streak midway through the season, that solidified them as a playoff team. With the addition of Thomas Vanek, and a healthy Jason Zucker, going into this season, the Wild are on the verge of being considered one of the NHL's elite teams. It's time to earn that honor by proving it on the ice with the young talent that has earned their right to play by working their way up through the AHL system. Coach Mike Yeo has all the pieces in place, so it seems, for a very memorable year in Minnesota, but that question mark in goal could be the one thing that holds them back from a possible trip to the Cup Finals. Can Josh Harding cope with his MS medications and be able to play a full season as the number one goalie? Will Niklas Backstrom stay healthy enough to stay in a strong back-up role? Then there is young

Darcy Kuemper, who still remains as an unsigned RFA, who proved that he is NHL ready to be a number one goalie. Where does he stand? If a deal is done, does he start in Iowa, or trade one of our other goalies to give him a spot with the big club? Things in Minnesota are going to be very exciting this season, but only if that goalie question mark gets solved, and fast. The Wild open up at home October 9th against the Colorado Avalanche.

Finishing fifth, and squeaking into the Western Conference's final playoff spot last season was the Dallas Stars. Tyler Seguin was a great addition to this team last season as he, and the rest of the Stars look to become a playoff contender for many years to come. Two major off season signings this season were those of Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky, giving the Stars a little more offensive punch in this very tough Central Division. In all honesty, I have absolutely no clue on where this team will end up, or how

competitive they will be in the division, or the NHL, but I will say the Stars shouldn't be a team the league overlooks. This is a team that may once again sneak into the playoffs, and possibly play spoiler to someone's playoff hopes and dreams come April. The Stars open up at home against the Chicago Blackhawks on October 9th.

Finishing just three points behind the Dallas Stars was the Nashville Predators. The Predators are a team that always seem tough to play no matter where they are in the standings, but that could be because of Shea Weber on the blue line, who knows. Seth Jones had a decent rookie campaign last season as well, and learning from one of the best defenders to ever play in this league, could he be

Weber's next Ryan Suter like prodigy? Another thing looking good for Nashville is the addition of James Neal. While in Pittsburgh, Neal sat back to the likes of Crosby, Letang, and Malkin, but will he be the number one offensive threat in Nashville? I say yes. Playing with key veterans like Mike Fischer, Derek Roy, Mike Ribeiro, and Matt Cullen, he has the potential to find the net a lot this season. Finally, they also have a healthy Pekka Rinne. One of the top goalies in the league will likely be a strong backbone to this up and coming Nashville roster, and they will need him if they want to contend for a playoff spot come March and April. Nashville opens up the season on October 9th as well at home against the Ottawa Senators.

Last, but not least, the Winnipeg Jets. Finishing off last season with 83 points, the Jets look to become a more competitive team within the division and fight for a playoff spot. This Jets roster is one that reminds me a lot of the 2002-2003 Minnesota Wild, in that they really don't have any superstar players on it, but have the pieces to be a playoff contender if they play simple hockey and each player plays their role well. Now some may argue that Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler have that potential to break out and be that dynamic superstar that the Jets are looking for, but I don't think the pieces are there on this current roster for them to do that. I see a team that is average, to just above average at best, and fans in Winnipeg are going to be very restless when the product on the ice won't be able to keep up in the Central as well as everyone else in the division.

As for will the Jets climb out of the cellar this year? No. They didn't do anything to impress me in the off season to make me think that and with this roster, I see the team being around 80 points again this season by the time it is all said and done. The Jets open up against the team formerly known as the Winnipeg Jets, the Arizona Coyotes, on October 9th.

Hawks Take Series in Six

When the first round playoff match-ups were finally set, I knew right away that the Blackhawks and Blues series would be the best one in the first round. The teams didn't disappoint.

Game one and two opened up in St. Louis, and the fans were treated to two exciting Blues wins. It didn't get much better than game one either. In a game that would go back and forth, the fans would get their money's worth as the game would end very early into the third overtime. Alexander Steen would be the game one hero, but this game would set the pace for this exciting series.

Then came the controversy in game two. St. Louis Blues captain David Backes (Spring Lake Park, MN/ Minnesota State Mankato) would take an elbow to the head from Blackhawk defender Brent Seabrook, knocking him out for the rest of game two, along with games three and four. Seabrook wold get a three game suspension for the hit, but left both fan bases with a sour taste in their mouths. St. Louis would now be down their captain, and Chicago is out of their top defenseman.

Chicago just kept pushing forward, even though they were down 2-0 in the series, but now had the advantage of being back in the Madhouse on Madison. With Chicago looking to get into the win column, and would do that via a Corey Crawford shutout. Captain Jonathan Toews would net the game's first goal, and the game winner, just 4:10 into the first period, and the game would become a very grinding defensive battle. Marcus Kruger would get the insurance empty netter to seal the 2-0 victory

Overtime would be needed once again in game four, in another contest that could have gone either way. The Blackhawks scored the first two in the contest, Andrew Shaw and Patrick Kane, but the Blues would push back and score three unanswered and Vladimir Tarasenko putting the Blues ahead 3-2 with about 7:30 left in regulation. However, the Chicago never say die attitude kicked in, and would get a few good looks at goalie Ryan Miller before Bryan Bickell would tie the game with just under four minutes to play, and the roof went off at the Madhouse. They now had the crowd on their side going into overtime and used it to their advantage. Half way through the first overtime, Patrick Kane and Ben Smith would have a rush up the ice int the offensive zone with Patrick Kane taking the puck up the left wing. Smith would charge the net, drawing the defenders off of Kane so he could take the shot, and he buried it for the winner in another very exciting game in the series that is now tied and headed back to St. Louis.

The story line for game five would be the return for Blues captain David Backes after missing the previous two games due to injury after the Seabrook elbow. Probably not playing at 100%, just having the presence of your captain in your line up can be enough to spark a locker room. That's exactly what the Blues needed after losing two straight in Chicago. Once again, this game would take overtime to find a winner in this very tightly battled series. Once again, the Blackhawks would look at their captain to come in clutch in overtime. Toews would get sprung on a breakaway and would slide the puck behind Miller to give the Blackhawks a 3-2 series lead, and put them in complete control going into game six.

Today's game was just straight up Chicago Blackhawks domination once the third period came around. Bryan Bickell and TJ Oshie would exchange goals in the first and that's the score that would hold up until very early in the third period. The Blues completely outplayed the Blackhawks in the second, but most of that was due to the Hawks penalty box door being open the whole period, but couldn't find a way to put the puck behind Crawford. At the end of the second, the Blackhawks would finally get their first power play opportunity, which would carry over to the start of the third. Just 44 seconds into the final frame, who else, but Jonathan Toews would light the lamp and put the Hawks up 2-1. There was no looking back from there. Chicago would rattle of three more goals off of the sticks of Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw, and Duncan Keith, to solidify a 5-1 game six victory and a 4-2 series win.

If I got anything out of this series, is that the Blackhawks have their playoff form from last year. This team is dangerous and has all of the tools for a repeat. The Hawks can sit back and relax for a short time and see whether they draw the Wild or Avalanche in round two.

As for the Blues, a lot of people thought that this was a team that could go deep into the playoffs this year, especially after how strong they were in the regular season, and in games one and two. However, late season injuries, and a semi struggling Ryan Miller cost the Blues and sent them home to the golf course earlier then they would have liked.

Overall, this was a very exciting, physical, fast, and skillful series to watch and will be one that is talked about for years to come. A bounce here or there, and St. Louis could be headed to round two, or at least to game seven back home in their barn.

T.J. Oshie Shootout Vine

TJ Oshie's 4 Shootout Goals from today: https://t.co/lLONOCTHtS
— Hockey Vines (@TheHockeyVines) February 15, 2014

This doesn't get old. Big day for team USA and T.J. Oshie.

T.J. Oshie is trending on Twitter.

President Barack Obama Congratulates T.J. Oshie On Twitter After Team USA Olympic Hockey Win http://t.co/E2GBKCduWv
— NESN (@NESN) February 15, 2014

T.J. Oshie is trending on twitter right now... Seriously, what a rock star. Now he has 90,000+ followers on Twitter.

T.J. Oshie be like... pic.twitter.com/M9taCTOYz9
— BroCulture (@BroCulture) February 15, 2014

T.J Oshie is the definition of pure class. #USA #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/YD7Itil5IH
— Syck Hockey® (@SyckHockey) February 15, 2014

Check out the update to our American reactions to T.J. Oshie post with the latest entry coming from Afghanistan http://t.co/X1siQgUq6b
— Eye on Hockey (@EyeOnHockey) February 15, 2014

From bars to local rinks, U.S. hockey fans react to T.J. Oshie’s shootout winner (Video): If T.J. Oshie wasn't... http://t.co/60tFa94Afz
— Puck Daddy (@YahooPuckDaddy) February 15, 2014

Oshie to file for Arbitration

Former Fighting Sioux forward T.J. Oshie is going to file for Salary Arbitration, according to Andy Strickland Oshie is still a restricted free agent so he really isn’t able to rest the free agent market as of yet.

Andy Strickland, TrueHockey.com --- Sources close to Blues forward T.J. Oshie tell me he will file for arbitration before today’s 5:00 eastern deadline.

This is often nothing more than simple protocol to protect a player’s rights. Oshie, who tied Captain David Backes for the team lead in scoring, enjoyed career highs last season in goals, assists, points, penalty minutes, and games played. His 19:31 minutes per game were second among Blues forwards while leading the way with 1:48 per game shorthanded. He also averaged over 2:00 per game on the power play.

Considering Oshie’s versatility it’s hard to put a number on his actual value. He does much more than what you find on the scoresheet and head Coach Ken Hitchcock has referred to him as one of the better defensive forwards in the NHL today. With that being said he’s also among the Blues more talented offensive players as well.