Joffrey Lupul’s career took a dramatic reversal in 2006 and the worst part is that he had no way of knowing it was in the works or that it would cause a damaging chain of events. The Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks were Western Conference finalists a few years after their shocking appearance in the Stanley Cup ...
Sifting through the league’s top defensive scorers, there aren’t many shockers. Mike Green and Tomas Kaberle have stood tallest, Dan Boyle and Drew Doughty are tailing closely, veteran Scott Niedermayer is up there and Erik Johnson is leading St. Louis in points after that freakish golf cart accident. But the surprises are clear as daylight. ...
Nikolai Zherdev’s popularity in the NHL was a bit on the downside. General managers, coaches, players, fans and fantasy hockey enthusiasts fought through God knows how many migraines in watching him out on the ice. Summing up the Ukrainian’s five-year spell is this rollercoaster: a 54-point season in 2006 as a sophomore, accompanied by an ...
Receiving a second chance in this world is unfortunately troublesome. Sometimes the hard work, positive attitude and hope are crushed by the people responsible for making the final decision. And other moments, it’s about being in the right place at the right time. Atlanta, a team introduced into the NHL in 2000 recording just 14 ...
What a time for Henrik Zetterberg to go on a tremendous tear. With all of the scepticism surrounding Detroit’s ability to cope with the losses of Marian Hossa and Jiri Hudler, the Wings slammed the door on it. Led by Zetterberg, they have won three straight outscoring their foes 19-6 since the embarrassing defeat in ...
Can’t say I saw this coming but it was a slow week for left wingers. We welcome Alex Tanguay with open arms after coming around during a stretch where Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos cooled off. Tanguay has shaken off the jitters and gotten a few bounces for seven points in six games. Numbers: ...
Everyone has a sport record locked in their mind that will live with them forever. Somebody asks a question regarding it; you automatically yell out the player, year, stats and what they accomplished that was so incredible. For myself, it’s Teemu Selanne’s rookie campaign with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992/1993 which stands on top. Maybe ...
Nicklas Backstrom clearly prefers making his teammates around him better rather than shooting. Whoever continues insisting that he should fire the puck more needs to let the Swede play his game in peace. After all, it’s gotten him 175 points in 178 career games in just over two years. Numbers: four games played, ...
One step, maybe. Two steps, highly unlikely. Three steps, forget about it. Catching up to an NHL speedster when they’ve gotten the jump on you is difficult, frustrating and usually isn’t going to happen. While they may be easy to finish a check on because of their size, you have to make sure they don’t ...
Change doesn’t always have to be for the worst. There comes a point in many players’ careers where the options diminish and the only outlet is a new club. Your former teammates, coaches and city become history while different challenges wait. Whether it be more money, greater playing time or just a matter of not ...
