Playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs can either be a breeze or a challenge, all contingent on what expectations have been set. For a player like Mark Fraser, wearing the blue and white isn’t all that difficult. As a call-up at the beginning of the season from the Toronto Marlies, Fraser has played a respectable ...
Don’t look now, but the laughing stock of the league in August has become the feel-good story of 2013.
The Columbus Blue Jackets, who sported a 29-46-7 record last season (good for last in the NHL) were belittled in the offseason for sporting “an AHL roster”. Their forward lines and defensive pairings lacked depth and star power. The goaltending tandem was deemed inexperienced and incredibly inconsistent. Most notably, now-former Columbus general manager Scott Howson was seen by everybody as a serious liability, with the potential to sign off on trades that could only be seen as laughable.
When the National Hockey League implemented the shootout back in 2005, it seemed as if there was unanimous support for an exhilarating and refreshing way to end ties. That sentiment has certainly changed. The latest subject of controversy revolves around Ottawa Senator and Latvian-born Kaspars Daugavins, who stole the show in his team’s shootout loss ...
This week, the National Hockey League will hit the midway point of the season. Because the year started in January (instead of October), it is often forgot who swapped sweaters in the summer of 2012. The offseason was full of notable trades, some of which were (and others were not) worth remembering. While many of ...
One-third of the way into the shortened NHL season, there has hardly been a lack of surprise and excitement. The Chicago Blackhawks have yet to lose in regulation, the Buffalo Sabres fired Lindy Ruff after 16 years, and all three Eastern Canada teams are currently in playoff positions. Individually, the season has been very interesting ...
Each year, over 700 hockey players don the jersey of one of the 30 National Hockey League teams. Once they pull the sweater over their heads, they become a part of that team. Their nameplate still sits on the back, but what truly matters is truly the name on the front. Zach Parise is not ...
It might have been four months late, but on Saturday, January 19th, 2013, the puck finally dropped to begin the 2013 National Hockey League Season. Despite the aggressive calls for boycotts and protests, it appeared that the majority of fans were excited to see the thirty teams lace up the skates and get back into ...
It feels like just yesterday that Brian Burke walked into the Air Canada Centre, seated behind a podium taking an onslaught of questions from a media group that represented the fans on the Toronto Maple Leafs. There was a newfound excitement, fueling belief that a changing of the guard unlike any one of the 21st ...
As the clock struck midnight on Sunday morning, the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement expired. For the second time in under a decade, a work stoppage has halted play in the league. As a result, training camps will be either shortened and likely missed. There is still a possibility of the season starting on time, but ...
A couple of weeks ago, July changed to August and a new month began. In most people’s minds, the change in date symbolized the impending stoppage of warm weather, family barbeques, and vacation time. To hockey fans, it meant that it was a day closer to the (scheduled) start of the 2012-13 NHL season. In ...
