It's a Cruel, Cruel Summer

by Jes

(Yes, I used to listen to Ace of Base when I was a kid)

One major factor in why it is hard to have true dynasties in this day and age is the "Stanley Cup Hangover".

I'm not talking about the morning after drinking champagne from the holy mug, but rather the fact that the Stanley Cup Finalists often experience a drop-off in their record during the next season, especially early in the season. The fatigue builds such much that it is harder for the Cup finalists to repeat their great exploits from year to year.

With the seasons getting longer and finishing later, the summer time break for NHL teams has been getting shorter and shorter. Is it any wonder why the Ducks, who also had to put up with a long trip to-from London, faltered so badly last season?

Over at Empty Netters, the excellent MSM blog over at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Seth Rorabaugh crunches some numbers and we see that the Pittsburgh Penguins have the shortest summer break out of all the teams.

After winning the Cup on June 6, 2007, the Ducks enjoyed a brief 115 days off before starting up again on Sept. 29 in London. That was the shortest offseason for any NHL team. The Penguins will own that distinction this offseason by having only 122 days off since losing the Cup to the Red Wings on June 4.

Now, his calculations do not factor in training camps and pre-season games, so the summers for the Pens and Wings will be even shorter than indicated.

Life in the NHL is physically brutal, and players have to work harder, faster, and take more physical punishment then players from 15+ years ago. Every player has to maintain a strong off-season training regimen, leaving few players with a true chance to take a long break from physical activity and fully recover.

It should be no surprise if the Wings and Penguins start the season slowly and have problems later in the year with fatigue. The Wings, especially, might run into problems as their roster has more older players than the Penguins.

Who should really benefit? Take a team on the upswing who had a long off-season, and I figure they will start off gangbusters. How about the Blackhawks? They added some big names, and have had lots of rest. The Capitals, too, could be primed to make another jump ... although their defence corps still sucks.

So, how can a team beat this hangover and succeed year after year?

For one thing, they could stop making these fricking long trips to Europe ... really, these jaunts really seem to do a number on the two teams who participate.

Like Seth points out on his post, the Penguins experienced a rather high turnover for a Cup finalist, which means the newer players will be somewhat fresher and help compensate. The Wings? They experienced very little turnover. Perhaps cycling some fresh players in the depth positions can keep the team's skill level intact while helping offset the fatigue.

It would be foolish to think the Wings and Penguins won't be very good next season, but one must strongly consider the factor of the "Stanley Cup Hangover" when making predictions.

EuroWings: The Cream of the Crop

Don Cherry must be crying into his loud polyester pajamas this morning. Not only did his beloved Gary Roberts not skate off into the sunset with a Stanley Cup, but the Detroit Red Wings are, by far, the most Euro-laden team to ever win the big prize.

It is true that in the past, you'd want Canadian grit and heart on your roster, given how most Stanley Cup winners were very much filled with a majority of Canucks (and a few Americans). The Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, and Anaheim Ducks had very few Europeans on their roster, and gave fuel to the fire about European players sucking trash when it counts most.

Then came this year's Red Wings... just look at the European influence on their roster.

Henrik Zetterberg
Pavel Datsyuk
Johan Franzen
Niklas Kronwall
Jiri Hudler (look at how many points he scored with so little ice time)
Mikael Samuelsson
Nicklas Lidstrom
Tomas Holmstrom
Valtteri Filppula
Andreas Lilja
Dominik Hasek

Yes, almost half of their playoff roster was European.

The best players on the team? They are European. You have Conn Smythe winner Zetterberg, captain Lidstrom, and slick Datsyuk.

Role players? You have the hard-working Franzen with Holmstrom, plus defensive-minded guys like Filppula and Samuelsson.

Yeah, the evil Swedes can certainly bring it when it counts.

It's not where the players are from, but which players you get. Yes, Zetterberg and Datsyuk were once playoff non-factors, but they obviously matured and learned how to score when the spaces get tighter and the battles get fiercer.

Despite the fact that I still maintain the Wings got lucky not to play a physical opponent other than overmatched Nashville in the playoffs(Anaheim and San Jose would have given the Wings fits), we can't deny that from start to finish, the Wings were just the best team in the league this year.

Record: 54-21-7 (1st)
Goals For: 257 (3rd)
Goals Against: 184 (1st)
Power Play: 20.7% (3rd)
Penalty Kill: 84.0% (8th)

As for the Penguins, this was a great year for them, and, despite the lack of a cup, no Pens fan should look back on this season with much derision.

EuroWings: The Cream of the Crop

Don Cherry must be crying into his loud polyester pajamas this morning. Not only did his beloved Gary Roberts not skate off into the sunset with a Stanley Cup, but the Detroit Red Wings are, by far, the most Euro-laden team to ever win the big prize.

It is true that in the past, you'd want Canadian grit and heart on your roster, given how most Stanley Cup winners were very much filled with a majority of Canucks (and a few Americans). The Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes, and Anaheim Ducks had very few Europeans on their roster, and gave fuel to the fire about European players sucking trash when it counts most.

Then came this year's Red Wings... just look at the European influence on their roster.

Henrik Zetterberg
Pavel Datsyuk
Johan Franzen
Niklas Kronwall
Jiri Hudler (look at how many points he scored with so little ice time)
Mikael Samuelsson
Nicklas Lidstrom
Tomas Holmstrom
Valtteri Filppula
Andreas Lilja
Dominik Hasek

Yes, almost half of their playoff roster was European.

The best players on the team? They are European. You have Conn Smythe winner Zetterberg, captain Lidstrom, and slick Datsyuk.

Role players? You have the hard-working Franzen with Holmstrom, plus defensive-minded guys like Filppula and Samuelsson.

Yeah, the evil Swedes can certainly bring it when it counts.

It's not where the players are from, but which players you get. Yes, Zetterberg and Datsyuk were once playoff non-factors, but they obviously matured and learned how to score when the spaces get tighter and the battles get fiercer.

Despite the fact that I still maintain the Wings got lucky not to play a physical opponent other than overmatched Nashville in the playoffs(Anaheim and San Jose would have given the Wings fits), we can't deny that from start to finish, the Wings were just the best team in the league this year.

Record: 54-21-7 (1st)
Goals For: 257 (3rd)
Goals Against: 184 (1st)
Power Play: 20.7% (3rd)
Penalty Kill: 84.0% (8th)

As for the Penguins, this was a great year for them, and, despite the lack of a cup, no Pens fan should look back on this season with much derision.

Why the Canes Can't Win the Cup

by Jes

Here's a quick question for you ...

Which NHL club has 3 players with 20+ goals and 40+ points, 4 other players with 30+ points, is third best in the league with 144 goals scored, and yet isn't in the playoffs as of today?

Answer: The Carolina Hurricanes.

Yes, once again, Carolina's vaunted offensive power is not enough to make up for its weaknesses on D and in goal.

Look at the defence: Dennis Seidenberg, a good-looking defenseman that has bounced around the league and can barely hold an NHL spot, the ancient duo of Bret Yamaguchi and Glen Wesley, the goalless used-to-be-good-what-the-hell-happened Frantisek Kaberle, Mike "Ronald McDonald" Commodore, the overmatched Tim "This is all we got for Jack Johnson?" Gleason, and Nic "OT Winner" Wallin.

Now, I realize that the Canes won it all with a similar defence a few years back, but that was the mother of all Cinderella runs. We can see that now.

How can a defense where their top scorer has 12 just points, and the entire defence has a whole SEVEN goals this season, be considered anything but crap? Not one of these guys is above average, and the old guys just continue to get worse.

Of course, this point mighty be moot if the goaltenders didn't suck, but they do.

Ever since Cam Ward (undeservedly) won the Conn Smythe, people have been tricked into thinking that he's a great goaltender.

Unfortunately for Carolina, the clock struck midnight and Ward has proven himself to be a below-average goaltender during the regular season.

Year   GP GS MIN   W L  T OTL GAA  SV%

05-06  28 25 1484 14 8  0  2 3.68 .882

06-07  60 59 3422 30 21 0  6 2.93 .897

07-08  36 34 2032 17 15 0  3 2.89 .899

Cam Ward's playoff stats from that magical run? 15-8 2.13GAA 92.0SV%

His partners in crimes against goaltending this season?
John Grahame: 13GP 3.83GAA 87.5SV%
Mike Leighton: 3GP 2.66GAA 89.7SV%

That's more suckage than the movie Juno. (Guys, if your girl tries to drag you to this, you better get something reeeeeeeeeeeeeally good in return)

Let's face it, we know GM Jim Rutherford has been an exceptionally poor GM for most of his long tenure. Somehow, the guy had an outlier of a year where he made good-for-value signings (like Stillman), made some good deadline deals, and had all of the pieces fall into place. Now? We see he is unable to fill the holes on the back end and the Canes have few prospects that they can deal for veteran assets.

Unless the Canes can do something about their glaring weaknesses, let's not fool ourselves into thinking they can win another Stanley Cup. Winning their weak division? It's possible, and it'll be the only way the Canes make the playoffs. Sad, but true.

---

Joe Pelletier from The Legends of Hockey blog sends this message to our readers

"I've officially gone crazy. In the past weeks
over at GreatestHockeyLegends.com I've compared Vincent Lecavalier to
Jean Beliveau, Niklas Lidstrom to Raymond Bourque, and Martin St.
Louis to Yvan Cournoyer.

Perhaps my latest set of comparables is a bit of a stretch, but yet
somehow very fitting. Or at least I think so.

Former New York Rangers playboy Ron Duguay is compared to PBS' "Joy of
Painting" host Bob Ross."

Somehow, I doubt Bob Ross ever got Cher in the sack, but what do I know?

Photo of the Day: Stanley Gets an MRI

Some guys do strange things with the Stanley Cup ...

Dustin Penner? He decided to take it for an MRI.

After a good hour's drive from Winnipeg, Uncle Dale pulled up in front of the Boundary Trails Health Centre, where Dustin's Mom, Linda, is a nurse. His grandfather was there to meet him, too. They took the Stanley Cup through the hallways, saying hi to so many of the patients, then stopped in an area with which Dustin is all too familiar. In fact, he has spent so much time in this particular room that his photo is taped to the MRI machine there. "Hey, they're responsible for putting me back together," he smirked with a shrug.

Penner better have made the most of his time with the mug, since he'll never get close to it again as a member of the Oilers.

Photo of the Day: 1 <3 Spam!

by Jes

Time for a little photo spam...


Selanne and his friends with the Cup... how very Finnish of them. After this photo was taken, they beat each other with birch leaves and played the HNIC theme song with their armpits.


A photo that'll make any Oilers fan throw up their Subway sandwich. Pronger, his bimbo jezebel wife, and spoiled little blonde brats celebrate with the Stanely Cup.

Just your average confused Avs fan ...


Palffy has sure let himself go after retirement. How fast can he lose the extra pounds?



Hell, just talking seems to make him sweat. How out of shape is he?



Well, at least he's not as out of shape as Robert Svehla. Somebody's been busy at the buffet table!