Mar 08

Imagining How the NHL Will Look in 2015: Part I Canadian Pipe Dreams

Posted on March 8, 2013 by G

The NHLPA has given its approval for the proposed realignment plan for the 2013-14 season yet included the ominous statement “to be re-evaluated following the 2014-15 season”. Obviously this could just be a ploy by Fehr and co. to not let the owners run wild, but more than likely it gives them a chance to try this system out and more importantly, after 2015 a few dominoes should fall, namely relocation and/or expansion.

The Phoenix Coyotes situation has dragged on far longer than anyone would like to admit, sooner or later this team will no doubt have to move with Seattle as the most heavily rumoured destination. Also, don’t forget that there will be a new NHL sized arena in Markham, Ontario ready in 2014 and one in Quebec City the following year, making these two cities very likely destinations for expansion.

Now if we were to get two more teams in Eastern Canada how on earth would that work within the current setup? Obviously with there already being eight teams in both Eastern Conference divisions, it probably wouldn’t work directly, unless we want to put Quebec with the Pacific Division, so it would require some work.

In this post we’ll look at the most likely possibilities to resolve this oddly complex problem that looks like it has a very simple solution yet always seems to cause some problems…

For the purpose of this post, we’ll rechristen the Quebec team the Nordiques and the second Toronto Area team the Legacy since that rumour was floating around for awhile, even if it is a stupid name.

Here’s the first logical, geographical (and therefore least likely) option.

So here we have Detroit and Columbus get booted back to the Western Conference to make room for the two teams gained in Eastern Canada, this makes Colorado have to join the Pacific teams which is easy enough. The Coyotes playing Phoenix or Seattle makes no difference with respect to this option, since either way they’d be in the Pacific Division.

Now here’s the hard part: There is only room for one extra team to join the re-renamed Northeast Division which doesn’t have room for both Florida teams who have to go to the Atlantic where they belong, so the most Northeasternly “Atlantic” team has to move division, and that unfortunately is the Pittsburgh Penguins which takes them away from Philadelphia. The Pens-Flyers rivalry is the entire reason that the Florida Teams are lumped with the Northeast teams, so while this alignment may make the most sense geographically, it’s not the best schedule for Rivalry Night on NBC Sports, with all those Penguins-Nordiques games to show.

So the NHL doesn’t want to upset the Penguins, Flyers, Red Wings, or NBC, so who do they want to upset? Well let’s look at recent history and we can see who they don’t care too much about…

That’s right, those two teams in Florida haven’t suffered enough! This would make the Lightning and Panthers the two Eastern Time Zone teams in the Western Conference team, but it has to be someone, right? Add in the fact that there isn’t that big of a trip to Nashville, Dallas, or even St. Louis and it’s not actually too bad, long trips to Winnipeg notwithstanding.

Both Eastern divisions would be absolute gold mines for the CBC and NBC respectively, it’s hard not to imagine the NHL going ga-ga over this. Now if we care a bit more about geography we could trade Tampa and Florida for Carolina and Columbus, which could make a bit more sense, even if it would be tough on Carolina.

In both of these scenarios, scheduling is not too complex: each teams breakdown would be 32 games against non-Conference opponents (2 against each of the 16 teams, plus 30 in division games (4 against 5 teams and 5 against the other 2 on a rotating basis), plus 20 games against non-division games in your Conference (2 against four of the teams and 3 against the other four). 32+30+20=82.

But why must we be so caught up with the four division paradigm? Remember when the NHL was pushing for four Conferences, well two more Northern teams can give us a really interesting option with that actually…

Here we get a very simple design with a clump of teams in the North, South, East, and West. Sure Columbus is hardly “South” and Colorado is barely “West” but the line has to be drawn somewhere. Both the Southern and Northern Conferences end up with five teams in the Eastern Time Zone and three in the Central, but that’s not too bad. The travel distances are obviously lower in the Eastern Conference, but are pretty equitable everywhere else.

Plus, Detroit gets reunited with Chicago and we get a cool hybrid of the current Northeast Division and the old Norris Division. Sure Toronto and Montreal are split, but they have spent more of their time since the 1967 apart than together anyway.

The biggest concern is the lack of star power teams in the Southern Conference, but who knows what big players will end up on any of those teams. Add in the fact that one of them will be in the “Final Four” every year to build some momentum in some struggling markets.

With this, we’ll go back to the NHL’s four-Conference schedule, each team plays a home-and-home against the 22 non-Conference teams and then the other 38 games against in Conference opponents, six against three teams and five against the other four, bringing things to 82 games nicely.

Now the second option is probably the most likely, but the third one is pretty fun to think about and it sure beats the idea of Quebec being in the Pacific or Boston in the Central,doesn’t it?

Next time we’ll look at a few different options like having teams in Phoenix and Seattle, and just how that will make things look.

Feb 01

Weekly Plus Minus: Rumble Fall-out, Dominant Sharks, Nail Fails (or does he?) and More!

Posted on February 1, 2013 by G

What a week it was! Since the last retrospective we had our first new WWE Champion since November 2011, a 19 year old phenom raked through the coals, and our favourite goalie in the world troll us with his excellent play. Oh so much to discuss!

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Predictable Booking: Most of the Royal Rumble went as we said it would happen, and you know, that’s not really a bad thing. Rock-Cena II is the money match, with an outside chance of a Triple Threat involving Punk, and the best way to do that was to have Punk drop the title and have Cena win the Rumble, otherwise it would just feel a little forced.

Before anyone complains about the predictability, remember all the times when the WWE swerved us for the sake of swerving us? Remember when Batista won the WWE Title back in 2009 only to have him drop it due to injury the next night and get it back to Orton through BS reasons? We should be glad that the WWE didn’t do something weird like that with having someone else win the Rumble and give us the most predictable Elimination Chamber match in history.

Add in the fact that we got the “shocking” reveal that The Shield and Brad Maddox are in cahoots with Punk and Heyman. This gives us a potential Dangerous Alliance 2.0 which also includes Brock Lesnar. If the strong booking of The Shield continues, then we have some real potential for the rookies to be elevated like few have been in recent memory.

If anyone is complaining about the straight forward story progression, remember the Road to Wrestlemania is just getting started, there will surely be some bumps and detours.

However, not everything predictable has been good this week..
Predictable Deadlines: Was anyone in the world not surprised when Greg Jameson missed his deadline to secure money to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes?

Things are quite bleak for a franchise that has been through some very rough times over the past several years. It’s hard not to feel bad for Coyotes fans today…yes, we’re sure that they do exist.

Now hockey fans in the Seattle area on the other hand should be thrilled.

Trolluongo: It’s almost as if Roberto Luongo figures out how people in Vancouver want him to play, and he goes out and does the opposite.

They want him to pitch a shutout, he goes out and shits the bed in front of Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin just to see what would happen. They want him to be terrible so everyone can feel good about Cory Schneider and what does he do? Play lights out, earning a shutout in his most recent game and earning the nod against the hated Blackhawks and the Canucks fans are cheering for him.

Sure he’s increasing his trade value, but it’s also incredibly distracting for the Canucks and their always reasonable fans. It’s actually getting hilarious to watch.

Break in the Streak?: Recent rumblings have Undertaker’s status for Wrestlemania in doubt which could lead to the first Wrestlemania in 13 years and only the third since they started having double digits to not feature The Dead Man.

Of course this shouldn’t be too surprising consider The Undertaker’s age and already limited schedule, but it sure is not good news. One could easily argue that The Undertaker has been involved in the best match in each of the past six Wrestlemanias, going all the way back to his war with Batista at Wrestlemania XXIII and to not have a dependable, high quality contest and if the rumours of CM Punk being this years streak victim are to be believed, then we could just well be robbed of something great.

Jaws has Nothing on These Sharks: One of the biggest surprises so far this season has been the insane start of the San Jose Sharks who have roared out to a 7-0 start. All of this on the heels of them being finally discounted by hockey pundits everywhere (maybe even here too…).

For this teams entire history there has been one pretty clear pattern. Whenever people count them out they are at their best. When people expect good things out of them, down they go.

So it’s clear, we should never believe in them, then they will be dominante. Which will most certainly make people start to believe in them again, which will make them choke, which will make everyone doubt them, which will…

Fails Against Nail: Last week we ignored the entire Nail Yakupov celebration hooplah, hoping instead it would go away. Yet here we are.

A nineteen-year old scores his first big goal and celebrates and everyone nearly crucifies him. A few days later he scores another huge goal and does a very subdued celebration with his teammates and everyone is still all over him.

Make no mistake, this is about one very clear thing, the country he is from. Don’t believe me? Wait until Nate McKinnon gets his first big goal for the Columbus Blue Jackets or Calgary Flames and see what the reaction is.

Prediction for the Week: Luongo gets pulled in the Chicago game and everyone goes back to hating him.

Jun 01

Weekly Plus/Minus: RAW is Show, Wrestlemania XXIX, Lidstrom Retires, Still no Plan B for the Coyotes

Posted on June 1, 2012 by G

Wow, what a crazy week it’s been! The Stanley Cup Final gets underway, while Wrestlemania XXIX starts to get planned. But you know what there is no plan for? The Phoenix Coyotes!

So much to talk about, only one thing needs to be said…

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Eighteen Year Monkey Off the Back: Unless you are from Manhattan, how could you not have cheered last Friday?

Despite being more successful in recent history, the Devils have long been in the shadows of the Rangers. This seems to have been made oddly emphatic since the 1994 Conference finals, when the Rangers defeated the Devils.

Even though since that goal Stephan Matteau scored, the Devils have won three Stanley Cups and made one other trek to the finals, they still don’t have the same cache as the Rangers. This seems to be complicated by the fact that the Rangers seem to so frequently get the better of their cross-river rivals in the Spring.

Yet somehow this Friday when Adam Henrique channeled his inner Martin Gelinas, that all changed. David was able to slay goliath, just for one night. How could you not love that?

Plus it stopped us from getting a New York City Stanley Cup and Super Bowl sweep…although technically teams that play in New Jersey can do that this year.

60 Days for Idiocy: Just when you think Randy Orton has grown up, word comes out that he was given his second Wellness Violation, and will be suspended for the next sixty days. His next Wellness Violation will lead to his termination, per company policy. Orton was also suspended for behavioural issues a few years back.

This is clearly disasterous for the company that is already spreading it’s top names too thing. The slack will need to be picked up by the likes of Cena, Punk and Sheamus. While The Miz and Dolph Ziggler had feuds teased with the Viper this past week, and now will need to find a new opponent.

To make things worse, he will miss the 1000th RAW in July, which is slated to be in his hometown of St. Louis.

You stay classy, Mr. Orton.

Goodbye to a Legend: Arguably the greatest defenseman of a generation announced that he will hang up his skates. After 20 season, 4 Stanley Cups, and 7 Norris Trophies, Nicklas Lidstrom is set to retire at the age of 42.

Even if you are one of the many Red Wings haters out there, it’s hard not to have the utmost respect for their captain. He has been an absolute model for class and consistency over the past two decades. One has to wonder exactly how the Red Wings will replace this hugely important member of their blueline, and how much Ryan Sutter will ask to fill those skates.

Ratings Nightmare: This past edition of Monday Night RAW gave the lowest rating of the year, coming in at an abysmal 2.7.

This has reportedly lead to a mass panic backstage at the WWE. Apparently the CM Punk-Daniel Bryan match lost viewers, which could lead to some pretty disastrous consequences for us fans of workrate. Add in the fact that this was the first Monday night to not include John Cena in a very long time, and it’s pretty clear what is going to happen going forward.

While blame will be thrown at the likes of Brodus Clay, Big Show, Daniel Bryan, or Alberto Del Rio, the fact remains that the WWE has done a terrible job building any new stars in a very, very long time. The fact remains that Cena is 35 years old now, and can’t have much more than 2-3 years left of his current work load. Somebody needs to both step up individually and be given the support from the company to do so. Punk was close last year, but the company dropped the ball huge with his return and non-feud with Kevin Nash. Hopefully they can do something to ensure that this doesn’t happen with anyone else.

Lesnar vs. Taker: Apparently the plan in the works is to have Brock Lesnar challenge The Undertaker at Wrestlemania XXIX. This obviously plays off their infamous face-off from a few years ago, and can even go back to Lesnar’s feud with Taker in his first run with the company.

Obviously a match like this will give the company a massive pay day, but more importantly it gives us the chance to have John Cean defeat The Rock in a rematch at the big event, which would most certainly be the other side of this exciting coin.

Ohh and we could get Cena-Taker at Wrestlemania XXX, what’s not to love about that speculation?

No Plan B? In his “State of the NHL” Address before Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Gary Bettman once again address the Phoenix Coyotes. He stated that the NHL is committed to the Jameson group, but as of right now there is no Plan B. So neither finding another buyer or relocation has been considered.

This is either a straight face lie, or flat out idiocy. There are so many problems with the proposal for Jameson to buy the Coyotes, that certainly a snag will be hit somewhere. Something is going to happen where the NHL will be forced to own the team again, or the team will end up in Quebec, where they should have been years ago.

Prediction for this Week: The Stanley Cup Final is 3-1 for the Kings after four games.

May 11

Weekly Plus/Minus: Paul Heyman on RAW, Braden Holtby is Made of Rubber, Fatal Four-Way, Some People are Jerks, and MORE!!!

Posted on May 11, 2012 by G

Welcome back to our weekly look at the boons and busts in the world of hockey and professional wrestling! Three of the four Conference finalists have been set, with the last series going seven games. Monday Night RAW got a huge surprise when Paul Heyman showed up and delivered an amazing promo, and a ton more happened!

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Braden Holtby is Made of Rubber: Why you ask? Well because he always bounces back!

Holtby’s numbers coming off of a loss are simply insane. After his great performance in Game 6 against the Rangers, he is 9-0 after losing a game. This is simply insane, how can you be so good to have not lost two games in a row?

Add to the fact that the last six of those wins have been against the New York Rangers or the Boston Bruins during these playoffs. Right now, George MacPhie looks like a genius for trading Varlamov for a 1st and 2nd round draft pick, and for not panicking when Vokoun and Neuvirth were not getting it done earlier. Obviously we need to wait and see if he’ll turn out more like Ken Dryden or more like Jim Carey, but it’s very fun to watch right now.

Phony Press Conferences with Greg Jamison: Seriously, what is going on in Glendale?

The NHL announces a Press Conference and it seems like we finally have a local owner in Arizona, who can keep the team there…right? Well not so fast. It later gets turned into a “Media Availability Day” to update everyone on the state of the sale, which is that nobody knows what’s going on. No offer has been presented to City Council, nothing was really made of the Goldwater Institute, and here we are in the middle of May with nothing concrete going forward.

This isn’t like in Atlanta where things fell apart very quickly, this has been going on for seriously three years. It’s simply unbelievable that this has dragged on for this long and nothing has been resolved. One can’t help but wonder if they are just throwing up smoke screens until the Coyotes are eliminated from the playoffs and then announce the move, because remember who the tickets sales are helping…

Paul F’n Heyman: Paul Heyman graced our screens for the first time in a very long time this past week, and how could you not get excited for it?

Despite not appearing for a wrestling promotion in a few years, Heyman never missed a beat. Even in reading a prepared statement Paul Heyman is able to get everyone to hold on to every last word coming out of his mouth. This man is an absolute genius on the microphone, and we can’t help but hope that he plays a part in the Brock Lesnar storyline going forward, the thought of him working as an agent/mouth piece/corner man for Brock Lesnar in his Summerslam match against Triple H is every bit a plus.

9/11 First Responders…really?: In the intro to Game 6 of the Rangers-Capitals series, CBC Host Ron MacLean foolishly compared NHL Players to the firefighters and policemen that rushed into the flaming wreckage of The Pentagon and World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001.

War metaphors in sports really need to stop. Every game is not a “battle”, or a “war”, and these men are not “soldiers” or “warriors”. Brad Richards and Alexander Ovechkin are very talented athletes engaged in a struggle on behalf of their billionaire owners, nothing more. To compare them to soldiers, police officers, or anyone else is down right insulting to the people who are risking their lives.

In case you haven’t seen the video, have a look and wonder…

Fatal-Four Way: Alberto Del Rio challenging Sheamus for the World Heavyweight Title at Over the Limit wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire. After a very fun tag match on RAW, things got changed as Chris Jericho and Randy Orton were added to the match.

These four are certain to put on a great show, and hopefully are able to lead to some interesting spin-offs down the line. All six possible one-on-one matches featuring those four are incredibly intriguing and it should make for some interesting feuds going forward. This can add some much needed luster to the Sheamus-Del Rio feud since either of them can win this match without pinning the other to set up easy motivation going forward.

Of course, what puts this in the plus more than anything else is that it means that Orton-Kane is finally done.

David Menzies: How is this for a great hook to start an article?

Question: When do you know that a public figure really needs a P.R. boost?

Answer: When that person wraps himself in the rainbow flag.

If that doesn’t make you want to throw up, then I don’t know what will. The “columnist” David Menzies lead a recent article on the Canadian Version of the Huffington Post with this. What’s worse (and keeps it relevant to this site) is that the public figure he is accusing is Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke.

Burke, whose gay son was killed in a car accident, is also one of the founders of the If You Can Play, You Can Play initiative started a few months ago. Menzies accused Burke, as well as former New York Ranger Sean Avery, of standing up for gay rights as a means of shielding himself from criticism by “Milking the gay angle for all it’s worth”.

First off, to accuse Burke of starting “You Can Play” based on anything other than the memory of his son is disgusting, ever Brian Burke would not stoop to that level. Secondly, if he was out to escape criticism it has clearly failed, as people continue to call for his job. Lastly, Menzies also called for a boycott of the Grey Cup since they are allowed to use the Imperial System but nobody else in Canada is allowed to, alright so that point may not be relevant, but it shows what kind of a guy we’re dealing with.

By the way, he doesn’t work for Fox News, he gets to grace our televisions North of the Border, working for a company that starts with an “S” and ends with an “un Media”. What a wonderful time to be Canadian…

Prediction for the Week: Rangers win 3-1 against the Capitals, then get a split in Manhattan against the Devils.

May 07

How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Start Loving Sunbelt Hockey

Posted on May 7, 2012 by G

You can practically see the torches and pitchforks at the NHL head offices. For the first time in 16 years, and only the third time since the 1967 Expansion we do not have any Canadian teams playing past the first round. What’s worse the Final Four of the Western Conference features four of the worst kinds of teams, Southern teams.

You can feel the rage coming from North of the border, how can places that don’t get any snow appreciate *our* game? Add in to the fact that a team in DC is still playing, a team from Miami was one goal away from the second round, and Tampa Bay and San Jose both made deep playoff runs a year ago, and the game all Canadians love is under attack from some Great Southern Menace.

At the start of the season everything was looking great for Canadian teams. The Canucks were still considered Stanley Cup contenders, the Maple Leafs, Flames, and Canadiens were considered potential playoff teams, and the Oilers and Senators had a wealth of young talent that could break through in a few years time. But best a team was saved from the apathetic clutches of a failed Southern market and brought back to the True North Strong and Free to become, at the very least, the second favourite team of 35 million people in the Northern half of the continent.

Even better, the prospects going forward looked great. The team in Phoenix was still without an owner, with rumblings that teams in Miami, Columbus, and Long Island may need to look elsewhere, while they were building new NHL ready arenas in Quebec City and the Great Toronto Area. Maybe we could end up Making it Nine!

Well since then things have changed, dramatically. The Coyotes and Panthers won their division and improved their attendance, the Blue Jackets signed a new lease with the city of Columbus for roughly the next millenium, and the Islanders are almost certainly going to stay on Long Island, even if they end up in Brooklyn.

Worst still the Oilers, the Leafs, and the Canadiens all finished in the bottom five in NHL Standings, the Calgary Flames predictably finished 9th, and after a late season collapse the Winnipeg Jets were unable to make the playoffs. Only the Canucks and Senators made the playoffs, with both bowing out in the first round.

Clearly this is not a good time for hockey north of the border. The Sunbelt is the new king of the NHL!

The truth is, this rage is misguided, misinformed, and fits an overly simplistic narrative.

For starters, this years playoffs have been wildly unpredictable. Who on earth would have imagined Vancouver, Pittsburgh and Boston all bowing out so early? These playoffs have been very flukey so far, and it’s foolish to react like this, especially when the last eight Cup finalists play in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, British Columbia, and Massachusetts. With the warmest place among them being Vancouver, which only gets 3 cm more snow a year than St. Louis for the record. So to say that we are in an era of “Sunbelt Hockey” is looking at the trees and neglecting the forest.

Secondly, and most importantly: bemoaning Southern markets really should be passe. Despite failures in Atlanta, and hiccups in Phoenix, the Great Southern Migration of the 90s has mostly been successful. Nashville and San Jose consistently have very high attendance, and LA, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, and Florida have had their off-ice success tied to on-ice success, which is exactly what has happened in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Boston in the past decade. But more importantly, the NHL has increased their media footprint – do you really think that NBC would have signed such a lucrative deal for 30 teams North of the Mason-Dixie line?

Many Canadians don’t remember ever becoming hockey fans, they just sort of were. Children cheer for the same team that their parents love. But what if their parents aren’t hockey fans? How can they find an entry point into this wonderful game?

My parents are not sports fans at all, so I entered the game a little late. My older half-sister was a big Montreal fan and the spring of ’93 got her more excited than words can describe. Between her joy over Montreal’s miracle run and the ’92 expansion into Ottawa, I was hooked. It certainly didn’t hurt that the playoffs the next year in ’94 were among the best in history, clearly those two years had a tremendous effect on an impressionable 10 and 11 year old.

Who knows, maybe this miracle run by the LA Kings, or the probably news that the Coyotes will stay in Phoenix could help some other kid get hooked, and what’s not to love about that? Sure they may never be able to hold a Winter Classic there, or they may not have the steep tradition related to the game, but it’s time that we share it with someone else.

Mar 23

Weekly Plus/Minus: Wrestlemania XXIX, Hawks vs. Canucks, Playoff Races, and more!

Posted on March 23, 2012 by G

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Wrestlemania and the playoffs are fast approaching, it’s too exciting here at Bladejobs of Steel to even type and intro, hit the music.

Wrestlemania XXIX Plans: Word from Wrestling Observer is that the WWE wants to do another year long build for their Wrestlemania Main Event. They are apparently considering John Cena, The Rock, Steve Austin, and The Undertaker for this high profile match.

The only ones that really pique my interest are either Cena-Undertaker or Austin-Punk. Austin vs. Punk would be a perfect cross-generational dream match, while John Cena is far and away the most likely person to break the Streak, and it would be great to see him prepare for a year with possible spin-off feuds with Triple H, and Kane in the build up.

Blackhawks vs. Canucks: To see two All Stars like Daniel Sedin and Duncan Keith engage in dirty plays like that is pretty reprehensible. There is no discussion that Keith will and should be suspended for his Tito Santanaesque diving elbow. Sedin should be suspended but almost certainly won’t be, since he’s already injured and there kind of isn’t a point in taking an injured player out of the lineup.

These are jobs that should be left to the goons and not the star players in each lineup, especially this time of year. Should Daniel Sedin miss a great deal of time you have to figure that the Canucks Stanley Cup dreams have to wait at least another year.

Blackhawks vs. Canucks: Sure the game was dirty, but how was it not awesome?

These two teams have the best rivalry since Colorado-Detroit in the late 90s. Every single game is an absolute war, and it’s impossible not to have some emotional interest in this.

It’s actually a shame that these teams seemed destined for 2nd and 6th in the West this year, that would mean that it’s impossible for them to meet until the Conference Finals, and there are some people in Detroit, Nashville, and St. Louis who will do their best to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Plan B: TSN’s Darren Dreger Tweeted yesterday that the NHL will consider Plan B in the ongoing Phoenix Coyotes Ownership Saga. Apparently the NHL has potential buyers interested in keeping the team in Phoenix, but little progress has been made, so will consider investigating relocation options next week with Seattle, Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Quebec City all being the conversation.

Two things immediately spring to mind here: one, I’ll believe it when I se it, and two, what the hell is taking so damn long?

The fact that the NHL still owns this team is an absolute embarrassment, there was the perfect opportunity to move them to Winnipeg last year so we could have really had the Jets fly again. Instead they stalled and got the Thrashers out of town. Now the NHL will no doubt stall and try to keep the Glendale Money Pit around a little bit longer, before announcing a move to either Seattle or Quebec City after the Coyotes are eliminated from the playoffs.

Playoff Races: What is not to love about this time of year? Every game not involving the Columbus Blue Jackets or Edmonton Oilers has something riding on it!

The Eastern Conference has the Capitals, Sabres, Jets, and suddenly the Hurricanes separated by four points with only one playoff spot left for them. The Western Conference is much more chaotic as the Dallas Stars, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Kings, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks, and Calgary Flames are all separated by only three points with the 3rd, 7th, and 8th seed all up for grabs.

Every game is a ton of fun to watch, and it’s hard not to be excited for the season finale on April 7 when all 30 teams will be in action and the races most certainly will come down to the wire, with the most intriguing game being the very last one of the season when LA visits San Jose, with potentially both teams fighting for their playoff lives.

Talkie Time: The past several episodes of RAW seem to end all the same, with some sort of promo involving either The Rock or The Undertaker. While it’s not a terrible way to end the show, it’s getting very repetitive.

The four Main Events of Rock-Cena, HHH-Taker, Jericho-Punk, and Bryan-Sheamus all seem to be getting build up in a very promo heavy fashion. This is absolutely required for Rock-Cena in my mind, and understandable for HHH-Taker, the two title matches need some more hatred. Sure all four men involved are great on the stick and they have been in some tag matches and what have you, there hasn’t been any sort of Oh-My-God-These-Guys-Are-Going-To-Kill-Each-Other moments.

Hopefully with Jericho-Punk getting personal, we can have those two brawl all over the arena on Monday night to really help give us a sense of hatred. I’m still not sure what is driving the Bryan-Sheamus feud to be honest, it seems like it is just not a focus at all here. Sure the show will be amazing, but there just doesn’t seem to be a ton of hatred going into it, which is a bit of a shame.

Prediction for the Week: The Miz and Rey Mysterio are the final two members of the GMs Battle.

Mar 02

Weekly Plus/Minus: Cena vs. Rock/Punk vs. Jericho, Trade Deadline, Phoenix Coyotes, Darcy Reiger, Senators in Trouble?

Posted on March 2, 2012 by G

This week was a little quiet with no WWE Pay-Per-View and a lackluster NHL Trade Deadline, but plenty of people have separated themselves from the pack for good and bad reasons.

Promos on Raw: This may be a copout but it’s hard to differentiate between the two amazing face-to-face confrontations that served as the bookends of Raw this past Monday. All four of CM Punk, Chris Jericho, John Cena, and The Rock treaded the line between work and shoot, between insider and populist with near perfection.

It was almost certainly designed to make the two New School stars look better. Punk slapped Jericho down with his “You were never the man”. Cena came out and did more in two minutes than The Rock did in twenty, regardless of how many notes he had on his wrist — which may or may not have been planned.

As was said here recently, and will probably be said again, these two main events have a strange duality with one another. Both are cross-generational dream matches, both involve men who are “The Best” but in very different ways. The fact that both of these matches are going to take place on the same night is the closest we may see to poetry in the squared circle.

The Most Boring Trade Deadline Ever: Wow was that ever a letdown eh? No Rick Nash, no Jonathan Bernier, no Derek Roy, hell there wasn’t even a trade for Jaroslav Spacek or Bryan Allen!

With the parity, salary cap, and conservative nature of the teams this really wasn’t a huge surprise, but still a bit of a let down. I almost feel bad for the guys on TSN and Sportsnet who got to spend the whole time talking about Andrei Kostitsyn and Paul Gaustad. Sure that Cody Hodgson trade was a surprise, but that was hardly a blockbuster, and it came at the last possible minute.

Really there weren’t even any clear winners or losers on the day, except for one man…

Darcy Reiger: The Sabres GM was a borderline miracle worker on Monday. It really was a seller’s market. The fact that he was able to turn an expiring contract on a third-line centre to a 1st round draft pick and an AHL Prospect into a second line centre makes him a miracle worker on the same level as Montgomery Scott.

Things have been an absolute disaster in Buffalo and a lot of the blame can fall on Reiger for giving those terrible contracts to Ehroff and Leino, but he may have just saved his job on Monday.

My name is Ozkanedias, king of kings; look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!: We were treated to a great triple threat tag team match this past Monday. The right team went over because they were a better team. All six of Primo, Epico, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Ziggler, and Swagger busted their ass to give us a fun TV Match that got me excited at the thought of a rematch (potentially with ladders?) taking place some time soon, like say April 1.

Then along comes the Big Red Machine who destroys them all, and completely defecates on their hard work. Kane has been doing very well of late and needed a big week, but this is just ridiculous. To have him destroy three current title holders and two men who challenged for the WWE Title one-on-one within the past year is mind-boggling.

And this company wonders why they have no mid-carders…

The Phoenix Coyotes: How the hell did that happen?

A month ago the Coyotes were around 12th in the West and looking like they would miss the playoffs, and could get a head start on either studying French or Starbucks orders. Then they go a staggering 11-0-1 in February and are now looking pretty in 3rd place.

This team has no real stars, no fans, and the constant threat and distraction of leaving town. The fact that they are doing so well is flat out amazing. It’s hard not to root for them come playoff time as I for one would love to see them do some damage. The fans in Seattle or Quebec will appreciate inheriting a contender.

Speaking of teams in financial trouble..

Ottawa Senators Finances: Since the lockout there has been a pretty simple narrative when talking about the financial health of NHL Franchises, Canada = Good, Southern US = Bad. This was bashed over everyone’s head this past summer when the Atlanta Thrashers became the Winnipeg Jets 2.0. But is it really that simple?

See everyone neglects to mention that the Ottawa Senators have been consistently in the middle of the attendance pack for the past few years. While they are not in Coyotes level jeopardy, they are nowhere near as financially healthy as their two closest geographic rivals in Montreal and Toronto. This has the potential to take an even bigger hit if the Ontario Government removes the tax breaks it gives sports teams in the province.

While comments made by Team President Cyril Leeder that this would kill the team, may be a tad sensationalist, this is still a very interesting story to follow in the months and potential years to come. The thought of the Las Vegas Senators should be enough to make anyone want to throw up.

Prediction for This Week: The Miz gets involved with Eve on screen to set up a mixed tag match at Wrestlemania.

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