Iginla On The Move

It's more than the Maple Leafs got for Mats Sundin.

That, folks, is about the best that can be said from a Calgary perspective after Jarome Iginla was traded to Pittsburgh late Tuesday night.

And it's not much, is it?

The growing hockey nightmare in Calgary grew substantially larger when Iginla, the Flames captain, was traded to the Penguins for two U.S. college players, neither a first round pick in their draft year, and Pittsburgh's 2013 first rounder, likely No. 25 or lower.

Yes, how the times have changed.

Iginla was acquired 18 years ago from Dallas for centre Joe Nieuwendyk, but nothing remotely similar to that was available in 2013 when the Flames finally acknowledged what the rest of the hockey world had seen for years, that this was a franchise badly in need of rebuilding.

Sad, really. Iginla could have fetched more in a trade a year ago, but instead Calgary ownership and management preferred to live in a delusional dream world in which the veteran winger could still be a factor on a Calgary playoff squad.

Indeed, you could argue that Brenden Morrow fetched more from the Penguins in trade than Iginla, which is shocking really, given the career accomplishments of the two players.

Now, Iginla's departure means the fire sale is on in Calgary, with goalie Miiika Kiprusoff and defenceman Jay Bouwmeester clearly also available.

What can GM Jay Feaster get for those players? Draft picks and marginal prospects, probably, as the evidence mounts on how badly Calgary management has handled the dismantling of a team they insisted until last week was playoff worthy.

Kiprusoff, even if he's willing to play in the NHL next season, is worth less on the open market given that Vancouver is definitely looking at a last minute deal to move Roberto Luongo and Phoenix might be willing to part with free-agent-in-waiting Mike Smith. There's great confusion over whether Kiprusoff will report to another team if dealt, which, in conjuction with the reality that the Leafs may be the only team hunting for netminding, could mean he is moved for a lower draft pick and nothing more.

Vancouver has pretended all season there's a strong market for veteran goalies, but it's clear there isn't. That means Kiprusoff, if dealt, may go for much, much less than Iginla despite the fact the Finnish netminder could have a much greater impact on the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has added Iginla, Morrow and defenceman Douglas Murray in recent days, sacrificing only top blueline prospect Joe Morrow as an asset of any significance.

The road to the Stanley Cup final in the Eastern Conference quite obviously goes through Pittsburgh. Fans in Calgary, meanwhile, can only sit back and cheer for one of their fan favourites to emerge with a championship ring.

 

 

The Gamble That Is Dickey

So here's the book on R.A. Dickey.

Not just in the sporting meaning of that phrase, although all major league pitchers are carefully watched for their tendencies and habits.

In this case, Dickey comes with an actual bound book. "Wherever I Wind Up; My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball," is what it's called, published last year with the help of New York newspaperman Wayne Coffey.

It the extraordinary story of a common boy and man who became an uncommon man and athlete, truly one of the few noteworthy sports book written in recent times by an athlete. You wouldn't say it was a must read, necessarily, as Dickey's story is well known. But it's a worthy and sometimes inspirational effort and probably, for a Blue Jays fan, a book very much worth perusing to make the 2013 season and Dickey's potential role in it that much more enjoyable.

It's particularly worth reading to fully comprehend not only the unique person and pitcher coming north with the Jays next week, but also the rather spectacular leap of faith and downright gamble Alex Anthopolous and Co. have taken in acquiring the 38-year-old hurler and giving him the start on opening day.

The book is intriguing not just because it details the well-publicized absence of the ulnar collateral ligament in Dickey's right elbow that almost short-circuted his career before it got off the ground, or tells of his personal challenges in overcoming not one but two separate incidents of sexual abuse as a child, or because it includes some subtly unflattering stories about Alex Rodriguez, and Dickey's bizarre and nearly fatal decision to swim the Missouri River in what almost seemed like a suicide attempt.

No, if you're a Jays fan planning to heavily invest in the possibilities this team appears to offer this season, you should read this book to fully understand the gigantic gamble the Jays have taken here, not just in surrendering top prospects Travis d'Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard to get Dickey but also in guaranteeing the pitcher $25 million in salary over the two seasons after this one.

Sometimes such leaps of faith pay off. Sometimes believing in a wonderful story leaves the believer disappointed.

Dickey himself spells out the nature of the gamble. In mid-August, 2011 - just 19 months ago - his stats with the Mets were a 5-11 record with 3.72 ERA and, in his words, a "propensity to give up late home runs."

That's where he was. An intriguing, hardluck story with the chance of a happy ending to his career spent mostly in the minors, but nobody's idea of a $25 million pitcher worth two high-end prospects and a pitcher forever in search of confidence.

Yet here he is today. And here the Jays are.

It took the best part of two decades for Dickey to find his way past his personal experiences and demons to believe in himself, and the book tells in some detail of the role people like Buck Showalter and Orel Hershiser took in convincing him to go down the knuckleball rabbit hole.

Dickey finally made it to the mountain top, both figuratively in his sport and literally, climbing Mt. Kilamanjaro to support his charitable instincts.

But the book delivers a strong sense that this is an ongoing process of self-discovery. The Jays have invested a great deal in this pitcher, and Dickey himself makes it clear he's still figuring it all out, "learning not to worry about the next week or month or year, but rather to put all my energy into living the next five minutes well."

There was a time, and not so long ago, where Dickey was where Ricky Romero is right now, searching for answers, desperately trying to convince himself and others he was capable of pitching in the big leagues.

That's the most vibrant message of his book. The fact that Dickey is the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner but still a gamble, that not so long ago he woud never have been viewed as a pitcher worth two top prospects and $25 million, is what makes him such a compelling figure this season on a compelling team.

Must Points

Let's not bother with a debate on the future of the shootout today. It'll just read like a lament for the home team here in Toronto anyway.

Moreover, when it comes to the Maple Leafs and their playoff chances, you can look at four shootout losses in the last 17 days as evidence of a major failing, and attempted backhands on five of six tries against Ryan Miller last week in Buffalo were surely an exercise in silliness. And doesn't it seem like James Reimer looks behind him after every single shootout attempt?

All that said, those four SO losses also delivered a critical four points in the standings, points the Leafs weren't getting with any regularity in the opening six weeks of the seasons. We can discuss the logic of the three-point game all we want, but if you want to be a playoff team, those three-pointers can kill you if you're not getting your share.

That point last night in Boston - and what reasonable Leaf fan wouldn't be thrilled with three of four points against the Bruins over three days? - enabled the Leafs to stay ahead of the New Jersey Devils, who earned a point in a shootout loss of their own to Ottawa.

If the Leafs don't qualify for post-season play, it won't be because of their ineptitude in the shootout, although obviously that's not helping.

It will almost certainly instead hinge on how the Leafs do against teams sitting in the standings just below them, including five of seven matches over the next two weeks.

Start with Florida tonight and Carolina on Thursday, both at home. Then there's the Flyers next week, followed by a home-and-home with the Rangers early the following week.

There's 10 points available right there against teams below them. Get eight of those points and Randy Carlyle's group will have gone a long, long way to ending this franchise's playoff drought.

The immediate emphasis has to be to avoid a letdown tonight against the dreadful Panthers, a team hammered by injuries that is holding down last place in the conference.

Seems like it was only yesterday the city was wondering why Brian Burke's Leafs couldn't be more like Dale Tallon's Panthers, how Tallon and Kevin Dineen had proven a bunch of bandaids could produce the quick fix and a playoff position that Burke's approach couldn't.

Well, not so much any more. The Panthers, still in single digits for wins, are up to 208 man-games lost to injury this season already. Centre Stephen Weiss was lost for the season, killing Tallon's chances of getting something for the UFA-in-waiting at next week's trade deadline. Alexei Kovalev proved to be no help at all. Brian Campbell, a wonderful story last year, is minus-19. Kris Versteeg blew out a knee on a hard but legal hit from Tampa's Radek Gudas. Ed Jovanovski has hardly played. Jose Theodore has been hurt. On and on it goes.

From a Leaf perspective, if you were permitted to hand-pick an opponent for a third game in four nights and a back-to-back situation, this Florida squad would be the team. That's not insult to the Panthers. This is just a team that's had a black cloud following it all season.

Phil Kessel, meanwhile, was his usual no-show in Boston last night and should have plenty of energy. Perhaps Matt Frattin, who appears to require periodic boots in the butt, will draw back in. Ben Scrivens seems a logical choice in net.

At the same time, Carlyle has to think long and hard if he wants to go with the Mike Kostka-Jake Gardiner combo on the blueline again. James van Riemsdyk is slumping and was benched last night. Dion Phaneuf looked like he was lacking in get-up-and-go. Does the club really need two heavyweights every single night?

Carlyle has got to find a way to squeeze some energy out of a lineup playing its fifth game in seven nights. 

This is a must win, the kind of points the Leafs will regret not getting if they don't get to the playoffs a lot more than the one lost last night.

Then comes Carolina, another team with serious injury concerns, including the absence of both goalies (Cam Ward and Dan Ellis) and three defencemen, including Justin Faulk, who was leading all Hurricanes blueliners in ice time before going down with a knee injury.

The Leafs are 4-1-2 at home in March, so the can't-win-at-the-ACC excuse is wearing off.

Time to get points against shorthanded teams from hockey's weakest division. Miss this chance, and things will suddenly seem a great deal tougher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the Lockout Fades Away. . .

Can't remember the last time it was this necessary in late March to check on the NHL standings every day and sometimes twice a day, which is one measure of just how deliciously wild the final month of this season is going to be.

It's not just the games. Trade speculation and actual transactions are heating up. Jarome Iginla officially wants out of Calgary, or so it seems, and the weirdness of Dallas trading away its heart-and-soul captain for futures while occupying a playoff berth in the west is perplexing.

There's going to be more of all of this. The Maple Leafs, at the very least, should be in the playoff race until the final week, which is something new. Trade-wise, few expect anything big, but GM Dave Nonis is nosing around, and the addition of depth players and possibly insurance in the form of a veteran goalie make sense.

Yes, it's almost to the point where the nasty lockout is, if not forgotten entirely, rarely a reference point in hockey conversations.

Which, in a way, is the problem. Or will be.

See, it was about money and greed, and then by late December/early January, became about money and greed and a rush to get something done so there'd be enough time to make some money.

Those were the motivations, nothing more. Which means a significant number of important matters were all but ignored. There was a partial effort to at least begin reforming the draft lottery system, but otherwise it was as if both sides simply agreed to let the other sores fester so they could get the cash registers ringing again.

Those sores haven't healed, however, which means the NHL, which always thinks short-term, will have to deal with them eventually.

The issues include:

--Visor use.

The issue barely came up during collective bargaining, even though it has been a sore point for years between the owners and players. The league wants visor use to be mandatory, the players don't. Well, at least they didn't until Marc Staal took a puck in the eye. Now his brothers and vets like Brooks Orpik have donned visors, and the NHLPA wants to take (yet another) vote.

This is classic NHL/union bafflegab. Put off progressive change until events force change.

--Shootouts.

Nobody saw shootouts being such a dominant element in the game. They were supposed to be a little after-dinner sweet, not the main meal every single night. This became a glaring problem last season and is equally so this season. Perhaps it could have been discussed during CBA talks as a means of including helpful change with the commencement of the season.

--Olympic participation.

The NHL and its union completely lack vision in this area, so it's no surprise that with Sochi now only 10 months away, there's still no decision on whether NHLers will participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics. This is truly inexcusable.

--The game.

The so-called "ping-pong" effect in the modern game, much of it created by strategies intended to deal with the removal of the red line, has unfortunately produced a style of game that is both repetitive and, on many nights, utterly boring. Some serious thinking is going to have to go into dealing with this problem, and you saw at the most recent GM meetings there's no immediate push to do it now.

So, just as we had to live with the Dead Puck Era for a decade before the Bettman administration even admitted there was a problem, the likelihood is that ping-pong hockey is with us for a while.

--Supplementary discipline.

Expect this to be a monstrous problem once the playoffs begin. Again.

It's pretty clear that either Brendan Shanahan is either over-matched for the job or that his idiosyncratic and utterly arbitrary approach is producing massive confusion everywhere.

It wasn't just the stupifying Rick Nash decision from last week, although that was a beaut, another case in which by trying to logically explain a bad decision to a favoured few Shanahan ties himself in knots and ends up explaining nothing.

It was also, however, the decision not to give Ryan Clowe the automatic 10 games for leaving the bench to start a fight. It goes back to Shea Weber's turn-buckle move on Henrik Zetterberg in the first round last year, and Duncan Keith's hit on Daniel Sedin, and then the super-sized suspension to Raffi Torres.

Shanahan went into this extremely important job without any real training, other than being able to speak into a camera for the purposes of the video presentations that have now become a running joke. It was decided he could rule on the basis of his sterling reputation and engaging personality, and it hasn't worked. Other more experienced NHL ops people have been shunted to the side so Shanahan can take centre stage, whether he's ready for the job or not.

His lack of training has produced a long series of bizarre, inconsistent decisions. Now, as with the decisions to suspend Joffrey Lupul and Alexander Edler last week while letting Nash play on, it's really impacting the competition.

The only change that came with the CBA was that players can now appeal suspensions of six or more games to a neutral third party. Shanahan has so far got around this potential thorn by making sure all of his suspensions are less than six games.

This is going to be a gigantic problem once the playoffs begin, and almost certainly over the next month. What gets punished and what doesn't has never been as thoroughly confusing as right now.

This could have been cleaned up in the CBA talks. Perhaps with new standards. Perhaps with a new system.

Instead, the sore was allowed to fester.

 

 

 

Giddyup

DUNEDIN--You hear about it. But watching it is something else.

The speed (haste?) with which new Blue Jays hurler Mark Buehrle approaches his job really is surprising. Usually, unless the batters slow him down, he's delivering a pitch every seven or eight seconds.

Other times, he appears ready to deliver after only three or four seconds.

"I don't tell myself to work fast," said Buehrle after throwing 59 pitches in what seemed like a blink of the eye against Pittsburgh in Bradenton on Wednesday. "That's just the way I work. It's just what I do."

For the uninitiated - and that sometimes includes teammates - it takes a while to get used to.

"It was my first time catching Mark. It's neat because he finds a rhythm and it's disruptive to the other side," said Jays catcher Mike Nickeas, who came over from the Mets in the R.A. Dickey deal. "You just kind of get into the flow of the game and its amazing. It's incredible how fast he works."

Buehrle has a reputation for this of course, and in 2005 while with the White Sox he and Seattle pitcher Ryan Franklin combined to each pitch complete games in a one hour, 39 minute game. It was the fastest game in more than two decades at the time, and Seattle statisticians calculated the two pitchers got 51 outs in just over 65 minutes of actual playing time.

Nickeas, who had three hits and tagged out Russell Martin on a close play at the plate on Wednesday, said Dickey and Buehrle are comparable as to how quickly they work.

"R.A. works really quick. He's on the mound and he's ready to go," said Nickeas. "Mark's a lot like that. I think he's the fastest I've ever seen.

"With him, you throw the ball back to him, and then he's coming again. It's kind of a natural experience.

"It's tough for the hitters. I've faced him a few times and you better have both hands on the bat ready to go when he's on the mound."

 

 

While Waiting For Baseball. . .

DUNEDIN--Some meandering hockey thoughts this morning while waiting for the rain to clear and Brett Lawrie to appear:

--Dead last in the west for the Calgary Flames. Yikes. Those who promised this team could win now and rebuild on the fly - Murray Edwards, Ken King, Jay Feaster - have done this team a terrible injustice. Edmonton's not much better, but Oilers are losing with kids; Flames are losing with a mish-mash of nothing in particular.

--The Wild are making a big push in the west after a slow start, and the No. 1 line of Zach Parise, Mikko Koivu and rookie Charlie Coyle is a big part of the reason. Coyle, you'll remember, came to Minny in that deal that sent Brent Burns to San Jose. Like the Parise/Ryan Suter signings of this past summer, the Coyle acquistion didn't pay off right away as he was still in junior, but now he's making a statement as a power forward in St. Paul.

Burns, meanwhile, has played only six games this season because of a leg injury and has no points. There is some talk he could be back this week, possibly as early as tonight in St. Louis. But right now Coyle is starting to make this deal sing for the Wild.

Minny's 2011 first rounder, defenceman Jonas Brodin, is also making an increasingly significant contribution. In the Wild's two weekend victories, he played more than 23 minutes.

--Don't think there's anyone in Montreal worrying any more that Michel Therrien was a second choice to coach the team behind Bob Hartley.

--You might think with the way in which Nazem Kadri has matured nicely this season there would be a little more faith with the way in which the Leaf front office chooses to slowly bring along players in the minors. But that's not the case, apparently. The growing angst over the status of Jake Gardiner - just wondering, to those convinced he should be in the NHL actually go to Marlie games? - has many, it would seem, worried the club is wrecking Gardiner's development.

Understand, there's work that needs to be done on the young blueliner's defensive game, and at the Ricoh under Dallas Eakins is the place to do that work. Again, there needs to be a new culture in Toronto that's its not an insult to a player to be with the Marlies.

--Tonight's Leaf game in Winnipeg just has the feel of a pivotal one. Beat the Jets there and the spread between the Leafs and ninth grows a little more. Lose to a Winnipeg club that struggles at home and the dog fight for the eighth and final playoff spot begins.

--Yup, it's true. Drew Doughty still does not have a goal this season in 24 games. Guess the Norris votes won't be pouring in.

The Kings have recalled former Ottawa 67s sniper Tyler Toffoli after he registered 48 points and a plus-20 rating in 55 AHL games this season. Toffoli didn't play in Monday's win over the Flames.

--The season of the Moose Jaw Warriors ends Saturday, which means Eakins will get to start working with Leaf first rounder Morgan Rielly next week.

--Most surprising name among the NHL top scorers has to be Jakub (or just Jake) Voracek at No. 10. Seventh overall in 2007 by Columbus, Voracek is just another example of the risk of evaluating drafts too quickly. Before being dealt to Philly, Voracek was slowly developing. Now he might be third best forward in the draft, depending on how you view James van Riemsdyk (2nd overall) and Max Pacioretty (22nd).

--This is NOT an attempt to stir up a new round of Roberto Luongo-to-Toronto rumours. Honest. Just spitballing, noodling on a scrap of paper, so everyone relax.

Just thinking, however, that nobody's fooling anybody here anymore. Vancouver, falling in the Western Conference standings, needs help at positions more than they need a backup goalie with a $5.333 cap hit. The Leafs, meanwhile, may like James Reimer, but he's not as good as Luongo and may never be.

The landscape seems ripe for a deal. Vancouver obviously has no other serious suitors. The Leafs are in a solid playoff position now but know that could slip away, and the goaltending was iffy last week.

Tyler Bozak seems to be the element that could work for Vancouver, although he's UFA in July. Otherwise, the Canucks know they're not getting a top pick or prospect for Luongo in any deal unless they include other elements. Would they move a player like Zack Kassian along with Luongo, if they could get a player like Jake Gardiner back along with Bozak?

Again, just spitballing here. That's NOT a trade rumour.

Luongo, meanwhile, comes with the dreadful contract, but let's be honest; he would solidify Toronto's goaltending for 3-5 years.

This is still a deal that makes a lot of sense if both teams behave sensibly and creatively. But the bad blood between these two organizations - Mike Gillis took Dave Nonis' job in Vancouver - makes working together very difficult.

 

 

 

Visors. Again.

Hate writing this. AGAIN.

But the boss wants it. Hopefully, by being semi-cooperative on this issue, it'll get me off the hook for the Winter Classic next January.

Look, the visor debate always comes off as kind of preachy. Second, we usually talk visors when something bad has happened, which makes it seem opportunistic to bring it up even if, like myself, you think visors should have been made mandatory in the NHL a decade ago.

I've never understood why NHLers love for personal choice doesn't extend to jocks or shinpads, but visors have been the line in the sand for years now. Don Fehr didn't want baseball players drug tested - now baseball players want more testing and harsher penalties! - so it's no surprise that he wasn't pushing hard for it as a health and safety matter during the months that the lockout dragged on.

The NHL and its governors, to be clear, want mandatory visors. That's been the case for upwards of five years. Maybe 10. But the players won't go for it, and so during the lockout, the issue only came up briefly, and it was clear neither side had altered their position.

The NHLPA wants to reserve the right of its players to take a chance. And so we continue down this same ridiculous path.

Here's hoping Marc Staal is okay. The scene of him grabbing his face and thrashing his legs as he lay on the ice Tuesday was just awful. So reminiscent of similar injuries in recent years. There's no update on his condition this morning, so fingers crossed.

This is a player who missed a ton of time due to an injury (concussion) last year. He knows well the dangers of flying pucks and had never played a competitive game without face protection until 2007. He has a brother, Eric, who barely avoided calamity in November, 2011 when hit in the face by a stick, and another brother, Jordan, who plays in the league.

And not one of the Staal brothers wears a visor. How do you rationalize that, particularly at a time when about 70 per cent of NHL players wear them and all juniors and AHL players do as well?

"I like my eyes and I'd like to keep them," was Leaf centre David Steckel's quote on the issue. Jonathan Toews? "I wear a visor because there's no reason no to wear one."

But Marc Staal chose to hit the ice Tuesday night without one. How could his union allow him to jeopardize his career and future earnings? How could the Rangers, who are paying $3.975 million per season to Staal for this year and two more seasons, not insist and insist and insist that such a pivotal player take all precautions against injury?

Nicklas Lidstrom had to endure a serious face injury before putting on a visor after 15 years of playing without one. If Lidstrom could adjust, anyone could. Chris Pronger had to deal with a serious eye injury. Manny Malhotra's career has been derailed. On and on it goes.

Instead of a common sense approach, we have this incident and this debate and this written opinion all over again, just as we did when Bryan Berard was hurt.

Next Wednesday it will have been 13 years since Berard was struck in the eye by Marian Hossa's stick. And not a damn thing has changed.

 

 

Only Way Out

Monday was a disappointing night for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

And they didn't play. No player was injured stepping off a curb or caught drunk and disorderly. Ownership didn't throw the keys on Gary Bettman's desk.

What went wrong, however, was that the L.A. Kings spanked the Nashville Predators, and in so doing moved from 11th in the Western Conference to fifth, and from 19th overall to 12th.

The Jackets, dead last once more on your scorecard, have to care about such things because they own L.A.'s first round draft pick courtesy of the Jeff Carter swap, something that theoretically, at least, means a lot more now that the NHL has gone partway in reforming its flawed draft lottery process.

Until that win, the Kings were one of the 14 teams staring at being inactive when the post-season begins. Their draft position, now owned by Columbus, would have been eligible to cop the first overall pick at the June 30 draft in Newark if all the bouncing balls had gone a certain way.

That's new. Before teams could only move up four spots, a ridiculous system that allowed a team to win the lottery against all odds and yet not win very much at all.

Now, the team with the best record among the non-playoff teams could win the lottery. For a team like Columbus, which also owns the first round selection of the New York Rangers from the Rick Nash trade, it means that if both the Kings and Rangers miss post-season play, the Jackets would have three shots at the first overall pick.

Let's say either the L.A. pick or the New York pick cashed in and won the first overall pick. If Columbus finished last overall, they could only move down one slot in the draft selection.

And thus could end up with Seth Jones AND Nathan MacKinnon.

That's how you rebuild a franchise at warp speed, something new team president John Davidson and GM Jarmo Kekalainen are trying to do before all of Ohio turns off the Blue Jackets for good. Already, the Jackets have a decent cupboard of prospects that includes Ryan Johansen, Ryan Murray, Boone Jenner and goalie Oscar Dansk, and hitting the jackpot this June could make an enormous difference to this franchise.

Then again, that's what the Islanders and Oilers have been saying for years.

Columbus is also a prime example of a franchise that hasn't been able to use the draft very effectively. Of the team's first nine first round picks from 2000-08, just one of those players is currently skating for the team (Derrick Brassard). Some, notably Pascal Leclaire, Nikolai Zherdev, Alexandre Picard, Gilbert Brule and Nikita Filatov, just bombed.

So no guarantees, even under new management, that Columbus will get it right this time around.

Multiple opportunities might be the answer. Three lottery picks would mean, theoretically, the delivery of a franchise player to replace the departed Nash. Or maybe two of 'em.

The Jackets desperately need this new draft lottery system to bounce their way.

 

 

 

 

Habs Rise, Oilers Stay the Same

We've spent a fair bit of time of late extolling the virtues of this season's play by the Montreal Canadiens, and for good reason.

Not only are the Habs in first, but they've become the most entertaining team in Canada to watch, including two rollicking games against Pittsburgh and Boston on the weekend that earned the Canadiens three of a possible four points.

That nobody saw this coming out of Montreal just makes it that much more interesting.

At the other end of the spectrum, it comes as an enormous disappointment that the Edmonton Oilers have proven to be neither more successful this season nor the entertaining, offensive-minded team we'd hoped would finally emerge.

An Edmonton fan might ask; why can the Canadiens go from last to first, while the Oilers stay the same?

Right now, the Oilers sit second from the bottom in the tougher Western Conference - maybe they should ask to move east in new realignment? - and 24th overall. They're also 24th in goals scored, not quite the run-and-gun offence that many projected would materialize in the Alberta capital after the drafting of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Nail Yakupov was complemented by the signing of flashy free agent rearguard Justin Schultz.

Spending $78 million on Hall and Eberle alone over summer increased the expectation that they were about to emerge as true NHL stars and lead the Oilers at least into the realm of serious playoff contender. Ralph Krueger was an unconventional choice as head coach, but the Oilers seemed very confident he was the perfect choice.

Well, in a season in which the Oilers hit one historic low by giving up six goals in a single period, right now none of it is really working. Last night produced a frustrating loss in Minnesota, one in which the Oilers were outshot 18-0 in the second period. It was the fourth game of a monster nine-game road trip that has already including three defeats.

Not sure Mike Brown is going to be able to change this.

Hall is a point-per-game player, but has only four goals and he's injured again (he missed Sunday's game vs. the Wild, perhaps a precautionary measure after he was suspended 10 days earlier for a dangerous hit on Minny's Cal Clutterbuck). There was and is a dream in Edmonton he can be an Alex Ovechkin-like find for the Oilers, but by Ovechkin's third season, he was scoring 65 goals. Hall shares Ovechkin's penchant for reckless play and love for speed, but not his productivity as of yet.

Eberle is a player every team would love to have, quick and creative. But he has only six goals. Yakupov is a minus-11 already with six goals, but the biggest stunner is RNH, mired in a terrible slump with just one goal in 20 games. Only eight centres play more minutes than Nugent-Hopkins, but 89 sit higher in the NHL scoring parade.

After spending a half-season in the AHL while the rest of the NHL was locked, it was hoping Hall, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins would have a huge step up on the field, but not yet.

Schultz has been very productive, but his plus-minus is starting to slip, no surprise for a young defenceman gaining experience.

Could it possibly be that this Oiler group is made up of players who will be good NHLers, but not great ones or all-stars? An even more intriguing question is whether by putting Hall, RNH and Yakupov directly into the NHL as teenagers, did the Oilers rush them and skip valuable apprenticeship lessons along the way plus a chance to mature physically? Hall and RNH, in particular, have had a hard time staying healthy.

Still, its too early to tell. The Quebec Nordiques run of three straight No. 1 overall picks (Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan, Eric Lindros) began in 1989 and it was 1993 before the Nords were back in the post-season. Three more seasons after that, the Nordiques were NHL champions, albeit in Denver as the Avalanche, and without any of Sundin, Lindros or Nolan in their lineup.

So even though the Oilers may be disappointing so far this season, they're on that Quebec time line to some degree, although Sundin was a 100-point-plus player by his second year and Lindros was converted into a package of talent that included Peter Forsberg.

So perhaps it's next year - and possibly after a significant trade? - that we should be looking at for the big leap ahead in Edmonton, not this one. 

 

 

Clueless and Pointless

It's really amazing how dumb the Calgary Flames have become.

A lack of strategic thinking has the Flames in a terrible spot with a disappointing record, still trying to deny all the strong evidence that they need to take a giant step back and rebuild, hanging on to veteran players beyond their due date in some faint hope that the club can scrape into the post-season and make magic happen.

It was evident last season in the way they hung on to Jarome Iginla, and with the deal done to give up a second round pick and a prospect in the deal to bring forward Mike Cammalleri, then 29 years old, back to Alberta. It was further evident in the free agent signings of Jiri Hudler and Dennis Wideman last summer to inflated salaries.

What are these guys thinking? Its like the Leafs of the final days of Mats Sundin being played out all over again in western Canada.

Maybe they'll clue in and move Iginla (Miikka Kiprusoff too?) by the trade deadline and get the necessary process started. Or maybe not. If they do, it will take 4-5 years to get back to competitiveness, and they seem to believe the hockey public in Calgary won't go for it.

Still, this plan to try and acquire centre Ryan O'Reilly through the offer sheet process really didn't make a whole lot of sense and smacked of desperation. Even worse, Sportsnet.ca is reporting that if the Flames had successfully landed O'Reilly, they likely never would have got him in uniform because he would have had to go on waivers first after playing in the KHL on Jan. 23rd. 

Oh my.

Look, this was never going to work anyway. Colorado had no choice but to match rather than take the first and third rounders as compensation. The issue of compensation for restricted free agents wasn't a significant one during the lockout, but clearly a system in which compensation was higher for RFAs might provoke a more fruitful offer sheet process. The Avs might have been tempted by two firsts and a prospect.

But right now, matching is almost obligatory. If Nashville had to match Philly's offer for Shea Weber, matching the O'Reilly sheet was even more automatic for Colorado. Moreover, Colorado was and is under no salary cap pressure at all, and so wasn't vulnerable in the same way other teams might be.

Second, the Flames have helped a team mired in the same area of the Western Conference standings by getting a player signed and back to active duty that the Avs weren't otherwise able to sign. So the offer sheet, essentially, bolstered Colorado's lineup.

Third, the Flames have now set the price for a young centre of O'Reilly's calibre at $6.5 million, an arbitration comparable that will send shock waves through the league and could ultimately cost Calgary more as well. Sure, the Avs are now stuck with an awkward contract; O'Reilly will have to be qualified in June of 2014 off that $6.5 million figure, way too much unless he becomes a much bigger scorer than most believe.

But Calgary might have stuck themselves with that contract if the Avs hadn't matched. And now they have to live in the same world in which a sturdy, 50-point pivot can command those kinds of dollars.

Look, maybe the RFA system stinks, and yes, you could argue that the Flames were being aggressive in trying to improve their team.

But strategies for player procurement need to be based in logic and reality. This one wasn't based in either. The best hope for Flames fans is that perhaps Seth Jones or Nathan MacKinnon is one the way. But the fact Calgary was willing to give up its first rounder to get O'Reilly suggests that pick is now in play as the Flames continue to fool themselves that the future is now.

Now, the fact they would have lost their first and third rounders and never got O'Reilly at all is looking like one spectacular embarrassment for a once-proud franchise.