Semin slams Crosby

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Puck-Daddy-chats-with-Alex-Semin-about-Ovie-Cro?urn=nhl,118770

Here is a chunk of the article.

What's so special about [Crosby]? I don't see anything special there. Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there's nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago ... [Kane] is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb.

I think that if you take any player, even if he is "dead wood," and start promoting him, you'll get a star. Especially if he scores 100 points. No one is going to care about anyone else. No one is going to care whether he possesses great skill. Let's say you put someone in front of the net and let him deflect pucks in, and he scored 50 goals; everyone will say "Wow!" and then hand him a $10 million per year contract. That's what they like here.

And in Russia people like beautiful hockey, and not dump and chase. I just don't get it, why when a player is skating up the ice and no one is attacking him, he dumps the puck into the offensive zone and then chases it? Why would you do this if there is no one forechecking you? I understand that if there is someone coming at you and you don't know whether you can get past that player, then you can dump the puck, pass it or shoot. But if not, then hold on to the puck, skate forward, create a chance.

Why would you want to dump the puck and then chase after it and crash into the boards? I don't know. But that's just my opinion.

As Dr. Frankenstein Once Said, "He's Alive! Alive"

And yes, I am referring to Steve Stamkos, who exploded for 3 points last night, including his first two NHL goals. Now Alvin can finally stop pulling the rest of Chris' hair out (having none of his own, he had to go to his partners' dome). I just wonder if Alexander Ovechkin might pull a Pavel Valentenko and stay in Russia? Wouldn't that put a dent in Chris and Alvin's plans?

Ouch!

Weekly Round Up: October 27th

Yes, I know this is a day early, posting on the 26th, but with no games scheduled today, we can take a look at the week that was.

Surging to second place overall this week was the weekly leader Blamac, with 29 points. It would appear that their number 1 pick of Jarome Iginla has finally decided to keep the gloves on, and stick in his hands to contribute points instead of fighting majors.

Plunging to the bottom of the standings, is the team of Bill & Liina, who this week were dealt a harsh blow, their second pick Daniel Briere going down with an abdominal injury that will keep him out for at least two months.

Stars Shining

Wow, I guess Dallas will go as Mike Ribeiro goes this year, some lucky person (Ryan/Ken) got a big five points from him being in on every Dallas goal! Unfortunately when Ribeiro is you number one pick on the team, its probably going to finish out of the money ... well, it would have, but we are awarding fifth from last their dough back this year. ;)

Sundin To Vancouver

Originally reported to me by our very own former radio sports guy (Derek), Mats Sundin has arrived in Vancouver after a summer off.

He'll play on a line with Kyle Wellwood.

Canuck Injuries

CHICAGO - The Canucks are facing a potential medical emergency, but the National Hockey League has no humanitarian policy that will allow Vancouver to airlift in its best minor-league players without subjecting them to recall waivers.The Canucks lost one game and three forwards Sunday, leaving them only 10 healthy forwards as they travelled to Columbus after the Chicago Blackhawks' 4-2 victory.Pending miraculous recoveries, the Canucks almost certainly will need help from their Manitoba Moose farm team to build a full lineup for Tuesday's game against the Blue Jackets. But they won't be able to recall Matt Pettinger, who had three goals in two games and may have been the best Moose forward on the weekend, or Kyle Wellwood or any of the other minor-leaguers who must spend 24 hours on waivers - and clear - before they play for the Canucks.That means unless Rick Rypien's mysterious illness is cured Monday in Vancouver and Pavol Demitra wakes up in Columbus without pain, the team will have to summon minor leaguers like Jason Krog or Michael Grabner who have not played long enough to require waivers to get up to the NHL.Hordichuk, who sprained his knee, is definitely out for Tuesday and is expected to miss 7-10 days.Defenceman Sami Salo (groin) was also hurt Sunday, but the Canucks were carrying extra defencemen Rob Davison and Lawrence Nycholat.Canuck coach Alain Vigneault said he hopes to know better today how long Salo and Demitra will be unavailable."I think we're probably going to need one or two guys here," Vigneault conceded.Salo, who has missed an average of 19 games due to injury over the last three seasons, hurt himself in Sunday's warmup and played just two shifts before going to the dressing room."I don't know - it just happened," Salo said. "I tried to play through it but I couldn't do it. We'll know more tomorrow, so we'll see how it is."Canuck Ryan Johnson was knocked into Hordichuk's knee by Blackhawk Colin Fraser."It's not bad; just a little tweak," Hordichuk said. "He just clipped me. Just a weird [incident]. The nice thing is it's the MCL [ligament] and it heals quick. But it's one of those things, if you go out there and get clipped again and then all of a sudden it's the ACL. I think it's one of those injuries where you feel it, and a couple of days later it's a lot better."The Canucks have the salary cap space to risk losing a minor-leaguer on re-entry waivers. The problem is if Pettinger, for instance, goes on waivers Monday and travels to Columbus, the Canucks could lose him Tuesday and still be short a player that night.

20 October Weekly Awards

In the grand tradition started by Ryan here are this week's awards:

The Gloat award goes to George Sali with a colossal 40 points, George is attempting to run away and hide at the top of the leader-board.

The Goat award this week goes to Bill & Liina with a meager 15. If you keep this up, Al won't be alone in the basement for long.

The Special Award of Distinction also goes to George for his Buffalo twosome of Vanek and Kotalik who's combined 15 points matches that of all of Bill & Liina's players for this week.

Welcome To Our Pool Blog

Hello all,

I have set up this blog in order to post the weekly musings, and also to allow for some smack talk between the various participants. I'd welcome you all to get your free Google ID, and join in. Please do so, as we have a very rare site early in the season, Al sitting in dead last!! Will this be the case all year? Tune in and find out.

Also, if anyone is having trouble getting in to make a post, please let me know.