Ice Hockey - NHL/KHL/IIHF

Bit of a sickener for the blues to concede so late. Rangers have tied the Canes. Raanta was pulled for Kochetkov. Is he injured again ? The Canes cannot win on the road. Shesterkin another amazing game and two assists as well. If he carries on like this he might become one of the best ever in net. Lightning v Avs would be a great final and two of my three predictions for the seasons winner. Makar and Byram against Kucherov would be a treat. MacKinnon, Kadri, Rantanen against Hedman, McDonaugh and the Cat.

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Conference Finals have commenced. Avalanche v Oilers in the West, Rangers v Lightining in the East.

Avalanche won game one 8-6, Rangers took then opener 6-2 against a Lightning team that failed to convert their chances while the NY team did. Shesterkin keeps compiling those stats.

 

Fought back hard yesterday. Avs are definitely making the finals. Kucherov, Hedman and Stamkos all fired last night. Stammer has been noticeable by his absence in this series.

 

TB 3-2 up now. Kucherov 22 points in 16 games. Could well hit thirty if they make the finals and equalling Gretzky as the only player to have three thirty point playoff seasons in a row.

 

Avalanche will win in four at this rate. A 7-0 demolition of the Lightning. The Nuke exploded and Makar as usual was on top form.

 

So not quite but the Avs hold a 3-2 series lead with game six in Tampa. You have to credit the resilience of the Lightning. If they can get a win at home who knows.

 

I wonder if this will develop into an Avalanche-Lightning finals rivalry. The Lightning did miss Point after all. It's a well oiled machine but losing a cog can still derail it. Did Kuemper have the worst save percentage of a SC winning netminder ? Good to see Bettmann getting booed.....

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Now it's time for the draft. Some very exciting prospects in it including a resurgence at last from Slovakia with Nemec and Slafkovsky set to to be in the top section of round one.

 

Well the front desk have already secured Andrei Kuzmenko from SKA St.Petersburg. He was being chased by most of the teams in the NHL. Seems Boudreau went out of his way to explain personally to Kuzmenko what he was aiming to do and secured his services.

He'll be a real danger behind the net and around it. An excellent passer with great vision. Could perhaps line up as Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Podkolzin for instance.

 

Yes an interesting draft. Nice to see Slovakia on the way back up. Slavkofsky, Nemec (NJD need the stiffening in defence) and Mesar.

The Canes went on a Russian spree. They have picked up where other GMs have feared the future. Trikozov, Perevalov and Grudnin. The Wild will be delighted Yurov who should be in the top five fell to them while the Caps went for Miroschnichenko possibly with the hopes he will be Ovechkin light. He seems to have fully recovered from cancer. I rate Mintyukov (Makar light) higher than Korchinski as well so Anaheim did better than Chicago in that regard.

Next year's draft will be even more immense with Michkov and Bedard. Nice to see Austria, Switzerland, Latvia and Germany with a sprinkling of draftees. Hope Liam Steele is drafted next year for GB.

More concerning is the behaviour of the Canadian juniors involved in a gang rape in London Ontario in 2018. The case was settled by Hockey Canada and the CHL with the identities of the eight involved not disclosed but it's sad more than sad to see such behaviour covered up to a degree. Logan Mailloux was fortunate his misdemeanour was in Sweden otherwise in North America he would have been jailed for a case of revenge porn.

The Canadian government took a dimmer view and cut funding while the NHL takes a wait and see approach on the eight players involved.

 

Shot down in flames any attempts at a SC run..... Meanwhile Yzerman is slowly accumulating the pieces in Detroit....

 

More trouble in Edmonton. The owner is under a cloud. Not great for the city, team and sport.

Oilers owner Daryl Katz allegedly paid underage ballet dancer for sex (nypost.com)

 

The season has started. Started in Czechia with Nashville and San Jose.

Buffalo look like an emerging power with Detroit. Some smart trades from Yzerman again with Chiarot joining. Buffalo with Rasmus Dahlin emerging as a top defenceman with Owen Power, Tage Thompson and the other high picks they have had recently. Calgary and Florida had the big trade with Huberdeau and Weegar going to the Flames and Monahan, Tkachuk and picks the other way.

Valeri Nichuskin who showed promise at the Stars until the arrival of Lindy Ruff is leading the league in points early in the season and growing as a late bloomer at twenty seven. The Nuke scored a tremendous coast to coast goal in his last game. The Stars must be kicking themselves as not only did they trade him but also passed on Cale Makar in the draft.

Meanwhile Opti's Canucks have had a dreadful start. They cannot hold onto leads sit bottom of their division. Liam Kirk is ready to restart his career at the Arizona Roadrunners in the AHL. Liam Steele has had a settling in period at Chilliwack in the BCHL but is slowly adjusting and his points totals should increase rapidly.

 

Interesting start to the season. Blues tanking. Devils,Bruins and Kraken making surprising starts. Detroit emerging again in a tough division despite their tanking by the Rangers in a 6-0 third period blowout. Can see San Jose and Columbus remaining in the fight for the number one draft pick and if the Kraken keep it up I'l be surprised.

McJesus keeps doing his best impersonations of Pavel Bure and he and Draisaitl lead the points race. Jake Oettinger leads the netminders for the Stars.

 

The Kraken are turning it on with the Golden Knights and Bruins. Considering their debut season was pretty poor but not unexpected this turnaround is something of a surprise. But in very sad news legendary Swedish defenceman Borje Salming a Leafs legend passed away from ALS. This just two weeks after he was invited to the Scotiabank Arena. He was one of the first Europeans to make their mark on the NHL paving the way for the European invasion which now sees the NHL full of Europeans.

It's heart rending to see. This is from Sweden where former Swedish stars like Nilsson, Lidstrom and Zetterberg gathered and many can be seen openly in tears. And the commemorative puck drop at the Leafs arena.

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Ovechkin overtook Mr.Hockey this week for the number of goals scored and yet more milestones as he chases down Gretzky. He also had a hattrick today versus the Canadiens which leads to more amazing milestones. The Caps wore their vintage jerseys as worn when Ovy first debuted. Some of his play reminded some of his work as a debutant in the league.

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Perhaps but the blowouts were against Austria and Germany it has to be borne in mind. Michkov is doing well in the KHL at a terrible team in Sochi but also improving his all round game. I think Bedard will still go first due to the Russian factor but many teams will be happy to have Michkov. Fantilli and Carlsson are a level below but being centres might get a shot in at 2 or 3. For the defenceman surely Gulyayev has to be the number one pick. Ripping it up in the MHL at Avangard. And has played several games in the KHL at seventeen and looked very comfortable. His separation of forwards, his calmness on the puck, dangles, speed and breakout and controlling the PP is excellent for a seventeen year old. Makar mark two.

Chicago meanwhile are tanking badly. One of the worst seasons in their history and they are one of the original clubs too. Both Czechia and Slovakia have shown the turnaround at the World Juniors for their junior programmes and can count themselves unlucky in not beating Canada. Czechia did thump Canada in the group 5-2. Svozil and Jiricek being two of the best blueliners at the tournament.

 

Vancouver have removed Boudreau, traded Bo Horvat for a number one draft pick, Raty and Beauvillier and also brought back their classic jerseys if but for a short while. The Bruins, Canes and Stars lead their divisions with the Knights just edging the Pacific from the Kraken. Bluejackets and Blackhawks are looking in contention for the number one draft pick.

Ovechkin continues in chasing down Gretzky's goal total while Liam Steele is posting some great numbers now in the BCHL.