Inside the NHL
Sabres' top threats aren't too threatening
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You've heard the rhetoric numerous times over the past two-plus years, how the talent is there even when the goals are not, how every player endures scoring droughts, how they squeeze their sticks before eventually coming around.
Zzzzzzzz. Say it often enough and long enough, and it eventually becomes the truth.
But it wasn't a good sign when Blackhawks grunt Dustin Byfuglien had eight goals, one more than Thomas Vanek had, going into the weekend. Or that Islanders rookie John Tavares, Blue Jackets plumber Raffi Torres and, yes, Thrashers winger Maxim Afinogenov each had nine — the same number that Derek Roy and Jason Pominville had combined.
Yikes.
The Sabres have $22.7 million locked into their five-highest paid forwards and through the first 22 games this season they combined for a grand total of 24 goals. It's not exactly the bargain they had in mind for Black Friday.
In a financial sense, their best players have been their worst. It needs to change for the playoffs — which bounce from a given one week to a fantasy the next — to remain in reach.
Vanek is making $6.4 million this season, which is $1.6 million less than he was pocketing in the front-loaded $50 million deal he signed while pointing the proverbial tommy gun at the Sabres' collective temple. Whether he's injured or disinterested, the pop has been missing almost all season.
Tim Connolly is making $4.5 million this season, a $1 million raise per year after appearing in about one-third of the games under his previous contract. The Sabres insisted he was their guy. But, really, he's the same player who has possessed great talent and produced mediocre results.
Connolly had one goal in 16 games before his best performance of the season, two goals and two assists against Philadelphia. OK, so he improved to three goals in 17 games. He's had his usual flashes of brilliance, confirming he's able but not always willing.
Pominville is pocketing Connolly money, getting Clarke MacArthur results. Last season was dismissed as a poor year from a good player, but this year has been much the same. In part, his production (five goals) was down because the Sabres lack a power-play quarterback, taking him from the wing. It's also because he's been spending too much time on the perimeter at even strength.
Jochen Hecht is making $3.8 million and had four points, putting him on pace for seven goals and 15 points, while averaging more than 16 minutes. Nobody on the team who has played every game has fewer points. Roy, making $3.5 million, needed 11 games to score his first goal, buried four goals in his next five games, fell silent for the next six.
It's one thing to make big money, another thing to earn it.
Finland's tough choice
Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff has made it clear to Finland's national team that he's not interested in playing in the Olympics unless he's named the No. 1 goalie. His ego wasn't getting in the way. In fact, it was the opposite.
Kiprusoff entered the weekend with a 13-5-2 record, a 2.49 goals against average and a .917 save percentage. The 2006 Vezina Trophy winner figures to be top choice for the Finns, but he has played 74 games or more in four straight seasons with the Flames. He wanted to make sure he has enough left in the tank for Calgary in the postseason.
"We've been talking," Kiprusoff said. "I told them that I'm ready to go. But like I said, there's still many games to go [in the NHL]. If I'm healthy and I feel it's all right, I'm not too tired, then I'm going to go — if they pick me. There's lots of competition."
The short list, in alphabetical order, includes Minnesota's Niklas Backstrom (8-9-2, 2.66 GAA, .909 SP this season), Chicago's Antti Niemi (4-1-1, 1.85, .921), Tampa Bay's Antero Niittymaki (6-1-3, 2.02, .936), Boston's Tuukka Rask (5-2-1, 2.31, .917) and Nashville's Pekka Rinne (9-4-0, 2.38, .914).
A radio pioneer
Former New York Daily News hockey writer Sherry Ross made history last week when she handled radio play-by-play for the Devils' victory over the Senators, becoming the first American woman to call a full game.
Ross was one of the best in the biz when she left print in 2007 and returned to radio as a color commentator with the Devils. She switched chairs after play-by-play man Matt Laughlin took a leave following the death of his father-in-law. She made a seamless transition and sounded as if she had the job for a decade.
"It was an unbelievable amount of fun," she said by telephone. "I was on such an adrenaline high that, honestly, it took me about two hours after the game to come down. I don't know if it was like an athlete or what, but it was such a rush. You're right on top of the play, and everything is happening immediately. All of a sudden, the show's over."
French-speaking network RDS had an all-woman broadcast team call a game between New Jersey and Tampa Bay on March 8, 2008. It was the first NHL game in which the entire broadcast was performed by women. Ross already has heard from one woman who was interested in calling play-by-play.
"If I can inspire a couple of other women to think they can do this, why not?" she said. "It's certainly not a physical issue. You don't have to lift anything heavy. It's something a woman can do as well as a man if she's trained to do it."
Sigh of relief
Predators defenseman Shea Weber was relieved last week upon hearing Andreas Lilja was finally making steady progress after suffering from post-concussion syndrome following their fight last February.
Weber beat the daylights out of Lilja, who hasn't played a shift since the brawl and still hasn't gone a week without a headache. The Wings forward, on a suggestion from veteran Brad May, visited a specialist in Vancouver and expects to return at some point this season.
"Obviously, I feel bad," Weber said. "It's a situation that just kind of happened on the ice, but you don't ever want anything bad like that to happen. Tempers flare and fights happen, but you definitely don't like to see that. I just wish him all the best. I hope he can recover and come back and be the player he was before."
The long way
Panthers brute Steve MacIntyre, who spent six years sharpening his knuckles between more hockey outposts than he could count, fought his way back to the NHL last week when he was promoted from Rochester.
MacIntyre's resume includes stops in Muskegon (United Hockey League), Hartford (AHL), Charlotte (East Coast), Jacksonville (World Hockey Association 2), Quad City (UHL) and Providence (AHL). He played 26 games over two seasons for his beloved Edmonton Oilers but thought his NHL career was over.
The Panthers, desperate for more muscle, summoned the 6-foot-5, 250-pounder with big fists but bad hands back to the big leagues. He spent twice as much time in the penalty box (five minutes) than he did on the ice (2½ minutes) during his first game after fighting Donald Brashear in a shootout loss to the Rangers.
"I didn't really like [the role] at the start of my career because I thought I was just a big goon," MacIntyre said. "Now, I get paid to protect my teammates. They're part of your family. You kind of take it personal when someone screws around with your family."
Quotable
Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck after accidentally running into teammate Nick Schultz twice in the same workout: "I should have turned off my alarm clock and skipped practice."
Around the boards
• Two reasons for the Predators' seven-game winning streak going into the weekend: special teams and goaltending. Their 0-for-29 stretch on the power play early in the season was replaced by a 10-for-27 spike over six games. Rinne had an 11-1 record with a 1.75 GAA and .932 SP over a 12-game span.
• Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall, out for four to eight weeks with a sprained MCL after a knee-on-knee collision with Georges Laraque, pardoned the tough guy even though his teammates thought it was dirty. "He's one of those guys that has a really good reputation," Kronwall said. "I think this was just more of an accident."
• Same goes for Senators winger Chris Neil, forced to the dressing room after knocking knees with old friend Andrew Peters, now of the Devils. "I didn't see anything wrong with it," Neil said. "I put myself in a vulnerable spot and opened myself up. I got there late and he came barreling in there."
• Vancouver forward Ryan Kesler had 10 assists but just one goal to show for a 14-game stretch going into the weekend. "I've gone through stretches like this before," Kesler said. "I think I went last year for 30 games without getting a point." Not quite. He had two goals in a 25-game stretch last year.
• Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire, sidelined with a broken cheekbone after getting struck by a puck while sitting on the bench, on whether he would wear his mask when riding the pine: "Maybe a construction helmet."
• Note to jersey junkies: The Penguins are dumping their slick baby blue third jerseys after the season and rolling out a new design when they open their new building next year. Unveiled at Ralph Wilson Stadium during the Winter Classic two years ago, the Pens' blues have been a top seller in the league.
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