OTF Classic

Saturday night's win in Dallas was noteworthy on a number of levels; the Preds went toe-to-toe with the hottest team in the NHL and dominated the 3rd period on the way to a 3-1 victory. A great win, all-around. Along the way, however, there was a play that was a guaranteed highlight, and drew some rather interesting commentary afterward. Stars captain Brenden Morrow ran the Preds goalie Dan Ellis as Ellis was playing a puck behind his net. Morrow caught Ellis in the jaw, spun him around to the ground, then wrestled with Ryan Suter who came to his goaltender's defense. Now Morrow's an honest, tough hockey player, and to me it didn't look like he meant to catch Ellis that hard. But a commentator later on didn't just discuss this hit, he lauded it. On the Preds/Stars recap on the NHL Network, they had Alan May as an analyst, and his description of Morrow's hit on Ellis ranks as possibly the most imbecilic minute of television I've ever seen. May's tak...

Now that the *yawn* thrilling Stars/Canucks series has concluded, it's time to see how well the Shot Quality-driven predictions made here a couple weeks ago held up. Detroit/Calgary : The expectation was that the Red Wings would outshoot the Flames significantly, but superior goaltending by Miikka Kiprusoff would keep the series close and I had Detroit winning in seven (having it end in the 2nd overtime of Game Six is pretty close, ain't it?). That turned out fairly close to the actual result, although Detroit shut down Calgary's offense (both in terms of shot totals and goals yielded) even more than anticipated. Anaheim/Minnesota : OK, here's the one for the dumpster - I picked the Wild in five games, based on the red-hot goaltending of Nicklas Backstrom . Backstrom pretty much kept up his end of the bargain, keeping the Ducks down to the tune of 2.20 goals per game, but it was the Wild offense that failed to show up. Overall shot totals were expected to be dead-even ...

The skinny on East vs. West in the NHL this year is that the Western Conference has had more defensive-oriented teams, and a perfect example of that trend is found in the Vancouver/Dallas series. Both teams have various strengths and weaknesses, but above all else they have been solid defensive performers all season, whereas few teams in the East can make the same claim. So how do these teams match up? Let's take a look inside the numbers ... For table explanation, scroll down to the bottom of this post. How Vancouver can score : The Canucks don't exactly light things up offensively, and perhaps their best chance at increased offense lies in long-distance shooting. The Dallas goaltending is quite poor on shots outside of 30 feet (note the Sht % Factor well above 1.00 in each case), and when you combine that with relatively good shooting from 40-49 and 50-59 feet for the Canucks, point shots on the power play coupled with effective screening could result in about one goal per ga...

It's quite fashionable to bash the Nashville Predators this season, and last weekend's game against Dallas only added more voices to the chorus seemingly bent on running the Preds out of town, or as some would prefer, out of the league entirely. Since we now know that Jordin Tootoo will sit for five games for knocking out Stephane Robidas , I thought I'd toss my $0.02 in on the evening's activities: 1. Obviously (to most, but not all), the initial hit by Tootoo on Modano was clean, hard hockey. Mike Modano had just played the puck, Tootoo didn't leave his feet, end of story. 2. Robidas sees the hit and turns to charge at Tootoo - he comes at him with his stick in both hands, ready to come in and blast away. Under those circumstances, I don't see Tootoo's response as a "sucker punch", as many have called it*. If Robidas hadn't gotten the concussion from that hard fall, I doubt it would have resulted in a suspension (which is a problem of subje...

So much for the thinking that the salary cap would prohibit teams from making trades during the season, eh? Yet again, NHL general managers have thrilled fans across the continent today with their Bacchanalian festival of talent-swapping that, for roughly half the league, provides a fresh optimism for the stretch drive not unlike when teams break training camp at the start of the season. Obviously, the volume of analysis and coverage is immense, and there are many spots along the blogroll at right where you can get in-depth, comprehensive breakdowns for all the trades (for starters, consult Spector , Mirtle , Kukla , and just click your way around). For the moment, I thought I'd take a look at things from the perspective of the Nashville Predators, and how the deadline deals affect their standing vis-a-vis their rivals in the Western Conference... DETROIT: While the acquisition of Todd Bertuzzi raised the most eyebrows, the Jason Williams-for-Kyle Calder trade is what should re...