MERRY CHRISTMAS

FROM THE HOCKEY PRESS!

Stamkos So Far...

 
There's no doubt that Lightning C Steven Stamkos is a lethal offensive weapon. After finishing with 23 goals and 23 assists in his rookie year, he doubled his overall point total in his 2nd season with 51 goals and 44 assists. Right now, Stamkos is on pace for 65 goals and 53 assists, which would be an improvement on his previous season's totals again. It's time to start classifying Stamkos in the same class as Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. This may sound crazy but, there are similarities in their career paths.

Stamkos is in his 3rd season in the NHL. Ovechkin missed the playoffs his first two seasons before losing a tough 7-game series against Philadelphia in the 1st round in his 3rd season. Ovechkin's point total dropped slightly from his rookie season to his sophomore season, but Stamkos had five more goals in his 2nd season and a 3 point edge on total points. Stamkos is on pace to match Ovie's 3rd season goal total but have 6 more assists. Stamkos also missed the playoffs in his first two seasons.

If you're the Lightning, you hope that #91's career path follows #87's. Crosby missed the playoffs his first season, lost in the 1st round in his sophomore year, and then lost to the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals in his 3rd season. Crosby's point total is astronimcal in his first two seasons compared to Stamkos' (39-63-102 & 36-84-120). Crosby is more of a set-up guy where as Stamkos and Ovechkin are more keen on lighting the lamp. Crosby's point total took a dip in his 3rd season (24-48-72), but he only played 53 games that season due to injury. Crosby also had a great supporting cast (Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Marc Andre-Fleury, Brooks Orpik, Ryan Malone, Jordan Staal, etc) around him for his Stanley Cup run. Stamkos has a very good supporting cast in guys like Martin St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier, Malone, Brett Clark, Victor Hedman and Simon Gagne.
 
This season is still very young and a lot of things can happen between now and mid-April. But the Lightning have the look of a playoff team and could be a very tough out if they improve their goaltending. Steve Stamkos is the main reason the Lightning would be a scary 1st-round opponent and needs to start getting mentioned more often in the same breath as Ovechkin and Crosby.

NHL Weekly TV Viewer Guide

 Crosby and Ovechkin meet for the final time before the Winter Classic on Thursday night in the NHL's Game of the Week

NHL Viewers Guide for the week of 12/20/10 - Happy Holidays!

MONDAY - Ducks @ Bruins - 7:30PM - Versus

Why you should watch: The Ducks are in the midst of a seven game road trip. This will be the 4th game of an Eastern Road Swing and they are 1-2 on the trip thus far. Anaheim has one of the best young goalies in the league in Jonas Hiller. The Bruins beat the Caps 3-2 on Saturday night to snap a 3 game losing streak. Boston's 3rd ranked Penalty Kill against Anaheim's 9th ranked PP will be fun to watch. The Bruins have a 4 point edge on 8th in the East while Anaheim has a one point lead in 7th.

TUESDAY - Devils @ Capitals - 7:30PM - Versus

Why you should watch: Versus didn't expect the Caps slip-sliding in to 7th place and the Devils to be the 2nd worst team in the NHL this year when they selected this for their Tuesday night game. The Devils yet to reach double-digit wins in 32 games while the Caps have just snapped an 8 game losing streak and have only earned 4 points in their past 9 games.  It will be interesting to see if this game swings towards getting the Caps back on track or if the Devils can jump on a good team in disarray right now.

WEDNESDAY - Canucks @ Red Wings - 7:30PM - NHL Network
 
Why you should watch: Anytime you get a match-up of two division leaders it's always a tough battle. Detroit and Vancouver are arguably the two best teams in the West. The Red Wings are 3-4-2 since a 4 game winning streak while Vancouver has won 3 in a row and are 8-1-1 in their last 10 heading in to tonight's game in St. Louis. The Canucks have one of the best special teams units in the NHL with a 2nd ranked power play and 5th ranked penalty kill.

THURSDAY - Penguins @ Capitals - 7PM - NHL Network

Why you should watch:  It's Penguins-Capitals and it's their last meeting before the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh. We all know where the Caps are at. The Penguins 2nd ranked penalty kill looks to stay sharp and help snap the Pens 2 game's losing streak heading in to tonight's home game against the Coyotes. Pittsburgh had won 12 in a row before that and have a game at Florida the night before this game.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY - NO NHL GAMES DUE TO CHRISTMAS BREAK

SUNDAY - Game TBD
 
There may not be an NHL Network game on Sunday the 26th but there is 11 games on the slate that day. I would love to see them air Tampa Bay @ Atlanta, which has been a very good Southeastern Division match-up so far this season.

HBO 24/7 - Winter Classic - Episode 1

 Could we be seeing the last days of Bruce Boudreau as head coach of the Capitals? It's beginning to look like it.

(A running blog while I watched episode 1 of HBO's 24/7 on the Winter Classic)

The intro was perfect. Just enough back story on both franchises, what links these two together as rivals, why this show exists, and the obligatory Ovechkin-Crosby link.

I like how they got right in to the game action in the midst of the Penguins winning streak (at 10 games at that point - vs. Toronto). I really liked how HBO brought you practically in to the midst of a fight between Colton Orr and Deryk Engelland. Being in the locker room in the intermission was a new perspective. You see why fighting is a part of the game that should never be removed. This point is reinforced later in the episode when Ovechkin and Rangers Center Brandon Dubinsky fight. When the fight is over, the simultaneously say "good job buddy". Guys who fight on a hockey rink will buy each other beers after the game. That's how it has always been and how it will always be.

In the first Capitals segment, we see coach Bruce Boudreau use the presence of HBO to motivate his players. The Capitals were in the midst of a 3 game losing streak and Boudreau talked about how the Penguins side of the HBO coverage will be all smiles since they are in a a long winning streak. The Caps are going in the opposite direction and changing in to more of a balanced team than being an "offensive juggernaut" . We also learn Boudreau is not a man to mince words. Throughout the course of this episode we see how much Coach Boudreau likes to gratuitously use the word "fuck". I'm okay with foul language, but it's every other word out of this guy's mouth and it almost sounds forced. With all the "Boudreau to be fired" rumors going around because of the Caps losing streak, I've been defending him, saying it's not his fault. After seeing the locker room dynamic, you can see the players tuning him out. But I digress, back to the running blog of the episode...

The profile of Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma was pretty good. You can see why the players like playing for him. The shootout competition for "Mustache Boy" is pure genius.

The Ovechkin/Backstrom profiles were done well. Working in the Scott Hannan trade that close to the beginning of filming and chronicling what its like for a player to move to a new team in the middle of the season was done well.

Seeing Bylsma and Penguins GM Ray Shero evaluate the players on their 5 scale was another example of how HBO Sports takes you deeper in their coverage.

Going inside the Capitals 3-0 loss is what frustration looks like. The frustration continues in a Sunday night game against the Rangers at MSG.I took personal enjoyment in seeing an in-depth perspective of seeing the Rangers embarrass the Capitals (I picked going to the Jets game instead that day...a 10-6 loss to the Dolphins...I made the wrong choice).

My only issue with the show was it was an awkward transition from the scene-setting to going right in to the grind of the season. With a sport like hockey that is only remotely popular with the general public (and HBO Sports features have to strike a balance of appeal for the die-hard fan AND the casual or novice fan), you need to show more of the personality of the two main focuses (Crosby and Ovechkin). Maybe more of that is to come over the next two weeks.Overall, I thought the first installment was solid. I'm looking forward to next week's episode. It should help the series that most television shows are in repeats for the Christmas Break.