| UPCOMING GAMES |
| NO SCHEDULED GAMES |
|
LAST 10 GAMES
|
| 4/27 |
MIN 3 at COL 1 |
Lost |
F |
| 4/26 |
COL 5 at PHX 4 |
Won |
SO |
| 4/23 |
COL 1 at STL 3 |
Lost |
F |
| 4/21 |
STL 3 at COL 5 |
Won |
F |
| 4/19 |
EDM 4 at COL 1 |
Lost |
F |
| 4/15 |
CBJ 4 at COL 3 |
Lost |
OT |
| 4/13 |
VAN 3 at COL 4 |
Won |
F |
| 4/11 |
COL 2 at LAK 3 |
Lost |
SO |
| 4/10 |
COL 4 at ANA 1 |
Won |
F |
| 4/8 |
CGY 3 at COL 1 |
Lost |
F |
| Won-4 Lost-4 OT-2 |
|
 Colorado Avalanche
News
Schedule
Roster
| Alain Vigneault fired by Canucks; who takes over the coaching gig in Vancouver? (Puck Daddy) |
| Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis didn’t mince words during his postseason press conference, calling the team’s 2012-13 campaign a “terrible season” after their ouster at the hands of the San Jose Sharks in Round 1.
"We’re going to have to reinvent ourselves and do things differently in order to be successful. The macro look at this team is that changes have to be made,” said Gillis.
On Wednesday, changes were made: According to Louis Jean of TVA, head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant coaches Rick Bowness and Newell Brown were all fired by Gillis in a massive house cleaning for the franchise.
It was later confirmed by the Canucks:
“We have made the very difficult decision to relieve Alain Vigneault, Rick Bowness and Newell Brown of their coaching duties today,” said Canucks President and General Manager, Michael D. Gillis. “Alain, Rick and Newell worked tirelessly to lead this team to great on-ice success. I am personally grateful to each of them and their families for their commitment to the Canucks and the city of Vancouver and wish them continued success in future.”
Vigneault coached the Canucks from 2006-2013, winning 313 games. He captured the Jack Adams in 2006-07, and coached Vancouver to the playoffs in six of those seasons, including that Stanley Cup Final loss to the Boston Bruins in seven games.
|
| Posted: 05/22/2013 |
| Andy Sutton, NHL defenseman and media relations expert, retires after 15 years (Puck Daddy) |
| Andy Sutton played 676 NHL games over 15 years, paying the physical toll and maintaining a professional hockey career through what was his final season with the Edmonton Oilers in 2013.
But c’mon, we all know the guy’s legacy as he announces his retirement on Wednesday. It’s two-fold. First, and perhaps foremost, it’s this indelible soundbyte in 2010 in which he questions a reporter about his expertise:
“Are you asking me or are you telling me?” and “So you’re an expert?” and “You saw the replay?” have entered into the NHL lexicon. It’s like the “Who’s on First?” for puckheads.
The other legacy: The suspensions, and his reaction to them.
Sutton was an early poster boy for Brendan Shanahan’s Department of Player Safety, getting suspended for 13 games total in Shanny’s first year as sheriff: Five for a headshot on Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche and eight for another hit to the head on Alexei Ponikarovsky of the Carolina Hurricanes .
He was also one of the first players to speak out against the NHL’s crackdown on certain types of hits. As he told the Edmonton Journal:
"This will be hard because my style of play is to be on my toes, playing physically," said Sutton. "You may see more hits with my back and my butt than my shoulders and my elbow. Seems to be the only way you're not suspended anymore."
"Those guys have to calm down, it's nuts. Everybody does. You can almost dissect every hit and see a guy leaving his feet or there's contact to the head. Guys are always leaning (with the puck). It can look like an elbow, but it's not. The media shows it 1,000 times."
After two seasons of the Department of Player Safety and Rule 48, do you read Sutton’s comments in a different light?
|
| Posted: 05/22/2013 |
| ‘No deal in place’ for Roy, Avs; Tortorella’s words; ranking player trade values (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy) |
| Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• Via Wayne B., here's how you take finger hockey to the next level. [ Think Geek ]
• If Patrick Roy is set to become the next head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, according to his brother, no deal is currently in place, writes Adrian Dater. [ Denver Post ]
• Joe Haggerty on why the Boston Bruins and Matt Bartkowski are happy that Jarome Iginla deal never worked out. [ CSNNE ]
• Why John Tortorella's words always have a deeper meaning behind them. "Remember the "shut yer yap" command to then-Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock when Tortorella's Lightning faced Philadelphia in the 2004 Eastern Conference final en route to that franchise's only Stanley Cup? The story around the NHL is that Tortorella walked into that news conference knowing he would say something of that ilk, regardless of the questioning." [ Bergen Record ]
• San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan hinted that he may opt to use seven defensemen in Game 4 Tuesday night. Jason Demers would sub in for an injured Martin Havlat. [ Mercury News]
• Roy MacGregor on what Craig Anderson brings to the Senators. [ The Globe & Mail ]
• Darryl Sutter on why the LA Kings flew back home between Games 3 and 4: "Just our own practice facility. You know, what are we going to do up there for two days? Really? You know what, if we had all stayed up there for two days, we’d have been bored last night and today, right? Because you’re basically just sitting around the hotel and there’s nothing to do." [ LA Kings Insider ]
|
| Posted: 05/21/2013 |
| VIDEO: Discover Day with the Cup 2013 (The Hockey News) |
| Discover teamed with Make-A-Wish and the NHL to grant the wish of 13-year-old Arvada, Colo., resident, Logan Piz, who wished for a chance to spend a day with the Stanley Cup and share it with friends and family |
| Posted: 05/21/2013 |
| Patrick Roy is the next Colorado Avalanche coach, according to his brother: Report (Puck Daddy) |
| The Colorado Avalanche have been a rudderless, sputtering franchise for the last few seasons. To stabilize the team, they reached back into their glory years, elevating Hall of Famer Joe Sakic to Executive VP of Hockey Operations.
It appears the next Avalanche coach might be born out of that same nostalgia.
Patrick Roy, the co-owner/GM/head coach of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, will be the next coach of the Avalanche, as his brother told Adrian Dater of the Denver Post on Monday.
Via Dater:
"They're discussing the final details of an arrangement. Colorado is going to be very happy. Patrick is looking for a new challenge," said Stephane Roy, the younger brother of his famous sibling.
The Avalanche would not confirm a deal is in place. Patrick Roy could not be reached for comment, and neither could Avalanche vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic.
Stephane Roy, who played briefly in the NHL, posted on his Facebook page Monday night, "For all my friends I'd like you to know before the official news spreads that my older brother will be the new coach of the Colorado Avalanch(sic)."
Patrick Roy was traded to the Avalanche in 1995 after a contentious split from the Montreal Canadiens. He would win 262 games from 1995-2003, along with two Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe in 2001.
He was previously offered the head coaching gig for the Avalanche in 2009 , before the team fired Tony Granato and hired Joe Sacco. He turned down the job, citing “family reasons.”
|
| Posted: 05/20/2013 |
| What We Learned: Complaining about NHL officiating? Time to fine these sore losers (Puck Daddy) |
| Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
No one is ever going to be totally happy with the ways in which the NHL's referees or officials make their decisions. We can all agree on that.
If there's a game in which neither team is whistled for a penalty, both will likely complain that the refs missed calls on the other. If there's a game in which both teams receive 10 power plays, both will complain that the referees were overly harsh in doling out discipline. No one is ever especially happy with calls that go in between those two extremes, either, because unless you win, you aren't happy. And sometimes, even when you do win, you aren't happy.
It's tough to know what, exactly, brought all this to a head in these playoffs. Alex Ovechkin complaining about a league-wide conspiracy in Game 6 after the end of Game 7; Jonathan Toews stamping his feet when his team got clobbered on home ice by its archrival; Sidney Crosby saying the league needs to institute video review for puck-over-the-glass calls; Jonathan Quick abusing officials because the Kings gave the Sharks a two-man advantage in overtime.
Doesn't it strike anyone as being a bit much?
No one likes to lose in October, let alone in the second round of the playoffs, and you might even say that the refs have made a bit of a spectacle of themselves in the last few games. The best thing a ref can do, the old saying goes, is not be noticeable, and things have admittedly gotten a bit out of hand in some instances.
But nonetheless, can you imagine the eye-rolling or outright mockery in Chicago if Henrik Zetterberg had said the same things Toews did after they got creamed in Game 1? Or the uproar if Ryan Callahan of the lionized New York Rangers had complained about a conspiracy to push the series longer? Or the furor if Joe Thornton had done what Quick did after the Sharks gave up a similar late-game 5-on-3 advantage that allowed the Kings to tie Game 1?
What it boils down to is being a sore loser. |
| Posted: 05/20/2013 |
| The Dave Tippett coaching watch for Dallas Stars, Colorado Avalanche (Puck Daddy) |
| There are very few coaches that a team could hire and expect immediate positive results. The late Pat Burns was one of them. Ken Hitchcock is one of them. So is Dave Tippett, which is why his situation is one of the most fascinating of the postseason and/or off-season.
Tippett has made the playoffs in eight of 10 seasons as a head coach in the NHL. His system turned the Phoenix Coyotes into a playoff team in three of four seasons, under inconceivable conditions with the franchise’s ownership mess.
That mess has ridiculously spread into the middle of 2013. Tippett and GM Don Maloney have their contracts up this summer, and the coach struck an ominous tone in his postseason comments:
“The ownership situation has to play out before then. I’d like to stay with this group. But that being said, it just needs some stability.
"There will be a conclusion to it. Whether it’s with the ownership or my situation, there’s going to be a conclusion. There's gonna be some clarity to it one way or the other this year, because if it gets to July 1 and there's no owner, I'm without a contract. I'm gonna coach somewhere next year. I hope it's here. But I'm gonna coach somewhere next year. I hope.”
There are currently two openings in the NHL coaching ranks, both in the Western Conference: The Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche.
Would Tippett leave the Coyotes for one of them?
|
| Posted: 05/16/2013 |
| Game 7 loss ‘will haunt’ Lupul; Ovechkin joins Team Russia at Worlds (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy) |
| Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die...
— Joffrey Lupul (@JLupul) May 14, 2013
• Joffrey Lupul on the Game 7 collapse.
• Interested in seeing an entire gallery of disappointed Maple Leafs fans? It's your lucky day. [ Windsor Star ]
• "'Just wait for next year!' was always a phrase that was said with nervous, half-hearted undertones. This time around, everybody will be coming back with a taste of what's possible, and wanting a buffet." [ Leafs Nation ]
• Ahead of Wednesday night's Game 1 versus the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock is keeping mum on how his fourth line will look. [ MLive ]
• Torey Krug is up for the Boston Bruins as insurance after defenseman Dennis Seidenberg played only 37 seconds in Game 7 before leaving with a leg injury. [ Boston Globe ]
• Who is the best goalie of the remaining eight playoff teams? [ Edmonton Journal ]
• Fresh off a first-round exit, Alex Ovechkin will join Team Russia at the World Championships. [ Capitals ]
• Brandon Worley on the firing of Glen Gulutzan : "In the end, his team never seemed to really be able to gain the upper hand when the stakes were at their highest and it's likely that Gulutzan needs a few more years of coaching experience before he's ready to take over an NHL team again." [ Defending Big D ]
|
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| Jimmy Fallon does NHL awards bit, gets pretty much every name wrong (Video) (Puck Daddy) |
| The NHL is on NBC. “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” is on NBC. You know what that means? Comedic synergy!
Here’s the future host of “The Tonight Show” handing out some NHL Awards on his Monday night program. Unless it’s part of the bit, Jimmy’s flimsy grasp on the NHL stars’ names would seem to indicate he was prepped by Los Angeles TV sports anchors. Watch and giggle:
UPDATE: NBC keeps removing videos from YouTube and Hulu, so fast forward to the 6:50 mark of this full episode to see the bit
A few things …
• Tuukka Rask as the love child of David Letterman and Dexter is pretty hilarious, and much more accurate than our “Jonathan Toews after hot with a waffle iron" take.
• The Kopitar/Frankenberry connection has been made for years by cereal consuming puckheads.
• Ryan Button’s inclusion really, really pushed the boundaries of this being “NHL" superlatives.
• Someone doesn't like his superlative:
. @ jimmyfallon count chocula? That cuts deep Jimmy......
—Strombone (@strombone1) May 14, 2013
• The subtle twisting of Robyn Regehr into “Robin Big-Ear” was the stuff of classic middle school trolling, sir.
• The lack of Greg Zanon in this bit makes us believe that Jimmy’s writers didn’t get down to ‘Z’. Or that like the rest of the Northwest Division, they didn’t care about the Colorado Avalanche, either.
All that said: It’s great to have the NHL as comedic fodder on Jimmy’s show. Hopefully one day we’ll get Don Cherry slow-jamming the news or, at the very least, have the chance to see the 2013 Conn Smythe winner battle him in beer pong. And by that we mean Patrick Kane.
|
| Posted: 05/14/2013 |
| What We Learned: Pittsburgh Penguins have to get rid of Marc-Andre Fleury (Puck Daddy) |
|
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.
One of the things people said constantly throughout the Pittsburgh Penguins' six-game series victory over the New York Islanders was that their play was well below the expected level of quality.
In fact, the most common refrain was that this particular brand of awful play -- rife with defensive irresponsibility and baffling lack of execution for a team that was pretty much incredible from start to finish this year -- was probably only good enough to get them past a try-hard pretender like the Islanders.
Against a real team, it was generally agreed, this kind of play would result in them losing the series in short order, probably pretty badly.
But that kind of talk ignores two things. First, we were told repeatedly by just about everyone that if there was any team the Penguins, not exactly fleet-of-foot, didn't want to take on in the playoffs, it was these New York Islanders. And yeah, they had their hands full throughout, but still never really looked to be in all that much trouble; the scores were close, yes, but they still only needed six games to put these guys out of their misery.
Second, and more important, is that — lo and behold — the second they took Marc-Andre Fleury out of the crease, they won both games. That's not to say that Tomas Vokoun really won them either game, because he didn't. He posted a shutout in Game 5 because almost any goaltender in the world (with at least one notable exception) would have, but he was also victimized on occasion by the bad defensive work that didn't help Fleury much either.
But the fact of the matter is that if you have pretensions of winning a Stanley Cup, your goaltender has to at least be league-average. The Penguins, with their galaxy of stars and excellent coach and top-quality GM, have that goal. They do not have that goaltender. People will argue that Fleury is a winner, insofar as he won a Stanley Cup. Four years ago. Since that postseason, when he posted just a .908 save percentage and a not-good 2.61 GAA, his save percentage has crept above .899 precisely zero times. This year, when he gave up 14 goals on 128 shots in four games before Bylsma dead-bolted the door to the doghouse from the outside.
Or at least, he should; there's only so many times an entire team can roll its eyes and think, "Oh no, not again," like a pot of petunias, before it's the only reasonable course of action.
I don't know how much longer we need to suffer through the narrative that Fleury is any good at all before it crumbles to sand and is scattered by the wind. That is, if it hasn't done so already behind save attempts like this and this and most notably this .
I mean, look, the fact of the matter is that apart from one good playoff run five years ago in which he fell a game short of winning the Stanley Cup for that not-quite-ready Penguins team, he has always been sub-average, and now things are getting markedly worse .
|
| Posted: 05/13/2013 |
| Joe Sakic takes over hockey operations for the Colorado Avalanche (Puck Daddy) |
| The bad news for Colorado Avalanche fans: Greg Sherman is still the general manager of a team that’s failed to make the playoff for three straight seasons and cost head coach Joe Sacco his job.
The good news: He's really not in charge of anything anymore, and is going to have to answer to Joe Sakic.
The Avalanche on Friday announced a reshuffling their front office that saw the most popular player in franchise history (sorry, Chris Gratton) play a much more prominent role in its decision making.
From the Avs:
The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that Josh Kroenke has been named President and Joe Sakic has been named Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations. Pierre Lacroix will remain with the organization as an advisor.
“Beginning today, I will be assuming the responsibilities as Avalanche team President,” said Kroenke. “Having had the privilege of learning under a mentor like Pierre Lacroix , and then spending the past few seasons as Governor, I feel ready to become much more involved on a daily basis.”
“I am thrilled to announce that Joe Sakic has agreed to become Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Avalanche,” continued Kroenke. “In that role, Joe will be in charge of all hockey-related decisions moving forward. With his credentials, presence and knowledge of the game, Joe will be a key ingredient in making sure that together we reach our future goals.”
The Avs said that “Sherman will continue to be in charge of contract negotiations and be the Avalanche’s contact with the league office and its member teams.” No word if he’ll also be responsible for getting Sakic’s lunch and/or dry cleaning, going forward ...
So the Avalanche have their John Elway. And for a fan base that’s sick of watching this franchise flail about, handing the keys to a living legend can’t be bad from a marketing perspective. |
| Posted: 05/10/2013 |
| Senators 6, Canadiens 1 (The SportsXchange) |
| MONTREAL -- Cory Conacher scored twice, Eric Condra had a goal and two assists, and the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-1 on Thursday night for their first playoff series win in six years. |
| Posted: 05/09/2013 |
| Lokomotiv moves on from crash in Amish country (The Associated Press) |
| MANHEIM, Pa. (AP) -- Alex Kruchinin can step out the front door of his hotel and see nothing across the street but miles of farmland. Just down the road that weaves through the quiet countryside, there are farms and silos and enough wide-open spaces that it's almost impossible for a bunch of young hockey prospects thousands of miles from home to fall into trouble. |
| Posted: 05/09/2013 |
| Carey Price out of Montreal series vs. Ottawa; can Peter Budaj rally Habs? (Puck Daddy) |
| At this point, another significant injury for the Montreal Canadiens is like salt in a wound that’s already been treated by lemon juice and paper cuts.
Brian Gionta’s down for the playoffs after surgery on his left arm. Ryan White and Brandon Prust were injured in their first-round series against the Ottawa Senators. Lars Eller was last seen bleeding all over the ice after an Eric Gryba hit.
Now, and perhaps most significantly, it’s Carey Price that’s down and out of the Senators’ series, with Ottawa having pushed Montreal to the brink of elimination. The Habs announced that their starting goalie will not return to the Ottawa series due to a lower body injury (a hip or a groin, from the looks of it).
So it’s Peter Budaj time. |
| Posted: 05/09/2013 |
Yahoo!Sports
|
| GAME STATS |
|
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
| HOME |
24 |
12 |
9 |
3 |
| AWAY |
24 |
4 |
16 |
4 |
| TOTAL |
48 |
16 |
25 |
7 |
| MAY STATS |
|
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
| HOME |
|
|
|
|
| AWAY |
|
|
|
|
| TOTAL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| NORTHWEST DIVISION |
| Team |
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
PTS |
GF |
GA |
| VAN |
48 |
26 |
15 |
7 |
59 |
127 |
121 |
| MIN |
48 |
26 |
19 |
3 |
55 |
122 |
127 |
| EDM |
48 |
19 |
22 |
7 |
45 |
125 |
134 |
| CGY |
48 |
19 |
25 |
4 |
42 |
128 |
160 |
| COL |
48 |
16 |
25 |
7 |
39 |
116 |
152 |
| WESTERN CONFERENCE |
| Team |
GP |
W |
L |
OT |
DF |
PTS |
| 1. CHI* |
48 |
36 |
7 |
5 |
53 |
77 |
| 2. ANA* |
48 |
30 |
12 |
6 |
22 |
66 |
| 3. VAN* |
48 |
26 |
15 |
7 |
6 |
59 |
| 4. STL |
48 |
29 |
17 |
2 |
14 |
60 |
| 5. LAK |
48 |
27 |
16 |
5 |
15 |
59 |
| 6. SJS |
48 |
25 |
16 |
7 |
8 |
57 |
| 7. DET |
48 |
24 |
16 |
8 |
9 |
56 |
| 8. MIN |
48 |
26 |
19 |
3 |
-5 |
55 |
| 9. CBJ |
48 |
24 |
17 |
7 |
1 |
55 |
| 10. PHX |
48 |
21 |
18 |
9 |
-6 |
51 |
| 11. DAL |
48 |
22 |
22 |
4 |
-12 |
48 |
| 12. EDM |
48 |
19 |
22 |
7 |
-9 |
45 |
| 13. CGY |
48 |
19 |
25 |
4 |
-32 |
42 |
| 14. NSH |
48 |
16 |
23 |
9 |
-28 |
41 |
| 15. COL |
48 |
16 |
25 |
7 |
-36 |
39 |
|
