US Olympic Team...

The US Olympic team should re-name themselves Team Ryan: Ryan Suter, Ryan Miller, Ryan Callahan, Ryan Kessler, Ryan Malone, and Bobby Ryan.

* * *

Why the big deal over Doug Weight, Bill Guerin, and Keith Tkachuk not making the 2010 US Olympic team? The US wants to win, right?

Weight had no goals in 11 games before being injured... again. His first game back was the night before the Olympic selections were announced. Guerin is actually scoring around the same pace he was in 2002 when the team won the Silver Medal, but he's 39 and the chances that he'll have anything left for 8 games in 11 days is very slim. Tkachuk hasn't been a force on any team since before the lockout, and he would just be taking space for a young power forward - say, Ryan Callahan (or Ryan Malone).

Scott Gomez was an interesting name left off. He just turned 30 last week and he played well in the 2006 Olympics in Italy, but those of us who watched him the past 2 years (and anyone following him in Montreal this year) know that he just isn't as good in another system as he was with the Devils.

I would also venture to guess that it came down to Gomez and Chris Drury fighting for a spot, and with John Tortorella as an assistant coach, Drury got the nod.

I like Callahan and Drury being on the team. I'm very excited for Callahan and I think the experience can only help him. As for Drury, he won't play 20 minutes a night for them so he won't come back burnt out. Plus, being there could inspire him to play better - he said so himself after being selected to the team.

As for Henrik Lundqvist and Marian Gaborik? Awful.

Remember how good the Rangers were playing in 2005-06 before the Olympic break? They were 20 games over .500, then ended the season 9-11-4 after the break. Lundqvist came back grinding his teeth and with migraines and was utterly awful in the playoffs against New Jersey (he'll admit it). Jaromir Jagr came back hurt from a Jarrko Ruutu check; on top of that, a nagging hip injury was made worse by the lack of off-days in the compressed Olympic schedule.

Without Jagr and Lundqvist, that team was just a bunch of role players who played great together and had a dream season.

Without Gaborik and Lundqvist, this team is a bunch of young players who haven't really meshed yet (and a few overpriced veterans who are just waiting for their careers to end).

What happens if Lundqvist gets hurt? The season is officially over. What if Gaborik gets hurt? So far, he hasn't injured anything that was hurt in previous seasons, but you shouldn't press the matter. An injury to him in Vancouver could have negative effects on him - and this team - for the next 4 years.

Plus, Hank could use the rest for 3 weeks before the stretch-drive.

Four reasons I am very against NHL players playing in the Olympics...

1) It should be an amateur competition.
2) You're stopping an exciting NHL season for 3 weeks and expecting people to pick off where it left off 21 days later.
3) The chance for injury is too great. (Ask the Ottawa Senators how the rest of their season was when Dominik Hasek was injured in the Czech Republic's first game in '06.)
4) It can be a career-maker for a young kid. Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg in the 1992 Olympics in the shootout was an instant classic. I'd much rather have that than see Chris Pronger snuff out Evgeni Malkin in the bronze medal game because they're division rivals.

Penguins Win the Cup...

Very happy for Petr Sykora and I loved seeing him lift the Stanley Cup, although I'm pretty sure he cursed very loudly on TV last night. (Thought he said "F***in' right!" as he lifted it.)

People are villifying Marian Hossa, but for no reason. He did the noble thing, it just didn't work out for him. He could've taken somewhere around $80M from Edmonton to play there for a few years, but he took a cut to play in Detroit. Granted, $7.4M is still a nice chunk of coin, but at least he wants a Cup. What's next for him, back to the Penguins? Head over to San Jose? Stick with Detroit? I doubt that one, because they have a bunch of players to re-sign as well.

Besides Petr Sykora, the one guy on the Penguins I really love is Max Talbot. Not only does he rock awesome facial hair (he used to have a huge mustache), but he is the nicest guy. Of all the NHL players I've met/seen, him and Martin Biron are the most genuine and the nicest. He signs everything, he gives pucks to all the kids in the crowd. Good guy, always smiling. And now, he goes down in history as scoring 2 goals in a Game 7, much like his teammate Ruslan Fedotenko did in 2004 in a 2-1 win after trailing in the series 3-2. (One difference, Tampa Bay was at home, not in Calgary for that Game 7.)

No, I'm not ashamed to have rooted for the Penguins to win last night. I was much happier seeing them win than I would've been had the same team as last year won.

Saw this phrase written somewhere, and I found a picture of the two of them together, so, here it is.

Two Girls, One Cup

Bryan's Mid-Year Awards

The whole idea of mid-year awards is retarded. We don't know who's going to make the playoffs. We don't know who's going to crap out down the stretch, and we don't know who's going to make a second-half charge. All we know is that everyone else is doing year-end awards, and so will we. I'll submit my ballot, and perhaps Zach will do so later.

Hart Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: Best scorer on a good team, almost without exception. Either that or an extremely good goalie on an awful team.

- Consensus Pick: Alexander Ovechkin, Capitals.

- My Pick: Ovechkin. I hate to go with the masses, but this one's too easy to pass up. And not just because he's leading the league in goals. It's mostly because he had a crummy October and so did the Capitals. Once Ovechkin picked up his game, the Capitals became the force they were for the second half of last season. That is pretty much the definition of "valuable".

Art Ross Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: The leading point scorer in the league. Obviously.

- Consensus Pick: Evgeni Malkin, Penguins.

- My Pick: Malkin. He's got a 10-point lead, which is a lot to make up. But I think he'll taper off down the stretch. If Pittsburgh is going to be as good as they should be, one line can't do it all.

Calder Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: It's supposed to go to the "top rookie", but it's almost always the first-year player who nets the most points or becomes an above-average starting goalie.

- Consensus Pick: Steve Mason, Blue Jackets.

- My Pick: Bobby Ryan, Ducks. Everyone's high on Mason, and he's done a great job - but how do we know Mason isn't a creation of the Jackets' system? After all, Pascal Leclaire put up similar numbers just one year ago. Ryan, on the other hand, is averaging a point a game for the Ducks and is leading all rookies in goals despite only playing 31 games.

Vezina Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: Martin Brodeur The best goalie in the league - not just based on wins, but on the goalie's ability to carry his team and put that team in a position to win.

- Consensus Pick: Steve Mason, Blue Jackets.

- My Pick: Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers. This is a really tough year to pick a Vezina winner because so many top goalies have missed time and because more teams are rotating goalies. Ultimately, for me, it goes to Lundqvist. His GAA and save percentages aren't anything special, but he's easily the league's best shootout goalie, and since the Rangers have relied so heavily on shootout wins, he gets the nod over other goalies with similar stats.

Norris Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: The top point-getter among defensemen.

- Consensus Pick: Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Wings.

- My Pick: Mark Streit, Islanders. Call me a homer if you want... but consider the facts. Streit is tied for third in scoring among defensemen. He averages 25 minutes a game. He has 76 blocked shots, which is way more than most of the defensemen atop the scoring charts. And most tellingly, he's a minus-3 on a team that is absolutely atrocious; this minus-3 is the best plus-minus total out of players who have been with the Islanders all year.

Adams Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: The coach of a team who goes from being crappy to being good in one year.

- Consensus Pick: Claude Julien, Bruins.

- My Pick: Mike Keenan, Flames. Most people can't name three players on the Flames. And yet, the Flames lead the Northwest by nine points. Given the travel involved in playing in the same division as Minnesota and Colorado, that's pretty impressive.

Lady Byng Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: A high-scoring player on a good team who doesn't get many penalty minutes.

- Consensus Pick: Nobody really picks the Lady Byng trophy winner at mid-season.

- My Pick: Daniel Sedin, Vancouver. I'm not sure how much more "gentlemanly" you can get than 22 penalty minutes and a total of five hits thrown.

Selke Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: An offensively-inclined player who has a good plus-minus and, more importantly, a solid reputation as a two-way player, whether it's actually true or not.

- Consensus Pick: This is another one nobody really pays attention to until year-end. But the consensus is probably Pavel Datsyuk from Detroit. And since this is as much of a "reputation" award as the NHL offers, he'll probably win it again.

- My Pick: Mike Richards, Philadelphia.

So there you have it. Some prognostication that will, ultimately, mean nothing.

And since this is All-Star Weekend, we will take this opportunity to link to the greatest All-Star moment of my lifetime - the Pond of Dreams short, which was shown at the 2000 All-Star Game. Enjoy.

The Rivalry: Game 3

In response to Zach's post yesterday, I opined that last night's game would be beneficial for both teams. The Islanders would get to put their absolute best face forward against their most hated rival, while the Rangers would learn to push themselves against an opponent that would be playing them extremely tough. It would also represent a chance for both teams to take their frustrations out on each other.

And that's exactly what happened.

Within the first ten minutes of the game, Mitch Fritz took on Colton Orr and Mike Comrie sparred with Nigel Dawes. Both the heavyweight and middleweight bouts were spirited and impressive. They set the tone for a hard-hitting, tightly-played game. But it was the third period when the flood gates finally opened, and unfortunately for the Islanders, the Rangers were just a little better.

Still, if you're an Islanders fan, you have to be pleased with the way your team played, even with the latest Rick DiPietro distractions. And if you're a Rangers fan, you're happy with the win. Maybe you feel like your team could have played better and maybe they should have won by more, but these Islanders give teams fits. In a recent interview, Evgeni Malkin claimed the Islanders were the team that played him the toughest. And make no mistake about it, the Islanders were up for these Rangers, and vice versa.

What's really bad for the Rangers is that they now have a week off. They have no opportunity to build off this win. The Islanders, meanwhile, play Florida tomorrow in a New Year's Eve matinee game. If the Islanders play the way they played last night, they should easily dispose of the Panthers and head into 2009 on a relatively high note. It's just unfortunate that we won't get to see the after effects of these two rivals bringing out the best in each other yet again.

Notes From the Garden, 12/3/08...

A solid night overall at a packed Madison Square Garden. Lots of people there tonight, including most of the lower bowl where tickets are always sold but the businesses that own them rarely show up. Apparently all it takes to get people there is a Staal Family Rivalry.

- I don't see as much of the Western Conference as I would like to, but from what I see, one of the only people in the NHL better at handling the puck than Nikolai Zherdev is Evgeni Malkin. Zherdev was a true magician out there tonight, and on no less than 3 occasions wowed the audience, but Malkin is incredible as well, causing the guy next to me to say "Wow" to himself for 65 seconds.

- Dmitri Kalinin should, once again, never have become a defenseman. He pinches more than an Asian businessman at a strip club, and would make a better 4th line winger than a crummy 6th defender.

- Jaromir Jagr shooting from the right faceoff circle in 2005 is much, much more intimidating that Chris Drury shooting from the left faceoff circle in 2008.

- In a stunning show of solidarity with the NHL and Gary Bettman, the referees were strongly rooting for the Penguins today. With no double-minor penalties to avoid (like Game 5 last year when Drury had a blade-shaped cut on his face and the ice had to be cleaned of his blood while no penalty was called), one of the zebrae actually ran into a Ranger during what would've been a breakaway. I'm interested in listening to the replay of the game to hear how Sam and Joe play off the "A**hole" chants.

- The Rangers should have blasted Danny Sabourin. When they pressured him in the 3rd, good things happened, and they could've had more than 1 goal if they knew how to finish. Once it went to a shootout, you knew the Rangers would win because Sabourin wouldn't be able to stop Markus Naslund, Zherdev, and Freddy Sjostrom.

- That said, the Rangers managed 5 shots in the 1st period. They were credited with 6, but the 6th was a dump as they were leaving the zone on a line change. Five shots, 20 minutes. That's a shot every 4 minutes. What was happening the other 3:59?

- Petr Prucha's emotional goal was an incredible moment that goes down as one of my favorite in-person hockey memories. His goal in his first game back after being scratched for 10 (and refusing a conditioning assignment) ranks up there with these post-lockout goals...

    :: Jed Ortmeyer's shorthanded penalty shot against Boston, his first goal since returning to the lineup after being out for half a season with pulmonary embolism.

    :: In the 14th round of a shootout against the Capitals, the Rangers were down 3-2, and Jason Strudwick had a beautiful wrist shot to keep the shootout going, setting up Marek Malik's between-the-leg game winner.

    :: Brendan Shanahan's breakaway goal for his first goal in his first game as a Ranger, his second goal of the game that was his 600th career tally, and Jagr's goal :29 into the game during the 2006-07 season opener vs. the Capitals.

- If Wade Redden is known as a first pass defenseman, Michal Rozsival is a pass-first defenseman. 

- Prucha was buzzing all night and the crowd was rooting for him. He missed a nearly-open net in the 2nd period, but had a good game otherwise. Tom Renney must've liked what he say, because he was getting double-shifted too, being put on the 4th line with Blair Betts and Sjostrom at times. Brandon Dubinsky played well too, and Renney had a lot of confidence in the Voros-Dubi-Prucha line.

- When Scott Gomez stole the puck with 11 seconds left in the 3rd period and rushed up ice with Naslund and Zherdev, the whole Garden thought they were going to put it in the net. They almost did.

- I've never seen a standing ovation from a check before, but when Marc Staal rocked Sidney Crosby (who should've had a penalty against Colton Orr as well when Brooks Orpik took his 4 minute penalty) in the extra frame, the crowd spontaneously stood up and cheered. I assume nobody chanted because his name doesn't sound good in a chant. (Try it.)

- Sign me up as someone who loves the shootout, if only because I hated ties with a passion. Nothing was worse than sititng through a game and having it be a 2-2 tie. Here, atleast someone gets an extra point. If it's your team, great, if not, well, you still get a point. They only time I hate shootouts is in March and April when everyone clamps down and we see 3-point games everywhere when the Rangers are fighting for a playoff spot and Boston and Pittsburgh each get points.

I know people hate on the shootout, but for me, it could be a shootout, it could be a game of Three Post (where you take out the goalie and have to hit both posts and the crossbar to win), it could be an accuracy contest like in the Skills Competition, whatever, as long as there are no ties.

- Great resiliency today by the Rangers. They went down 2-0, and while they didn't play incredibly well, they did fight back. Prucha had a great game and deserves his spot back instead of Dan Fritsche. They had no goats today in the lineup on offense. Everyone contributed, from Betts and Orr to Lauri Korpikoski and Ryan Callahan.

Alex Radulov...

Today, news is going to break that Alex Radulov from Jed Ortmeyer's Nashville Predators has defected to Russia.

The new Russian league (now known as the Continental Hockey League) has been a fall-back for mid-level players like Wade Dubielewicz, Bryce Lampman, Mike York, and Ray Emery, who have found that they have no place in the NHL this season (although I still think Dubie should have waited for July 1 to see if teams came calling). The new CHL also has a lot of money to offer players, but so far, the likes of Evgeni Malkin and Nikolai Zherdev have turned them down.

Alexander Radulov, however, wanted to return home, and this was his opportunity. He claims he called Nashville to tell them his intention, and they never returned his call, making it clear he wasn't needed there. I would assume the CHL also offered him more money then he would be getting in the last year of his entry-level contract. Maybe they also offered him the rumored Jaromir Jagr Special - a tax-free contract.

Radulov claims that Nashville won't be able to legally bring him back over, apparently because he never read this story on NHL.com about an agreement between the NHL and CHL to honor contracts made in the other league. However, the Radulov move might have been made before the deal was finalized.

If he does in fact have to come back, I think it's a lock that he will be traded from the Predators. Seeing as the Rangers have their own super-fast, incredibly-talented, enigmatic Russian winger, I say "No thanks," but I do know that this guy is a great player if given the chance, and he has an Ovechkin-like passion for the game. It's a shame we might not see it in North America anymore.