Hockey

Although our attention is rightfully on Game Five today, there is one small item that will require Glen Sather’s attention this week. A trio of 2011 draft picks have until June 1 to sign, or else they will become UFAs and free to sign elsewhere. Shane McColgan (4th), Sam Noreau (6th), and Peter Ceresnak (7th) are the three prospects that await word of an offered entry-level contract this week. McColgan and Noreau are, in my opinion, likely to sign ELCs. The Rangers are thin on prospect depth at the AHL level, and both have proved that they can play well in the CHL. Ceresnak, on the other hand, had a poor year and was actually a healthy scratch for his OHL club for a few games this season. By this time next week, we will know where the organization stands on these three prospects. My gut feeling is that even if one or all are not tendered ELCs, they will pick up somewhere else. Tweet

Because my chances of going to the Bell Centre for the first time ever have increased greatly, due to the fact I’m moving to Montreal and should be no more than a handful of miles from there, I thought I’d search the web and see what I might be in for. (For those who might be wondering why I’ve never been, it’s because I moved across the country before it was built and was never able to get back). Here’s some reviews I found, and although the consensus is that things are pricey at the Bell, most say it’s a great experience nonetheless. Although one person said there’s some obstructed views, which surprises me. Here we go: Nice. Modern. Clean. Great place to watch a game. There are very few “bad” seats. Extraordinarily expensive, because they can. Can’t fault ‘em for that. This is one of the premiere arenas in the NHL and very well organized and modern.  Sure they soak you $11 for a can of beer and food is equally expensive but that’s how they make money! This place oozes hockey heaven for Quebeckers.  I’ve been here to see concerts in the past (John Mayer, U2 and Bon Jovi) and acoustics and sightlines are excellent! Centre Bell isn’t the nicest arenas I’ve been to and it’s not the biggest stadium I’ve been to but absolutely NOBODY can argue that they house some of the greatest fans in North America. Whether it’s a hockey event or a big fight, you’ll be guaranteed that the crowd will hold down their fort and minimize the amount of visiting fans, yes I’m looking at you other Canadian cities!!!!! as well as cheer on their hometown team or stars.  There’s not a lot of places with this much emotion, fun and pride all the time and not just when their team is doing well.  For that MTL I give your Centre Bell a 5 star review. The concerts here are cool too, and with any arena there comes a level where it’s difficult to make out the band but you have to expect that! With 95% of arena’s the food sucks and is overpriced. Was invited to see the last Habs game of the 11/12 season from one of the corporate boxes. The view was good and even though the boxes may appear far away the game is still enjoyable to watch from them. The service was good, each box has it’s own attendant (seemed like all the attendants were pretty girls) and ours was always asking us if we needed any drinks or anything. The boxes come with free food (depends on what was ordered but for us it was delicious smoked meat sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, fries, and chips, the boxes next to us had different food) and free drinks (espresso, lattes, 3 kinds of beer, juice, pop, or water). Near the end of the game a dessert cart full of many different delicious desserts and alcoholic liquers comes by and you get your pick of what you want. Overall it was a good experience. A typical corporate box is usually pretty nice, has a mini kitchen, living room with a few TVs, and of course opens up to the seating area in the arena (with a few more tvs in front in case you don’t want to strain your eyes looking down). Each box has it’s own bathroom! Aside from having to wait 5 minutes for the elevator, leaving the arena was pretty easy. Packing a sold out arena of 22,000 fans every Habs home game is a great experience, however I’m not quite a fan of the location for concerts and smaller venues – somehow it just doesn’t do it for me. I love the Express Exits that they have – wish other arenas had the same. This hockey arena is any NHL fan’s wet dream come true. It’s comfortable, spacious and has the highest seating capacity in the league, along with the most prodigious franchise in the sport making for a very unique and incredible experience. I’ve been there to see my beloved Boston Bruins play the Canadiens and although the tickets were very expensive ($150 per ticket), all five of us had an abs

Since the Bruins went into overtime with the Rangers on Thursday, comparisons to Boston’s 2010 series against the Philadelphia Flyers started popping up. NESN’s Billy Jaffe said this is a completely different situation, though. Jaffe said he’s tired of hearing about comparisons to that series. Jaffe says the Bruins are playing much better now that they even were against the Leafs this postseason. The Bruins analyst thinks Boston will topple the Rangers on Saturday night to get some rest before the conference finals. To hear Jaffe’s take on the Bruins-Rangers series, check out the video above.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports Here we go again, talking about how the Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Detroit Red Wings for the third time. It was such a terrible game that they couldn’t even score. Everything went wrong, and even Jonathan Toews lost his cool and got the wrong kind of hat trick (in penalties, not goals). It seemed as though the only player in the Indian Head jersey doing anything worthwhile was Corey Crawford. At least only one octopus made an appearance on Thursday. The Blackhawks are on the brink of elimination. There is a laundry list of things that they need to figure out: winning faceoffs, countering the Red Wings’ backchecking, being more precise on passing, fixing the power play, and most importantly, getting pucks to the net. I know that sounds clichéd, but it’s true. The more shots you take, the more likely that one will go in. Three Red Wings players need to be neutralized: Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson and Jimmy Howard. Kronwall and Ericsson have rendered Toews useless so far, so finding a way to shut them down will be the key to both unlocking the Blackhawks’ scoring and perhaps kickstarting Toews into getting his first postseason goal. As for Howard, he needs to be screened. Bodies need to be in front of him. This may be the only way, short of him having a complete breakdown in net, of scoring. One thing that concerns me is the lines. In the last two games, Joel Quenneville has been shuffling lines so much that it’s had to tell who’s on what line anymore. That’s not what got them the President’s Trophy or all those league records. Unless the old line of Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp is coming back, I don’t see how shuffling lines will help. There are only so many times the Jedi minds tricks will work before your target catches on and adapts. There’s a small glimmer of hope in this. Many fans are pointing out that in their quarterfinals series with the Vancouver Canucks in 2011, the Blackhawks were down 3-0 but fought back to even the series before losing in overtime in Game Seven. Let’s hope the team can channel that with a better outcome.

The New York Rangers will get another crack at closing the gap in this series with Game 5 tonight at TD Garden. The Rangers overcame a 2-0 deficit in Game 4, and the Boston native, Chris Kreider, was the eventual hero with the game winning overtime goal. It's another win or go home game for the Rangers, so they need to leave it all out on the ice once again. Win this game, and the Rangers swing this series right back to Madison Square Garden where the fans will likely blow the roof off of the place. Get it done. vs. New York Rangers (#6 Seed) vs Boston Bruins (#4 Seed)Series Score: 3-1 BOSTD Garden - Boston, MA- 5:30 PM Television: NBCSN, TSN, RDS | Radio: NHL Game RadioOpponent's Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder | Tickets: New York Rangers Playoff Tickets Some Quick Thoughts: According to the morning skate from yesterday, John Tortorella will likely be using the same lineup tonight as he did in Game 4. Which means Brad Richards will be a healthy scratch for his second straight game. But yet again, there's no reason to change something that worked. I found this interesting read while browsing around earlier this morning. Larry Brooks caught up with Derick Brassard, and asked about his confrontation with Brad Marchand in Game 4. Brassard stated, "He’s been asking everybody on our team to fight all series, so I thought it was time to take him up on it, but then I guess he didn't have any interest." This doesn't surprise me in the least bit. Stay classy, Brad Marchand. Projected Lineup: Carl Hagelin - Derek Stepan - Ryan CallahanChris Kreider - Derick Brassard - Rick NashTaylor Pyatt - Brian Boyle - Mats ZuccarelloMicheal Haley - Kris Newbury - Derek DorsettRyan McDonagh - Dan GirardiMichael Del Zotto - Steve EmingerJohn Moore - Roman HamrlikHenrik LundqvistMartin Biron Scratches: Anton Stralman (upper-body), Marc Staal (upper-body), Darroll Powe (upper-body), Ryane Clowe (upper-body), Matt Gilroy (healthy),

This is for @osujoe, the notorious (not famous) Brassicek Jersey Yesterday was an interesting start to the Memorial Day weekend in Blue Jackets land. So I thought I would summarize some of it, and muse on it a bit. First and foremost, the CBJ announced that goal tender Curtis McElhinney was signed to a 1 year, one way deal. CMac had a great year this year leading Springfield to the second round of the AHL playoffs. He posted a 29-6-3 record, with a 2.29 GAA and a .923 Save Percentage. These are very good numbers, that eclipse the relatively pedestrian numbers he has posted in prior service in the NHL. CMac will be coming in to compete for the backup goalie spot behind Bobrovsky. CMac came to the organization as an injured goal tender as part of the 2011-12 late season purge that sent Antoine Vermette to the Phoenix Coyotes. At the time he was recovering from major surgery. The CBJ signed him to a two-way deal last year, and he spent the entire year in Springfield. Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch is quoting Jarmo Kekalainen as saying that CMac earned the contract with his play in Springfield, and the one way deal was pretty much what was necessary to keep him in the organization. At 30 years old, this is probably CMac's last real chance at the NHL. We need a back up goal tender who is committed to performing, and will win us some games while relieving Bobrovsky. On the 'let the wookie win' front, the CBJ signed Finnish defenseman Ilari Melart to a one year entry level deal. He is a 24 year old, 6'3", 227 lb stay at home defenseman, who has some thump to his game. This ensures that Dalton Prout has some competition coming into camp. This should prove interesting. While I can't recall the source at this moment (apologies to that source) when following this on Twitter yesterday, Jarmo basically implied that people will have a hard time getting away from him on the smaller North American ice surfaces. Not to say that he is merely a goon, but he is a large, physical defenseman. I think this adds some real depth to the CBJ defensive corps in an area that we are not deep. This is a good signing by Jarmo, capitalizing on his knowledge of European players. Anton Forsberg in 2012 Development Camp In another development, the Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the CBJ signed goal tender prospect Anton Forsberg to a 3 year entry level deal. Forsberg will likely play in Sweden this year, where he has a chance to compete for a starting with Modo in the Swedish Elite league. Forsberg is probably furthest along of all the bright goal tending prospects in the system, and its possible he'll make the jump to North America for the 2014-15 season. Bobrovsky is still not signed, but Bob's agent would be a stone cold lunatic for signing a deal before finding out whether Bob had won the Vezina trophy for best goal tender of the year. So that won't happen at least until after the second game of the final, which is when the Vezina award will be announced. Patience it the watchword here. Keep calm, and vote for Bob in the EA Sports NHL14 cover vote. So far he is in the semi finals. Have a fun and safe Memorial Day everyone! Take a moment to reflect on those who have fallen to keep our Country free. GO JACKETS!

Photo cedit: Terry Wilson / OHL Images. By Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) The 2013 NHL Entry Draft in New Jersey is just over a month away. As we inch closer to this year’s draft, I’ll continue to plug away and post as many scouting reports on the top draft eligible players from the Ontario Hockey League as I can. Here is my scouting report on 2013 draft eligible Jason Dickinson of the Guelph Storm. Jason Dickinson Age – 17 Position – Left Wing Height – 6? 2? Weight – 176 Draft Projection: 20-34th overall OHL Team: Guelph Storm 2013 Regular Season Stats: 18 goals, 29 assists, 47 points, +19, 31PIM, 66 games played 2013 Playoff Stats: 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points, 0PIM, 5 games played NHL Comparable(s) – Blake Wheeler Upside – 8.5/10 Strengths – Jason Dickinson is one of the most talented prospects in this year’s class. He’s an extremely good skater who can reach his top speed in a short period of time. He has very good hands and is excellent around the net. He sees the ice well, has a high hockey IQ and really understands how to play the game. Dickinson has good puck skills and is a strong player in one-on-one situations. Dickinson regularly steps around defenders by using his hands and often does so with little trouble. Dickinson also uses his strong skating ability to take defenders wide with speed before cutting on a dime and heading to the net to generate a scoring chance. He possesses an NHL release and can get the puck off his stick very quickly. He knows how to score goals and finish plays and is a good playmaker as well. Dickinson is also a very good two-way player and does a good job of taking care of his own zone. He always sticks with his man and is rarely caught out of position or cheating outside of the defensive zone. He’s also a very hard worker. Dickinson has a bit of an edge to his game, too, and is willing to throw his body around. Overall, he possesses the skill set, skating ability, work ethic and edge to dominate games when he’s on. Weaknesses – Dickinson’s biggest weakness is probably his inconsistency. One game he’ll dominate, pick up a few points and look like he should get consideration to be a top-10 pick. The next game he’ll show some flashes but be pretty quiet for the most part and look like a guy who should be taken in the 2nd or 3rd round. Dickinson also needs to bulk up and get stronger. Career Projection – Dickinson has all the talent in the world, but he needs to be more consistent. Given that he possesses a strong work ethic, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and project that it won’t be much of an issue down the road. If he keeps working hard and can become more consistent, there is no doubt in my mind that he has the talent and potential to be a top line forward. He’s a bit of a risk/reward pick, but I think the potential reward is much larger than the risk. 2013 Draft Eligible Prospect Profiles: Forwards Sean Monahan – Ottawa 67?s Max Domi – London Knights Bo Horvat – London Knights Ryan Hartman – Plymouth Whalers Defenseman Darnell Nurse – Soo Greyhounds Nikita Zadorov – London Knights – Follow Todd on twitter @ToddCordell NHLToddCordell@Gmail.com The post Jason Dickinson Scouting Report: 2013 NHL Draft Prospect Profile – Guelph Storm appeared first on The Hockey Guys.

If a Game 6 between the Bruins and Rangers is necessary, it will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday at Madison Square Garden, the NHL has announced. Game 7, if necessary, would be Wednesday in Boston, but a start time...

Coyotes News It's Official: Coyotes' General Manager Don Maloney Agrees to Multi-Year Extension - Five For HowlingThe big news from yesterday. Sources: Gosbee/LeBlanc group has agreement to purchase Coyotes - Fox Sports ArizonaAccording to Craig Morgan they are expected to be in town on Tuesday to meet with COG officials. NHL may lay out Coyotes ownership deal Tuesday, mayor says - azcentral.comIt does not sound like the league will make a formal announcement yet though. News From Around the Hockey World James Neal hat-trick leads Pens past Sens in Game 5 - PensBurghThe Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals with their win on Friday. Relax, the sky isn't falling - Stanley Cup of ChowderUp 3-0, the Bruins lost Game 4 in OT to the Flyers back in 2010, and went on to lose the series. Here's why that won't happen again. 2013 NHL Offseason: Jackets Sign McElhinney to a 1 Year Deal, Forsberg to ELC - The CannonThe one-time Coyote is poised to back up Sergei Bobrovsky next season, assuming Columbus gets their number-one netminder under contract. Morning Skate: Red Wings at Blackhawks - Game 5 Preview - Winging It In MotownThe Blackhawks could be shown the door in tonight's matchup on NBC. Liz Habib is back with another classic LA Kings highlights gaffe (Video) | Puck Daddy - Yahoo! SportsIf you ever feel like Phoenix media doesn't give the Coyotes enough respect, check out what happens in Los Angeles. NHL Draft 2013: An Interactive Visualization of Drafts of Years Past - Stanley Cup of ChowderDraft history by team and location in visual and text form. Pretty much a thing of wonder. The Final Howl The Fourth Period :: Quack, Quack, Quack - 20 Years of The Mighty DucksWhere are they now?

Vernon Fiddler is an extremely useful player for the Stars. He's good at taking face-offs, plays excellent defense, and is an all out grinding player who never quits on a play or a game. He has come to represent the style of play the Dallas Stars have wanted to go forward with, although he doesn't really have the offensive skill of the players that have been called on to carry the team forward. Fiddler, and his partner in crime Eric Nystrom, drew a lot of heat from us and other fans in the beginning of the season through no real fault of their own. Glen Gulutzan loved to play them in all situations and would trot them out in any and all situations during games to a point of confusion among fans. There were countless times where late in games we would ask why Fiddler and Nystrom and whomever was on their line was lining up in the offensive zone when the Stars were down by one or two goals; or when Gulutzan elected to use them on the second powerplay unit. But, again, that's not really Fiddler's fault. He's the type of player who will do anything asked of him and do it with 200% effort if it means the team will do better. He performed admirably in all situations and even contributed heftily to the little run the Stars went on towards the end of the season. While it was still questionable to play him offensively so much down the stretch, there was no question that his play had earned him more ice time. This is what we should remember Vernon Fiddler's season for. He was one of the players who really put the team on his shoulders when veteran guys like Morrow, Jagr, and Roy were no longer available to the team to contribute points. He was there when the top six was depleted and had to be sewn up with an amalgamation of rookies and grinders. And he did his job extremely well. Vernon Fiddler really showed why the Stars have a lot of faith in him and why he should be looked at as one of the leaders of this team with two years left on his contract. If I had to grade him for his season I'd give him a solid B/B+. He put up numbers we should expect from him; it would have been nice if he contributed a bit more offensively throughout the season but he made up for that by being one of the offensive catalysts for the team when it needed that most. In terms of defense, he was once again used in all situations when the Stars needed to prevent a goal or shut down a top line and he used his speed and grit admirably on that front. He even ended the season with a +4, the best of any player on the team. While it is pretty bad that +4 is the best plus/minus on the team, it speaks to how hard he worked and how well he played defensively that he still managed to be a positive player even though he didn't put up many points. As much as we may wish his services shouldn't have been needed as much as they were during this year, Fiddler stepped up for the Stars and gave it his all. In the end, he was the solid Vernon Fiddler we should expect and even more. He maintained a great grinding presence for the whole year and went hard every shift of every game. Then, when the team was looking for leaders and really anything positive after the trade deadline he stepped up to fill part of that hole and give the Stars some hope for a playoff run. While the purpose of this is to grade his season, I don't think his work in that short period of time can be overlooked because he showed why guys like him are essential to any team. He became more than just reliable Vern Fiddler in those weeks and went from a glue guy to a leader who brought an intensity and focus to a team that had been lacking those qualities for much of the year.