Downie Suspended for 20 Games

The league has handed down a 20-game suspension to Steve Downie following his hit on Ottawa's Dean McAmmond. It's a lengthy suspension compared to similar incidents but it appears the NHL is ready to finally start sending a message. That message being: you will be punished. No longer is the message: We frown on this.

And it's about time as I'm sick and tired of seeing players carted off the ice on stretchers. I know a lot of people, mostly Flyers fans, are calling it an overreaction. However that's comparing it to previous suspensions like Prongers elbows. Unfortunately, there will always be a double standard when it comes to punishments. However, there will also always be a time where the punishments need to be re-evaluated to ensure it's a useful punishment.

This is one of those times.

Duhatschek: NHL Gets it Exactly Right
Mirtle: "[It's] long overdue"
Two For Elbowing: "Good for them"

TSN Releases Power Rankings

With the season almost set to begin, TSN has issued their first set of power rankings. Topping the list are the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Mighty Ducks, in that order.

It's hard to get in too much of a tizzy over this since the season has yet to get underway. So to folks who get rankled over rankings like this, sit back, grab a beer, take a screen cap of the page and enjoy the season. Then once it's over, look back at the screen cap and get a chuckle at its inaccuracy.

Because no doubt about it, there are going to be surprises along the way.

Dean McAmmond Concussed Again

Dean McAmmond was carted off the ice again tonight after a vicious hit by Steve Downie left him face down on the ice.

There is no doubt the hit was ill-intentioned (Downie was plastered earlier in the shift) and it shows blatant disregard for player safety. If anyone says "McAmmond should keep his head up.", then you're not grounded in reality. How many players do people need to see face down and motionless to realize it's a problem?

After Brian McGrattan's post-game comments, I just hope nothing even more stupid happens the next time these teams meet. If Downie is still on the roster.

Bob McKenzie weighs in with an excellent post. Click here to read it.



Please Dean, just retire.

Senators Sign Fisher to Extension

The Ottawa Senators have signed Mike Fisher to a five-year, $21M extension. Fisher, while mildly "injury prone", is an extremely hard worker on the ice. He has tons of grit and leadership and he can also put points on the board with 48 points in 68 games last season.

Some folks are worried that one of their big guns in Heatley and Spezza have been forced to be expendable. However Redden ($6.5M) will likely hit the free market feeding frenzy in the summer and Murray will be doing all possible to dump Gerbers salary ($3.7M).

Taking in a 0% increase in the cap, that leaves the Senators with $14M in cap space. Plenty left to sign a quality backup and fill out their forward roster. Don't worry Sens fans, it will all work out.

Best Bang for the Buck - Goaltending, Part 3

It's the final installment before I pick a winner in the Best Bang for the Buck - Goaltending series. Part 1 and Part 2 are still available on the homepage.

Ottawa Senators - $6.9M
Ray Emery was rewarded with a 3-year, $9.5M contract over the summer after cementing himself as the #1 in Ottawa. With Martin Gerber making nearly $4M per year, you can bet the Senators will be looking to move him at the right price. As long as Emery continues to improve, and all indications are that he will, the Senators need to find a backup who can play about 15 games over the season while being light on the pocket book.

Philadelphia Flyers - $4.7M
Martin Biron was brought in at the trade deadline to become the Flyers #1 goaltender for the remainder of the year. He was then signed to a two-year extension and is expected to be the #1 this year as well. However Antero Niitymaki, also signed to a two-year extension, will look to challenge him for that title. Niitymaki is coming off of a poor season where he posted 9-29-9 record, 3.38 goals-against average and .894 save percentage in 52 games. This duo has potential and, with an improved defensive corps, could live up to it.

Pittsburgh Penguins - $1.9M
Marc-Andre Fleury is still working on his game but he's shown obvious improvements every year. I still feel the sting of his unfortunate mishap during the '04 World Juniors but I forgive him. At a cap hit of just $1.3M, he looks to be a bargain this year. Dany Sabourin and Ty Conklin were brought in to battle it out for the backup position and should provide reasonable results. Conklin is on a two-way contract while Sabourin, poached off of waivers by the Canucks last year, is one-way. Those two pieces of information could play into who gets the backup job.

Phoenix Coyotes - $1.4M
The Coyotes have a logjam in the crease and they're still under the league minimum salary by a fair amount. They signed David Aebischer to a dirt cheap $600,000 contract but based on his play in Montreal, that might not be too out of whack. Mikael Tellqvist is still on board and the Coyotes added Alex Auld recently. With prospect David Leneveau in the background, it will make for quite a battle in training camp. Aebischer and Auld have everything to prove and everything to lose at this point but can either handle the pressure?

San Jose Sharks - 5.4M
Evgeni Nabokov is in as the undisputed #1 after Vesa Toskala was traded to Toronto. The writing was on the wall for Toskala long ago and finally Doug Wilson found an appropriate trading partner. Nabokov played well in the regular season and playoffs and is quite capable of stealing games when necessary. The new backup, Dimitri Patzold, comes in on the heels of a couple slight fallback seasons in the AHL after previously showing continuous improvement. He likely won't be called upon too much as Nabokov will likely gobble up 65+ starts with Toskala out of the picture.

St. Louis Blues - $2.7M
Manny Legace put up decent numbers with the Blues last season as he split duties with Curtis Sanford and Jason Bacashihua. Sanford is gone and Hannu Toivonen is in to challenge Bacashihua for the backup position/#1b position. Not an enviable crew by any means but they do have Marek Schwarz being groomed in the background.

Tampa Bay Lightning - $3.9M
The goaltending duo of Marc Denis and Johan Holmqvist returns to give John Tortorella more fits than he can shake a stick at. Denis and Holmqvist combined to produce a league worst goals to shots ratio and often left Tortorella frothing at the mouth after their performances. Note to Tortorella: sometimes screaming doesn't help.

Toronto Maple Leafs - $4.1M
The Leafs made their goaltending situation interesting after acquiring Vesa Toskala from the Sharks. Andrew Raycroft, brought in last year to be the #1 in exchange for top prospect Tuuka Raask, fizzled out and never performed up to the lofty expectations set upon a Calder winning goaltender. If Raycroft isn't dealt before the season begins, there will be a battle for the #1 spot which I believe will be won by Vesa Toskala. The Leafs also have Scott Clemmenson in the fold who would become the backup if/when Raycroft is dealt.

Vancouver Canucks - $7.4M
What can be said about Roberto Luongo. Like him or love him, he's one of the best in the world and anybody who thinks otherwise is deluding him or herself. The Canucks have brought in Curtis Sanford who should prepare himself to start about half a dozen games this season. Luongo has slowly increased his amount of starts each year but I've got to believe he won't start more than 76 games. If he does, I'll start to question whether he's a robot sent back in time and not an actual living, breathing human.

Washington Capitals - $6.3M
Olaf Kolzig continues to fly under the radar as one of the better goaltenders in the league. Of course a lot of that has to do with his choice to stay with the Washington Capitals for so long. His numbers have declined slightly, in accordance with Washington's declines, and at 37 years old is likely not going be a game breaker anymore. However he's a great mentor for Brent Johnson who will back up Kolzig again this year.

And so ends the review of all 30 teams in the league. I will let this all sink in for everyone, including myself, and post up the winners sometime over the weekend.

Best Bang for the Buck - Defence, Part 3

It's the final installment before I pick a winner in the Best Bang for the Buck - Defence series. Part 1 and Part 2 are still available on the homepage.

Ottawa Senators - $17.5M
Wade Redden was previously the anchor to this lineup but Anton Volchenkov really came into his own last year and may challenge Redden for the throne. In fact, Redden is a good trade bait candidate as he's unrestricted next year. Although Preissing is a loss to this squad, Meszaros, Phillips, Corvo and Schubert will make the loss much easier to bear.

Philadelphia Flyers - $16.7M
Kimmo Timmonen is a great addition to the group and he definitely assumes the #1 role with the departure of Joni Pitkanen. Jason Smith, coming in as part of the Pitkanen trade, adds a good defensive d-man and a ton of leadership. He'll also take some ice-time away from the declining Derian Hatcher which has to be a good thing. Denis Gauthier should provide some fear and punishment and Braydon Coburn should land a full-time spot to help out on the punishment front.

Pittsburgh Penguins - $15.5M
They've got Sergei Gonchar and Darryl Sydor to provide some veteran leadership, and Gonchar is still a point producer at 33 years of age. With Ryan Whitney locked up long-term and Kris Letang likely to join the squad, they've got a nice mix of talent both young and old. Scuderi and Orpiks provide a decent tail-end for this group.

Phoenix Coyotes - $15.6M
The best line I've heard so far this off-season was "Phoenix Coyotes - When bad just isn't good enough". That was in reference to their log-jam in the crease but it could be applied to their defence as well. If Ed Jovanovski can't stay off the injured reserve, it's going to be a tough year for the Coyotes. And their defense has been the bright spot for this team. Ouch.

San Jose Sharks - $9.9M
The Sharks biggest loss is Scott Hannan which definitely stings. Thankfully they've got Kyle McLaren to step up on the leadership and physicality front. Craig Rivet should help anchor their powerplay while the ever-improving young duo of Matt Carle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic - otherwise known as Pickles - will round out a very respectable top-four. Christian Ehrhoff should continue improving. He's a solid puck-mover but needs to get a bit more physical.

St. Louis Blues - $14.75M
Eric Brewer, Jay McKee and Barret Jackman anchor this squad and that's quite an anchor. If Erik Johnson makes the team, they will have quite the top-four. A group of big, bruising D who can also put points on the board. One of the top squads in the league but adding in Johnson's cap hit ($3.7 counting bonuses), puts them out of the "deal" category.

Tampa Bay Lightning - $9.8M
Dan Boyle and Filip Kuba are the top 2 on this squad which is solid, but not spectacular. Paul Ranger and Shane O'Brien should continue to improve while Brad Lukowich will...well he'll be there. They still a couple more guys signed on to fill out their squad though.

Toronto Maple Leafs - $20.8M
Do I even have to explain why these guys are not a candidate for best bang for the buck? They're a better squad than most people give them credit for, but not good enough to account for a 20+M cap hit.

Vancouver Canucks - $13.6M
A largely unheralded squad, they've got Mattias Ohlund and Sami Salo leading the charge with hometown hero Luc Bourdon possibly on the way in. Unfortunately Bourdon has likely made journey-man - and candidate for the Andy Warhol award of 2007 - Rory Fitzpatrick expendable. A very solid squad for a reasonable price.

Washington Capitals - $8.9M
*Exhales* Well, Tom Poti will certainly help out but there's a reason Olaf Kolzig is an underrated goaltender - he doesn't have the defensive help to make him known. They narrowly avoided giving up the most shots against last season - Boston helped them avoid that crown - and will be hanging around that part of town this season as well.

And so ends the review of all 30 teams in the league. I will let this all sink in for everyone, including myself, and post up the winners late tonight or early tomorrow morning.*

*Early Saturday morning means about 11:00a.m. CST.

Senators Swap Schaefer for Shean Donovan

The Ottawa Senators made some news this morning as they traded Peter Schaefer to the Bruins in exchange for Shean Donovan. Schaefer is signed for 3 years at $6.7M while Donovan has just one year left with a hit of $925,000. For all intents and purposes, this looks to be nothing more than a salary dump to make way for re-signing Ray Emery.

The extra $1M in cap space should go a long way to this re-signing. If they can now manage to trade Gerber, they should be comfortable signing Heatley to an extension before the season is out. And you have to believe Heatley is going to command top dollar after 2 straight 50-goal seasons.