The Real Deal and the Pretenders: The NHL

The Real Deals

LA Kings:
Their hot start has continued and with a third of the NHL season in the books they are still marching into the playoffs. In their last 10 games they have a record 7-2-1, only the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota wild have as good of a record in the last 10(western Conference). The record on the road for the black, blue and gray shows that they are getting the job done when the going gets tough. They have as many road wins as the Flames, Sharks, Penguins and Devils. All cup contenders and obviously good company, the kings WILL keep this going and in the playoffs may be over-looked as a contender. No Ryan Smyth, a slumping Anze Kopitar? No Problem.

Buffalo Sabres:
A goalie who plays as well as Ryan Miller every night can keep you in every game, allowing a chance to win. Ryan Miller has to be considered the front runner for the Vezina and may give Team USA the goaltending it needs, allowing them to focus on their high powered offense and being a real force in the Olympics. The Sabres have won 4 straight and are 8-2-0 in their last 10, they are for real in the regular season. The Playoffs? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Bubble:
Colorado Avalanche

Pretenders:

Atlanta Thrashers:
Sure it’s a contract year for Kovalchuk, but this team will not stay in the playoff picture for much longer. A Euro based team struggles with consistency, the month of December has definitely been an interesting one:
Dec.3 – NYI 4- ATL 1 a HOME loss to the Islanders
Dec.5 – ATL 2- FLA 1 a shootout win over the Panthers, talk about a squeaker
Dec.7 – TOR 5- ATL 2 bundled by the leafs and Kessel not much of a factor..ouch
Dec.9 – CAL3 – ATL 1 an obvious loss for most teams, except the real deals
Dec.10- VAN 4 – ATL 2 Not going to score more than 2 on Luongo without Kovi
Dec.12- ATL 4- MTL 3 an OT win
Dec.14- ATL 3 – NYR 2 Another shootout win

That makes 3 wins so far in December; 2 shootout wins and an OT win. These were against Florida, Montreal and New York. Atlanta is a team ready to fall.

Montreal Canadiens:
Sporting a record of 3-5-2 in the last 10 is not a way to keep a playoff spot. They are tied for 8th in the eastern conference with Florida and are only one win up on the rest of the eastern conference (talk about close). Oh wait I forgot the Hurricanes are 13 points behind them, 11 points behind the rest.
Gionta is out, Markov done and wasting a rare 3 point effort by a Andrei Kostitsyn on Saturday (to the Thrashers) has shown they will be falling quickly.

Bubble:
Phoenix Coyotes

“Let it snow. Let it snow, let it snow”

Vaughn Coyotes?

Recently, the idea of Phoenix relocating to the GTA has got a lot of newspapers and bloggers speculating the when and how the coyotes plan to move. But what they haven't touched on yet is the how much?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a territory claim on almost all of the GTA and Southern Ontario (whether or not the Buffalo Sabres have territory control over the Niagara peninsula is debatable). And if the Phoenix Coyotes eventually make the move into the GTA , hefty territory rights fees are going to need to be paid.

Keep in mind, Toronto's fan territory has been uncontested for almost 90 years now, and leafs nation is one of the strongest, biggest fan bases in all of the NHL. So what would it take for Phoenix (or Vaughn I suppose, for that seems to be the city that the rumor mill is circulating) to buy a portion of leafs nation?

Personally, I don't see this ending well. I can see Toronto asking for something along the lines of 3 or 4 first round draft picks and about 250 million dollars, as well as some other minor details just for the team to relocate into their territory. From then, the Coyotes organization will be broke, and reliant on a terrible at best team until the territory rights are paid off.

On the plus side, tickets to NHL games in that arena would be dirt cheap, but when you think about it, the last thing Ontario needs is another hopeless NHL franchise.

2010 Winter Classic

April 9, 2009 - It was announced today that the Boston Bruins will host the 2010 Winter Classic on New Year's Day in Fenway Park.  The Bruins bid apparently beat out both the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers for the rights to host the annual outdoor hockey game on New Years Day. Boston had listed two possible sites for the event, with both the Boston Red Sox Fenway Park and the New England Patriots Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA (about 35 km southwest of Boston) as possibilities, but with the Winter Classic being scheduled around the same time as the NFL playoffs, Fenway Park seemed to the the more logical choice. 

The Winter Classic has seemed etch its place in the NHL's schedule on New Year's Day, and appears to be here for the foreseeable future as the event has gathered an enormous amount of success in the past. Fans continue to rave about the event and it continues to produce results as television ratings in the United States have been higher and revenues for the league seem to be up as well. After the experiment began back in 2003 with the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Montreal Canadiens in frigid temperatures at Commonwealth Stadium, it has become a regular on the NHL schedule on New Year's Day over the past few seasons after the Buffalo Sabres played the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008 Winter Classic at the NFL's Buffalo Bills Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY and this past January with the Chicago Blackhawks entertaining the Detroit Red Wings at the MLB's Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field. 

Possible opponents for the 2010 Winter Classic have been listed as the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Washington Capitals.