Atlanta Loses Another Team to Canada

Canadians: If you want more Canadian hockey teams, lobby for another Atlanta team in your spare time.

Earlier today, Atlanta lost its second NHL team to Canada. In fact, the only two teams in League history to move from the US to Canada have both been from Atlanta: the Atlanta Flames became the Calgary Flames in 1980, and now the Atlanta Thrashers are going to Winnipeg.

Winnipeg's former team, the Jets, moved to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes. For a while, it seemed they would be the ones to move to Winnipeg. At that point, it would have made sense to call the "new" Winnipeg team the Jets again. But now I'm torn. Should they remain the Thrashers? And what is a "thrasher" exactly?

I don't think calling them the Jets is completely out the window. But consider this: according to the deal, the AHL team currently in Winnipeg, the Manitoba Moose, are moving to St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. I think the Thrashers should seriously consider becoming the Winnipeg Moose (or Manitoba Moose if you like the alliteration) and use the greatest team logo ever:

Canadian Cities & NHL Teams

Every year there's talk of relocation of struggling NHL teams. Typically the hope is that teams such as the Phoenix Coyotes, the Atlanta Thrashers, or the Florida Panthers will move to Canada to replace the teams it has lost in the last 20 years.

One argument I've heard is that the Canadaian cities just aren't big enough to have a team that would be financially successful in the today's NHL. But how big are these cities, exactly?

Let's skip the 5 largest cities in Canada (Toronto, Montréal, Clagary, Ottawa, and Edmonton) because they already have teams, as well as the 6th largest city, Mississauga, because it's smashed up next to Toronto.

The 7th largest city in Canada is Winnipeg, with a population* of 633,451. Winnipeg used to be home of the Jets, who became the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996.

The 8th largest city in Canada is Vancouver, and it is the home of the Canucks, so we shall skip it.

The 9th largest city in Canada is Hamilton, population 504,559. There have been annual efforts by Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie to move teams here and it's easy to see why. There are 4 other NHL teams withing driving distance from Hamilton. There is no way a team here wouldn't be successful. Too bad the NHL owners all hate Balsillie.

And finally the 10th largest city, and last one with any hope of getting an NHL team, is Québec City, with a population of 491,142.

Winnipeg, Hamilton, and Québec City all have populations larger than a lot of US cities, such as Miami, FL (433,136**); Raleigh, NC (405,612); St. Louis, MO (356,587); Tampa, FL (343,890); Anaheim, CA (337,896); Pittsburgh, PA (311,647); and Buffalo, NY (270,240), all cities with NHL teams. In fact, Winnipeg has more people in it than Denver, Nashville, DC, and Atlanta (and almost as many people as there are in Baltimore).

So, if all other things were equal, then why the hell aren't these teams moving to Canada? Because all other things aren't equal, sadly. For starters, the populations don't include metropolitan areas. Furthermore, Canadians are generally poorer than Americans. Then there are TV contracts, travel costs, etc, etc, etc. But damnit, let's get some teams moved back up to Canada.

*Canadian populations as of 2006

**US populations as of 2009

Verizon Center's Seats

...still have the old Caps logo on the end of the rows. Imagine how expensive and tedious it would be to change every single one.

I Was on HBO!

My lovely fiancée and I were on the first episode of HBO 24/7 Presents NHL Hockey Penguins vs. Capitals.

I'm the blue blob in the top left corner. That's right, I was at a Caps game wearing my Leafs jersey. Give me a break. I only get to wear it twice a season. The lovely fiancée is the reddish smudge to the right of me.

Tomas Kaberle Has No Chin

Montréal Canadiens 100 Year Anniversary

The Montréal Canadiens are playing their official Centennial Game tonight against the Boston Bruins.

I'd summarize their history for you, but Puck Daddy does a fantastic job in Our begrudging tribute to 100 years of Canadiens hockey.

The Original Six?

The "Original Six" teams in the NHL are the Montréal Canadiens, NY Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Prepare to have your mind blown: out of the "Original Six," only the Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs (called the Blue Shirts, then the Arenas, then the St. Patricks, then the Maple Leafs) were around when the NHL started in 1917. The Bruins were formed in 1924; the remaining 3 teams joined in 1926. By this time there were 10 teams. Here are the other 4:

Pittsburgh Pirates (1925-1929, 1930: as Philadelphia Quakers; 0 Stanley Cups)


Ottawa Senators (1917-1933 excluding 1931, 1934: as St. Louis Eagles; 4 Stanley Cups)


New York Americans (1919: as Québec Bulldogs, 1920-1924: as Hamilton Tigers, 1925-1941; 0 Stanley Cups)

Montréal Maroons (1924-1938; 2 Stanley Cups)


So what happened to all these teams? The Great Depression killed the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Montréal Maroons, and the Ottawa Senators, reducing the league to 8 teams by 1935. The Maroons attempted for several years to move the team to Philadelphia, but could not find a suitable arena and officially folded in 1947, though they hadn't played since 1938. The New York Americans were struggling financially as well, but did not fold. When World War II hit (remember, Canada entered the war long before the US) 90 players from the NHL quit hockey to fight for Canada. As a result, the New York Americans didn't have enough players to compete in the 1942-43 season and were suspended.

The six remaining teams are still around today. The term actually comes from the 1967 NHL Expansion when the California Golden Seals (who eventually moved to Cleveland as the Barons then merged with the North Stars), Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and St. Louis Blues were added.

Best Goalie Masks

I wanted to make a post about the best goalie masks in the NHL, but I'm lazy. Luckily, TSN already did it for me.

My favorites:


Cam Ward
(Carolina Hurricanes)
Blackbeard the Pirate. I hate the stupid old English lettering of "Ward" on the chin, though.




Craig Anderson
(Colorado Avalanche)
Sasquatch, who himself is also wearing a goalie mask. I liked his mask last year when he played for the Florida Panthers. It was a mechanized Panther of doom!




Jonathan Quick
(LA Kings)
How can you go wrong with a knight's helmet?




Envgeni Nabokov
(San Jose Sharks)
A zombie thing of some kind!




Mike Smith
(Tampa Bay Lightning)
YES! Pirates and lightning and stuff! It reminds me of the cover of Symphony X's The Odyssey.




Vesa Toskala
(Toronto Maple Leafs)
He's not on this list because he's a Leaf. He's on this list because skulls fucking rule!




Semyon Varlamov
(Washington Capitals)
I like the whole two-face thing he has going on, but I wish he had picked a better American symbol than Mount Rushmore, since it's nowhere near DC. Great mask nonetheless.

Baltimore Blizzards

In NHL09, if you create a player, he automatically goes into the Free Agent roster. If you create a team, you can build it out of players from any team. However, if you want to use your created team in a season or dynasty, you must replace another team. But, any players you created stay in the Free Agent roster. So, even though a created player is on your team, there is another copy of him as a free agent, who then gets sucked into playing on other teams.

So, I'm in year 2 of a dynasty using the Baltimore Blizzards (who replaced the Anaheim Ducks). Nearly all of the players on the team are also on other teams. I was wondering how much of an advantage playing on the Baltimore Blizzards must be to each player, as the Blizzards are in fact the best team in town. I am only 23 games into the second year. (BTW, we were eliminated from the playoffs last year in the first round by Vancouver, whose goalie is awfully familiar....)

First I gathered all the stats...

#	Name	Other Team	G (BBZ)	G (Other)	A (BBZ)	A (Other)	PTS (BBZ)	PTS (Other)	PIMS (BBZ)	PIMS (Other)	+/- (BBZ)	+/- (Other)	Hits (BBZ)	Hits (Other)
9	T. Regan	NYI	35	13	21	11	45	24	36	4	51	19	148	60
11	K. Brooks	NYI	19	9	24	18	43	27	15	0	51	19	52	36
13	D. Miller	LA	3	1	26	13	29	14	26	19	53	-6	152	20
14	S. Marasinghe	BUF	0	0	6	7	6	7	27	21	4	-11	34	48
25	M. Phelps	MTL	4	23	4	10	8	3	4	13	12	6	21	18
26	A. El-Zeftawy	NAS	3	5	26	10	29	15	48	36	49	-3	105	72
27	M. Regan	CBJ	0	1	9	12	9	13	42	63	21	-9	73	105
38	A. Goldberger	FLA	2	4	4	15	7	19	0	9	4	6	23	55
42	J. Jones	CBJ	5	5	5	19	10	24	2	0	12	-2	21	50
48	M. Ibach	EDM	1	5	3	7	4	12	4	6	5	5	8	18
49	C. Ebadi	MTL	4	2	6	6	10	8	12	7	8	-3	49	42
51	A. Glaros	FLA	6	14	4	9	10	23	8	6	8	14	27	14
64	B. Twomey	CAR	13	15	18	12	31	27	14	8	46	4	51	49
69	D. Houser	FLA	2	9	6	17	8	26	15	7	10	11	39	57
76	M. Clise	BOS	5	4	3	2	8	6	16	13	8	-6	9	8
90	R. Cobbinz	MIN	1	2	9	10	10	12	5	9	7	4	51	23

#	Name	Other Team	GP (BBZ)	GP (Other)	GAA (BBZ)	GAA (Other)	W (BBZ)	W (Other)	L (BBZ)	L (Other)	SV% (BBZ)	SV% (Other)	SO (BBZ)	SO (Other)
0	T. Reganen	VAN	17	19	2.16	2.59	11	7	5	12	0.876	0.909	1	0

Then I took the Baltimore Blizzards stat for each player and subtracted the other team's stat for each player....

#	Name	Other Team	ΔG	ΔA	ΔPTS	ΔPIMS	Δ+/-	ΔHits
9	T. Regan	NYI	22	10	21	32	32	88
11	K. Brooks	NYI	10	6	16	15	32	16
13	D. Miller	LA	2	13	15	7	59	132
14	S. Marasinghe	BUF	0	-1	-1	6	15	-14
25	M. Phelps	MTL	-19	-6	5	-9	6	3
26	A. El-Zeftawy	NAS	-2	16	14	12	52	33
27	M. Regan	CBJ	-1	-3	-4	-21	30	-32
38	A. Goldberger	FLA	-2	-11	-12	-9	-2	-32
42	J. Jones	CBJ	0	-14	-14	2	14	-29
48	M. Ibach	EDM	-4	-4	-8	-2	0	-10
49	C. Ebadi	MTL	2	0	2	5	11	7
51	A. Glaros	FLA	-8	-5	-13	2	-6	13
64	B. Twomey	CAR	-2	6	4	6	42	2
69	D. Houser	FLA	-7	-11	-18	8	-1	-18
76	M. Clise	BOS	1	1	2	3	14	1
90	R. Cobbinz	MIN	-1	-1	-2	-4	3	28

#	Name	Other Team	ΔGP	ΔGAA	ΔW	ΔL	ΔSV%	ΔSO
0	T. Reganen	VAN	-2	-0.43	4	-7	-0.033	1

So, here's my analysis thus far in the season....

Defensive players (Miller, Marasinghe, El-Zeftawy, M. Regan, Houser, Cobbinz) generally have much better +/-'s on the Blizzards, and of course, a lot more penalties. Baltimore's top line (El-Zeftawy & Miller) gets many many more hits and assists in Baltimore. I expected this to be the trend across the board. I'm surprised.

Forwards are pretty much all over the place. However, the +/- is usually better, and there's probably more penalties to be had on the Blizzards.

As for star goalie Timo Reganen, he wins a lot more on the Blizzards, but his save percentage isn't as high. He lets in fewer goals on the Blizzards and wins more, but he's also facing fewer shots.

Players that are better off on the Baltimore Blizzards:
In all areas, the following players had higher numbers on the Blizz: D. Miller, T. Regan, K. Brooks, and M. Clise.

I was expecting all the stats to be more clear cut than this. I'll probably revisit this when the season ends.... But after the playoffs, it doesn't matter which team players would have been better off statistically on, as long as Baltimore wins the Cup, hon.

NHL10 and NHL2K10 Both Look Awesome!

NHL10's new features:

• New first-person fighting engine
• Women in the crowd
• Better passing and shooting mechanics
• Fights and penalties after the whistle
• plus 190-something more tweaks
  

Pretty awesome, pretty awesome.... But NHL2K10 has WINTER CLASSIC MODE and the HARTFORD WHALERS! ZOMGOMGOMG!!!11!!!1!!one1!!!

Both games come out on September 15 and yes, I pre-ordered both of them.

Washington Capitals & the Playoffs

My prediction:

IF the Caps lose game 6 tonight or game 7, here is what I think will happen:

2006-2007: Caps do not make playoffs
2007-2008: Caps lose in Eastern Conference Quarter Finals
2008-2009: Caps lose in Eastern Conference Semi Finals
2009-2010: Caps lose in Eastern Conference Finals
2010-2011: Caps lose in Stanley Cup Finals
2011-2012: CAPS WIN STANLEY CUP!

This is obviously based on a linear projection. (And you'll notice that's a pretty big IF.)

Go Caps!