Jack Johnson became the highest Michigan player ever taken, when the Carolina Hurricanes nabbed him at #3. Cogliano, much to the joy of Mgoblog was taken #25 by the Oilers. Jason Bailey became the third incoming-Wolverine taken, when he went #63 to Anaheim with the 2nd pick of the third round.
And that loud burst of profanity you just heard from two separate rooms of The Blog That Yost Built household was TJ Hensick going 88th to the Colorado Avalanche.
The Red Wings, as predicted, grabbed a Euro in the first round. Jakub Kindl, a 6'2" defenseman from the Czech Republic who played in the OHL last year. He was projected to go top 5 before the season but slid after he didn't have a good year. In the second round they took Justin Abdelkader...finally a college player, but he's going to State. So that doesn't count. In the third round, rather than nab Hensick, they took a 6'3" 187 center from Sweden, who wasn't on The Hockey News' top 100 or the Toronto Star's top 160 players.
Colorado has had a great draft. They've taken Hensick, Ryan Stoa, Tom Fritsche, and Paul Stastny, along with some guy from the WHL. I had previously annointed JM Liles as "The Anti-Christ" for being an MSU player and being a Colorado prospect. Said the same thing about Stoa and then Fritsche today (Minnesota, and Ohio State)...then those bastards from the Rocky Mountains get Hensick. Go have an oyster Pierre.
There's still time for the Wings to take a Jiri or Tomas.
Saturday, July 30, 2005
About Me
My name is Tim. I started The Blog That Yost Built in 2005 after gaining an appreciation for blogging due to the excellent work over at MGoBlog. My goal is to provide the best coverage of Michigan Hockey anywhere on the internet. I have religiously followed the team since starting college in 2000. I had season tickets at Yost for seven years and missed just four games in that time span. After the 2006-07 season I moved away, but thanks to Dish Network, Slingbox, the B2Network, and WOLV-TV (through MGoBlue), I am still able to see around three-quarters of Michigan's games. While at U of M, I also worked for the Michigan Athletic Department in various forms from 2003-2006. I was fortunate enough to be able to watch from the field as Michigan defeated Ohio State in football in 2003, which was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Additionally, I was the official timer for three Big Ten Championships.
In addition to having Michigan Hockey season tickets for seven years, I was able to attend the Frozen Four in 2002 and 2003 and have seen road games at Ferris State, Michigan State, Bowling Green, Ohio State, Western Michigan, Notre Dame and the XCel Center in St. Paul.
Besides Michigan Hockey (and the other Wolverine teams), I'm a huge fan of the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Pistons, the American Le Mans Series, the Indy Racing League, Nascar, and pretty much every band/singer that Australia has produced.
In 2007, I was able to fulfill a dream by playing a hockey game at Joe Louis Arena. I participated in the CCHA Media Game, and notched an assist in a blowout win for my team.
You can reach me via email at tdubbs2@gmail.com
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Montoya Says Adios
Al Montoya signed a contract with the New York Rangers today, forgoing his senior season at Michigan. If he had come back for his senior season, he likely would have been second to only Marty Turco in terms of career wins.
While not at all unexpected, The Blog That Yost Built will still miss seeing him on the ice, and I don't harbor any ill will towards him (see Richmond, Danny) even though I think he had a crap year last year. Yes he won thirty games and that's nothing to sneeze at, but when you don't rank in the top 60 in save percentage or the top 30 in GAA, methinks those 30 wins had a lot more to do with the nation's #1 ranked offense, rather than the goaltending. All I know is that his first two years, I never once wanted to see Al yanked from a game. Last year it happened regularly.
Personally, I was looking forward to a refocused Al coming back next year and ready to prove his critics wrong. It's always been The Blog That Yost Built's position that it would be best for the short-term and the long-term of Michigan hockey that he return for his senior season, leaving Sauer and Jakiel to get a full season's worth of experience as starting goalies in the USHL before battling it out for the starting job as freshmen. But Al felt he was ready to go, and more power to him.
My 2 favorite Al Montoya memories (if you read the Yost Post, you've already read these):
1) My first Al Montoya experience. I went to go see him play at The Cube shortly after he committed to Michigan. No more than seven minutes into the game, he clocked a guy in the face with his glove and was ejected.
2) FREE MON-TO-YA! Nuff said.
This leaves the goaltending duties to Bill Sauer (since it appears the coaches have picked him over Jakiel to come in, according to The Wolverine's article about Montoya's departure). He had a good season for Chicago in the USHL in a platoon role, though he didn't play in the playoffs. He's thought of a one of the top goalie prospects for the 2006 NHL Draft.
We'll be fine in net. It's unrealistic and unfair to expect Sauer to have the kind of season that Montoya had his freshman season (when he carried Michigan to the Frozen Four) or his sophomore season (when he did his darnedest to do the same), but I don't think it's very reasonable that Sauer could be an upgrade from the Montoya that we saw last season. A 2.5 GAA and a .895 save percentage doesn't set the bar overwhelmingly high. I fully expect Michigan to struggle a little bit early on as the freshmen get used to college hockey and we break in a new goalie, but by the end of the season, the Wolverines should be a very dangerous team.
As pointed out by MHNet on the Yost Post, Kyle Woodlief had a chat on USA Today's website where someone asked about Cogliano's draft status. Woodlief told him that he expects Cogs to go around #20 and that he's "bar-none the fastest skater" in the draft. He went on to say that if NHL teams are truly convinced that the new rules will open play up, that a team could grab him in the top 10, though that's unlikely. High praise for Cogliano. I can't wait for the first power play that Michigan gets when they put out Cogliano, Hensick, Tambellini, Johnson, and Hunwick. Even if that group never materializes, between Cogliano, Hensick, Tamby, Kolarik, Porter, Ebbett, and Johnson (who's like a forward sometimes) you can make some pretty lethal power play units.
Mike Spath posted this message to the Yost Post that talks about how committed Andrew Ebbett and Matt Hunwick have been in the offseason. He's not the first person I've heard mention how huge Hunwick has gotten this offseason. Our defense corps is going to be hit a lot of people this year (and Tim Cook will poke check a lot of smaller people this year).
MGoBlog has more stuff about Montoya and a couple of articles about Jack Johnson. Hensick made CSTV's article about college hockey's top draft-eligible forwards. They should know, because they were in the house when he scored one of the sickest goals I have ever seen against Notre Dame down in Fort Wayne. He came around the front of the net with two guys on him, faked a spin one way, got both defenders to bite, then spun the other way and put a laser into the top corner. I can't do it justice.
Also, a handy link to keep around on draft day. The Toronto Star released their draft rankings, all 160 of them. From scanning the list (mainly for Michigan players) it seems pretty reasonable, and if nothing else, it's 160 profiles for me to look at when the Wings draft a European instead of Cogliano. They too give Cogliano more love than the CSB, but they're not as kind to Bailey and MacVoy (the latter of which I didn't see on the list, though I was scanning it pretty quickly).
So another player is gone to the NHL, and the streak continues. Van Ryn, Comrie, Hilbert and Jillson, Komisarek and Cammalleri, Richmond, Helminen, Montoya.
While not at all unexpected, The Blog That Yost Built will still miss seeing him on the ice, and I don't harbor any ill will towards him (see Richmond, Danny) even though I think he had a crap year last year. Yes he won thirty games and that's nothing to sneeze at, but when you don't rank in the top 60 in save percentage or the top 30 in GAA, methinks those 30 wins had a lot more to do with the nation's #1 ranked offense, rather than the goaltending. All I know is that his first two years, I never once wanted to see Al yanked from a game. Last year it happened regularly.
Personally, I was looking forward to a refocused Al coming back next year and ready to prove his critics wrong. It's always been The Blog That Yost Built's position that it would be best for the short-term and the long-term of Michigan hockey that he return for his senior season, leaving Sauer and Jakiel to get a full season's worth of experience as starting goalies in the USHL before battling it out for the starting job as freshmen. But Al felt he was ready to go, and more power to him.
My 2 favorite Al Montoya memories (if you read the Yost Post, you've already read these):
1) My first Al Montoya experience. I went to go see him play at The Cube shortly after he committed to Michigan. No more than seven minutes into the game, he clocked a guy in the face with his glove and was ejected.
2) FREE MON-TO-YA! Nuff said.
This leaves the goaltending duties to Bill Sauer (since it appears the coaches have picked him over Jakiel to come in, according to The Wolverine's article about Montoya's departure). He had a good season for Chicago in the USHL in a platoon role, though he didn't play in the playoffs. He's thought of a one of the top goalie prospects for the 2006 NHL Draft.
We'll be fine in net. It's unrealistic and unfair to expect Sauer to have the kind of season that Montoya had his freshman season (when he carried Michigan to the Frozen Four) or his sophomore season (when he did his darnedest to do the same), but I don't think it's very reasonable that Sauer could be an upgrade from the Montoya that we saw last season. A 2.5 GAA and a .895 save percentage doesn't set the bar overwhelmingly high. I fully expect Michigan to struggle a little bit early on as the freshmen get used to college hockey and we break in a new goalie, but by the end of the season, the Wolverines should be a very dangerous team.
As pointed out by MHNet on the Yost Post, Kyle Woodlief had a chat on USA Today's website where someone asked about Cogliano's draft status. Woodlief told him that he expects Cogs to go around #20 and that he's "bar-none the fastest skater" in the draft. He went on to say that if NHL teams are truly convinced that the new rules will open play up, that a team could grab him in the top 10, though that's unlikely. High praise for Cogliano. I can't wait for the first power play that Michigan gets when they put out Cogliano, Hensick, Tambellini, Johnson, and Hunwick. Even if that group never materializes, between Cogliano, Hensick, Tamby, Kolarik, Porter, Ebbett, and Johnson (who's like a forward sometimes) you can make some pretty lethal power play units.
Mike Spath posted this message to the Yost Post that talks about how committed Andrew Ebbett and Matt Hunwick have been in the offseason. He's not the first person I've heard mention how huge Hunwick has gotten this offseason. Our defense corps is going to be hit a lot of people this year (and Tim Cook will poke check a lot of smaller people this year).
MGoBlog has more stuff about Montoya and a couple of articles about Jack Johnson. Hensick made CSTV's article about college hockey's top draft-eligible forwards. They should know, because they were in the house when he scored one of the sickest goals I have ever seen against Notre Dame down in Fort Wayne. He came around the front of the net with two guys on him, faked a spin one way, got both defenders to bite, then spun the other way and put a laser into the top corner. I can't do it justice.
Also, a handy link to keep around on draft day. The Toronto Star released their draft rankings, all 160 of them. From scanning the list (mainly for Michigan players) it seems pretty reasonable, and if nothing else, it's 160 profiles for me to look at when the Wings draft a European instead of Cogliano. They too give Cogliano more love than the CSB, but they're not as kind to Bailey and MacVoy (the latter of which I didn't see on the list, though I was scanning it pretty quickly).
So another player is gone to the NHL, and the streak continues. Van Ryn, Comrie, Hilbert and Jillson, Komisarek and Cammalleri, Richmond, Helminen, Montoya.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Thanks Mac, Good riddance Whitney, Hatcher we barely knew ye
The Red Wings waived Derian Hatcher, Darren McCarty and Ray Whitney, opening the door to buy the three of them out of their contracts if they go unclaimed on waivers (which they will). This was completely expected, as those were the three players rumored to be going from the time the NHL announced the ability to buy players out for no charge against the cap.
It's going to be tough seeing McCarty in another jersey. Even though he's probably on the down side of his career, the guy has provided so many big moments in his career: Whaling on Claude Lemieux, to scoring the game winner against Colorado in that same game (which propelled the Wings to the 1997 Cup and was probably the most entertaining hockey game ever), to scoring the Cup-Winning goal by turning Janne Niiniimmaaaaa inside out, to scoring a hattrick against Roy on the way to the 2002 Cup.Thanks Mac. I'll miss seeing you in Detroit.
As for Hatcher, it would have been interesting to see how the guy would've done with a year off to recover from his ACL injury. I think he can still play in this league, but if the Wings buy him out, they can use his money to sign another defenseman (Mathieu Schneider would still be my preference) or another body up front.
The thing that sucks about them buying out Whitney is that you know he's going to end up going to Columbus or Nashville and being a Red Wing killer for the rest of his career, even though he did next to nothing in Detroit.
Letsgowings.com paraphrases assistant GM Jill Nill who says the team is considering buying out a fourth player, who is rumored to be either Manny Legace or Robert Lang. If you keep Legace, he has to either be the starter or a 1/1a in a goalie platoon. You can't keep him at his salary as the backup. If they're dead-set on bringing in Osgood, they need to keep Legace. I'm not comfortable with a Osgood/MacDonald goalie tandem.
As for the idea of buying out Robert Lang, unless they've got a pretty good idea that Fedorov will be bought out and that he'll come back for the type of money that Lang is making, they're nuts if they get rid of him. When your best player is making $3.8 million, you don't cut him. When the leading scorer in the freaking league (if he stayed healthy for the last week) is making $3.8 million, you don't cut him. The cap is $39 million, so he'll be making just under 10% of the cap. That's not at all unreasonable for a guy who has put up 65, 80, 50 (in 62 games), 69, and 79 points the last 5 seasons.
Mike Wilbon on PTI was up-in-arms today because the four Andretti-Green drivers boycotted a mandatory autograph session this weekend because Danica Patrick was going to be given a separate line than every other driver. They've been unhappy since Indy, when Patrick completely overshadowed Dan Wheldon actually winning the race. Wilbon says that those drivers are just being punks and that Patrick is bringing exposure to the sport, which will ultimately make them more money.
While The Blog That Yost Built believes that more exposure is a good thing, the IRL was wrong for putting her in a separate autograph session. Basically the way it works is that a fan waits in line and then goes down the row, meeting each driver. To put Patrick by herself means that the fan who waits to meet her (and there'd be a ton of them) won't be meeting any of the other drivers. They won't realize what a great person Bryan Herta is, how funny Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves are, and how Patrick Carpentier will steal your pen. If they build a huge fanbase for Danica, and then she bails to go to NASCAR or something, what have you really gained?
It's great that she's actually getting the media to talk about the Indy Racing League, but at the same time, the IRL should be using her to help promote its other drivers as well. The AGR guys have a right to be upset. (For the sake of recognizing my own biases, Bryan Herta and Tony Kanaan are my favorite drivers) I've started rooting for quite a few drivers based on how cool they were in person. Danica doesn't seem like the most friendly person on the planet based on interviews I've seen (though to be fair she might be great with the fans). By putting her in a separate line, if she is having a bad day or something and doesn't treat a fan well, they might be turned off on the series as a whole. If she's in a line with Kanaan and Helio (amongst the others), who are pretty darn funny guys the fan might say "Well screw her, I'm gonna root for Kanaan!" and the series still has a fan.
It's going to be tough seeing McCarty in another jersey. Even though he's probably on the down side of his career, the guy has provided so many big moments in his career: Whaling on Claude Lemieux, to scoring the game winner against Colorado in that same game (which propelled the Wings to the 1997 Cup and was probably the most entertaining hockey game ever), to scoring the Cup-Winning goal by turning Janne Niiniimmaaaaa inside out, to scoring a hattrick against Roy on the way to the 2002 Cup.Thanks Mac. I'll miss seeing you in Detroit.
As for Hatcher, it would have been interesting to see how the guy would've done with a year off to recover from his ACL injury. I think he can still play in this league, but if the Wings buy him out, they can use his money to sign another defenseman (Mathieu Schneider would still be my preference) or another body up front.
The thing that sucks about them buying out Whitney is that you know he's going to end up going to Columbus or Nashville and being a Red Wing killer for the rest of his career, even though he did next to nothing in Detroit.
Letsgowings.com paraphrases assistant GM Jill Nill who says the team is considering buying out a fourth player, who is rumored to be either Manny Legace or Robert Lang. If you keep Legace, he has to either be the starter or a 1/1a in a goalie platoon. You can't keep him at his salary as the backup. If they're dead-set on bringing in Osgood, they need to keep Legace. I'm not comfortable with a Osgood/MacDonald goalie tandem.
As for the idea of buying out Robert Lang, unless they've got a pretty good idea that Fedorov will be bought out and that he'll come back for the type of money that Lang is making, they're nuts if they get rid of him. When your best player is making $3.8 million, you don't cut him. When the leading scorer in the freaking league (if he stayed healthy for the last week) is making $3.8 million, you don't cut him. The cap is $39 million, so he'll be making just under 10% of the cap. That's not at all unreasonable for a guy who has put up 65, 80, 50 (in 62 games), 69, and 79 points the last 5 seasons.
Mike Wilbon on PTI was up-in-arms today because the four Andretti-Green drivers boycotted a mandatory autograph session this weekend because Danica Patrick was going to be given a separate line than every other driver. They've been unhappy since Indy, when Patrick completely overshadowed Dan Wheldon actually winning the race. Wilbon says that those drivers are just being punks and that Patrick is bringing exposure to the sport, which will ultimately make them more money.
While The Blog That Yost Built believes that more exposure is a good thing, the IRL was wrong for putting her in a separate autograph session. Basically the way it works is that a fan waits in line and then goes down the row, meeting each driver. To put Patrick by herself means that the fan who waits to meet her (and there'd be a ton of them) won't be meeting any of the other drivers. They won't realize what a great person Bryan Herta is, how funny Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves are, and how Patrick Carpentier will steal your pen. If they build a huge fanbase for Danica, and then she bails to go to NASCAR or something, what have you really gained?
It's great that she's actually getting the media to talk about the Indy Racing League, but at the same time, the IRL should be using her to help promote its other drivers as well. The AGR guys have a right to be upset. (For the sake of recognizing my own biases, Bryan Herta and Tony Kanaan are my favorite drivers) I've started rooting for quite a few drivers based on how cool they were in person. Danica doesn't seem like the most friendly person on the planet based on interviews I've seen (though to be fair she might be great with the fans). By putting her in a separate line, if she is having a bad day or something and doesn't treat a fan well, they might be turned off on the series as a whole. If she's in a line with Kanaan and Helio (amongst the others), who are pretty darn funny guys the fan might say "Well screw her, I'm gonna root for Kanaan!" and the series still has a fan.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Sidney Crosby is a Diamond in the Rough
The NHL had its lottery draft on Friday and the Wings ended up with the 19th pick (and the Rangers got the 16th pick, hahahaha). That should put them in prime Ryan Stoa territory (or Andrew Cogliano territory if you believe Bob McKenzie over the CSB who ranked Cogliano 63rd. Other Wolverines listed on the North American Skaters list were Jack Johnson 4th, Jason Bailey 56th, TJ Hensick 78th, Zach MacVoy 99th, Tim Miller 140th, and Steve Jakiel as the 27th rated North American goalie. They have Jack Skille as the 11th rated North American forward (Stoa is 13th), which seems kind of low for him...but if they're right and a few Euros get in there....dare I dream? I don't think he falls to us (since McKenzie said that most teams like him in the top 10), but he'd look great in Red and White (and I'm not talking about Wisconsin).
Fox Sports put out a mock draft and while I don't know a ton about most of the prospects that a) Aren't coming to Michigan or b) Didn't play for the NTDP, I know enough to know that I don't like a couple things about this one. If the Wings pass on Skille and Stoa for Dan Bertram, I'm going to go burn down Ken Holland's house (not really). About Jack Skille:
TSN has their mock draft out. They have the Red Wings taking Guillaume Latendresse with their first round pick. Red Line has him at #6. CSB didn't think so much of him, ranking him at #52. Redline says this about him:
TSN has Cogliano going off the board one pick before the Wings draft. Basically it seems to me that he's better thought of in Canada, where they obviously get to see him more. In TSN's mock, Skille goes 10th, which I think is a lot more reasonable for him. Still, if he falls to 19, I won't be complaining. Unless we don't take him.
I'm excited about where the Red Wings pick. I was hoping for the chance to get Johnson (obviously), but 19 isn't a bad spot at all. That means they'll get the 11th pick in all the even numbered rounds, and the 19th pick in the odd numbered rounds. So in both cases, it's a lot better than we usually pick. Depending on where the plateaus of players fall, they could end up with some really nice prospects.
Actually screw all that talk above, the Wings are just going to draft the best available "Jiri" or "Tomas".
Next weekend is going to be a blast. NHL draft on Saturday, going to the IndyCar race at MIS on Sunday.
The NHL also announced officially their rules changes. Among them:
The addition of shootouts after the 4 on 4 overtime: I like it, especially since it's only for regular season games and the losing team still gets a point. I hate ties and this means there aren't any more
Two line passes are legal now: Love it, especially if the Wings bring Schneider back. They'll have Lidstrom, Kronwall and hopefully Schneider who can all make a great breakout pass.
The tag up rule is back: Love it! Offsides slows up the game, and if Babcock wants a team that can forecheck like the dickens, they should also be pretty decent at dumping and chasing, no?
Goalies are restricted in playing the puck behind the net: Don't like this one...more lines on the ice make it more confusing for fans on TV, and it's always been my belief that if a goalie is a good puck handler, more power to him. This really hurts Turco and Brodeur (amongst others). Though if the Wings bring back Osgood, this might not be the worst thing in the world. Lest we forget this guy:
Teams aren't allowed to change lines if they ice the puck: This is a big rule change and I like it a lot. It rewards offensive pressure, and anything that does that should be encouraged. Teams can still ice it if they want a breather, but the opposing team will be able to put out fresh skaters, and the offending team will not. I think this also places an added emphasis on having good faceoff people (hence it would be a bad thing if the NCAA enacts this rule, because Michigan? Not a good faceoff team).
Players will be named, fined, and eventually suspended for diving: They tried to make it public when players would dive, but somehow Peter Forsberg never ended up on the list. Hopefully they'll be more vigilant this time. Petey and Paul Kariya should be the first two guys on that list. Apparently the players don't have to be caught by the ref. They can review the game tape and find violators of this rule.
Public comments against the refs or the game will result in fines: Can Brendan Shanahan just add this to the part of his salary that will be put in the escrow account?
TSN has a "transaction log" which I added to my Firefox browser, and will now be clicking on every 10 minutes for the rest of the summer. Thanks TSN. They'll be updating it with all the NHL transactions. Currently all that's on there is the Flyers buying out John LeClair and White Trash Tony Amonte. No real surprise except that if I was Ken Holland, I would have made sure that "Red Wings buy out Ray Whitney" was the first transaction of the new NHL.
Fox Sports put out a mock draft and while I don't know a ton about most of the prospects that a) Aren't coming to Michigan or b) Didn't play for the NTDP, I know enough to know that I don't like a couple things about this one. If the Wings pass on Skille and Stoa for Dan Bertram, I'm going to go burn down Ken Holland's house (not really). About Jack Skille:
It's at this point that I would like to say that I feel Phil Kessel and Peter Mueller are my diamonds in the rough for future NHL Drafts. Jack Skille is gross. And I will be absolutely livid if the Wings pass on him (unless they're taking Andrew Cogliano, in which case I will be fine since I'm a big homer). He took a lot of penalties last year simply because he was so much bigger than everyone else. He's got a cannon of a shot that he's pretty accurate with. He seems like a pretty good skater, and he's got some nice moves for a big guy. I'm not too worried about his work ethic. It's natural to get bored when you're playing waaaay above the level of your competition (which he was in the U18 vs. USHL or bad NCAA teams games). Skille, Johnson, Mueller, and Kessel could have all played in college last year and done just fine.23. New Jersey Devils: Jack Skille, Right Wing, USA NTDP
As one of the best drafting organizations, the Devils will be patient with this potential goal-scoring threat. If you are looking for a sniper, then Skille is your player, since he has a nose for the net and seems to always be in right place at the right time. He needs to work on his defense and consistent work ethic but he is a diamond in the rough.
TSN has their mock draft out. They have the Red Wings taking Guillaume Latendresse with their first round pick. Red Line has him at #6. CSB didn't think so much of him, ranking him at #52. Redline says this about him:
The biggest and strongest power winger this year is Guillaume Latendresse, who is not only huge at 6-2/220 pounds, but also freakishly strong. He's impossible to move off the puck, and few even attempt to drive him out of the crease. Though not at all dirty, Latendresse often injures opposing defensemen with the sheer force of his crushing hits in the corners and along the walls. He's a heavy-footed skater, but has soft, quick hands and a nice release on his shot.Sounds good to me, except I'm generally not a fan of taking players whose names I have no hope of learning how to spell since I type so much. This is the same reason that I'm against trading for Curtis Leschyshyn every year at the trade deadline (Google actually recognized Leschyshyn as being the correct spelling when I typed "Leyshyschyn" into the search box.)
TSN has Cogliano going off the board one pick before the Wings draft. Basically it seems to me that he's better thought of in Canada, where they obviously get to see him more. In TSN's mock, Skille goes 10th, which I think is a lot more reasonable for him. Still, if he falls to 19, I won't be complaining. Unless we don't take him.
I'm excited about where the Red Wings pick. I was hoping for the chance to get Johnson (obviously), but 19 isn't a bad spot at all. That means they'll get the 11th pick in all the even numbered rounds, and the 19th pick in the odd numbered rounds. So in both cases, it's a lot better than we usually pick. Depending on where the plateaus of players fall, they could end up with some really nice prospects.
Actually screw all that talk above, the Wings are just going to draft the best available "Jiri" or "Tomas".
Next weekend is going to be a blast. NHL draft on Saturday, going to the IndyCar race at MIS on Sunday.
The NHL also announced officially their rules changes. Among them:
The addition of shootouts after the 4 on 4 overtime: I like it, especially since it's only for regular season games and the losing team still gets a point. I hate ties and this means there aren't any more
Two line passes are legal now: Love it, especially if the Wings bring Schneider back. They'll have Lidstrom, Kronwall and hopefully Schneider who can all make a great breakout pass.
The tag up rule is back: Love it! Offsides slows up the game, and if Babcock wants a team that can forecheck like the dickens, they should also be pretty decent at dumping and chasing, no?
Goalies are restricted in playing the puck behind the net: Don't like this one...more lines on the ice make it more confusing for fans on TV, and it's always been my belief that if a goalie is a good puck handler, more power to him. This really hurts Turco and Brodeur (amongst others). Though if the Wings bring back Osgood, this might not be the worst thing in the world. Lest we forget this guy:
Teams aren't allowed to change lines if they ice the puck: This is a big rule change and I like it a lot. It rewards offensive pressure, and anything that does that should be encouraged. Teams can still ice it if they want a breather, but the opposing team will be able to put out fresh skaters, and the offending team will not. I think this also places an added emphasis on having good faceoff people (hence it would be a bad thing if the NCAA enacts this rule, because Michigan? Not a good faceoff team).
Players will be named, fined, and eventually suspended for diving: They tried to make it public when players would dive, but somehow Peter Forsberg never ended up on the list. Hopefully they'll be more vigilant this time. Petey and Paul Kariya should be the first two guys on that list. Apparently the players don't have to be caught by the ref. They can review the game tape and find violators of this rule.
Public comments against the refs or the game will result in fines: Can Brendan Shanahan just add this to the part of his salary that will be put in the escrow account?
TSN has a "transaction log" which I added to my Firefox browser, and will now be clicking on every 10 minutes for the rest of the summer. Thanks TSN. They'll be updating it with all the NHL transactions. Currently all that's on there is the Flyers buying out John LeClair and White Trash Tony Amonte. No real surprise except that if I was Ken Holland, I would have made sure that "Red Wings buy out Ray Whitney" was the first transaction of the new NHL.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Amir Johnson: Player. Al Montoya: Ranger?
The Pistons summer league game against New Orleans was shown on NBATV tonight, and being that we bought the sports pack for our digital cable (mainly to get all the WCHA games), we decided to experience Darko-mania in all its glory.
After missing the first 16 minutes of the game due to NBATV starting the game at 9:30 instead of 10:00, we got to see the rest of the game. Impressions:
Darko Milicic: Darko was very impatient with his shots. He said in an interview not too long ago that the summer league is a "me-first" league, where everyone is trying to make a name for themselves rather than worry about winning. I can definitely see where he got that from. Guys were pretty reluctant to give him the ball in the post and there was a lot of dribbling around and guys jacking up bad shots. So it seemed like Darko went "The Blog That Yost Built in Parks and Rec Basketball Back in Troy" on the Pistons there....he wasn't going to get the ball that often, so anytime he got it, he was taking the shot by God. He put up a lot of 18-footers, knocked down a couple but they weren't really in the flow of the offense. When he got the ball in the post against a white boy that's worse than he is he fared pretty well (despite getting rejected by the rim one time...he had enough strength to still get that shot to fall though). The kid can run...he steps out on the pick and rolls and is fast enough to get back to guard his man. He's also a great passer. He threw a great bounce pass to set up someone for a dunk. Nash couldn't have put that ball in there any better.
Jason Maxiell: He was touted as having had a great summer league, but he did absolutely nothing in this game. I was trying to watch him, but he was very very quiet. Didn't play a ton in the second half either, which was the main part of the game that we saw. No real first impression of him at all.
Carlos Delfino: Didn't play. See Rogers, Charles. I think he was out with a yeast infection, but that hasn't been confirmed.
Amir Johnson: This kid is going to be a player. It might not be anytime soon, but he's gonna be something. He's big (6'9 or 6'10) but he's very very athletic. The kid needs to get in the weight room because he's really lanky (he looked like he's maybe 210 or so). But he's got hops. Man does he have hops. The kid had 8 points on dunks off missed shots alone. He was crashing the offensive boards, and taking it back up strong (or just dunking it as it came off the rim). He can also run the floor. He's got good speed for a big guy. He also had a couple nice passes. I came away very impressed. One thing about him....kid's got the most jacked up shot I've ever seen. I didn't get to see him take any outside shots, but I can see why the knock on him was that he gets shots blocked by smaller players. His shot starts around his belly button and he releases it by the time it's at eye level. Really really odd shooting motion. They're gonna need to work on that. At the very worst, he'll be an energy guy off the bench who can get the crowd fired up. Worst case he's Ronald Dupree. But I think he's gonna be a player.
Alex Acker: I guess he played very well before we turned it on, and he showed some flashes of being really good. He didn't play a ton in the second half, but he was hittin' shots and finishing around the basket. He had some nice moves in deep. I can see why they like him.
Ricky Paulding: Don't see him making the team. He put up two airballs from outside that were just horrendous. I swear he missed one short by a yard. It was Derreck Whittenburg short. He did have some nice moves around the basket, but his shots that were off were really really off. Don't think he showed enough in the summer league for them to keep him around.
On Al Montoya: The New York Daily News had an article that sounded like he was leaning toward going pro. He admitted that he wasn't focused last year and that he was bored sometimes to the point of distraction during games. His quote at the end made it sound like he might come back---"I know I'm ready for this level - I know that," Montoya said. "But the thing is: Is another year of college going to hurt me? I don't think so."---but the overall impression I got is that he's probably gone. And that's fine. If the kid thinks he's ready to take off and now's the time to do it, then more power to him.
I think this seems a lot like the Jeff Jillson situation a few years ago. Berenson said in an interview later that Jillson should've left after his sophomore year because it was obvious he didn't want to still be in college his junior year. They both had very good freshman and sophomore seasons, and lackluster junior years. It seemed like last year Montoya's head was in the pros, and I feel like it'd be better for him to jet now than come back and be bored again. I'd rather see Sauer or Jakiel in the net than an unmotivated and bored Montoya. We've seen before how goofy he can be in net when he gets bored. And it ain't pretty.
Best case scenario to me is that Al come back committed and ready to prove his critics wrong. In addition, our two verbal commits in net get a ton of much needed experience in the USHL this year (Sauer because he's really young, Jakiel because he hasn't played hockey very long) and they're both ready to come in and battle it out in 2006-07. We'd be better off in the long-term and in the short-term if this is the scenario. If Al leaves, they'll bring in one of the two and I'm sure he'll do fine. They're both highly touted prospects. We might take some lumps early on, but come the stretch run I think they'll be gearing up to have a pretty good season.
The NHL Lottery will be streamed on NHL.com on Friday at 4 pm. The question is are they going to actually show the drawing, or will it be like the NBA when they just reveal the cards in reverse order. Because I'll have a 15 minute break at work on Friday...gotta decide if I want to go right at 4 or go closer to 4:10ish. Decisions, decisions.
I guess this would be a better thing to post after the lottery (since if they get a top 10 pick there's no way it happens) but I think Cogliano goes to the LA Kings. They seem to like the Italian Wolverines. Tambellini-Cogliano-Cammalleri line anyone? Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, GOAL. Or check, check, check--THUD since they're all kinda small.
The NHL2k5 Wolverines are into the second round. We swept Anaheim in 4 games that were tougher than the scores (4-0, 4-2 with an empty netter, 2-1, 3-1 with an empty netter) and now have a 3 games to 0 lead on the Red Wings after 7-2, 5-2, 4-0 wins. All 3 of those games were close going to the third before the flood gates opened. Comrie and Cammalleri are having stellar playoffs, as is Turco. If we close the Wings out, we'll take on Chris Osgood and the St. Louis Blues, who swept Dallas. The Boston University team is the only NCAA team remaining. They're down 3 games to 2 to Atlanta.
After missing the first 16 minutes of the game due to NBATV starting the game at 9:30 instead of 10:00, we got to see the rest of the game. Impressions:
Darko Milicic: Darko was very impatient with his shots. He said in an interview not too long ago that the summer league is a "me-first" league, where everyone is trying to make a name for themselves rather than worry about winning. I can definitely see where he got that from. Guys were pretty reluctant to give him the ball in the post and there was a lot of dribbling around and guys jacking up bad shots. So it seemed like Darko went "The Blog That Yost Built in Parks and Rec Basketball Back in Troy" on the Pistons there....he wasn't going to get the ball that often, so anytime he got it, he was taking the shot by God. He put up a lot of 18-footers, knocked down a couple but they weren't really in the flow of the offense. When he got the ball in the post against a white boy that's worse than he is he fared pretty well (despite getting rejected by the rim one time...he had enough strength to still get that shot to fall though). The kid can run...he steps out on the pick and rolls and is fast enough to get back to guard his man. He's also a great passer. He threw a great bounce pass to set up someone for a dunk. Nash couldn't have put that ball in there any better.
Jason Maxiell: He was touted as having had a great summer league, but he did absolutely nothing in this game. I was trying to watch him, but he was very very quiet. Didn't play a ton in the second half either, which was the main part of the game that we saw. No real first impression of him at all.
Carlos Delfino: Didn't play. See Rogers, Charles. I think he was out with a yeast infection, but that hasn't been confirmed.
Amir Johnson: This kid is going to be a player. It might not be anytime soon, but he's gonna be something. He's big (6'9 or 6'10) but he's very very athletic. The kid needs to get in the weight room because he's really lanky (he looked like he's maybe 210 or so). But he's got hops. Man does he have hops. The kid had 8 points on dunks off missed shots alone. He was crashing the offensive boards, and taking it back up strong (or just dunking it as it came off the rim). He can also run the floor. He's got good speed for a big guy. He also had a couple nice passes. I came away very impressed. One thing about him....kid's got the most jacked up shot I've ever seen. I didn't get to see him take any outside shots, but I can see why the knock on him was that he gets shots blocked by smaller players. His shot starts around his belly button and he releases it by the time it's at eye level. Really really odd shooting motion. They're gonna need to work on that. At the very worst, he'll be an energy guy off the bench who can get the crowd fired up. Worst case he's Ronald Dupree. But I think he's gonna be a player.
Alex Acker: I guess he played very well before we turned it on, and he showed some flashes of being really good. He didn't play a ton in the second half, but he was hittin' shots and finishing around the basket. He had some nice moves in deep. I can see why they like him.
Ricky Paulding: Don't see him making the team. He put up two airballs from outside that were just horrendous. I swear he missed one short by a yard. It was Derreck Whittenburg short. He did have some nice moves around the basket, but his shots that were off were really really off. Don't think he showed enough in the summer league for them to keep him around.
On Al Montoya: The New York Daily News had an article that sounded like he was leaning toward going pro. He admitted that he wasn't focused last year and that he was bored sometimes to the point of distraction during games. His quote at the end made it sound like he might come back---"I know I'm ready for this level - I know that," Montoya said. "But the thing is: Is another year of college going to hurt me? I don't think so."---but the overall impression I got is that he's probably gone. And that's fine. If the kid thinks he's ready to take off and now's the time to do it, then more power to him.
I think this seems a lot like the Jeff Jillson situation a few years ago. Berenson said in an interview later that Jillson should've left after his sophomore year because it was obvious he didn't want to still be in college his junior year. They both had very good freshman and sophomore seasons, and lackluster junior years. It seemed like last year Montoya's head was in the pros, and I feel like it'd be better for him to jet now than come back and be bored again. I'd rather see Sauer or Jakiel in the net than an unmotivated and bored Montoya. We've seen before how goofy he can be in net when he gets bored. And it ain't pretty.
Best case scenario to me is that Al come back committed and ready to prove his critics wrong. In addition, our two verbal commits in net get a ton of much needed experience in the USHL this year (Sauer because he's really young, Jakiel because he hasn't played hockey very long) and they're both ready to come in and battle it out in 2006-07. We'd be better off in the long-term and in the short-term if this is the scenario. If Al leaves, they'll bring in one of the two and I'm sure he'll do fine. They're both highly touted prospects. We might take some lumps early on, but come the stretch run I think they'll be gearing up to have a pretty good season.
The NHL Lottery will be streamed on NHL.com on Friday at 4 pm. The question is are they going to actually show the drawing, or will it be like the NBA when they just reveal the cards in reverse order. Because I'll have a 15 minute break at work on Friday...gotta decide if I want to go right at 4 or go closer to 4:10ish. Decisions, decisions.
I guess this would be a better thing to post after the lottery (since if they get a top 10 pick there's no way it happens) but I think Cogliano goes to the LA Kings. They seem to like the Italian Wolverines. Tambellini-Cogliano-Cammalleri line anyone? Pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, GOAL. Or check, check, check--THUD since they're all kinda small.
The NHL2k5 Wolverines are into the second round. We swept Anaheim in 4 games that were tougher than the scores (4-0, 4-2 with an empty netter, 2-1, 3-1 with an empty netter) and now have a 3 games to 0 lead on the Red Wings after 7-2, 5-2, 4-0 wins. All 3 of those games were close going to the third before the flood gates opened. Comrie and Cammalleri are having stellar playoffs, as is Turco. If we close the Wings out, we'll take on Chris Osgood and the St. Louis Blues, who swept Dallas. The Boston University team is the only NCAA team remaining. They're down 3 games to 2 to Atlanta.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Lucky Canadians
TSN will be showing the draft lottery live on Friday. Nice to see the NHL is smart enough to realize that the Crosby lottery will get huge ratings in Canada. Too bad it doesn't seem like they're going to let anyone in the USA cover it (yet). Hell, put it on ESPN News. Do something. It may not be as big of a deal in the USA as it will be in Canada, but there are people who would watch it, since it basically affects every team in the league.
TSN's also showing the draft. Anybody know if ESPN's gonna be showing that, or did that go bye-bye when they didn't renew their contract for hockey games?
Grr...
TSN's also showing the draft. Anybody know if ESPN's gonna be showing that, or did that go bye-bye when they didn't renew their contract for hockey games?
Grr...
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