The Key to Who Wins the Stanley Cup?

PD.Girardi

Name one player who controls which team the Stanley Cup lands this year. Crosby? Toews? Getzlaf? Chara? All good answers.  I say Dan Girardi

 Casual fans might not even know who Dan Girardi is. Girardi is a very good , defensive defensemen man with some offense skills. He is also in a contract dispute with the New York Rangers. The Rangers want him to sign a contract extension for much less than he thinks he deserves. If Dan Girardi does not sign a contract extension before the March 5th trade deadline the Rangers said they will trade him. His trade could turn a one and out team into a contender and a contender into a champion.

Dan Girardi contract status affects the East playoff picture dramatically. If he stays and signs with New York the Rangers remain a second tier threat for the Eastern Conference crown. Though Boston and Pittsburgh remain favorites in the East, the Rangers have the top end scoring and goaltending to reverse their bad start and make a Cup. If the Rangers trade him to an Eastern team he immediately upgrades that team’s blue line. In Boston he helps the Bruins overcome the loss of Dennis Sidenberg and fixes the only possible chink in the Bruin armor. If the Rangers trade Girardi to Metro rivals Flyers, Islanders or Capitals all of those teams would a dangerous first round opponent.

They say you can never have enough defensemen so every team out West could use a D man of Girardi caliber. But two teams in particular could really use Girardi. The Colorado Avalanche, who probably even are surprising themselves this year, need some veteran leadership on the blue line to go along with their young talented forwards up front. The Anaheim Ducks, arguably the best team in the league, could use Girardi  to improve their defensive depth. Girardi physicality would help the Ducks against the big contenders out West who play a heavy game like the Kings and the Blues. Girardi is also mobile enough to skate and hopefully shut down the skilled Blackhawks and Sharks.

Offensively Girardi has a decent shot and more importantly makes a good breakout pass.

The important sports news this spring in NYC won’t be if Carmrlo Anthony gets traded but if Dan Girardi does.

Olympic Hockey Prediction 2014

Tomorrow starts the Olympic hockey tournament and since the NHL callously interrupted a great season to plays this games I better make some predictions before Bob Costas eyes heals.  He’ll switch the coverage over to either a Dancing with the Stars competition on skates or a sport rich white parents invented so their kids weren’t just stoners who didn’t play real sports.

12 National hockey teams are competing in the tournament. Only 4 have a chance at winning gold, silver or bronze. Those 4 are the USA, Canada, Russia and Sweden. 

Some countries could steal a game but I don’t see them winning 2 games in the Medal round against the Big 4.

Slovakia has hockey’s One Man Gang Zdeno Chara but is missing game breaker Marian Gaborik who might have caught fire for a game or two.

Slovenia has LA Kings Anze Kopitar and he’ll be excited if a teammate scores.

Finland STILL has Teemu Selanne, I think he was in Lake Placid.

Norway has Mats Zuccarello … exactly.

The Czech Republic has the living legend Jaromir Jagr but he won the gold in 1998.

That leaves us with the Big 4.

I predict Sweden will not win a medal. They have been the trendy pick this year but I’m not buying it. They are playing without Nicholas Lidstrom the greatest defensemen since Bobby Orr, who retired. Henrik one half of the Sedin twins is injured and goalie extradinaire Henrik Lunquist is showing sign of wear and tear. I like their defensemen but their forwards are to quote the great Mike Therrien , “SOFFFT”.

I pick the USA for bronze. Their forwards are a great combination of speed, grit and scoring touch and they will love playing Dan Blysma’s uptempo system but I think their defensemen are weak at the bottom and great hockey teams expose 5^th and 6^th defensemen. I’ve watched Brooks Orpik all year, he’s become a liability. The US also has shaky goaltending. Last August I would have given the US an advantage in net but Jonathan Quick has been hurt and off his game and Ryan Miller , while on a horrible  Buffalo team has been smoked a few times, too many for my liking. Key stat- US has only won Olympic Gold on US soil.

I’ll give Canada the silver. They always have the best team on paper and have the 3 of the 4 best centers in the world on their team ( Crosby, Toews, Getzslaf) but their defense is a tad slow for the big ice and their goaltending is shakier than the Us’s.  Roberto Luongo was the goat 4 years ago until Sid saved him with the Golden Goal. Key Stat- Canada has never won Olympic Gold on Olympic sized ice, only NHL sized ice.

I think Russia will win the Gold. The Russian are putting all their eggs in one basket, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechin playing on the same line. Malkin is playing at the top of his game right now and when he does no one can stop him .Ovechin is also at the top of his game right now. This pair will be lethal. The Russian defensemen are all NHL caliber The KHLers on Russia’s team will be playing with a ton of pride in their league and homeland and will take advantage of their home ice. I think Russia’s biggest advantage is between the pipes. I have seen Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovasky and Colorado’s Seymon Varlamov  stone top NHL offensive teams with average at best defenses in front of them.

So Geno and Ovi do some Stoli shots with Putin and your gold medals and then come back to North America. We have a Stanley Cup to play for.

Sochi stay or Sochi Go

Olympic Hockey is less than a month away and I am not looking forward to it . Sure I will watch every game, God Blesss Tivo but I don’t think NHL players should be participating. I have many reason s for my thinking. The first and foremost being the players own personal safety. One Islamic fuckhead and EVERYTHING is a COMPLETE disaster.

 I hate the disruption of the NHL season. None of the other major sports would lose one month of their season every four years for the Olympics. Not only does the sport just stop for three weeks the rest of the season schedule is so compressed to make up for it players are exposed to more injuries and fans are subjected to some listless hockey. The NHL brass has realized for awhile now they get no tangible pop from the Olympics. People who watch Olympic hockey go back to American Idol when Bob Costas and his fireplace disappear.  The league wasn’t going to send their payers to Sochi but capitulated after they realized they would have a mutiny on their hands because Ovechin, Malkin and other Russia stars were going to play in Sochi whether Gary Bettman wanted them to or not. This will be the last time the NHLers go for gold because no player is going to push to spend 3 weeks in South Korea in 2016.

People will argue back at me that they love Olympic hockey because it’s the best players in the world all competing for gold, playing for keeps, an All Star tournament that matters.  We did have that it back in the nineties , it was called the World Cup of Hockey. It was played in the summer, so it didn’t disrupt the NHL season. It was played on NHL sized ice and with NHL rules, which means it was an All Star game, where everybody cared who won and it had fighting.

I think by NHLer’s going to the Olympics they are undermining the premise that the Stanley Cup is the most important trophy in all of sports.  Do I want the USA to win gold. Yes !!! I mean sure , maybe , right? Look at the consequence for me personally, If the US wins, my ( the Pens coach) Dan Blysma looks like a genius but then my ( Penguins)  superstars have problems.  Sidney Crosby is Canada’s goat and Evgeni Malkin and his parents may be shipped to Siberia. Penguin fans and every fan of the NHL’s elite teams have this problem is some variety, let alone if a player gets injured. That’s the beauty of a Summer World Cup of Hockey, even if a player gets hurt they should be ready by the Stanley Cup playoffs next spring. More important to me that the US wins gold is that all my Penguins come back healthy.

It’s time to end put the NHLer’s in the Olympics. Does Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechen,  Jaromir Jagr need any more on their plate or in their trophy chest. It’s time to let the kids play again. If you’re old enough to remember 1980 you know how special that was. US Captain Mike Eruzione never played completive hockey after that, he didin’t need to. Who care if some countries cheat or the KHLers play. I’ll take my chances with some Boston College or Wisconsin guys. Does anyone think the millionaires really need medals?  I know it’s nice, but they’re already rich and famous let the kids have a chance or retired NHLer’s who don’t have a Cup and a gold medal would be the ultimate consolation prize. To me the US winning gold in Sochi is a consolation prize if the Penguins don’t win the Stanley Cup.