Hockey Trade Rumors

OK, so what, exactly, is the breaking point?

The Sabres have lost four straight games, fallen into last place in the NHL and are in serious trouble in the first week of November. Their roster was built by a general manager who has been here too long and consists of players who have been here too long who are underachieving for a coach who has been here too long.

It’s not often that the NHL’s best goalie gets pulled after allowing three goals in 40 minutes. Truth is, if Tim Thomas weren’t on top of his game last night, the Capitals could have put five or more pucks into the net in the first two periods.

“We didn’t play the same way that we played them the first two times,’’ said Thomas, comparing last night’s so-so effort to two previous wins over the Capitals this season. “The first two times we played them, we did an excellent job. Tonight, we obviously didn’t play as well.

There has been a lot of focus on the Leafs offense lately…. ***note: this article is mostly for fun – obviously the trends can and will change, for some players dramatically. But I did a bit of math for kicks and here are the projected stats 12 games into the season.

In brackets beside each player is an explanation for the projection, if it ever came to fruition. Though the stats won’t be accurate after 82 games, the assessments in brackets could be telling predictions overall. . .

The Calgary Flames say there’s no infighting plaguing the organization.

There’s no poisonous personalities inside the dressing room dragging the group down and the animosity that allegedly once existed between brothers Darryl and Brent Sutter is, according to those close to the team, non-existent.

And, there is no plan to trade Jarome Iginla.

The Thrashers weren’t going to get lucky a second time.

One day after a lackluster performance produced a win at Florida, the Thrashers were shut out for the first time this season, falling 3-0 to Columbus on Thursday night. The loss came in front of a franchise-low Philips Arena crowd of 8,461 –the second record set in the span of 15 days.

Nik Antropov called the team’s recent efforts “embarrassing.”

Michel Therrien wasn’t a perfect NHL coach, but he should rank atop the list of any in-season replacement candidates.

There is no indication he does, though. It’s puzzling, considering even his harshest critics among former Penguins players privately confided this week that Therrien knows hockey. To paraphrase one of his former players: Therrien knows pucks, but he doesn’t always know how to deal with people.

Brian Burke is a fervent believer that when fans purchase a ticket to a sporting event, those fans are entitled to boo or cheer or express themselves in any way they see fit, so long as it’s not vulgar or racist.

That said, the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager is also a big believer in freedom of speech and he said it is “disgraceful” that some fans at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday night booed Leafs’ captain Dion Phaneuf.

This year I decided to get the Centre Ice package and suffice it to say I have watched a lot of hockey over the past couple of weeks. I have never noticed before how much of a difference a well executed broadcast makes over a poorly executed one. I think I mainly noticed this because of how many games I watched in a short amount of time. So here’s the task. Pick and choose your favorite aspects of different hockey broadcasts to make what would be your ideal set up. Do this with your favorite team in mind, as it makes a bid difference when choosing play by play and color commentators (some people like commentators that are emotionally invested in their favorite team, while others like a more unbiased voice describing the action).

Incensed after another couple of lackluster performances in losses this past weekend, Ducks general manager Bob Murray took his team to task and said that blaming coach Randy Carlyle for their current struggles is an “excuse.”

Murray has rebuffed calls or suggestions for Carlyle’s firing in the past and this time was no different after he spoke with the Register on Monday, following the team’s home loss to lowly New Jersey on Friday and its blowout defeat at San Jose on Saturday.

Niklas Hagman is hardly a mathematician, but he realizes the numbers just don’t add up for this edition of the Calgary Flames.

When the puck dropped to open the 2010/11 season, conventional wisdom in these parts suggested the aging Flames might struggle to turn on the red light. They placed a dismal 29th in scoring last season, so the locals – without any additional firepower outside of Alex Tanguay – had every reason to expect more of the same.