Coaching Change...

Well, yesterday I talked about who should be NHL MVP, and today we will focus on the coach of the year candidates. At least in my little mind. This is always an interesting choice because its tough to judge who deserves it and how much coaching they truly had to do. The teams at the top are usually so laydened with talent that while coaching is key, they have the tools at their disposal to more easily accomplish their goals. Though if we look no further than my Sens, we can see this is not always a recipe for success. So, should this be held against them? I think yes to a certain extent. Its a lot easier to win fifty games in Detroit than Edmonton. Which is where my nominations will start. Mac T as Cragin MacTavish is known is a long standing coach and has taken an young, and very injury riddled team to near playoff contention. At the start of this season and especially with last seasons collapse at the end it would be hard to imagine them being in this situation, but there they are. A very hard working and gritty team, just as their coach used to be and in the very difficult North West division and Western conference this is not easy to do without a lot of talent. The same argument should be made for the Great One. Wayne Gretzky has taken a team very similar to Edmonton in that they are very young and short on big names and lead them almost to playoff contention. This is a wonderful feather in his cap and proves to the naysayers that great players can indeed coach. In the East - John Paddock - OK that was cruel, but there are several candidates worthy of this cause as well. Bruce Boudreau has taken a meager Capitals team to the verge of a playoff spot which is no small feat after a terrible start to the year and a lineup that falls off quickly after its top five players. However they play hard and well together which will make you look good no matter how much talent you have and has result in success on the ice and perhaps for the man leading the way. Also in the east, Claude Julien and Tom Renney deserve some cu dos because though the Rangers were poised to have a good season they weren't until recently and he now has them fighting for the conference lead so that is a very deserving feat. In Boston injuries and poor goal tending, sorry but Tim Thomas is praised constantly for little or no reason - an All star?! - but I digress. Juien has them set to make the playoffs and this hard working bunch are one of the better defensive teams when they play their game. So now that these men have been praised, we will have to wait and see who gets one last victory at years end.

MVP...could be OV.

The regular season is winding down and with that being said, we will now take a look at who will take home the hardware after the season. Well, the fact is that the race for the heart is wide open in some people minds, but it shouldn't be. There are two solid choices here, Devil's goalie Martin Brodeur and Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. The theory is that if your team doesn't make the playoffs you don't deserve to win...Bull! This is absolute nonsense! Ovechkin is leading the league in scoring and without him the Capitals would be no where near a playoff spot. Washingotn has 216 goals for, and Ovechkin has been in on nearly HALF of them! This is incredible and goes to show how important he truly is. While Brodeur is phenomenal and no longer has the strong defensive support that Stevens and Niedermayer offered, he is still leading the way and if Green Bay fans were worried about Brett Farve retiring, New Jersey will will off the map when Brodeur leaves. However, he has take a team that even with average goal tending would be relatively competitive in the East and would be near a playoff spot. So while others like Iginla, Luongo and Alfredsson have put strong seasons together and shown how valuable they are, the fact is Ovechkin has stood out as being just a step ahead this season, so he deserves all that is coming to him, including the 120plus million in contracts he signed!

If only...

I went to Capital Music last night and saw Josh Ritter play, (a must see for sure!) and as I watched his set I came to a realization, he must be one of the luckiest guys in the world. Not simply because he's very talented or could have had any woman in the place, but because when you watch his show and you see him preform that huge boyish smile never leaves his face. He is just so happy to be there doing what he loves and the look is just pure unadulterated joy. There is nothing else there. He is just happy. And I was thinking we should all be so fortunate. Not simply to be as talented as he is at something but to have that much love for whatever it is we want to do with our lives. Where ever life takes us or what ever our passion is if we pursue it with the kind of happiness and conviction that he and others like Steve Irwin have, it would probably make a whole lot of people a whole lot happier, and this would be a better place for it...by a long shot.

Damned if you do....

So the season is once again winding down in the NHL and all that's really left to decide is well, everything. I can say this is at least one thing the league has done right in the past few years as the parody has never been better, and almost all the teams could have made the playoffs, with some luck naturally. The playoff picture changes daily and there are a number of teams who could hoist Stanley in June. That being said we can pretty much count out a few squads all ready with only a month to go and either to much ground to make up or to many teams ahead of them, such as in the case of the Maple Leafs. Toronto is set to miss the playoffs for a third consecutive season while their eastern conference buddies in Ottawa and Montreal are looking to make legitimate cup runs. Yet the Leafs continue to sell tickets without any problem, and have actually started winning games, again, all be it to little to late. A loss to Boston tonight would really leave them blowing in the wind...terrible I know...but the point is the Leafs have once again put themselves in a position to go nowhere in terms of turning things around. True they have a bonified number one goalie in Vesa Toskala but little to no defensive help in front of him, and not nearly enough NHL caliber forwards to put the puck in the net. This is nothing anyone covering the Leafs hasn't covered ad Nauseum all ready, and Sundin and the like were dragged through the mud for not waiving their no trade clauses but these guys were not the problem. It's the rest of the team. There are simply no up and commers or well added players to fill in these gaps. The Leafs will play well enough to not get a high draft pick and despite the fact this is supposed to be a fairly deep draft class with the likes of Stamkos and Doughty up for grabs, they will not get them. Unless they dump some bodies overboard for high draft picks, not the kind they obtained at the trade deadline. And yes the draft can be a bit of a crap shoot, with the like of Theo Fleury, Daniel Alfredsson, Pavel Datsuyk and Henrik Zetterberg showing that you don't have to be a high pick to make an impact but more often than not these are exceptions to the rule, not the norm. So in Ottawa this summer on draft day the Leafs will either find themselves adding what could be their future or watching the storm clouds continue to circle...better bring an umbrella.

Lame Ducks

There is always a human element in officiating, and don't get me wrong, it's not easy, I respect the difficult these men face having the fate and integrity of the game in their hands, however that being said, I wish to make one thing clear- the officiating last night in the Ottawa Senators - Anaheim Ducks game was so poor and so blatantly one sided that the league out to review it and possible even suspend the officials. There was no excuse for that. The refs let the game get out of control and as a result Brian Murray was tossed, Ottawa lost as a result of two power ply goals that never should have come about, and as a result it looked terrible on the refs. Murray wouldn't have been so peeved had the refs called the at least two blatant hits from behind on Senators defense men - I guess this is what passes for fore checking these days - or any of the other dozens of calls that could have been made. I know Brian Burke likes tough rugged hockey and that I would love a team that could play like Anaheim, and also as a Sens fan, I am somewhat bitter - I know call me on it if you will - but it wouldn't have matter if the Ducks were playing the Devils - my least favorite of teams - these were terrible missed calls. Anyone who has watched five minutes of a hockey game could tell you that. I officiated for four years in high school and have played hockey all my life so I know what a penalty is and two men getting paid thousands of dollars to know the difference didn't. And these weren't chincy, maybe call it maybe not type plays. These were as painfully obvious as a slap in the face, which the refs probably would also have missed. This was a travesty, and a joke and I sincerely hope that those refs are told so because there is no excuse for that. There were pathetic and lacked all common sense and good judgement. Other than that they were fine...