In a recent update of Martin Brodeur’s official website, he made a bit of an announcement. Marty Brodeur is the new official spokesperson for Sher-Wood hockey. This, of course, means he will be wearing a whole new set of equipment come next season. Here are the pics of what the new “Brodeur-style” Sher-Wood pads look like:

“We are thrilled and excited to be entering into this new partnership with Martin Brodeur,” said Ralph Trott, President and CEO of Sher-Wood Hockey
Inc. “Martin is a legend in the sport of hockey, and Sher-Wood has a great tradition with the sport. We think it is the perfect team.”Martin Brodeur said, “When I picked up the Sher-Wood stick it just felt right. I started out as a kid playing hockey in St. Leonard with a Sher-Wood stick. This feels like coming home. Not only is the Sher-Wood equipment superbly engineered for play at my level, but at the same time I feel like I am doing something to help re-energize a brand that has its roots right here in Ma Belle Province. “

I don’t really like the idea of switching equipment companies entirely. Goaltenders are very picky with how their equipment feels. I’m sure Martin put a lot of thought into the decision, and is comfortable with it. Note the fact that the new pads have the entire word “Sher-Wood” on them. They were going with the shortened version “SWD” the past couple of years, but seem to have switched back. Very weird, considering Reebok (or “RBK”) have done the exact same thing.

But there you have it, next season don’t look for Marty to be in his familiar equipment, instead he will be wearing all-new Sher-Wood pads. It is also likely that he will not have these pads in the new game, NHL 10. Sure it takes away from the realism a bit, but there’s not a lot that can be done about it. There is no word on how long the contract is for, all that has been said is that it is “long-term.”

First things first, congratulations to captain Sidney Crosby and his Penguins for winning the 2009 Stanley Cup. Well done, guys, you put on quite a show. It was a hard fought series, right until the final seconds when goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had to dive across the crease to rob Detroit captain Niklas Lidstrom of a sure goal. Wondering what Fleury was thinking when all that was happening? Take a look:

Now while Pittsburgh soaks up the next few days, you can guess what the other 29 teams will be thinking about. Next season, starting with the Draft, then the opening day of free agency. You can tell that’s what they’re thinking about just by looking at some of the stories that have been reported in the past few days.

Lets start with the Flyers and their goaltending situation. Earlier this week the Flyers announced the signing of Ray Emery to a one-year $1.5 million contract. Many see it as a low-risk, high-reward kind of deal. I think any time you deal with Ray Emery, the situation is high risk. I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, but he has the capability of bringing down a team from the inside. What’s the best scenario? He has a stellar year, the Flyers go far in the playoffs riding his play, and he asks for major bucks in the off season, or leaves the team. That being said, this is Emery’s second chance at an NHL career, so to speak. He blew his first chance in Ottawa, so you can bet he won’t want to screw up his second chance in Philly. I really hope he stays on his best behaviour and succeeds, I really do. Then today we are hit with another shocker. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Flyers are interested in bringing Robert Esche back! He had a stellar year playing in the KHL, posting a 1.87 goals against average and .912 save percentage. If that report turns out to be true, you can kiss Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki’s butts goodbye.

But then we’re forced to wonder, is a Emery-Esche tandem that much of an upgrade over a Biron-Niittymaki tandem? Is it even an upgrade at all? Sure they save a few bucks under the cap, but is it really worth taking such a risk with your goaltending situation? Only time will tell.

Then there was the Score’s report of Pronger being traded to LA for Jack Johnson and the 5th overall pick in this year’s draft. I saw that as soon as I turned on my TV and sat back, thought about it for a second, then muttered “What the hell is Los Angeles thinking??” Sure, lets trade away the 5th overall pick (Who I have as Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson in the Everything Hockey mock draft) and Jack Johnson, a former 3rd overall pick, for an older Chris Pronger, who has 1 year left on his contract and makes just over 4 million dollars more than Johnson. I really really hope LA has some kind of plan for this, like signing him to an extension and naming him captain or something. Seems to me like they could have just kept Rob Blake, a much cheaper leader.

I said that 29 teams will be thinking of next season already, but one team has a very unique situation. The Phoenix Coyotes aren’t just worried about their product on the ice, they are also worried about where the ice they will skate on will be located. Let me begin by saying I am a completely biased Hamiltonian. I have refrained from writing about the deal because of my bias. I would thouroughly enjoy having an NHL team in this city, as would hundreds of other people I know, but especially me seeing as how it would open all sorts of doors for jobs, especially in the media. So when you make the argument about how moving the team out of Phoenix will take away hundreds of jobs, think of all the jobs it would open up, especially to people like me! We all know what’s happening in terms of the court preceedings and so-on, so I won’t bore you with that. I just want you to know that the fan support for an NHL team in Hamilton is very real. The team will be immensly popular, and the area is a hockey gold mine. Oh…and Jim Balsillie for Prime Minister!

Tags: chris pronger, detroit red wings, fleury, hamilton, jim balsillie, philadelphia flyers, phoenix coyotes, pittsburgh penguins, ray emery, robert esche, stanley cup, swears, trade

Everyone roots for their favourite team to get into the playoffs, but at this time of year if your favourite team has clinched a spot, or is way out of it, we also root for other teams to make it in.  My team, the Devils, have clinched. Here’s how I hope things end up in both conferences:

The East:

I really do not want the Rangers to make it in, but looks like they will sneak in, in either the 7th or 8th spot. If they stay away from a first round matchup with the Devils, I’ll be a bit happier, but I feel safest if they don’t make it in at all. There’s something about playing the Devils that changes the Rangers’ game. Suddenly the team with the second-least amount of goals in the east (196, better than only the Islanders) goes on a scoring tear and makes Marty look like a career AHLer and not the all time wins leader (Woo hoo!) In the Rangers place I would like to see the Panthers. They are far less menacing, in my opinion, and I want to see fans get excited in Florida once again. We haven’t seen real excitement there since the 1996 playoffs when they reached the finals. The team is full of hard-working, and deserving guys. Stillman, Bouwmeester, Vokoun. If the Panthers make the playoffs it sure makes Bouwmeester’s contract situation interesting. Does he decide that maybe Florida is getting better, and chooses to stay? That’s all I would change, Florida in, NYR out. I want Montreal in because it would calm some of the fans down, plus who doesn’t want to see more Canadian teams in the playoffs. Nobody rocks harder in the playoffs than Canadiens fans.

The West:

I’m really happy seeing Columbus sitting in 6th place as we enter these final few weeks. It seems like they’ve tried everything to get in, but it has never worked. I’m not sure how Steve Mason will fare in the playoffs, but it makes for some interesting stories for sure. I like that Anaheim is out. Part of me wants them to get in, to prove to everyone that teams can succeed without Brian Burke, but I really want another team to get in. I was shocked to see St. Louis so far up the standings at this time of the year. Not much has been said about that little team from Missouri, but they are making a real case. I’m not sure how far they can ride Chris Mason in the playoffs (Come on, the guy was scored on by Wade Belak of all people), but they have some really good, young talent that should be fun to watch. Guys like Brad Boyes and Dave Perron. Oh, they also did all of this without the services of Eric Brewer, one of their top d-men. And they made a pretty nice pickup when they acquired Carlo Colaiacovo and Alexander Steen for spare-parts forward Lee Stempniak. By the way Leafs fans, Colaiacovo has more points than Stempniak does since the trade (Stempniak is 10 + 16 and Colaiacovo is 3 + 25). I’m sure ol’ Burkie is thanking trader Cliff for that one!

Things are gearing up in the NHL. I love this time of year, with baseball starting and hockey games that mean so much every night. Get ready for an intense few weeks, hockey fans!

Tags: blue jackets, blues, brodeur, devils, ducks, Leafs, panthers, playoffs, rangers

Hey, long time no post.

Just to let you guys know, the podcast probably won’t pick up until the week of January 11th, but we’re still not sure. It depends when we can get studio time at the college. We won’t find out what’s available until we go back, which is the week of the 11th. I think 2009 should be a good year for us here at the blog. Make sure you listen in for our special trade deadline episode, where we will go through every notable trade that was made, and offer our two cents, as well as who we feel won the trade. During the playoffs you will see beefed up coverage as well, we will be getting in depth into each match up. Should be fun!

Just some other news that some may find interesting, especially goaltenders. TPS has been bought out, so prepare to see goaltenders who currently wear their equipment switch to other brands. There’s been quite a bidding war going on for some of the soon-to-be-former TPS goalies, with Vaughn recently signing Josh Harding to a contract, and extending the current Vaughn wearer Steve Mason’s contract for three more seasons.

Henrik Lundqvist’s party was asking for too much money, so Vaughn has backed out of a deal with him. He’s expected to sign with CCM sometime soon. Lundqvist would have liked to have signed with Vaughn, seeing as he wore their equipment back in Europe, but I guess money talks.

Roloson in Edmonton is likely switching to Vaughn as well, so watch for the equipment changes in the new year!

Tags: goaltending, harding, lundqvist, podcast, roloson

There was mention of a really good fight on the latest podcast (November 28th). We couldn’t remember who the Columbus player was, we thought it was Jared Boll, but it turns out it was another young Blue Jacket by the name of Derek Dorsett.

Great tilt on both sides, both men are going to have some pretty awesome fights down the road. Dorsett is only 22 and Carcillo is only 23. Hope you enjoyed it, I know I did.

Tags: carcillo, dorsett, fight, hockey

Mike Smith of the Tampa Bay Lightning got into it a little bit last night in New York with forward Aaron Voros. Something must have been said or done that I’m not aware of, because Smith laid into Voros quite a bit:

I wonder if it has anything to do with Voros lighting up netminders all year long so far (5 goals in the first 8 games of the year).

I have no idea why a Lightning player didn’t step in and fight Voros, you shouldn’t let your goalie go at it with a player like that, especially an agitator like Voros who you know is going to come right back at him. He could have easily broken a hand, or been kicked out of the game. That’s not something you want to happen to your star netminder.

Another interesting thing is how the linesmen broke it up right away. Both of them clearly wanted to fight, and there was no advantage to either side yet (although Smith did land a beauty uppercut, as you probably saw). Let them go at it some more! I understand you’re looking out for their safety, but they should have let it go on until one of them had the clear advantage.

Some entertaining stuff nevertheless.

EDIT: Now Rangers coach Tom Renney wants Smith suspended. Hah, nice try. Almost as nice a try as trying to get compensation for prospect Alexei Cherepanov’s death. Disgusting.

Tags: aaron voros, fight, goalie, mike smith, new york rangers, tampa bay lightning

Twenty-nine teams had a shot a a top-tier goaltender, who won the Stanley Cup no less than 4 seasons ago, and every single one passed on him. Now that doesn’t mean the twenty-nine teams thought they wouldn’t improve if they took Nikolai Khabibulin, there are about 5 teams I can name off the top of my head that would benefit greatly from the addition of Khabibulin (*cough Nashville,Ottawa,Detroit,Boston,Colorado *cough*). Sure, if you force the Blackhawks to release Khabibulin then you can reduce the hefty price tag of 6.75 Million, but then he’ll be free to sign anywhere he wants. If you’re a struggling team, then don’t bet on him coming your way.

My explantion is that General Managers are afraid of taking risks. Mis-managing the cap can lead to tough decisions, and may cost them their job.

Although the addition of Khabibulin may boost the club’s talent level, GMs aren’t willing to sacrifice that much money under the cap. They would rather take the risk and sign him on an open market, or trade for him, dumping some salary in return. We’ve seen this time and time again, with both big and small name players.

Where will Khabby end up? That’s yet to be seen. Hopefully it’s somewhere where they need him, as it was clear he wasn’t needed in Chicago. I’m just hoping the place doesn’t end up being Russia. He is far too talented to let go. He left once before during a salary dispute, in the 1999-2000 season, so I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate leaving now.

To the twenty-nine General Managers in the league who can get Khabibulin, do it! Get him! He’s well worth the risk!

Tags: blackhawks, chicago, goaltending, khabibulin, waivers

The NHL’s rookie camps open this week, and is anyone else as excited as I am? Every season has tingly sensation to it for every hockey fan, but after witnessing the 07-08 playoffs, I think we’re in for something special. Every team starts on the same level, so many surprises and unexpected events are sure to occur.

I love reading the previews like The Hockey News Yearbook and The Score Forecaster, not to take any of the predictions to heart or for the fantastic articles, but just so I can look back and see how wrong they were! Sure they may get a few things right, but it’s the unexpected twists that we as hockey fans live for. Definitely pick up one of the magazines I mentioned above if you want a quick refresher on what to expect for the upcoming year, or if you just want a head-start for your fantasy pool.

If you’re like me and you need something to hold you over until the season starts, I suggest you pick up a copy of NHL 09. It was rated 9.0/10 by IGN, making it not only one of the best hockey games ever made, but also one of the best sports games ever made. Take that, Madden! It’s extremely addicting, with great new features building on NHL 08’s success. I really enjoy the new custom soundtrack feature that’s on the Xbox 360 version. It lets you choose songs for goals, breaks in play, penalties, the whole bit. It makes the game much more realistic hearing “Vertigo” blasted after the Habs score a goal.

So there you go ladies and gentlemen. The pre-season is just around the corner believe it or not. I can’t wait for this season to get started! How about you?

(PS: Mats Sundin, hurry the f**k up already!)

(PSS: Podcast is still being worked on! I’m swamped with work for college. Please be patient!)

Tags: 08-09 Season, NHL, NHL 09, The Hockey News, The Score Forecaster