The Fifth Liners

Finally Dan Bylsma 's exodus from the NHL has ended. Today it was announced that he has been appointed the 17th head coach of the Buffalo Sabres . His hiring will no doubt come as positive news to Sabres fan, who are still aggrieved at losing out on Babcock. Here is a statement of intention by Sabres management to improve the dour situation at the First Niagara Centre. But the real question will remain, can Bylsma wring any life out this dying team? Although his previous life at Pittsburgh didn't have a happy ending, Bylsma still gave away with an impressive record. His team took home a Stanley Cup in 2009 and in each of his five seasons in charge, they reached the playoffs. But sadly despite having some of the NHL's elite players, he failed to replicate his cup win and slowly tested the patience of fans and management alike. What the Sabres off him is a completely clean slate and the possibility of having Jack Eichel on the roster. Having coached this same player at the...

Tyler Seguin  Currently the beating heart of what is a patchy Dallas Stars team, Seguin currently sits second in the points standing with 59. He has a keen eye for goal and seems to score at will which if the Stars management can work out a plan promises great things. Seems inconceivable now that Boston traded him back in 2012 for Loui Eriksson- see how well that deal worked out boys! At only 23 years of age, Seguin is looking like he could be something remarkable! Jacob Voracek The biggest surprise of this season so far, Voracek has already scored an amazing 59 points, which nearly equals his entire season total of 62 points last season! The Philadelphia Flyers have endured a lacklustre season, from which the Czech winger has one of the few highlights. Many will say he have a fluke season and this will never again continue. They maybe right, but this season Voracek has deserved all the praise that has come his way and his name of the trophy would be fitting! Pekka Rinne...

Today it was announced who has been nominated for the Hart Memorial Trophy, the three players considered to be the elite players of the NHL this season are as follows. Sidney Crosby ( Pittsburgh Penguins )  Ryan Getzlaf ( Anaheim Ducks ) Claude Giroux ( Philadelphia Flyers ) So which one of these fine players will be rewarded for the efforts? On paper it would appear to be Sidney Crosby who will walk away with the main price because he has had a fine regular season where he lead the league in point scoring. But however, his play off form has been fine to materialize and it was until last nights 2-0 over the New York Rangers that he finally scored his first play off goal. But year in and year out this man is nominated and feels like a far too safer bet- don't get me wrong I am not saying he doesn't deserve to be here, just it is becoming common. Personally I would prefer to see Ryan Getzlaf rewarded for his continually excellent form for Anaheim and this season in ...

This week's question is about the Colorado Avalanche's young superstar: "Statistically Nathan MacKinnon is having a better rookie season that Wayne Gretzky, is this kid the future of Colorado hockey? Or is this just beginners luck?" When the Avs snapped up MacKinnon at the 2013 Draft, they knew they had something special. MacKinnon, tore the junior leagues apart with his incisive and unselfish play. He may only be 18, but his hockey brain is fully developed. He knows when to shoot and when to pass. MacKinnon takes chances, but will happily provide assists when a colleague has a better chance. It's no surprise he was the first overall draft pick. So far, MacKinnon has 58 points from 75 games (0.77 per game). If this stays the same and he plays all 82 regular season games, then he'll finish on 63 points. This is a pretty good total for a rookie season, although it doesn't quite match up to Sidney Crosby (102) and Alexander Ovechkin (106). Still, ...

This week's question is: 'Should Sidney Crosby win a Hart Trophy? Does most points mean he's best?' First of all, let's clarify that Crosby already won the Hart Memorial Trophy in 2006/07 when he finished with 120 points, six more than Joe Thornton. As it stands right now, Sidney Crosby leads the NHL in points scored with 71. This means that he is favourite to win the Art Ross trophy, awarded to the player who finishes the regular season with the most points. He's already won the trophy once, back in 2006/07 when he totaled 120 points. Of the last ten Hart Trophy winners, seven won the Art Ross Trophy the same year. To answer the second part of the question, most points does not necessarily equal the best player. The difficulty being that picking the league's MVP is subjective. The Hart Trophy winner is chosen by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association (PHWA), with individual voters submitting five names, these names are ranked in order of ...

Next month Russia will have a contagious case of Winter Olympic fever as the 2014 games roll into Sochi! While many if us will be routing for the returning Jamaican Bobsled Team or praying that Team GB wins any kind of medal! But to us hockey fans, there us only one event that matters! But which of the great teams on display will take home the gold medal? And more importantly, can the thrill level go beyond the epic Canada v USA final of Vancouver 2010? Here are my main contenders, Gold - Canada: The clear early favourites and my personal pick for the games! Their roster alone gives us goosebumps with the sheer level of quality and with offensive starlets Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toes and Corey Perry among others on display- they will be a sure bet to rack up the goals and assists. But they have also defensive quality by the bucketful, and although goalie selection has raised a few eyebrows, Carey Price will be a great starter. On paper, this team will be hard to stop! Silver - S...

User Actions   Following Zenon Konopka Verified account ‏ @ZenonKonopka If you don't think Ryan Miller is the Best Goalie in the NHL you haven't seen enough Sabres games #unreal Wow. That's one hell of a statement to make. One that warrants further investigation. Firstly I'll accept that I haven't seen every game that Miller has played, as a neutral, there's only so much hockey you can watch which still holding down a job. Sure he's a good goalie, but the best? In the same league as Marc-Andre Fleury, Mike Smith, Ben Bishop and Jonas Hiller, well that's some esteemed company. It's difficult to grade goalies, usually Save Percentage (Sv%) is the best reflection of how well a goalie is doing, but it doesn't always paint a true picture. Niklas Svedberg has the second best Sv% in the league (.943) but he's only played one game so far. That was against the Nashville Predators, not exactly prolific shooters. Fleury has t...

Today the Olympic Ice Hockey rosters for the upcoming Sochi 2014 games have been officially confirmed, after much speculation surrounding them there has been some interesting selections made and no doubt this will spark furious debate among hockey fans, let's take a look at the main contenders. Canada  The 25 man Canadian squad certainly isn't lacking in depth, and this year they will be the team to beat and 11 of 2010 Gold Medal team will make a return journey! The defensive selection is one I highly commend as they have mixed youth of players like PK Subban along with defensive quality like Jay Bouwmeester. The St Louis pairing of JB along with Pietrangelo could well be a wise selection! Offensively the star count is ridiculously high with Crosby, Toews, Perry, Stamkos and Kunitz among others being featured and Canada will rely on this goal power to see them through! There are few surprise selections with Marc-Andre Fleury missing out in favour of Roberto Luongo and the ...

After last nights 7-2 steamroller over the Colorado Avalanche , it would appear that the Chicago Blackhawks are the public's favourite to retain their Stanley Cup crown this year! If they do succeed in taking back to back titles, it will make them the first team to achieve this since the 1997-98 Detroit Red Wings and will already make them one of the big successes of this decade alone! After their up and down start to their title defense, the Red Express has got back on the rails and it ain't going to stop any time soon! But as always with winning, things are never straight forward because across from our brothers in Illinois are another team who are equally hungry and have a burning desire not to repeat last years play-off nightmare in the shape of the Pittsburgh Penguins ! Both sides have an equally strong case as they possess offensive units to die for- Chicago this season have been led by free scoring winger Patrick Kane, whose 21 goals have pushed them to the top of the...

The Boston Bruins won a dramatic late 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden last night in real end to end game which included two goals in the last 90 seconds. The Penguins started out very much on top with Chris Kunitz continuing his excellent run of form to put Pittsburgh ahead when his shot deflected off Dennis Seidenberg and crept underneath Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask on 6.33! But Reilly Smith tied the game only four minutes later. However the game soured when Pens D-Man Brooks Orpik had to leave the game after being hit whilst down on the ice by Shawn Thornton after a scrap broke out, resulting in a match penalty for Thornton! Bruons forward Loui Eriksson also had to leave the fame after suffering a concussion. James Neal then put the Penguins back in front on 13 minutes, when after being released from the penalty box, he deflected in Matt Niskanen's speculative blue line shot. In the second period, the Penguons failed to capitalize on several chances to ex...

When the NFL settled its concussion case for $765 million in august, it was only a matter of time until the NHL's lawyers would be facing the same suit.  Concussion is a very real part of hockey with heads hitting ice, boards and fists in pretty much every game. NHL poster boy Sidney Crosby has missed a lot of games through concussion related injury. Chris Pronger hasn't played a game of hockey since 2011 for the same reason. What started as a 10 man lawsuit now has over 200 names and is expected to get bigger, although whether or not it reaches the almost 5000 names that the NFL suit did remains to be seen. The original 10 players were enforcers in the 70s, 80s and 90s, a role that by design is going to attract the most punches. Former Avalanche enforcer Scott Parker recently told the Denver Post about his daily struggles due to concussion issues. Although he says that he knew the risks and isn't part of the suit. A number of allegations have been made, the g...

The Pittsburgh Penguins won a titantic back and forth battle against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night for a 6-5 shootout win at the Consol Energy Center! From the very outset, things were far from straight foward and despite Chris Connor putting the Penguins ahead after 1.57 of the first period, James Van Riemsdyk soon made thing a tie game after he scored on the powerplay after 5 minutes. From there things got very tricky for the home team as Nazem Kadri gave Toronto the lead after 11 minutes. Less than 43 seconds into the next period- the Leafs hit Pittsburgh with a double blow as a crucial mistake by Marc-Andre Fleury as he attempted to pass the puck behind his net to Jayson Megna let in Van Riemsdyk for his second goal after only 13 seconds! Thirty seconds later Phil Kessel would score to put Toronto 4-1 in front and add to the home fans frustrations! Powerplay goals by Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang midway through help raise spirits- but when Tyler Bozak popped up to score...

The New York Rangers scored an impressive win last night at Madison Square Garden as they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1! They were lucky not to fall behind after 20 seconds though when Henrik Lundqvist stopped Sidney Crosby's breakaway chance! He was also faced with challenging efforts from Tanner Glass and Marcus Niskanen, but the Swede's efforts kept things at a tie game! But in a late 1st period flurry, the Rangers took control as Ryan McDonagh scored on 18 minutes to give them the lead and this was then followed up just over a minute later when Derek Stepan put the Rangers 2-0 up! Into the second period and New York went further in front when Brian Boyle slammed past Marc-Andre Fleury to make things 3-0 after 13.10 played. Kris Letang gave Pittsburgh a solitary reply when he scored on a powerplay, but Pittsburgh would get no further than that! But Rangers captain Ryan Callahan restored their three goal advantage shortly after when he deflected in Carl Hagelin'...

The Pittsburgh Penguin s won a closely won 4-3 contest over the Vancouver Canucks last night at the Consol Energy Center which was only decided by a shootout! Vancouver got a somewhat fortunate start as Alex Edler's spectacular centre ice slap shot on 13.49 minutes bounced off the mask of Marc-Andre Fleury and crept into the goal but Pittsburgh didnt waste time and captain Sidney Crosby made things a tie game after 15.44 played. On the powerplay, Chris Kunitz pushed the Penguins in front after 7.56 of the second period following good work behind net by Malkin. But Vancouver weren't going down without a fight and Brad Richardson levelled things at 2-2 following some good drop passes. Into the third and Zach Kassian deflected Kevin Bieksa's shot past Fleury to put the Canucks ahead 3-2 after 12.50 played! But cruely only 22 seconds later Olli Maata scored a rebound off Luongo to claim his first ever NHL goal and tie the game at 3-3. But there was to be late drama as Bra...

A Sidney Crosby Hat tricked helped the Pittsburgh Penguins come back from an embrassing defeat last night to the Panthers with an entertaining 5-4 win against Tampa Bay Lightning ! One of the most interesting offensive teams this- their trip to the Sunshine State has been a mixed one so far! Valtteri Filppula gave the Penguins a shock when he scored off a deflection from Killorn after 13 mins of the third period and again it looked like Pittsburgh were in for a tough night. But when Crosby tied the scores at 1-1 on a powerplay after only two minutes of the second period, the mood was temporarily lifted. But then Steven Stamkos pushed the home side in front again three minutes later. Brooks Orpik levelled the game at 2-2 with a tip in for Pittsburgh after 7 minutes to complete a stunning opening goal flurry! But again it was the Lightning who went ahead at the break when Teddy Purcell tipped Sami Salo 's shot into Fleury's net to make it 3-2 after 15.42. In the third...

It was a big night for Alexander Ovechkin on Saturday at the NHL awards as he beat Sidney Crosby and John Tavares to claim a third Hart Memorial Trophy in 10 years! He also took home the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard scoring trophy after scoring an amazing 24 goals in his final 23 games! Sergei Bobrovsky edged out Henrik Lundqvist and Antti Niemi for the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie- the Russian has proven to be a wall for the Columbus Blue Jackets this year but it would seem his future there is currently in doubt! Montreal Canadiens , rookie defenseman P.K Subban won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the best defenseman in the league, his form this year has proven impressive and it would seem the Habs have an interesting prospect on the horizon. The Florida Panthers’ dire season was given a ray of light as Jonathan Huberdeau claimed the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie. Sidney Crosby was awarded the Ted Lindsay trophy by his fellow profess...

During Pittsburgh's 3-0 loss against Boston, things got a little heated in the second period (just watch Malkin's assault on Bergeron!) but one moment that had everyone's hearts in their mouths was when Penguins skipper Sidney Crosby attempted to pick a fight with burly 6 ft 9 Bruins skipper Zdeno Chara ! If you listen hard enough while you can hear the cries of "JUST DON'T!!!" from hockey fans world wide- luckily the officials stopped Crosby's already broken jaw from being taken clean off! To view this entertaining affair- click this link here

The Pittsburgh Penguins have successfully seen off the Ottawa Senators to advance to the Eastern Conference final. Game three saw the only dip in the Pen's performance when Ottawa thoroughly outplayed Pittsburgh to take their first win of the series but Dan Bylsma was able to inspire his team to take two convincing wins. The first was on Wednesday when the Penguins came out of the game with the win after James Neal , Chris Kunitz, Jarome Iginla, Pascal Dupuis and Sidney Crosby all found the net. Milan Michalek , Kyle Turris and Daniel Alfredsson netted for the Senators but it was wasn't enough. The Pens finished the game winning 7-3. Last night the action shifted back to the Consul Energy Center for game five. Pittsburgh controlled the game with Brendan Morrow 's controversial goal opening the game. James Neal and Kris Letang then put the game at 3-0. Milan Michalek was on hand to grab a goal for the Sens but Evgeni Malkin and James Neal responded with ...

There are certain things you expect to see in the playoffs. Alex has already written about how the  Canucks fell to the Sharks  but did anyone actually predict a four-nil series whitewash? I didn't. I thought it was going to be much closer. After all, the Canucks had a decent season and the Sharks lost a few key players through trades. Who would have expected the Canadiens - Senators games to be so controversial? Competitive yes, but when the allegations of diving came out, things got nasty. Unfortunately for the Habs, too many big name injuries became the team's undoing. The biggest cupset that almost happened was in the Penguins - Islanders series. Although the series was sealed last night with a 4-3 overtime win for the Pens, the Iles were able to win two of the games in the series and quite often had the Pens on the back foot. The Pens, who firmly broadcast their intentions to win the Stanley Cup at all costs by making some big trades should have won this ...

The Hart Trophy names are in, here are your three candidates Sidney Crosby Alexander Ovechkin John Tavares Not a great deal of surprise here and Crosby as it stands will still be the hot favourite as he has made a remarkable comeback, though Ovechkin in a two time winner of the crown and he will be keen to make it hat trick this year! Nice to John Tavares get a mention as he has been brilliantly consistent for the Islanders this year and has been a key factor in their resurgence in form this year. The 2012-13 NHL awards will be one of the most contested of years gone by!