The Fifth Liners

After becoming a free agent, today Martin St Louis has announced his retirement after 16 glorious years. There has been much speculation about the 40 year old's future, but after only 1 goal in 19 playoffs games last season, team were not stepping up to sign him. St Louis scored an impressive 391 goals and 1,033 points from 1,134 regular-season games in a career that took in Calgary Flames , Tampa Bay Lightning and lately the New York Rangers . In 2004, St Louis had his most successful year as he helped the Lightning to a Stanley Cup win and was also awarded the Art Ross, Ted Lindsay and the Hard Trophy for his career best showing. He was also selected for over six different All-Star games. Noted for being one of the smaller players in the NHL, St Louis was noted for being a passionate player. Also he felt that being forced into a more checking role whilst at Calgary 'helped to round out my game'. Even when he was traded to the Rangers in 2014, St Louis was still a fe...

This season's Stanley Cup playoffs have been one of the best and most unpredictable of years gone by, the Boston Bruins; almost everyone's favourite for the cup have been dumped out by the Habs. The Rangers, riding high under the stewardship of Alain Vigneault have put out the Pittsburgh Penguins. Last night also saw another sting in the tail, as the LA Kings put an end to an impressive Anaheim Ducks with a 6-2 win at the Honda Center! We've now arrived at the conference finals. During the regular season you never would have predicted these line ups. But who will triumph here? Western Conference Chicago Blackhawks v LA Kings The Blackhawks have done well to salvage some pride after an indifferent regular season and players such as Jonathan Toews, Marion Hossa and Brent Seabrook have impressed during this time. I have no doubts they will fight to the bitter end to bring the cup by to Illinois for a second year running. They are not as dominant as last season, but th...

"The trade deadline saw a lot of big deals going through such as Ryan Miller, Luongo and Callahan for St Louis, of all the big trades, which do you think will be the most beneficial in the long run and why?" Good question Alex, the 2014 season has seen some unexpected trades; Tim Thomas to Dallas, Roberto Luongo to anywhere. But which team made the best trade? Of course this is subjective, and really only time will tell, but I think you'll be hard pressed to find a better move than that of Martin St. Louis to the New York Rangers. The QC native amassed 61 points in Tampa Bay, 29 goals, 32 assists. That's a fair amount more than any of the current Rangers roster. It shouldn't take too long for St. Louis to find his feet in the Rangers' lines, he's been reunited with long time Lightning buddy Brad Richards. To bring St. Louis to the Garden, the Rangers traded away team captain Ryan Callahan and some draft picks. Reportedly, Callahan and the Rangers were ...

When Steven Stamkos suffered a broken leg back in November (coincidentally the same day I arrived in Toronto!) many people believed the Tampa Bay Lightning's season was done like the turkey. Well it appears that there is hope for the Sunshine State after all, because this season Tampa Bay look like a revitalised team and right they stand 4th in the Eastern Conference with 25 wins to their name! Last season, the 2004 Stanley Cup champions were derided by hockey fans as a spent force, and in fairness a lot of this criticism was justified as the Bolts limped home 14th overall in the East, only place up from their sister team, the Florida Panthers and the jokes about Florida hockey team increased dramatically! Guy Boucher for his efforts (or lack of efforts in this case) was given the chop by Steve Yzerman and replaced by Jon Cooper. Under the new leadership, Tampa Bay have looked a genuine threat offensively and although losing star man Stamkos has been a blow, the team had ralli...

Things are tight at the top of the Atlantic Division, as it stands there's only two points between the top three teams. The two Florida teams, while geographically close, are miles apart in the points race. The Tampa Bay Lightning are holding onto a slim lead at the top of the division, while the Florida Panthers are only avoiding only just avoiding the wooden spoon. From the Panthers' BB&T Centre to the Lightning's Tampa Bay Times Arena is only 245 miles by road, but based on this season's, performances so far, that distance might as well be 100,000 miles because it's difficult to see how the two teams are in the same league. What makes the difference in fortunes so unusual is that the two Florida teams' recent histories are freakishly similar. Both teams replaced their General Managers in 2010. Steve Yzerman coming into Tampa Bay and Dale Tallon taking the reigns at the Panthers. Further more, in 2013, both teams fired their Head Coaches. Guy ...

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...