The Fifth Liners

Winners Buffalo Sabres  In two short days, Dan Bylsma 's new reign in Buffalo already seems a lot brighter. Not only did they selected hot prospect Jack Eichel second overall, but they also pulled off an excellent trade with Colorado swapping Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn for Nikita Zadarov, Mikhail Grigorenko and J.T Compher. The day before they also acquired Robin Lehner and David Legwand in a trade with Ottawa for the 21st pick! Already their depth quality looks far more impressive than last season. With a top line included, Kane, Bogosian and Eichel, this might be a time to scale back on the Sabres related jokes on this blog. Edmonton Oilers Having the first overall pick, selecting Connor McDavid was a guaranteed high point. But new GM Peter Chiarelli also smartly acquired the services of goalie Cam Talbot for New York. While old team the Bruins (we'll get to them later) took a hit, Edmonton is now in the beginning stages of building a team that is actua...

This year was one to forget for San Jose Sharks as they crawled home only 11th overall in the Western Conference. For the first time in over a decade, the Sharks failed to make the play-offs. This lapse in form also led to sacking of Todd McLellan as Head Coach. What exactly went wrong? Well not having a clear leader seemed to affect the direction on the team. Long time leader, Joe Thornton had the 'C' removed from his jersey in the off-season. Copying Montreal, the Sharks went with four alternates instead. While the Habs made it work, production seemed to slow at the SAP Arena. Joe Pavelski was top scorer with over 70 points and the other big four Logan Couture , Brent Burns , Thornton and Patrick Marleau all contribute around the 60 point mark. But outside of these guys, the higher points score was 36 points. The Sharks need to find a way to round the side more, because right now it is just a party of five. Former Devil's boss, Peter De Boer has been installed ...

Finally the Detroit Red Wings have given permission for head coach Mike Babcock to begin speaking to other teams. This news has caused a wave of disillusion over Michigan because after taking home the Stanley Cup in 2008- he has become a fan favourite! But where would be the best destination for this man? Here are my top 3 choices for M.B Toronto Maple Leafs  This one is by far the bookies favourite and many were speculating this one as early as last season. As an Ontario boy at heart, this one will no doubt be in the front of Babcock's mind! But although this project may have long term potential, surely it is too much of a short term risk? The Leafs are currently going through yet another rip up and rebuild operation by Brendan Shanahan and I feel there is too much work needed to get where Babcock wants to go. Also lest we forget, the Leafs fans are not forgiving of lack of progress (no matter how many years running) and should he take the job- M.B should expect jersey's...

Once more fans of the Edmonton Oilers, will be celebrating as their side have received first overall pick in the NHL Draft Lottery! Seems Connor McDavid will be spending some cold winters over in Alberta in years to come! Buffalo Sabres were no doubt disappointed to land the second overall pick, but will no doubt take consolation that this will probably mean Jack Eichel will be in the state of New York! In what could be one of the biggest depth quality drafts, it could well mean that each team has some great talent for the future. My only real doubt with this decision is that Edmonton has had its fair share of number one picks in the last few years, and still nothing has come of it! People paint McDavid as if he is the next Sidney Crosby of hockey, I just worry that this team is the wrong fit for his talents? Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are starting to show the leadership qualities required for the Oilers- but Nail Yakupov has only shown glimpses of what he is capable o...

Normally I wouldn't go a mile near this kind of stuff, but the San Jose Sharks christmas rap video 'Holiday Sweater' is a present that just keeps on giving! Expect this cringing piece line the halls of shame for years to come, take it away boys....

Happy New Year of Hockey to all fans! Hope we are beginning to recover from the festivities in time for tonight's Winter Classic showdown between the Red Wings and the Maple Leafs- The Big House will be rocking! To start 2014 I thought I would give some acknowledgement to the young men who will soon become the future of this game! Here are three men who have stood out: Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks): Ever since achieving the incredible feat of scoring four goals against the New York Rangers in only his third game, young Czech player Tomas Hertl has been on everyone's radar! Right now 'Hertl Power' is driving the San Jose Sharks forward and he currently sits as the NHL's top scoring rookie with 25 points! This is one young man who has the ability to excite and I will be keeping a close eye on this one- though his absence through injury will rob him of a chance to shine at the Sochi Olympics! Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche): Picked 1st overall at last yea...

The San Jose Sharks may never have lifted the Stanley Cup, but it's definitely not for lack of trying. In the 21 seasons (not including the lost 05/06 season) since the Sharks formed, the team has only missed the playoffs five times. The last time that happened was in 2003. Still though, the furthest the Sharks ever got in the playoffs was the Conference final. The Pacific division is full of teams with cup pedigree and the intermittent Calgary Flames and struggling Edmonton Oilers seem to be happy to gift their points to any team who turns up. The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings are dominant in the division, and the Phoenix Coyotes' initial run of outstanding form has stalled slightly. This leaves the Sharks and the Canucks to fight for the number three spot in the division. Traditionally the Canucks have always been happy to donate two points whenever the two teams meet up, but under new coach John Tortorella; the planets aligned and the Canucks actually won a game ...

Colorado Avalanche Without question the big surprise of the year and after an awful 2012/13 season where they finished bottom of the Western Conference and sacked Coach Joe Sacco, the Avs turned to former player Patrick Roy to breath new life into this franchise. Roy has done just that and currently Colorado top the Western Conference with a 13-2-0 recor byd! 1st overall pick Nathan MacKinnon has been a rookie sensation but Matt Duchene has been the more consistent scorer and currently has 19 points. This combined with the solid player of young captain Gabriel Landeskog has presented to us a franchise that can start to reclaim its glory years! But the scandal involving starting goalie Semyon Varlamov could prove crucial. St Louis Blues Previously on this blog we sneered at the St Louis Blues for their lack of squad depth - well it appears a heartfelt apology is in order as this season they look a changed team and currently stand fourth in the Western Conference. Their high scorin...

Hello fellow hockey fans! As Mike mentioned previous I am currently on Vacation in Canada for hockey season. I have recently left a wonderful 2 day trip to Toronto where a visit to the hockey hall of fame was made (Picture of me with the Stanley Cup will be up soon!) And last night in eating in none other than Wayne Gretzky's restaurant, where four games of hockey were played at once (did feel slightly like David Bowie in The Man who Fell to Earth). Though I did manage to dazzle a Sharks fan called Pat with hockey (if you read this mate- it was great speaking to you!) En route to Montreal now where I shall most likely be viewing Penguins v Flyers as the Habs are not playing. I'll also have the pleasure of watching Rangers v Kings at MSG when I reach New York on Nov 17 and finally Leafs v Islanders last the ACC on November 19. Will keep you update your on my travels in due course, until then take care and live large :-) Alex

The Vancouver Canucks after nine straight defeats finally beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 at the SAP Center last night to condemn the Sharks to a fourth straight defeat. But when Roberto Luongo knocked Joe Thornton's shot into his own net after only 1.17 of the first, all Canucks fans must of had that sinking feeling that this was going to be yet another wasted trip! But for once, Vancouver didnt fade away and only 3 minutes later Brad Richardson levelled the scores! This paved the way for an action packed rest of the period and Mike Santorelli put the Canucks ahead after 09.25 when he slotted past Niemi! Mike Brown latched onto a great assist to level the scores after 10.45 and once more we were at a tie game! San Jose then kept Luongo busy with several testing shots before Chris Higgins nudged the Canucks in front again with less than a minute left in the first! After 5 minutes of the second played, Zack Kassian redirected Kevin Bieksa's long range shot to give Vancouver...

The Dallas Stars produced a great performance last night to edge the San Jose Sharks 4-3 at the American Airlines Arena and in doing so they bring an end to the Sharks 100% start to the season! But at the start most of the home fans thought it would be business as usual for visiting San Jose as Tyler Kennedy put them in front after only 9 seconds of the first period! Dallas goalie Dan Ellis helped stem the flow of goals with a couple of smart stops before Tyler Seguin tied the scores at 1-1 after 16.44 played. But then Matthew Nieto siezed on a breakaway chance and slotted home to push the Sharks 2-1 ahead after 17.52 of the period! Stars didnt have to wait long for the tying goal though as after only 1.53 of the second period, Trevor Daley scored past Niemi to make it 2-2! But then Mr Consistent Patrick Marleau again put San Jose in front after scoring a wrap around chance on 12.32, though he was made to wait until after a video replay confirmed the puck crossed the line! But Dal...

The San Jose Sharks might be looking at a couple of games without defenseman Brad Stuart . The blueliner was assessed a minor penalty for elbowing Rick Nash in the Sharks' 9-2 smashing of the New York Rangers yesterday. Nash did not return after the first intermission. The NHL Department for Player Safety will hold a hearing on Wednesday to determine if Stuart should face extra punishment. Rule 28 in the NHL's big book o'rules says that any infraction of the rules can be investigated to see if further fines/suspension are required. Irregardless of whether it was punished in the game or not. I can see Stuart getting a few days off cos of this one. Hits to the head are a really big bone of contention right now within the hockey community. Whatever happens, Stuart will now be enemy number one when the Sharks head to the Madison Square Gardens!  In other news; the New York Islanders' center Frans Nielsen also found himself in hot water yesterday after ...

The Vancouver Canucks once again fell victim to the San Jose Sharks as the lost 4-1 at the newly named SAP Center in John Tortorella's first game in charge. After being elimated here last season the playoffs- defeat here is officially making the California team the Canucks bogey side! Jason Garrison gave the Canucks the lead on a powerplay mid way through the first and for once it seemed that things might go Vancouver's way in this arena. But any hopes of victory were dashed when Brent Burns levelled the scores 5 minutes into the second period before Justin Braun edged them in front with only minutes left in the period. Late in the third period the Sharks took control when Patrick Marleau scored off an assist from 1st star Logan Couture and Tommy Wingels made sure of the result with 5 minutes left to play. In net Roberto Luongo had a busier night with 35 saves compared to Sharks goalie Anitti Niemi with 22, but the defence and offense were sorely lacking both department...

Mike's question this week was "Which Teams do you predict will top each Conference- Will your predictions be affected by the Conference shake up?" (Special thanks to Mrs Laybourne for suggesting this). Well that it is an interesting question as this years realignment could have big effects on each teams performance- ok let's go to work Eastern Conference  At first glance you would say that the Pittsburgh Penguins will be the out and out favourites to top this conference due to their free scoring offense and this year this could well be the case- but their inclusion in the newly formed Metropolitan Division with team such as the New Jersey Devils , New York Rangers , Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers could well prove a hard affair as each team possesses a unique mix of strength and skill and as we saw last year in the playoffs, the Penguins struggled against the Boston Bruins in these conditions.  In the Atlantic Division, the Bruins could well be ...

As Mike's previous two post pointed out, the NHL will be a very different place come the 2013-14 season with the Eastern and Western conference have undergone a dramatic re-alignment and now it has become far more simplied with the East sporting two separate divisions with the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions and the West also having two divisions with the Pacific and Central Division. With new leagues come new rivalrys are long gone are the days of the dull Southwestern Division and sadly Vancouver will not fight for a sixth straight Northwest Division. But what will the big match ups be? Let's take a look in more detail. Atlantic Division  This division promises plenty of thrills with the Detroit Red Wings , Boston Bruins , Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens doing battle for a playoff place- there is no love lost between Leafs and Habs fans and this fixture never fails to entertain. But the clash that will have everyone talking will be when the Ottawa Senators...

With the new schedules come the new divisions, instead of being three divisions in each conference, there's now only two. With the changes will come new rivalries, which Alex will talk about later.  Let's start with the Western Conference. The Western has 14 teams while the Eastern currently has 16. This accommodates for the expansion in the west that the NHL has been looking for. Detroit and Columbus have moved over to the Eastern while Winnipeg makes the sensible move west.  Pacific Division Anaheim Ducks Calgary Flames Edmonton Oilers Los Angeles Kings Phoenix Coyotes San Jose Sharks Vancouver Canucks Dallas leaves the old Pacific Division, but three of the Canadian teams; Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary have joined it from the disbanded Northwest Division.  Central Division Chicago Blackhawks Colorado Avalanche Dallas Stars Minnesota Wild Nashville Predators St. Louis Blues Winnipeg Jets With Colom...

It's here everyone!! The NHL regular season schedule has been officially drawn up and come October the great sport of hockey shall again be gracing our world! This season promises to be one of the best yet as the Chicago Blackhawks aim for Stanley Cup number 4 and sees the arrivals of Nathan Mackinnon , Seth Jones and Aleksander Barkov as well as the departure of Ilya Kovalchuk . It also see the new division realignment which ensures that all 30 teams will play each of the 30 arenas at least once this season. The playoffs will start from April 16th onwards. Between February 9-25 will see an Olympic break as the 2014 Winter Olympics commence in Sochi, Russia (which once again the British Hockey Team will not be invited to) with the Canadians aiming to defend their gold medal from Vancouver 2010. Ironically the Vancouver Canucks begins where the last one ended away to San Jose Sharks at the newly named SAP Center on October 3rd with our home opener against the Edmonton Oiler...

The HP Pavillion is no more. Behold the SAP Center at San Jose. SAP, which is apparently some sort of software company has bought the naming rights for the HP Pavillion for a cool $8.375 million in a five year deal. Whatever. It's still the Shark Tank.

It's been a busy week, what with the Champion's League final, the Go Karts in Monaco and Daft Punk releasing their new album. Anyway back to hockey. Things are sewn up in the east now, the Penguins will beat  play Boston in the Eastern Conference Final. In the west however, it's a different story with Detroit and LA still fighting it out, touch wood Detroit will make the most of the home ice advantage and win the series. San Jose on the other hand are the little train that never gave up. Despite the Kings dominating game five and shutting out the Sharks, Coach Todd McLellan must have slipped some kangaroo juice into his players' Gatorade cos last night they bounced right back*. I've heard of rushing the goal, but the Kings' initial strategy seemed to be 'rush the penalty box'. Kyle Clifford, Mike Richards and Anze Kopitar all made visits to the box in the first five minutes of play. Presumably Darryl Sutter will rethink this strategy as it al...

Alex made a bold statement today, he said " How about a Sharks v Bruins final? Doesn't seem impossible! " At first I thought no! The final will be won by Detroit in a 4-0 series whitewash over the Penguins. But then I thought 'I've got some time to kill so let's work this out and see if we'll see a B's v Sharks final. Let's look at the Western Conference first. The San Jose Sharks are currently embroiled in a bitter battle with the LA Kings, the current Stanley Cup holders and the series is currently 2-2. Can they go on to win the series? Yes. Both teams are evenly matched enough. The games have been close in the regular season and in the playoffs. Now if the Sharks win the series, they go up against the Detroit Red Wings or the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks pasted the the Sharks in the regular season however the Red Wings are currently leading Chicago in their series. Can the Sharks beat the Red Wings? Yes. Only once did the Sharks ...