The Fifth Liners

Florida Panthers   fans beware:  Scott Gomez   is coming to a town near you!! Today it was announced that the flagging 33 year old center has joined the Panthers on a one year deal. A Calder Trophy winner after his impressive rookie season in 1999 with the New Jersey Devils , his initial career was successful and he won the 2003 Stanley Cup with the Devils. But after a disasterous spell with the Montreal Canadiens , he failed to live up his big bucks contract and was frequently criticised by the media and the Habs fans for lack of effort and goal scoring and posted only 108 points in his three year spell (including a career low 11 points in 2011-12) which also included a year long goal drought from February 2011 to February 2012. Annoyed by his low progress, he was promptly waived by the Canadiens in January this year and spent last season at the San Jose Sharks where he has faired little better posting only 2 goals and 15 points! Will this team bring about a redemp...

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 ...

Chicago Blackhawks centre Michal Handzus will be missing for action for a while at least  after reportedly tearing his MCL in his wrist during the final against the Boston Bruins . Speaking directly to NHL.com , Handzus stated that his wrist in still in a cast he expects to be out of action for at least another four weeks. The Slovakian was acquired by the Hawks from San Jose Sharks at the NHL trade deadline and became something of a lucky item for them and helped Chicago capture their third Stanley cup, finishing the playoffs with three goals and 8 assists (thats 9 more points than his regular season as a Shark brought) and was rewarded with a new one year deal on July 5th. Here's to a swift recovery Michal- from both of us here at Seven Days in Hockey!

Alex's question this week is: 'Dallas may have a cool new logo, but what do they need to make next year a success?' My default answer is always 'score more goals'. But that doesn't seem to be the Stars' problem. In the Western Conference last season, the Stars were unable to grab a playoff place. Finishing 11th in the conference. Annoyingly for Stars fans, if the playoff places were decided by goals for, the Stars would have finished seventh. As they outscored the Detroit Red Wings and the Minnesota Wild.  Jamie Benn, Ray Whitney, Jaromir Jagr and Loui Eriksson all scored in double figures, although goal leader Jagr is now plying his trade for the New Jersey Devils.  So what's the answer? Well, Tomas Kaberle is. Not just Kaberle but a few other defensemen too. The Stars finished the season having conceded 12 more goals than they'd scored.  Kaberle is now on the market as an unrestricted free agent and there's plenty more experienced skaters lo...

Russian Rocket Pavel Bure will become the fourth player in Vancouver Canucks history to have his number raised to the rafters after the franchise announced it will retire his number 10 jersey. This man has truly truly earned this honour and after being drafted 113th overall in 1989 and during his time as a Canuck between 1992-1998 he holds one of the most impressive scoring records with 478 points in 428 games! But it will be the magic of our Stanley Cup final run in 1994 which will forever hold him in our hearts as combined with the offense power of Trevor Linden, Vancouver pushed the New York Rangers all the way in game 7 and we're only just denied with a 3-2 loss at Madison Square Garden. In 2012 Bure was inducted in the Hockey Hall of Fame and it was an honour well deserved after a successful 12 NHL career- but I have a feeling this honour will be one that really warms the Moscow ace's heart! Congratulations Pavel, you're forever a Canuck!!

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...

41 year old veteran Jaromir Jagr will continue in the NHL for at least another season as yesterday he signed a one year deal with the New Jersey Devils . Last season Jagr played for both the Dallas Stars and the Boston Bruins , whom he helped reach the Stanley Cup final and was considered by many to be one of their best players during the play offs. Even in his ageing years, Jagr continues to be an assets to the teams he turns out for and ever since being drafted 5th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1990 he has scored over 1,688 points in over 1,391 regular season games in a career spanning 19 years for over six differents teams. During his career he has also won back to back Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in 1991 and 1992. The Devils should feel fortunate to have this man to boost their attack.