Jeff Ponder's NHL Hockey fan blog

It’s official; Jaromir Jagr is back in the NHL.

Just an hour after it was announced that the Pittsburgh Penguins pulled out of the Jagr-sweepstakes, their division rival swooped in and took him.

Jagr, who has taken a three-season leave of absence from the NHL to play with Avangard Omsk of the KHL, was one of the most-sought after free-agents this summer.  The native of Kladno, Czechoslovakia showed that he still could get it done in the Olympics in Vancouver last year and talks of him returning to the NHL began immediately after.

Jagr is ninth on the NHL all-time leading point-scorers with 646 goals, 953 assists and 1599 total-points. 

Philadelphia, who traded away marquee players Mike Richards and Jeff Carter last week, are getting a proven goal scorer to add to a young offense.  Jagr will likely play on the top line with forwards Claude Giroux and Danny Briere to at least start training camp. 

Continue reading "Philadelphia Flyers Sign Jaromir Jagr"

With Tomas Vokoun on the outs, the Panthers have a new goalie.  The question remains; will he be the starter?

Theodore, a member of the Minnesota Wild last season, signed a two-year contract with the Panthers Friday.  The deal is reportedly worth $3 million ($1.5 per season). 

Theodore, 34, played back-up for starter Nicklas Backstrom last season.  Appearing in 32 games, the Laval, Quebec native posted a 2.71 GAA, .916 save percentage and also had one shutout.  He had a 15-11-3 record.

Just the season before, Theodore was the starting goaltender for the Washington Capitals.  He posted an amazing 30-7-7 record, including a 2.81 GAA and a .911 save percentage. 

The Panthers also have Scott Clemmenson under contract, who played in 25 games last season as the back-up to Vokoun.  Rumors circulated earlier in the week that Clemmenson will be given a chance to be the starting net-minder in Florida.

Continue reading "Florida Panthers Sign Jose Theodore"

With the trades made today, one would think that the Flyers are coming off a dreadful season.

This is not the case, as Flyers GM Paul Holmgren saw his team finish second in the Eastern Conference and third in the entire NHL with 106 points.  Yet today could be the biggest day for player movement in Flyers franchise history.

First, the Flyers announced that they had traded team captain Mike Richards to the Los Angeles Kings for center Brayden Schenn, right wing Wayne Simmonds and a 2012 second round draft selection.  But that was just the beginning of the whole shebang. 

Just minutes later, it was released that the Flyers had moved leading goal-scorer Jeff Carter from the roster as well.  Carter was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets for forward Jakub Voracek and a first and third round draft selection in the 2011 NHL draft. 

Continue reading "Analysis of Today’s Moves by the Philadelphia Flyers"

More often than not, the better goalie will prevail in game seven.

Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins proved just that in game seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.  Thomas earned his second shutout of the series, while also recording an amazing 1.15 GAA and a .967 save percentage in the final seven games.  Here is the laundry list of achievements that he can add to his resume:

-The oldest player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP (37 years old).

-He recorded the most saves in a Final (238).

-He recorded the most saves in a playoff year (798).

-He faced the most shots in one playoff year (849).

-He is the first goaltender to win three game sevens in one playoff year.

-He is the first goaltender to ever post a game-seven shutout on the road in the Final.

Continue reading "Thomas Betters Luongo in the End"

Two teams who have been sitting outside of the Stanley Cup Finals for quite some time finally get the chance to win Lord Stanley’s Cup.  Boston has not seen the Finals since 1990 when they lost to the Edmonton Oilers in five games.  The Vancouver Canucks are well-documented in their last Stanley Cup Final appearance, when they lost in that memorable seven-game series to the New York Rangers in 1994. 

This is just history though; it teaches us nothing of the current teams.  What do these franchises have in store for us in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final?

Here are some things to watch out for in the coming Final:

Beware Nathan Horton.  When Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli acquired Horton last summer, he was expecting someone to jump in and help the struggling Bruin-offense.  Horton put up just 23 goals in 80 regular-season games, probably making Chiarelli question moving offensive-defenseman Dennis Wideman for Horton.  But the former Panther has proven to be a success this post-season, connecting for eight goals, tying him for fourth in the NHL playoff goal-race.  His big shot from the slot has been a Godsend for Boston, who will rely on Horton to bend his stick even more in the next series.

Continue reading "Stanley Cup Finals Preview: Boston Bruins vs. Vancouver Canucks"

Over and over again, we have seen penalties hurt a team’s chance of winning games in the 2010-11 NHL Playoffs.  These penalties have been turning into power-play goals with one flick of the wrist or one wind-up from the point.  How important is it to be that guy that gets the all-important power-play goal to give his team a mental edge?

Looking purely at the numbers, the Canucks’ powerhouse offense is led by the Sedin twins.  Currently with 17 games played, Henrik leads the NHL with 19 points (2G, 17A).  His brother, Daniel, finds himself tied for sixth with five other players in the point race with 15 points (8G, 7A).  Taking a deeper look, the power-play helps boost those numbers to what they are.

Henrik has amassed 10 power-play points (1G, 9A), while Daniel adds 9 power-play points (5G, 4A).  Henrik’s power-play points add up for 53% of his total points, while Daniel has scored 60% of his points on the power-play.

Continue reading "Behind the Numbers: Does the Power-Play Really Make a Great Player?"

The fate of the one Canadian city left in the Stanley Cup playoffs will be rested on an American.

Ryan Kesler, born in Livonia, Michigan, was a dominating force that the Canucks needed to get past the pesky Nashville Predators.  The feisty center put up an amazing 41 goals in the regular season to lead the Canucks, but was held scoreless in the first round of the playoffs against Chicago.  He did not turn it on until game three of the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

Kesler, who had no goals and just five assists prior to game three, was finally awoken against Nashville.  Kesler tallied two power-play goals and one assist in the game, one of the goals coming as the game-winner in overtime.  It was his play along the boards that put Nashville’s top penalty-killer, Shea Weber, in the penalty box that resulted in Kesler’s game-winner.  Agree with the call on the ice or not, the 26-year old forward did his job to ensure a victory.

Continue reading "Kesler the Key to Vancouver’s Success"

The first round of the 2010 NHL Playoffs speak of the Detroit Red Wings’ character better than almost any series of games.  Crushing dreams and taking control are the names of the game for the Red Wings.

After leading in the series two different times, the Phoenix Coyotes faced a game seven against Detroit after a miracle season in the desert.  Facing numerous problems off the ice yet still finishing as the fourth seed of the Western Conference, the Coyotes were actually considered the favorite by many heading into the series.  With game seven in Phoenix, the hockey world set its eyes at what promised to be a tight, high-intensity game.  Sometimes, promises cannot be kept.

The Red Wings offense made the Cinderella-story Coyotes look foolish in game seven, exploding with four goals in the second period.  Adding two more in the third, they crushed the Coyotes, 6-1.

Continue reading "Red Wings Never Done Working"

Remember that Flyers – Bruins series last post-season?  The Blackhawks have it fresh in their memories.

After being down in the series 3-0, the eighth-seeded Chicago Blackhawks have made the series very interesting, winning the last two games in convincing fashion.  After winning game four 7-2, the Blackhawks flew into Vancouver and stole game five, 5-0.  Not only are the Blackhawks staving off elimination, they are chasing Vezina trophy-finalist Roberto Luongo from between the pipes.

After giving up six goals on 28 shots in game four, Luongo was pulled from his net and was replaced by backup Cory Schneider.  Luongo was even more dreadful in game five, letting in four goals on 12 shots, resulting in being taken out of the game yet again.  Luongo’s GAA in these two games is well above 5.00 and his overall GAA has skyrocketed from 1.67 after the first three games to 3.67 overall. 

Continue reading "Do the Blackhawks Actually Have a Chance?"

About halfway through the third period of the Capitals and Rangers series opener, Capitals fans started feeling the same disappointment that they have felt for the past few post-seasons.  But things changed in a hurry.

Alexander Ovechkin found the back of the net at 13:44, finally solving Rangers’ netminder Henrik Lundqvist for the Capitals’ first goal of the game.  The Capitals continued pressing for the winner in the third, but the dazzling play of Lundqvist and his defense would not allow any more goals in regulation. 

Alexander Semin struck at 18:24 of overtime, after teammate Jason Arnott batted down a Marc Staal clearing-attempt and slid the puck to Semin who one-timed the shot from beyond the hashmarks.  It was Semin’s first goal in 14 playoff games.

Continue reading "Meet the New Washington Capitals"