Nitzy's Hockey Den

Today is a perfect time to further compare the current exploits of Sidney Crosby to the greatness of Gretzky...no, not that Gretzky above, the mullet-laden one below (I'll take any chance I can to put a picture of Paulina on the Den). Anyway rather than look at the streaks of each, I wanted to further examine just the raw season stats. Sid has now played 38 games and tallied 32 goals and 33 assists. In 1981/82, after Wayner had played 38 games he had 45 goals and 57 assists. Of course, the next game he went out and ventilated Pete Peeters and the Flyers for 5 goals and a helper. At first glance it's obvious that Gretz's 102 points in 38 games blows Sid's 65 out of the water. I am here however to provide more than a "first glance", that's where the calculator comes in. We all know that a straight-up comparison of different eras doesn't give a clear picture, especially the free-wheeling early '80s versus today's game. Over the entire 1981/82 ...

On this evenings' Leaf broadcast, play by play man Joe Bowen offered his condolences for the recent passing of ex-Leaf goalie Don Simmons. The strange thing about that is the fact that Simmons actually passed away this past September. Apparently it was his wish that the news be kept low key. Simmons was a solid back up for most of his NHL career as well as a terrfic minor leaguer. He produced 321 professional wins over 18 seasons including 101 in the big leagues. In January of 1957 he made his NHL debut with Boston when he was purchased from Springfield of the AHL. The Bruins Terry Sawchuk would be out for the remainder of the year with "nervous exhaustion". 25 year old Simmons filled in admirably going 13-9-4 with 2.42 GAA. He then lead them past the first place Red Wings before losing four games to one to Montreal in the final. The following year Simmons shared the net duties with Harry Lumley and once again led the B's to the finals. His 2.41 regular season GAA...

The Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland kicks off today. I have always been somewhat interested in this tournament due to some of the names that resurface. Also, the rink in Davos is a spectacular looking facility that looks great on TV. Team Canada is usually a cobbled together "all-star" squad of players toiling away in the Swiss League. A look at this year's rosters seems to show even more recognizable names than normal. Moscow Spartak Dominik Hasek,12-16-3, 2.68, 3 SO One month shy of his 46th birthday, The Dominator continues to ply his trade for the sub.500 KHL squad. Branko Radivojevic, 38-5-16-21 His third year in the KHL after scoring 120 points in 393 NHL games. Last season he finished 7th in league scoring with 54 points. SKA St.Petersburg Mattias Weinhandl, 37-18-19-37 The ex-Islander and Wild sits 5th in KHL scoring the same spot he finished last year with 60 points. Alexei Yashin, 35-11-14-25 After finishing 3rd in scoring, two points off the lead last yea...

Exactly 45 years ago, Maple Leaf goaltender Johnny Bower was approached by a CBC producer to make a Christmas record. Although hesitant, he soon recorded Honky the Christmas Goose with the help of his nine year old son Johnny Jr. and some neighbourhood kids. The record sold 40,000 copies during Christmas 1965, the proceeds of which were donated to charity. The Christmas break in the NHL is a good time look back on the year that was. The following are the top NHL scorers from last years Christmas break to now. (GP-G-A-PTS) Sidney Crosby 80-58-65-123 Steven Stamkos 80-57-51-108 Henrik Sedin 78-21-87-108 Daniel Sedin 77-39-66-105 Alex Ovechkin 80-38-66-104 Martin St.Louis 80-36-62-98 Niklas Backstrom 82-29-64-93 Brad Richards 80-30-59-89 Alex Semin 79-44-43-87 Eric Staal 76-39-46-85 The 123 points would represent a career season for Crosby, and Ovechkin's 38 goals would be by far his lowest full-season total.

Teemu Selanne is a pretty special player, has been for a long time. What he's doing this season however is almost unprecedented. Only two men in the history of the NHL have scored at least a point per game in a season in which they were at least 40 years of age. Teemu is well on his way to becoming the third. Selanne turned 40 this past July and has played 29 games for Anaheim this season. He has 32 points for 1.10 points per game. The first man to accomplish this was Gordie Howe in 1968/69 at 40 years even. He scored an amazing 103 points in 76 games for 1.36 Pts/GP. Howe would go on to score almost 700 more points in the NHL and WHA combined. The second and last man to score at a point-per-game clip as a 40 year old was Johnny Bucyk of Boston in 1975/76 who was also exactly 40. The Chief scored 83 points in 77 games, at 1.08 Pts/GP just behind Selanne's rate. Bucyk almost repeated his productivity the following year with 43 points in 49 games before falling off the pace in h...

Years before Grant Fuhr set the NHL mark with 14 goalie assists in 1983/84, a minor league tender accomplished the same feat...and he almost matched it the following year as well. 5"8" Lynn Zimmerman from Fort Erie, Ontario began his professional career in 1966/67 with the Eastern League Charlotte Checkers and was a Second Team All-Star. He played most of the next eight years in the AHL, mainly with Rochester. By 1975/76 he was in the North American Hockey League with the Erie Blades. He had 30 wins in 54 games, and more impressively he also had 13 assists. He also spent three weeks filling in for the soon-to-fold Denver/Ottawa WHA team where he garnered another helper. Apparently Zimmerman was so able and active with the puck, Erie coach Nick Polano devised a breakout plan around him. "This year Nick put in a system where I handle the puck instead of the defenseman. We work on it in practice everyday. When the other team comes in after the puck we just break out and tr...

I had my first chance to see Phil Kessel play in person last night. I sat 13 rows above Luongo's left side in the corner for two periods and had a terrific angle on most of the Leaf "chances" as well as the deciding 2-0 Vancouver goal in the second. The Canucks (rather lackadaisically) beat the Leafs 4-1 in a game in which the entertainment value was derived mainly from the atmosphere in the crowd. The Leafs simply do not have the talent to compete effectively against an elite team such as Vancouver, especially with Phil Kessel playing well below his potential. I'm starting to lean more towards the thinking that what we're seeing in fact is his full potential, and that makes me sad and angry. Kessel certainly has dynamic hockey skills, great speed and a terrific shot. These are displayed far too infrequently however to have much of an impact on a game. His one move on a rush, the "outside/inside toe-drag" works far less than half the time. It worked once...