Boudreau Canned! Maurice Next?

1) The waiting is finally over in Washington where 4 year head coach Bruce Boudreau was finally let go officially this morning and replaced with former cap/fan favourite, Dale Hunter. We say finally because from we have been told this move has been in the works for as much as the past 2 weeks. General manager George McPhee, our spys tell us was spotted visiting new coach Hunter in London Ontario over 3 weeks ago. Probably a bit more than a scouting trip? Our source tells us that Hunter was approached with the proposition for this position in early November but needed additional time to get things in order with his current team for which he is also the co-owner.

2) The writing was clearly on the wall in DC where the Caps have tried every possible way to shake up their consistent under achieving/mistakes. When their star and captain, Alex Ovechkin stops skating/trying(as is evident the past 2 weeks) its clear something has to give. Boudreau had a verbal altercation with Ovechkin and benched the 26 yr old at the end of a 1 goal game to 'send a message'. However this was the 'straw' that caused GMGM to decide it was time to make a change. If the team captain is no longer listening, the coach has lost the entire team. Ovechkin in our opinion is as much to blame for the recent team issues as anyone. He was the wrong guy to be named captain and Hunter may quickly find that he is against a "prima donna'. It will be interesting how that goes. Stay tuned, for as we're told "Hunter is not the kind of guy to sit still for that kind of Bullshit"

3) Meanwhile in Raleigh Paul Maurice's days are also numbered. The Canes lost their 3rd consecutive game last night in Ottawa, and are now 3-6-1 in their last 10, dropping them to 14th in the 15 team conference. The team like their counterparts in Washington appear rudderless and in need of a change. GM Rutherford likes Paul Maurice a great deal, but come on' Jim, its time for a change! The season is slipping away and while we don't think the Hurricanes are a playoff calibre team we don't think they are a 'lottery team" either and we have long said that Maurice is hugely over rated and needs to be replaced!

4) Just an aside, another source tells us that Boudreau won't be out of work too long. The source tells Fauxrumors that he fully expects Bruce to be working before the All star Break and likely in a city 'North of the border'.

Post Script: Apparent Maurice was fired a little over an hour after we posted this article!!

Week 8 Results

1) Another very ordinary week here. We went a piss-poor 6-5 on the day night to bring the season total to 57-44 0r a .564 winning %. We did get the Lock correct to elevate that record to 6-2 on the season. We'll be back at this next Saturday when week 9 has an even dozen games on the NHL docket

Week 8 Picks

1) Well, now that the L-tryptophan induced Turkey day comas are passed its time to get back to picking hockey games. Today/night there are 11 games on the schedule where we bring our 51-39 record.


NY Islanders at New Jersey: Devils

Philadelphia at NY Rangers: Flyers

Edmonton at Colorado: Avalanche

Winnipeg at Boston: Bruins (Lock of The Week)

Washington at Buffalo: Sabres

Pittsburgh at Montreal: Penguins

Florida at Tampa Bay: Lightning

Nashville at Detroit: Predators

Dallas at Phoenix: Coyotes

Vancouver at San Jose: Sharks

Chicago at Los Angeles: Kings

At The Quarter Pole......

1) With nearly all teams having now played 20% of their schedules and the NHL dark on this Thanks Giving holiday we decided to project (NOT predict) the finals standings. Obviously there is plenty of time for teams outside of the playoffs to get back in, but some trends are clearly becoming evident. This is NOT a Prediction!! We merely are projecting an 82 game season point total based upon each teams current point total/games played.


2) First in the East:

• Boston 107



• Philadelphia: 105
  


• Florida: 105
  


• NY Rangers: 105
  


• Pittsburgh: 104
  


• Washington: 103
  


• Buffalo: 98
  


• Toronto: 97

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• NJ: 94
  


• Montreal: 86
  


• Ottawa: 86
  


• Tampa Bay: 82
  


• Winnipeg: 78
  


• Carolina: 71
  


• NY Islanders: 60

3) Next the West:

• San Jose: 117



• Minnesota: 113



• Detroit: 103



• Phoenix: 103



• Dallas: 102



• Chicago: 101



• Los Angeles: 97



• St. Louis: 94

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• Edmonton: 94



• Nashville: 94



• Vancouver: 90



• Colorado: 71



• Calgary: 70



• Anaheim: 62



• Columbus: 51
  

4) To reiterate, these are PROJECTIONS NOT PREDICTIONS! With a relatively small sample size a few (more or less) games played can alter the point totals significantly. That said there are a few interesting developments thus far. Who expected teams like Minnesota, Florida, Phoenix, Dallas, or Toronto to be in the playoff race this season? Who could have seen Carolina, and Anaheim be so low in the standings? Yes, plenty of time for 'water to find its level' but sometimes these trends do continue throughout the season.

5) Finally our (admittedly silly to mention) quarter pole Trophy winners.

• Hart: Phil Kessel


• Vezina: Tim Thomas


• Norris: Shea Weber


• Calder: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins


• Adams: Kevin Dineen

87 Returns

1) The waiting is apparently over. Sidney Crosby will make his long over due/waited for return to the NHL tonight when the NY Islanders enter CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Crosby apparently has been given the "all clear" from his many Dr.s. Having participated in 'contact drill' of increasing intensity the past few weeks, the 24 year old Penguin captain has remained symptom free. Our contacts in Pittsburgh tell us that the team has been "extra cautious", and that Crosby was actually cleared to play over a week ago, but the team was waiting for additional time and the right time/place for the super stars return.

2) The internal thought was that playing his first game on friendly ice against an opponent that is wavering in the standings, who (despite last years fight filled mess of a game last February) lacks overall team toughness and is just the right team to play against right now. Don't expect anyone in the organization to state that publicly, but you can bet your bottom dollar Sid wouldn't be playing his first game in/against Philly! So what should we expect? We at Fauxrumors fully expect that Crosby will show little rust/effects of his time off. He simply is the most talented player in the game and in his prime. We wouldn't be shocked if he has a multi-point game right out of the gate tonight, and be right up with the rest of the league leaders (29 points right now) by the All star break, if not sooner.

3) Of course all of that will depend on his future health. As many of our regular readers will recall we had own own 'expert' comment on his situation a few months ago. http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html Dr. Varga was dead-on in his assessment back then that it would be a minimum of another 2-3 months before we should expect a return. We are hoping that the venerable Dr is dead wrong in his prediction that Crosby will be very vulnerable to a subsequent injury. As we wrote then: As Eric Lindros, Pat Lafontaine and other former star players who have had multiple concussions have found once they return they seem extra prone to re-injuring themselves. Even hits that appear to be routine/innocuous can have severe consequences. Almost all specialists tell Fauxrumors that were Crosby to sustain another significant event (concussion) its all but sure his career would be over. Lets all (regardless of how you feel about the Penguins or Crosby) hope/pray that 87's return is not short lived but the next stage of what has already been an amazing career! We hope to never again see scenes such as we witnessed (below)

Week 7 Results

1) Another ordinary week for us at FR. Week 7 is complete and we went 6-6 on the day/evening to bring our season total to 51-39 or a .567 winning % We did manage to win the Lock of the Week easily on LI to bring that stat to 5-2 on the season. We will be back for Thanks Giving weekend next week when 11 games are on the schedule.

Week 7 Picks

1) Week Lucky 7 in the NHL today/tonight as 12 games will be decided. We take our 45-33 record into the action and try to improve from our barely .500 score a week ago.

Philadelphia at Winnipeg: Flyers

Detroit at Los Angeles: Red Wings

Phoenix at Buffalo: Coyotes

Washington at Toronto: Capitals

NY Rangers at Montreal: Rangers

Boston at NY Islanders: Bruins (Lock of The Week)

New Jersey at Tampa Bay: Lightning

Pittsburgh at Florida: Penguins

Columbus at Nashville: Predators

St. Louis at Minnesota: Wild

San Jose at Dallas: Sharks

Chicago at Edmonton: Oilers