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

__________________________

• 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

______________________________________

• 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

On The Hot Seat?

1) With the recent coaching change in St. Louis we decided it might be wise to look at whom may also be or SHOULD be on the proverbial hot seat as the NHL heads into the Quarter poll of the 2011-2012 season. We'll list 4 coaches/GM's who should now be held accountable (fired) for what they have done/not done to help improve their squads.

• Garth Snow: Despite winning last night the Isles are bringing up the rear in the East. Winning only twice in their past dozen games. It would usually go on the coach for the record, but Capuano is not at fault here. It is Snow who has been in charge for much of the past 6 years. Responsible for the interminable "rebuild". The team, especially the defense is old and slow. Its looking like high draft picks like Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey are not progressing. Remember Snow spurned Luke Schenn in order to get Bailey (and another draft pick). Okposo has been a recent 'healthy scratch. The Minnesota native who was taken with the 8th overall pick in 2006 appears lost. The team lacks overall toughness and the triad of goalies is not only a distraction but gives Capuano less roster options. We don't anticipate Wang to replace Snow, but the chants of 'Snow Must Go' will undoubtedly start to rain down from the venerable rafters of the NVMC. (Where they haven't seen a playoff series win in 19 years!)







• Paul Maurice: Its mind boggling that Paul was even asked to come back when Rutherford fired Peter Laviolette. Maurice was fired from Carolina after the 2004 season. How long can Maurice live off their playoff Final 4 appearance 3 years ago? Since then the Hurricanes have finished 3rd in the SE and out of the post season. Thus far this season they Canes are near the basement, only the lowly Islanders (see above) are beneath them (for now). After two additional bad seasons in Toronto why do folks still seem to think he's a quality coach? He's coached an amazing 15 seasons and failed to make the post season 10 times!! Coached 1000 games yet is well under .500 lifetime (.472). This seems like a no-brainer to me. Rutheford is an astute hockey exec, and we don't think he will stick with his buddy too much longer.





• Scott Howson: The Blue Jackets GM since June of 2007, the Toronto native went "all in" this past off season and spent right up to the salary cap max to try to get his team back into the post season after two seasons where they missed the post season all together. The franchise is actually still looking for its first ever playoff GAME win, after getting swept by the Red Wings in 2009. Thus far the Blue Jackets are dead last in the entire NHL with a mere 8 pints through 18 games. This after Howson got Jeff Carter. Traded to the for restricted free agent to-be Jakub Voracek, the eighth-overall pick in the 2011 draft and Columbus’ third-round selection Carter, 26, starts an 11-year $58 million extension this season. He also gave big bucks to UFA defender James Wisniewski to a six-year, 33 mil contract. They also re-upped R.J. Umberger to a five-year 23 mil contract extension. With those moves along with adding UFA Czechs Radek Martinek and Vinny Prospal most figured the Jackets would at least be competing for a spot. The owners shouldn't be happy how their limited resources have been used here and so Howson rightly should be on the hot seat!





• Bruce Boudreau: Some might be surprised to see 'Gabby's name here, but real hockey fans, and most importantly knowledgeable Caps fans won't. Despite a gaudy regular season record (199-85) the Capitals have been a great disapointment when it means most, the post season. In the playoffs Boudreau is a winner of 2 of 6 playoff rounds, or a 17-20 record. Despite being the higher seed in EACH of those losing series! Worse yet, if one watched HBL24/7 last year we saw a man who frequently became unhinged and through F-bombs everywhere. Worse yet, it appeared the players could care less. This season we were told there would be a new "accountability". Caps fans tell us the roster might be altered somwhat, but the underlying issues remain. Its clear Bruce was a breathe of fresh air after Hanlon, but its quite clear he can NOT get them to the next level and needs to be changed. Anyone think if the Caps and Penguins exchanged Only coaches we'd see the Pens stay a top and caps flounder? Fuck no!

NHL Power Rankings-1st Installment

1) Our first of what we anticipate will be a bi monthly posting of who is playing at what level. Based loosely upon overall record, and recent trends over the past few weeks. Obviously the first installment is all about how well teams came out of the gate. Subsequent Power Rankings will give their previous ranking along with their current placement in our unbiased poll

1. Pittsburgh: Hard to quibble placing the Penguins on top of our poll. Despite injuries to key personnel Bylsma has his team playing at peak performance. Scary to imagine how well they'd do/be once they're healthy/get Crosby back?






2. Chicago: Have the most points of any NHL team as of today. have been putting the puck in the net quite regularly helped by their PP coming to life with avengence, helped by their potent backline
   
   




3. Philadelphia: Surprisingly the Flyers are among the highest scorers in the league. So much for the defense first approach? heck, it seems to be working so far. The best road team thus far If they can get their PP working they might be tough to beat!






4. NY Rangers: Winners of 7 strait the Broadway Blue Shirts have turned an early season slump around in a hurry. Is Sean Avery really the difference? Actually its been Lundqvist and Dan Girardi helping to propel the Rangers up the standings






5. Minnesota: Despite having one of the worst PP units the Wild are pacing the NW division. Its again their defense and goaltending led by Josh Harding's amazing start to the season. can he and the Wild keep it up? So far we're liking what new coach Mike Yeo is doing






6. Phoenix: Another surprise is the way the 'Yotes are playing. Ownership uncertainty remains and they lost Bryzgalov, but so far Mike Smith has been doing well as his replacement in the desert






7. Buffalo: Wit the most wins in the East the resurgent Sabres are a top the NE division. Have slipped in the past week or 2, and lost starting goalie Ryan Miller to injury so its time to step up for the soft Sabres?






8. Dallas: After the fastest start in team history the Stars have cooled a bit They remain on top of the Pacific after their long road trip. Can Lehtonen continue to play at this high level? He will probably need to for the Stars to stay in playoff contention






9. Detroit: Seems that the Wings have finally found their skating legs. Winning 4 strait Franzen has been on fire of late to help the surging wings. Now if they can get Zetterberg going the Wings will be totally back






10. Washington: After a fast start the caps are reverting back to their old ways of taking periods off and not playing up to their talent level. New personnel, same old habits. Their PK is a tad better of late, but still needs improving






11. Edmonton: The Kids are alright. They got off to a fast start, but have comeback to earth with a recent road trip. Khabibulin still looking like his old self despite recent set backs. Hall and Nugent-Hopkins look like real deals. If they can get Magnus Paajarvi on board they would really have something






12. Boston: The Bruins have finally awoken from their early season Cup-Coma. The past 2 weeks they have been playing as good as anyone. Early season scoring woes are long forgotten Super Soph Tyler Seguin is double digit in goals and appears ready to assert himself as their #1 forward






13. San Jose: Winners of 7 of their past 10 the Sharks are playing their best hockey thus far after their usual slow start. If they can get Antti Niemi playing like he can the Sharks will once again be the team to beat out West






14. Florida: Surprising most of us with their early record that has them right in contention for the weak SE division. Not surprising they can score. Surprise is the strong play of defenesemen Dmitry Kulikov
    
    
    
    
    
15. Nashville: Congrats to Trotz and his 1000 games coached. As we expected the Preds are goal starved, but have one of the best goalies in the game in Rinne so they are in every game. Rookie Craig Smith off to a nice start






16. Toronto: Would probably been in the top 5 if this had been done 2 weeks ago. Injuries and poor play have hurt the Leafs of late. Biggest injury is to Reimer, who's replacement, The Monster' has been down right ugly in goal
    
    




17. St. Louis: They're initial/expected spurt after 'Hitch took over not withstanding, can it continue, or will they revert back? 2 regulation goals in 3 games is certainly Hitcock-like! However if they want to make the post season he better work on the leagues worst PP unit!






18. Montreal: The Habs are slowly coming back to life after a disastrous start. Uncharacteristically they have a very poor PP. Martin will have to find a way to revive that else it'll put too much pressure on Price to be the difference maker nightly
    
    




19. LA: With that kind of talent, no excuse for winning a mere 2 of their past 8 games! Murray deservedly should be on the hot seat! Through 17 games they have scored 2 or more only 4 times! This team should be scoring more!






20. Vancouver: Like Boston had a bit of a hang over, although they didn't win anything. They seem to have little trouble scoring, its their defense and Luongo that seem to be the issue. We're not big Roberto fans, but we'd expect he'll turn things around






21. TB: Another team that got off to a less than stellar start but have turned the corner the past couple of weeks. Roloson not looking 48 years old in net helps. Scoring has been there all year, its their defense and goaltending that'll determine if they get in the top 8





22. Ottawa: As expected the young Sens are a fickle bunch. Look great on some nights and God-aweful the next. The offense certainly has done their share. Its the back line and in goal that has been the biggest reason the sens are under .500






23. Calgary: So far nothing is distinguishing this team from last season's squad that missed the playoffs. Inconsistency abounds. No extended winning or losing streaks, but with their offense invisible how long before GM Feaster decides enough is enough and unloads a vet or two?






24. NJ: The Devils record is a bit deceiving. 4 of their 8 wins have come via the shoot out. Rookie Adam Larsson looks solid, but how long/far can a team have a teen age rookie lead their defense in ice time and succeed? Getting Kovalchuk back soon should help






25. Winnipeg: Few had expectations they'd be great this season, but after a dreadful start the Jets appear to be playing at least competitively. They don't have any stars up front so if they don't give a full effort they probably have little chance of victory






26. Colorado: After an initial great start, most of which was away from Pepsi center, the Av's are crashing back down to Earth and sputtering to say the least to stay in contention. Two wins in their past 10 games not good





27. Carolina: Isn't it time Rutherford see that Paul Maurice is NOT the right fit here? The Hurricanes GM is a savvy man so we can't see the canes not making a move if they continue to flounder





28. Anaheim: Very disappointing start for the Ducks. They should not be playing this poorly. WE had to check twice, but they have won 2 of their past 12 games!! Its gut-check time in southern California(for both teams!)





29. Columbus: Like on the Island, the GM has much to answer for here. Scott Howson spent and traded for a team that was supposed to compete for a playoff spot. Instead they stand(sit) at the bottom of all 30 teams!





30. NY Islanders: Not exactly where Isles fans thought they'd be. Its time for accountability from the man who assembled the roster, Garth Snow? One win in their past 11 puts them dead last in our poll. Most thought they'd at least stay in contention until the All Star break, not out of it by the holidays!

Goalies Now Fair Game?

1) That's what the Buffalo Sabres contend after the league failed to suspend Bruins forward Milan Lucic for a hit on Sabres' net minder Ryan Miller. Lucic knocked the East Lansing Michigan native out of the game with an apparent concussion which will side line him for an undetermined period. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff was outraged that Brendan Shanahan decided that the 2 minute penalty that Lucic received was all that was appropriate in this incident. Citing Lucic's intent was not to run the sabres goalie. Here is a short Youtube version of the said-incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4EjRTYcpxk&noredirect=1

2) Our reason for bring this story to light is NOT to take a side one way or the other here but to address the issue head on. As I and Fauxrumors have long asked its time to allow players to make "legal contact" with goalies who wander outside their crease and play the puck. No, they shouldn't be boarded and have their heads targeted, but should be able to be hit like Lucic did to Miller, who was well outside of his crease, and took it upon himself to play the puck. To often we have seen goalies use the fact that referees protect them like sacred cows to go out of their net to play the puck with impunity. We believe that is why the dumb trapezoid rule was implemented. Goalies like Brodeur were feeling quite comfortable to go and become a third defensemen thus the league decided to increase scoring they needed to reign in the ability of goalies to play the puck as much.

3) Seemed like an odd/dumb way of treating a problem. Why not address it more directly? If goalies like Miller Brodeur, etc knew that they would possibly get knocked off the puck and possibly out of position as a result, they would be far less likely to leave their crease in the first place, making it unnecessary to paint silly shapes like trapezoids behind the goals. As long as they weren't hit illegally we would have no issue with body contact outside of the crease when a goalie plays the puck. The pendulum has shifted WAY too far from where it was 30-40 years ago when goalies were "fair game" if they left their crease. A hit like the one by Lucic wouldn't be seen as menacing or illegal and bring the ire of the sabres, but would make Ruff angry with Miller for placing himsel in a vulnerable position in the first place.

First Salvo in 2012 Labour War?

1) In what many are saying was a LONG overdue move, according to Larry Brooks of the NY Post the NHLPA requested and received forensic accounting report on a few 'select NHL franchises. In effect to see if the reported income matches with the actual income. Why? Simple, the players share is directly related to the overall NHL income. If teams under report it then the players get short changed, literally. According to Brooks several teams including Nashville and Washington were 'guilty' of under reporting income. To that we say, shocker!(not!) We say why hasn't this gone on since the last CBA was signed in 2005? And why only selected clubs? If I were the head of the NHLPA I'd demand ( as is their right under the CBA) a detailed/independent forensic accounting of EVERY team EVERY year! Geez, it makes too much sense to not!

2) Brooks goes on to mention that the discredited Ted Saskin made a secret side deal with the NHL that disallowed the NHLPA from looking at the books of teams after a season is completed. Which means if 1/2 the teams were 'skimming/hiding' money from 2005 to 2010 the NHLPA can't/would never find out about it! Dumb at the least, and probably one of the reasons Saskin was let go. Donald Fehr the NHLPA should respond to the findings with asking for the remaining teams to be audited as well. If, as we have LONG surmised in the next CBA the NHL will ask for further concessions from the players, the NHLPA best have ammunition to respond. We believe the NHL will have far less ability (but still try) to demonize the 'rich' players this time around. I'd advise our readers to follow the NBA labour problems as I'm sure the NHL is as well. If the players eventually cave in, it is all but assured that the NHL and especially its hard liners will feel emboldened to make significant demands. Our sources tell us that a reduction of the current 57% to 47-48% along with a 25% roll back across the board will be the minimum the league will demand. They may even try to reduce the guarantees on future contracts much like the NFL does. If the NBA owners get all they want their NHL counter parts will smell blood and go for the kill of what they already perceive as a weakened foe. It remains to be seen if this recent demand for auditing is an early sign that the players will fight, or just a PR move by Fehr to show he's trying to do something to his rank and file and for public consumption.

Week 6 Results

1) Not the greatest of evenings for us. Went an ordinary 6-5 on the night to bring the season total through 6 weeks to 45-33 or a .579 winning %. Worse yet we missed our 'Lock" to bring that total to 4-2. We will of course be back at this next week when an even dozen games will be up for grabs in week 'Luck' 7!

2) In the mean time we will have a couple of posts the upcoming week. Finally our first power rankings should drop early this week and ofcourse we will continue to scour the league for any trade rumours. It appears we stirred the pot with our Nash revelation. Soon afterwards other blogs/publications took that one and ran with it as if it were there own LOL.
As always, keep it here for all the latest!

Week 6 Picks

1) We head into week 6 with an improved 39-27 record. We have 11 games on the NHL docket to improve that .591 winning %. As well as our 4-1 in 'Locks'.

Buffalo at Boston: Bruins
Ottawa at Toronto: Maple Leafs
New Jersey at Washington: Capitals
Dallas at Detroit: Red Wings
Pittsburgh at Carolina: Hurricanes
Winnipeg at Columbus: Blue Jackets
Montreal at Nashville: Predators
Tampa Bay at St. Louis: Blues
Calgary at Colorado: Avalanche (Lock of The Week)
Minnesota at Los Angeles: Kings
Phoenix at San Jose: Shark

Free To Blog? Thank a Vet!

1) As we like to remind readers: "Besides:

• 
  
  Ending Communism


• 
  
  
  
  Ending Slavery


• 
  
  
  
  Saving the world from Totalitarianism Fascism and Terrorism
  

War never solved a thing?!?"

Blue Jackets Looking To make "Big" Move?

1) In a stunning rumour we picked up on over the weekend several (now confirmed) reports out of Columbus tell Fauxrumors exclusively that GM Scott Howson is contemplating making a big trade to shake up his moribund roster. No shocker there as the Jackets are at the bottom of the league in terms of win as and points. However (and the reason we sat on this story until we received further independent reports) was that none other than super star Rick Nash is going to be (or already has) been dangled as trade bait!!!! I can already hear some of you out there; "Doesn't Nash have a No Trade Clause"? Yes, he does, but from what our source(s) tell us "he is all over this", and has given Howson a list of teams he'd NOT like to be traded to. From what we have discerned that list only has about 5 teams so Howson has almost free reign to deal here

2) Now, Rick won't come cheaply. Howson will be looking for a (cheaper/younger) 1st line forward, albeit not in Nashs' status, but able to step into the Jackets line up and help their anemic offense. Additionally we're told confidently that Howson will also seek to get an additional top prospect and/or two 1st round picks depending on who his trading partner is, etc. Now, who is being (or will be) targeted by Columbus as a trading partner? At this stage of the season its not easy to simply trade a Nash who makes 7.8 million BUT also has ANOTHER 6 years to go after this one at that same salary/cap-hit. We're told that the owners are on board with this possible move as they need to reduce salary. The Bluejackets have a team payroll of 64 million and going no where fast. Attendance is dismal so they don't feel trading their only super star could cause any more damage than has already been done with their poor play/record. From what we've been told look for this deal to get done by Thanks Giving, else it might wait until nearer the trade deadline in February. Nash has told Jackets management he doesn't want to be dealt during the holiday season.

3) So lets speculate what teams might take on Nash and his LONG/HUGE contract? We have asked all of our usually reliable sources throughout the league and the most common 'rumour'/speculation seems to surround the LA Kings in the West and Flyers in the East. Firstly in LA, they tell us that the recent contract spat with defensemen Drew Doughty has left a lingering bad taste in both management and the player so he could be made available, but Columbus probably would prefer a Kopitar who's contract has only 2 years let unlike Doughty's who has another 7 after this one. Still another Eastern scout tells us he's heard the Flyers might attempt to pry Nash away, thinking he could be the final piece. However in return Howson would demand a combo of either Giroux or Van Riemsdyk along with Braden Schenn. The source tells us that Holmgren would consider Giroux over VanRiemsdyk but would also prefer to trade a future 1st rounder(s) before parting with Schenn. What is clear from all this chatter is that;

• 1- Talks are on going with these and a couple of other teams,


• 2- Its going to take a lot to get Nash and


• 3- With so much salary going back and forth the negotiations are going to be complicated so it won't be an easy deal to get completed quickly.

We will update our readers as we receive additional information.

As always, keep here for all the latest

Captain Kangaroo Takes Over Blues

1) In the season's first coaching casualty the St. Louis Blues kinda surprised the league by naming Ken Hitchcock as their new head coach, replacing Davis Payne as the Blues sit 14th in the Western Conference with a 6-7-0 record. As we wrote last month with regard to Payne:" Unlike the past 2 years the pressure will be elevated this season. Fans are getting restless for the interminable 'rebuild' to end. Injuries have hurt but management will only let that excuse work for so long. If the Blues fail to compete, Davis will be gonzo. With the slow start Blues management didn't want to allow the season to get away from them so they turned to the veteran bench boss in Hitchcock.

2) The problem one long time NHL executive told Fauxrumors is the fact that the Blues have a very young impressionable team. Full of talent yes, but fragile and green. Ken isn't known to get along with the younger players. In fact in his last stop in Columbus he rarely talked to any player under 30. We also take issue with this choice in that 'Hitch' wasn't able to maintain a good relationship with his past 2 teams, what has changed now? Its now 13 years since his Cup winning season in Dallas. Since that time he has won 4 playoff rounds and failed to make the post season two other times. We feel the 60 year old obese hockey genius' best days are behind him. At best he might have done well with a more veteran team that might have made a coaching switch, but this is a terrible fit and it won't take too long for the team to rebel against 'Hich's abrasive style

Week 5 Results

1) Finally we had a week were have been trying for. In week 5 we went an impressive 8-3 on the night to bring our season total to 39-27, for an improved .591 winning %. We also easily got our Lock of the Week in Philly to bring that stat to 4-1 thus far.

2) We will be back at this once again next Saturday when 11 more games will be decided, and we're working on a couple of posts this upcoming week. FR2 says our first Power rankings should be out. As always, keep it here for all the latest

Week 5 Picks

1) As we head into the 5th weekend of the NHL season we again have our weekly foray into choosing the winners on traditionally the busiest day of the week on the schedule. Today is no different with 11 contests being played throughout the league. We attempt to improve our mediocre 31-24 record.

Boston at Toronto: Bruins

Buffalo at Ottawa: Senators

Winnipeg at New Jersey: Devils

Washington at NY Islanders: Islanders

Montreal at NY Rangers: Rangers

Columbus at Philadelphia: Flyers (Lock of The Week)

Anaheim at Detroit: Red Wings

St. Louis at Minnesota: Wild

Edmonton at Phoenix: Coyotes

Pittsburgh at Los Angeles: Kings

Nashville at San Jose: Sharks

Surprise!?!

1) Well after 5 full weeks of the NHL season with most teams having played at least 12 or so games, or 14% of the schedule finished we decided to take a look around the league and see what early surprises there are to be found. Keeping in mind many times these early trends do not hold up throughout the long 82 game slog of an NHL season, but some are interesting nonetheless.

2) First some positive surprises:

• NHL hockey in Ontario! Yes, folks the place where arguably there is the highest percentage of hockey fans has been a dead spot within the NHL ranks the past few years with the decent of the Senators and the Leafs, well, being the Leafs and perpetually rebuilding. Thus far both teams are performing quite well thank you. The NE division is literally standing on its head with the Bruins (more on them later) sitting on the bottom and the Leafs on top. In Kanata they got off to a very hot start, cooling off a bit lately but enough to get the faithful excited that perhaps this won't be quite as a dreadful of a season as most (including us) anticipated. Jason Spezza is off to a hot start, along with defensemen Eric Karlsson to help the hot beginning. However having Anderson as your starter will eventually catch up with the Sens so we don't expect the resurgence to continue. Meanwhile in TO the Leafs are playing some of the best hockey in the league. Kessell and Lupul are pacing the suddenly potent offense, and Dion Phaneuf turned back the clock to 3+ years ago when he was a dominant force at both sides of the rink. Can they maintain this? Probably not at this level, but certainly we don't expect the Leafs to drop right out of the race, and should hang in there most of the season to keep Ontario hockey relevant again!




• The Oil is back!?! Much like in Toronto there are signs of (hockey) life in Alberta, well in Edmonton anyway. Accumulating tons of top/lottery picks seems to finally paying off. The kids are alright! (so is the old guy-Smyth) Both Ryans, he and Nugent-Hopkins are pacing the Oilers and Khabibulin looks like the "Bulin Wall" of yore. Meanwile another team out west is surprising. The Stars many thought would struggle when they lost their offensive leader in Richards. However we didn't anticipate that Kari Lehtonen would finally become the goalie he was projected to be when Atlanta drafted him 9 years ago. He has been lights-out magnificent thus far. f he stays healthy and at this level of play even an offensively-challenged team like Dallas has a chance to win nightly

3) Next the negative:

• Bruins don't have a Cup hangover but a Stanley Cup Coma!! Most expect the B's to get off to a less than stellar start, but this is becoming ridiculous. It hasn't been their goaltending or defense, but their lack of scoring that's been killing the Bruins. Other than 12 year old Tyler Seguin, no player is double digit in points. Do they miss Mark Recchi's leadership this much? We don't think the season is lost, but Julian/Chirelli needs to change something.




• Detroit can't find the net!? No time to panic yet in Mo-town but after 11 games the Wings have a mere 24 goals, paced by Franzen with 4. No player is yet in double digits in points. Thankfully for them Howard is playing goal at a very high level to at least keep them in most games and allow them to be at .500

4) To reiterate its WAY too early to either get overly excited in Dallas/Toronto/Edmonton, or get depressed in Boston or Detroit. We have upwards of 70 more games left. In each season there are ups and downs. These early results might become 'trends', but most will be forgotten by Christmas and we'll be talking about a new set of teams that are surging or sagging. I the end of the 82 game schedule things have a tendancy to even themselves out

Bang For The Bucks- Part 2 (Goalies)

1) This is part 2 of our two part posting where we take a look at production of players compared with their monetary compensation. As we wrote last post, in the salary capped NHL with the increased pressure on teams' to get as much production from as few a dollar spent as possible we at Faux rumors thought we'd do a little retrospective evaluation of players production verses their salaries through the years. Not only of today's players, but also those of the recent past. (Going back to the 1980's)

2) Keeping in mind several factors making it difficult/impossible to make a decisive proclamation concerning each player. Such differences include eras; The scoring vs the dead puck era. The pre-vs post salary capped eras, etc. However with those provisos in mind here is our abridged list of players, their total wins, their total salary earned for their careers, and the average $/win. We also will NOT be counting the current season and will try to avoid players who have played less than 5 seasons where the rookie cap will affect their numbers

3) Here we'll look at some of today's star goalies. First number will be total wins in their careers, followed by total income earned through 2010-2011, then the average $$/point/million. Then we'll look at some star players from the recent past (post 1985)

M-A Fleury: 187 wins 10.8 mil 17.3 wins/mil

Tim Thomas: 163 wins 10.2 mil 15.9 wins/mil

Ryan Miller: 224 wins 14.7 mil. 15.2 wins/mil

Ilya Brygalov: 159 wins 11 mil. 14.4 wins/mil

Dwayne Roloson: 215 wins 19.6 mil 11 wins/mil

Tomas Vokoun: 266 wins 25.4 mil 10.5 wins/mil.

Henrik Lundqvist: 214 wins 20.5 mil. 10.4 wins/mil.

Miika Kiprusoff: 278 wins 27.7 mil. 10 wins/mil

Marty Brodeur: 625 wins 62.6 mil 9.8 wins/mil

Cam Ward: 178 wins 8.4 mil. 9.3 wins/mil

Evgeni Nabokov: 294 wins 33 mil. 8.9 wins/mil

Marty Turco: 273 wins 31.5 mil 8.7 wins/mil

Roberto Luongo: 309 wins 35.5 mil 8.7 wins/mil.

J-S Giguere: 233 wins 33.1 mil 7.0 wins/mil

Nikolai Khabibulin: 317 wins 46.4 mil 6.8 wins/mil

Jose Theodore: 263 wins 39.6 mil 6.6 wins/mil

Next goalies from the recent past:

Andy Moog: 372 wins 9.3 mil 40 wins/mil

Grant Fuhr: 403 wins 15.5 mil 26 wins/mil

Ron Hextall: 296 wins 12.5 mil 23.7 wins/mil

Bill Ranford: 240 wins 12.2 mil 19.7 wins/mil

Tom Barrasso: 369 wins 20 mil 18.4 wins/mil

John VanBiesbrouk: 374 wins 21.6 mil 17.3 wins/mil

Mike Vernon: 385 wins 23.9 mil 16.1 wins/mil

Chris Osgood: 401 wins 27.2 mil. 14.7 wins/mil

Artus Irbe: 218 wins 14.9 mil. 14.6 wins/mil

Sean Burke: 324 wins 27 mil. 12 wins/mil

Ed Belfour: 484 wins 49.6 mil 9.8 wins/mil

Patrick Roy: 551 wins 56.8 mil 9.7 wins/mil

Curtis Joseph: 454 wins 51.4 mil. 8.8 wins/mil.

Dominic Hasek: 389 wins 55.9 mil. 7 wins/mil

Olaf Kolzig: 303 wins 43.8 mil 6.9 wins/mil

Mike Richter: 301 wins 43.6 mil 6.9 wins/mil