Week 24 Results

1) Week 24 is complete. Not our best day but not a total loss either. For the day/night we went 7-4 to bring the season total to 169-91 for a .650 winning %. WE continued our mastery with our locks to elevate that stat to 23-1!!!  WE will be back again next week (the 2nd to last weekend of the season) when once again 11 games will be contested.
As always keep it here for all the latest!!

Week 24 Picks

1) Here we are at week 24. The season winding down and the final playoff spots are to be determined by the final 3 weeks worth of games. Our picks so far have resulted in a record of   162-87, for a .651 winning %.  

 Boston VS Washington: Bruins

 Colorado VS San Jose: Sharks

 Tampa Bay VS  Buffalo: Lightning

 Detroit VS Toronto: Red Wings

 Montreal VS Florida: Habitants

 NY Islanders VS New Jersey: Devils

 Columbus VS Carolina: Blue Jackets

 Dallas VS St. Louis: Blues

 Minnesota VS Phoenix: Coyotes

 Anaheim VS Vancouver: Ducks

 Los Angeles VS Winnipeg: Kings  (Lock of the Week)

West Best (again)

1) It doesn't take a mathematician to see that once again the conference with more depth of excellence is The West. Even with the movement of some teams (Detroit to East) there still appears to be far more solidly good teams out West than in the other conference. What this potentially will set up is the unfortunate (for one team) elimination of one of the best NHL teams in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

2) In the West we could argue that 6 teams are legit Cup contenders:

• Los Angeles
• Chicago
• San Jose
• Colorado
• Anaheim
• St. Louis

Any of those teams could make an argument that they are good enough to go all the way.  Meanwhile in the East other than Boston and Pittsburgh we don't see any other legit contenders to win Lord Stanley's Cup. Sorry NY and Montreal fans.  What that means is that we will most definitely have at least 1 if not 2 of those 6 Cup contending teams in the West go out in the first round.  Usually that indicates failure to teams that are in true pursuit of excellence. Usually resulting in either coaching changes or significant personnel upheaval. However in this case we'd urge those unfortunate teams to realize the predicament they are in.  It is what it is. We can't see another way of more fairly seeding the playoff match ups. The rivalries that the NHL likes to see erupt will fade if a more egalitarian 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, etc type system was instituted.        

Week 23 Results

1) Week 23 is now in the rear view mirror. For the day we went a solid 8-3 to bring the season total to 162-87, for a .651 winning %. We once again picked our lock correctly to bring that stat to 22-1 on the season.  Look for our week 24 choices next week when 11 games will be decided.
As always, keep it here for all the latest!

Week 23 Picks

1) Only 4 more weeks remain in the NHL season. Seems like yesterday we were making our first week's picks.  We bring a record of  154-84, or a .647 winning % into today when there are 11 games to choose so here we go:

Philadelphia VS St. Louis: Blues

 Pittsburgh VS Tampa Bay: Penguins

 Detroit VS Minnesota: Red Wings

 Dallas VS Ottawa: Stars

 Los Angeles VS Florida: Kings  (Lock of the Week)

 Montreal VS Toronto: Maple Leafs

 NY Rangers VS New Jersey: Rangers

 Carolina VS Winnipeg: Jets

 Boston VS Phoenix: Bruins

 Calgary VS Edmonton: Flames

 Washington VS San Jose: Capitals

Week 22 Results

1) Week 22 is complete. WE rebounded from a sub par performance last week to go a more adequate 6-3 on the day/night to bring the season total to 154-84, or a .647 winning %. WE continued our 'Lock' mastery, by getting another one correct we elevated that stat to an amazing 21-1. WE will of course be back here next week when 11 games are on the NHL schedule.
As always, keep it here for all the latest!

Week 22 Picks

1) Its lucky week 22 in our season long weekly picks of NHL game winners.  Today we bring our season long totals of  148-81, or .646 winning % into the action:

Boston VS Carolina: Bruins (Lock of the Week)

 Philadelphia VS Pittsburgh: Penguins

 Montreal VS Ottawa: Habitants

 Tampa Bay VS New Jersey: Lightning

 NY Islanders VS  Buffalo:Islanders

 St. Louis VS  Nashville: Blues

Columbus VS  Minnesota: Wild

 Phoenix VS  Calgary: Coyotes

 Anaheim VS  Los Angeles: Kings

The Great Goalie Gamble!!

1) The recent trend in the NHL has been to avoid having your better players become free agents and instead act proactively and sign them to long term deals long before they can test the waters of free agency. Its a bit of a risk for both parties.  The player giving up possibly a lucrative UFA deal in favor of security along with a pretty good salary anyway.  However we at Fauxrumors believe the players who would deserve such deals are few are far between, and certainly almost NO goalies would be in that category

2) You would think that teams would have to go no further than what happened to the NY Islanders. Actually we should say, what the NY Islanders and Charlie Wang did to themselves when they gave Rick Dipietro an absurdly long 15 year contract. Incredible for a skater, incredibly insane for a goalie, especially one who had yet to cement himself as a legit top 5 NHL goalie.  It took several sub par/injury plagued seasons before the Isles cut bait and let Ricky retire in peace.  However if you look at some recent, and some not too recent deals of goalies you'd be scratching your head wondering if ANYONE learns from past mistakes,

3) Here are in our opinion a few ridiculous contracts goalies have signed that we feel teams will (if not already) live to regret before the deal is up.

• Cam Ward: Still has 2 MORE years at 6.3 million to not help the Canes make the post season (again). A probable off season compliance buy-out! 
• Henrik Lundqvist: 8.5 mil til 2021! No doubt Hank is in his prime, but will he be in 3-4 years when he'll still have 4 years left at that cap hit?
• Tuuka Rask: 7 million till 2021. Now while he is a probable Vezina finalist this season, can he stay at that level for another 8 more years?  History says probably not.
• Corey Crawford 6 million till 2020. See above. Really good now, but probably will appear vastly overpaid in 2-3 years
• Jon Quick 5.8 mil till 2023. What if newcomer, phenom Martin Jones outplays him at some point in the next year or two?  Won't be easy to move that contract (unless Jay Feaster finds another GM job)
• Carey Price 6.5 mil till 2018. Not quite as onerous, but we still are not in favor of giving any goalie 5 years or more in term 
• Mike Smith: 5.7 mil for 5 more years after this one.  He had 1 good season and they sign him to that kind of deal?  Very foolish, and they will feel it in the upcoming year or two
• Pekke Rinne 7 mil for another 5 seasons.  Big dollars for a guy who has yet to win anything. Granted he is one of their more valuable players, but can he be durable/dependable enough for another half decade?
• Semyon Varmalov: 5.9 mil for another 5 seasons: Having break out Vezina/Hart type season, but past injury issues and inconsistent play would give us pause in giving him that kind of long term contract 

3) Apparently teams have NOT learned.  Its not in most cases that these players haven't earned a nice deal, but its the length that we have a problem with. We wouldn't give any goalie more than 3 years. Perhaps can get an extension after the 2nd year if his play stays at a high level. yes, its a risk that he could ask for even more money, but recent years have shown that goalies are important, but a replaceable commodity. For every Patrick Roy Marty Brodeur who had steady/stellar carears there are many JS Giguere, Jose Theadores, cam wards etc who have 1-2 great seasons than fall back down to Earth.

Week 21 -Results

Week 21 is done and thankfully!  We had a bit of a stinker (for us) with regard to accuracy.  We went a very ordinary 5-5 on the night to bring the season totals to 148-81, or .646 winning %. WE did manage somehow to get our Lock correct to maintain that amazing stat at 20-1 for the season.  Look for us again next week when a mere 9 Saturady games will be played.
As always, keep it here for all the latest!

Week 21 Picks

1) Its week 21 of the NHL season. Here as we do everyu week are our picks to win today's contests. Thus far we have a very impressive   143-76, or a .653 winning % record.

Ottawa VS Winnipeg: Jets

 St. Louis VS Colorado: Avalanche

 Toronto VS Philadelphia: Flyers

 Boston VS Tampa Bay: Bruins (Lock of the Week)

 New Jersey VS Carolina: Devils

 Washington VS Phoenix: Capitals

 Columbus VS Nashville: Blue Jackets

 Dallas VS Minnesota: Stars

 Vancouver VS Calgary: Flames

 San Jose VS Montreal: Habitants

Trade Deadline Winners/Losers!

1) Now that was a trade deadline.The NHL reshaped itself in the days, hours and minutes before 3 p.m. ET on Wednesday despite the tight salary cap and standings with a flurry of transactions and player movement. So, let’s make snap judgements about who did well and who didn’t!

Winners: 

• St. Louis:Bringing Ryan Miller on board gives the Blues elite goaltending and a legitimate chance to change their playoff luck. 
• Tampa Bay: Under the circumstances, Steve Yzerman did well to land pending-UFA Ryan Callahan, a first-rounder in 2015 and a second-rounder in 2014 (who becomes a first if New York makes the East final) Even with Callahan’s fearless, shot-block style in mind, the Bolts got a decade younger today as Callahan is 28 while St. Louis is 38
• Montreal:Thomas Vanek was viewed as the best available rental player and Montreal nabbed him without coughing up a first-round pick or a prized prospect. In doing so, the Habs addressed their obvious need for offence.  Vanek was just what the Habs needed. They have struggled to score at even strength, ranking 22nd in the NHL, and Vanek has scored 15 of his 21 goals this season at even This was a home run
• NY Rangers(Short term) They paid a heavy price for a 38-year-old player, but Martin St-Louis remains an elite talent who is signed for next year and figures to be a significant contributor for a year or two beyond that. The Blueshirts made a hard call giving up Callahan and whether you agree or disagree, you have to respect their resolve. By trading for St-Louis, the Rangers are officially in win-now mode.
• LA Kings: The Kings largely used pieces from previous goalie trades (a third-rounder in the Ben Scrivens deal; Matt Frattin from the Jonathan Bernier swap) to grab Gaborik for a low-risk price. the 32-year-old carries health risks as always, yet the thought of a guy with two 40+ goal seasons on his resume added to a squad that includes Anze Kopitar and Carter must leave Western Conference teams somewhat concerned
• Buffalo: New GM Tim Murray conducted a successful fire sale. Murray made a shrewd move when he picked a couple second-rounders from his stockpile of draft picks and flipped them to the Kings for prospects Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers. In landing Michal Neuvirth from Washington, Murray also gets a relatively young goalie who may yet have some untapped potential. One could joke the 2014 and 2015 NHL Drafts should take place in Buffalo since the Sabres hold all the picks.   Murray  netted a ton of selections by flipping various assets.

Losers:

• NY Islanders: they traded Matt Moulson and first- and second-round picks to Buffalo to get Vanek the Islanders finally traded him to Montreal with a conditional fifth-round pick for Collberg (the 33rd overall pick in 2012) and a conditional second-round draft pick.So the net gain was first-and-second round picks for 47 games of Vanek, a conditional second-round pick (tied to the Canadiens making the playoffs) and Collberg. Wonder why they are 20 years removed from their last playoff win?
• Florida: This franchise is losing staggering sums of money. It needs to follow the blueprint Sabres GM Tim Murray has drawn in Buffalo. It needs to acquire draft picks and prospects. Instead, Panthers GM Dale Tallon completed his years-long bid to bring Luongo back to South Florida
• Vancouver: after everything that went on with Luongo over the years, we have to give Vancouver a loser label.GM Mike Gillis may soon be looking for work if the team fails to make the post season!
• Calgary: Acting GM Brian Burke obviously couldn’t get what he felt was market value for Mike Cammalleri, but he’s almost surely going to leave for nothing in the summer. With goaltenders flying off the shelves, this franchise somehow avoided filling that glaring need
• Capitals: Adding Halak only further complicates their goaltending situation. Penner in our opinion is a stiff who won't add very much to the team so a playoff bubble team is still just that 

Week 20 Results

1) Nice to have NHL hockey back and nice to have a very solid return on our weekly picks. For the day/night we went 7-3 to elevate the year total to 143-76, or a .653 winning %.  We also got our Lock of the Week correct to bring that stat to an impressive 19-1!  WE of course will be back at this once again next week when another 10 games will be played. As always, keep it here for all the latest!

Week 20 Predictions

1) Well, the nonsense of the Olympics are now over and we are fully back to NHL hockey once again.  To remind our readers thus far through 19 weeks we are 136-73 for a .650 winning %. There are 10 big games on the schedule so lets get started:

Washington VS Boston: Bruins

 New Jersey VS NY Islanders: Devils

 Philadelphia VS NY Rangers: Rangers

 Columbus VS Florida: Blue Jackets

 Winnipeg VS Nashville: Predators

 Tampa Bay VS Dallas: Lightning

 Los Angeles VS Carolina: Kings (Lock of the Week)

 Montreal VS Toronto: Habitants

 Chicago VS Pittsburgh: Black Hawks- (Silly out door game)

 Calgary VS Edmonton: Flames