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While analyzing last night’s Leafs/Sharks game, our friend Bill Watters was quite complimentary of the play of Luke Richardson. To be honest, Richardson didn’t do much. It may be because he left the Maple Leafs after the 2006 season.
I’ll forgive a slip of the tongue (he clearly meant Schenn), but Watters mentioned Richardson at least 3 times. Something about the arrogance displayed by Bill Watters makes me not want to forgive this.
On another Bill Watters note, I’m pretty sure that Leafs goaltender coach Francois Allaire has, at some point in his life, seriously wronged Bad Bill. Watters has some serious hate-on for Allaire, while just about everyone else in the media seems to think he’s the deity of goaltending coaches.
February-09-10 at 10:35:40 AM
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On one of the hockey shows that I listen to, Bill Watters was talking about the Olympics. As Bill does, he offered his uninformed opinion.
He claims that the Russian Olympic hockey team has no goaltending. Let’s examine some numbers.
The Russian goalies rank 5th, 8th, and 15th amongst NHL goaltenders in save percentage (Nabokov at .927, Varlamov at .924, and Bryzgalov at .919). Roberto Luongo leads the way for Team Canada with a .920 mark, followed by Brodeur at .917 and Marc-Andre Fleury at .906. Edge? Russia.
Evgeni Nabokov has long been a top NHL netminder. Semyon Varlamov is one of the top young goalies in the game, even if he has been injured for a prolonged stretch. As for Ilya Bryzgalov…well, what he’s done in Phoenix is nothing short of remarkable.
Of course, they have no goaltending.
Keep telling yourself that, Bill.
February-08-10 at 11:50:23 AM
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Nazem Kadri’s NHL career started just now. He lost the opening faceoff to Joe Thornton. It’s interesting that Kadri gets the call now, particularly with Burke on personal leave. Surely someone from the Marlies could’ve filled in for the flu victims?
February-08-10 at 11:10:00 AM
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Both Darryl Sutter and Don Waddell have taken a lot of heat recently for trading players that were once cornerstones of their franchise. It stems less from the act of trading the player and more from how it came about. Most people believe that Sutter would’ve had a far superior return for the services of Dion Phaneuf had he made it known around the league that he was available. As for Waddell, it’s pretty much unanimous that he erred by not offering teams an opportunity to negotiate a pre-trade extension with Ilya Kovalchuk, something that would’ve have upped his value
February-07-10 at 11:10:04 PM
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The New Jersey Devils were so upset with the Leafs performance on Tuesday night that they had to go out and acquire Ilya Kovalchuk. Having devastated Leafs Nation with 3 goals in the final 5 minutes last night, the Devils are now set to become a top contender in the Eastern conference. And they didn’t give up a whole lot to get it. Let’s break down the trade and look at what the Devils gave up, and what they got in return. Starting with the return, most people are starting and stopping with Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk is a top-10 NHL
February-06-10 at 3:07:29 AM
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Having had a couple of days to ponder the moves the Leafs made on Sunday, it’s time to give my thoughts on what was accomplished. First, it’s incredibly important that Leaf fans understand what’s going on here. Bob McCown (FAN590 personality) put it best when he said used the analogy of building a house. Brian Burke is laying the foundation, but it’s far too early to tell what the house is going to look like, or even if it’s going to be able to stand on it’s own. The trade with Calgary can be broken down to 3 separate trades.
February-02-10 at 11:59:25 AM
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Sportsnet Host: What do you think about Ilya Kovalchuk? Bill Watters: [long-winded speech culminating with…] I wouldn’t touch him. Sportsnet Host: What about Ray Whitney? Bill Watters: I’d touch him. I don’t doubt it Bill, not for a minute.
February-02-10 at 11:19:37 AM
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That is all.
January-31-10 at 12:22:22 PM
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The boys on TSN were talking about some potential trade opportunities coming up for the Oilers. Given their current funk (hey, they’re worse than the Leafs!), the Oilers are clearly not going anywhere. With no superstar-in-waiting, the immediate future doesn’t seem too bright either. So they discuss the obvious choices, including Fernando Pisani, Ethan Moreau, Sheldon Souray, and Steve Staios, all of whom are prime candidates for a trade. They’re too old to stick around for a serious rebuild, have reasonable contracts, and should be somewhat attractive to teams stocking up for the playoffs. Then things get crazy, as they
January-27-10 at 12:22:51 PM
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Here’s the deal with my office pool. I currently sit in the top 2 in the following categories: Goals, PIM, SHP, GAA, SV%. I’m in the bottom 4 in: A , +/-, PPP, SHO. I’m middle of the pack in goalie wins. The way I figure it, I could start benching my goalies now (Nabokov, Price, and IR’d Varlamov) and only stand to lose a few points from the wins and shutout categories. Worst case scenario, I’d drop a few points from the GAA/SV% as well, although since I’ve been rolling primarily with Nabokov only for the last 2 months,
January-26-10 at 10:41:21 AM
