Despite the fact that the Blues have catapulted themselves into the upper echelons of NHL teams this season, their ownership is still in tumultuous territory. Numerous deadlines have come and gone with still no ownership in place. One can easily poke around the web for the reports on this, but to summarize, the Blues still do not have an owner, Tom Stillman and his group have not finalized their purchase agreement, and the NHL (as of right now) runs the Blues. This is very similar to the situation that the Phoenix Coyotes have found themselves in the past several seasons.

However, there are two main differences between St. Louis and Phoenix. One is that the Blues play in a much more stable market that has proven it can support an NHL team. The Blues have sold out nearly all of their home games the past two seasons and ratings are up for Fox Sports Midwest games. The lack of ownership can also be attributed to the fact that former minority owner David Checketts and head of the group backed by Towerbrook Capitol was initially asking too high of a price and was also seeking to remain in control of the team even though he would have a minority stake in the team; not a good stance (you can buy the team and spend the majority of the money, but I’m still the boss; not happening). The other factor delaying the sale process can be traced back to the fact that Matthew Hulsizer took way too long to finalize his purchase agreement, which was finally shot down by the NHL right after the New Year.

The other difference between the Blues and Coyotes is that the Blues have dominated the NHL this year. Not to take anything away from the Coyotes’ recent success in leading their division, but there is a slight difference in being tied for 75 points for the top spot in the Pacific (for the 1^st time all season) with Dallas in one of the weakest divisions in the NHL versus being at or near the top of the entire NHL standings all season. Yes, the Blues will have to win a playoff round or two before they can be included in discussions of elite teams that include the Bruins, Redwings, Blackhawks, and Canucks, but it’s safe to say that the Blues are an elite team.

I met with former Blues forward and Coyotes color analyst Tyson Nash back in January. The ownership situation is weighing very heavily on the Coyotes, particularly the staff and players’ wives. When you’re a player, you’re on the ice and with the team the majority of the time so there’s little to no time to ponder the future and or worry about it. If you’re an arena vendor, mother of children in school that will have to be uprooted, or an equipment technician whose born and bred in Arizona, it’s a different story. Whether it’s Kansas City, Seattle, Las Vegas, or (most likely) Quebec City, the writing is on the wall that there is not going to be an owner willing to sink millions of dollars into an NHL team in a non-NHL market. However, in St. Louis there is a different breed of optimism. This problem can and will be solved very soon as there will be no shortage of suitors to buy the team if Tom Stillman’s group cannot come up with the financing in a timely manner.

The tail spinning Blackhawks finally put an end to their nine game winless skid last night at Madison Square Garden. They jumped out to a quick 4–0 lead against the Rangers with a penalty shot, a screen shot, and two breakaway goals all in the first few minutes. Although it was against back up goalie Martin Biron (and the sarcastic MSG crowd started chanting “Henrik! Henrik!” after the second goal), I highly doubt Lundqvist stood a chance on any of the shots. Being the typical media frenzy that ensues at MSG, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was asked, “Who do you pick to win the Jack Adams (coach of the year) award?” by an MSG network broadcaster. “That man behind the Rangers’ bench” as he signaled towards Rangers coach John Tortorella.

The Rangers are one point behind NHL leading Detroit with 79 points. Not too shabby. What Quenneville may have forgotten though is that unlike the Rangers, the Blues don’t have the luxury to spend to the salary cap ceiling, bury horrible contracts in the minors (Redden), or pass of bad contracts to other teams (see Roszival, Gomez). The Blues are (technically) over the salary floor for the first time all season now that they have a nearly healthy line up for the first time. Even more important than payroll though is the fact that the Blues don’t get to play six games a season against the AHL Islanders or over a dozen games against teams like Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Winnipeg, and the rebuilding Senators. The Columbus Blue Jackets are the only team in the Western Conference that you should be embarrassed about losing to. After Tuesday’s embarrassment, the Blues answered the call by ringing up five goals last night, albeit in come from behind fashion.

So what does this all mean? If the Jack Adams award is truly based on coaching and coaching alone, the award goes to Ken Hitchcock. The Blues have dealt with more injuries, less payroll, and much stiffer competition than the Rangers. However, as most sports fans know, all leagues favor large market teams, so don’t’ be surprised to see Tortorella or NHL bosom buddy Mike Babcock take it home.

The answer is yes. Signing Brian Elliot to a $600,000 two-way deal was a great move as the Blues gained an all star and did not have to sacrifice any assets. It was a minor blip on the radar in the free agency period last summer but it’s panned out wonderfully to this point. What they lost in free agency though was Ty Conklin. This sounds like nothing at first.

I don’t have cable, so all I watch is hockey and the (bad) news. In watching the Phoenix Coyotes, one thing that makes them a different team is goaltender Mike Smith’s ability to move the puck. Any time the Coyotes are on the powerplay and the opposing team clears the puck, Smith is far out of the crease looking to catch the opposing teams’ penalty killers in a line change. Whenever opposing teams casually flip the puck into the Coyotes’ zone, he comes way out of his crease to play it. It’s like having a third defenseman back there. Although Phoenix is one of only two teams in the entire NHL with a worse powerplay than the Blues, this aspect of their game puts other teams on edge. There is never a safe dump in when he’s in the crease. Although keeping the puck out of the net is a goalie’s primary job (and Halak and Elliot have been amazing at it this year), this is one area of the game where Ty Conklin is missed. Elliot and Halak are virtually lost and have virtually no confidence anytime they play the puck. Flipping the puck off the boards and up either side seems to be enough of a task in itself, let alone hitting a player with a pass that generates a rush. The trapezoid rule has kept guys like Brodeur and Turco from not only shutting down other teams’ forecheck, it has also kept them from piling up assists

Among the 16 teams that are currently in the playoff picture, not one of them has as bad of a powerplay as the St. Louis Blues. If the Blues want to go anywhere in the post season, this is going to have to improve. Although it is nowhere near a solution, having a goalie that can move the puck with confidence is one aspect of the game that can and will help. Having a second powerplay unit that doesn’t resemble five strangers at a stick and puck session would go a long way as well.

Han-D’men

The only other team with a better record in November than the St. Louis Blues was the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. Why? One of the primary reasons is coach Hitchcock’s implementation of a fast moving defense. When moving the puck out of the defensive zone, it is imperative that the defensemen have a good angle to either pass the puck or bank it off the boards and out of the defensive zone with minimal time dealing with the puck. Defensemen are under constant pressure from opposing forwards in the defensive zone and have to be very decisive and quick to act. Since defensemen play in pairs of two and are the last players back in their own zone (ie; closest to the goalie), they are the last line of defense. Literally.

If you’re on the right side of the ice and are left handed, you have to settle the puck and turn to get 100% on your outbound pass or bank shot. This takes a split second. A lot can happen in hockey in a split second. Same goes for being right handed on the left side; since there is more ice to your right and the natural direction/flow of your outbound pass is going to be to the left 2/3 of the ice in front of you, this poses a problem as the left wall is right there. Just as it is difficult for left handed defensemen on the right side, it is equally as difficult for right handed defensemen on the left side.

It is just as beneficial in the offensive zone for right-handed defensemen to be on the right side and left handed defensemen to be on the left side. How many times have you seen the puck come up the boards to the blueline and when it gets to the defenseman (if he’s left handed), he has to settle the puck on his back hand, move it to his forehand, and then put it on goal? Probably not many because by the time he settles the puck on his backhand and moves it to his forehand, the opposing forwards are probably already rushing him or are ready to take his head off since he’s been farting around with the puck for so long (.6 seconds is a LONG TIME in the NHL). That’s why they usually end up flipping the puck back down low in the offensive zone creating a foot race elsewhere.

For those of you Blues fans who are older than age ten, you can remember the mighty right handed shot from defenseman Al MacInnis. Not only did he have a cannon of a shot (that broke Chris Osgood’s hand on a glove save one time btw), he was right handed so he could immediately flip the puck either on net or down low into the zone without having to settle it. The fact that nearly 70% of all NHL players play left handed and that roughly one third of the skaters in the NHL are defensemen, you can see where this poses a problem for most teams. The St. Louis Blues are not most teams. Alex Pietrangelo, Roman Polak, and Kevin Shattenkirk are all right handed shots and by no coincidence play on the right side. Their quick transition out of their own zone and ability to create sustained offensive pressure is a direct result of having right-handed shots on the right side.

The Blues have made a tradition of firing coaches over the past few years. In 2004 the Blues were riding goalie Brent Johnson into the ground as they were risking their first spring of being outside of the playoff picture in 24 years. Although more than half of the teams’ payroll was invested in an underachieving top power play unit (Demitra, Tkachuk, Weight, MacInnis, and Pronger) and the majority of the rest of the roster was made up of AHLers (Eric Nicklaus anyone?), coach Joel Quenneville got the short haircut and was fired in February 2004 with 21 games left on the schedule.

Enter Mike Kitchen. Kitchen coached the Blues into the playoffs, through their first round playoff loss to the Sharks that spring, through the dismal 2005-2006 season following the lockout in which the Blues ended up with the first overall pick (Erik Johnson), and 28 games into the 2006-2007 season before he was fired after an embarrassing loss to Detoit on Brett Hull night. His 7-17 record may have been more to blame than the thud against Detroit.

Enter Andy Murray. Murray was a no-nonsense hard-nosed North American style coach that emphasized airtight defense and checking. He went on to lead the Blues to a miraculous run to the playoffs for the first time in several years as the Blues were swept by the Canucks in the opening round. After a promising sweep of the hated Redwings in Stockholm to start the season, the team never found it’s rhythm and he was fired following the announcement of the team USA 2010 Olympic roster at the Winter Classic at Fenway Park. One of the biggest knocks on Murray was that he over prepared everyone. Players were constantly having to skate back to the bench for shift changes (sometimes 20-30 second shifts) in order to get the match ups he wanted. Like Tony LaRussa, Murray knew what he wanted for every imaginable kind of situation and did his best to execute. Unlike Tony LaRussa, Murray does not have any championships on his resume nor the decades of experience. With a roster full of young up and coming players, the Blues felt that having a hard nosed old school of coach wasn’t the best route to take.

Enter Davis Payne. He did the best with what he had, but it wasn’t enough to reach the playoffs that year. The following season (2010-2011) was marred with the worst rash of injuries I’ve ever seen any team suffer for a season. The Blues top powerplay unit was sidelined for over half of the season and once again, the team floundered and did not make the playoffs. Payne was hardly to blame. As this season skid to a 6-7 start, Blues GM Doug Armstrong relieved Payne of his duties on Sunday. Enter Ken Hitchcock. More on him later in the week.

During the NHL lockout of 2004-2005, Brendan Shannahan and the NHL’s competition committee got together at a rink in suburban Toronto to run scrimmages and experiment with several potential rule changes. The purpose was to investigate ways to get away from the New Jersey/Minnesota style clutch-and-grab sleepwalk hockey that killed the NHL’s ratings and drove defensive centers’ salaries over $9,000,000 (Bobby Holik anyone?). Even though the lockout was in full swing and NHLPA spokesman Bob Goodenow and commissioner Gary Bettman were jousting with more ferocity than Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have been lately, Shannahan and the committee plowed ahead as if there was going to be hockey. The blue line was moved two feet back and the red goal line was moved two feet the other direction, thus giving the offensive zone four more feet of space. The trapezoid was created to prevent goalies like Marty Turco and Martin Brodeur from moving the puck and killing opposing teams’ fore checks. The much-loathed shootout was instilled as a way to create a winner for every game and eliminate the equally (or more) loathed tie. Aside from the annual omen of cracking down on obstruction hooking, the last rule change was that players must stay on the ice after they iced the puck.

At the time, the icing rule seemed like just another minor tweak that would benefit the game. However, former Blues coach Joel Quennville was interviewed just prior to the start of the 2005-2006 season and stated that the new rule was going to be the biggest difference maker in the game.

Midway through the second period of the Blues and Hurricanes game last night, the Blues were stuck in their own zone. In his first game returning from a concussion, Blues defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo was clearly out of gas as were the other four Blues players on the ice. Carolina was cycling the puck and at one point the Blues almost cleared the zone, but veteran Blues forward Alex Steen turned the puck over at the blue line and Carolina kept coming. Not only did they keep coming, they had just completed a partial line change. While they had possession of the puck low in the zone, they finished their line change and had five fresh players on the ice. The Blues players had been on the ice for over 90 seconds. An average NHL shift is 45 to 50 seconds. The Blues were in serious trouble because the game was two to one at the time and Carolina could have easily put the game out of reach. Davis Payne waited as long as possible to call time out and nearly missed it, but that was the defining moment of last night’s win. Yes, Dagostini had an excellent game winner off of a defensive misread, but the game would have been over with another one in the “L” column five minutes earlier if the Blues didn’t dodge a bullet halfway through the second.

While watching hockey, I often hear commentators say, “He had him beat but he hit the crossbar/post” whenever a shot rings off of the metal. This is not just coming from Blues commentators John Kelly and Darren Pang; this is across the board with any Fox Sports, Comcast, MSG, and even Rogers Sports or CBC broadcasters. The problem is that it is simply not a true statement. The puck has to entirely cross the goal line in order to be awarded as a goal per the NHL’s rules for goals. Therefore, if the puck doesn’t go in, the shooter did not beat the goaltender, plain and simple. This is why a shot that hits the crossbar/post is not considered a shot on goal.

Goaltenders have a complex algorithm in which they are constantly processing the distance they are out from the net in proportion to how far the shooter is, what angle the shooter is shooting from, whether or not the shooter is flicking the puck on net with a wrist shot vs teeing up for a slapshot, where the rebound may go, and probably many other factors that the rest of us just are not aware of. In other words, NHL caliber goalies are aware (down to the centimeter) as to how much net the shooter has to shoot at, so it is a moot point to state that, “He had him beat but the crossbar/post saved him”. If that were the logic, we can say that we almost won the lottery every time we get a losing scratch off ticket or that we avoided certain death every time we safely fly.

After giving up five goals on 32 shots, pundits were quick to jump on goaltender Jaroslav Halak. For those of you in need of an algebra tune up, his save percentage breaks down like this;

5 goals / 32 shots = x / 100

32 shots times x = 500

500 divided by 32 = 15.625, which = x

Take 100 (shots faced) and subtract 15.625 (avg amount of goals that went in if his shot total were rounded up to 100) and you have a save percentage of 84.375%. www.nhl.com rounded it up to 84.4%. For pee wee or bantam hockey, that wouldn’t be bad, but in the NHL, anything below 90%, or more likely 91.5% is considered sub-par for the greatest league in the world. So when looking at the numbers, it is easy to say “Halak is fighting the puck” or “Halak is not what he’s cracked up to be.”

Although the numbers don’t lie, Legwand’s goal that put Nashville up two to one in the third period came off of a deflection off Blues defenseman Nikita Nikitin’s right knee. Halak was square to the shooter and wasn’t too far back in his net. Unless he was already in front of the puck, it was going to go in. Even Waah wouldn’t have stopped that in the 90’s. The game winner by Klein came as Nikitin had accidentally screened Halak. Halak was square to the shooter, until Chris Stewart and Nikitin blocked his visual path which is by no coincidence, when Kevin Klein wristed a shot over Halak for the game winner. I personally give credit to Klein for sidestepping Chris Stewart and waiting until he had a perfect screen and putting the puck in an area the size of a lava lamp.

Although a win is a win and a loss is a loss, I can’t put the blame on Halak for those. Legwand’s luck and Klein’s skill were the deciding factors. With a light schedule for the next three weeks of the season, I expect Halak to get the majority of the starts and shake off whatever rust he may have accumulated.

I was at a friends’ house my sophomore year of high school and the Blues game was on. They were playing the Winnipeg Jets. My family is not a hockey family by any means, so my exposure to the sport was very limited at the time. However, I went to a different high school than my older siblings that boasted a great hockey program in which many of my friends played and I was a regular rink rat every weekend. Brendan Shannahan, whom I knew was a star player, took a stick from Keith Tkachuk in the face in the first period and nearly got his lip nearly ripped off. It was agonizing to watch, even on channel 11’s pixilated screen circa early 1990’s. After getting a series of stitches and missing the second period, Shannahan returned in the third to (not only) play with an extra nostril, but also score two goals, then hunt down Tkachuk and completely jump him. This was justice in the purest form.

Years later I became an avid fan and like many St. Louis Blues fans, I loathed the Redwings when they came to town. I still do. However, I couldn’t muster up the traditional hatred for Shannahan since if it weren’t for him, I probably wouldn’t be a hockey fan to this day. I recall seeing a woman at Savvis Centre with a Shannahan jersey that was half a Detroit and half a St. Louis jersey stitched together. The fact that he fetched Chris Pronger (MVP and Norris trophy winner while a Blue) made it a bit easier to deal with his departure whereas seeing Brett Hull wearing the winged wheel was something like seeing your dad wearing a dress.

Anyway, when looking at Colin Campbell’s (recent former NHL senior vice president and director of hockey operations) method for administering justice for illegal hits and other infractions, there was a lot of grey area. Grey would be a colorful way to put it. There was little to no explanation for his decisions and he was virtually mum on the topic as he often refused press conferences or press releases. His disciplinary method was something like this; www.nhlwheelofjustice.com. While that can be a lot of fun, Brendan Shannahan’s technique of posting videos at http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=60&id=125539 offers a clear and concise explanation about the who, what, where, when, and why of every suspension. Although I don’t expect him to get everything right, it’s good to know that there is a transparent person at the top making logical decisions. I’ve watched every video posted so far in the preseason and I am yet to find anything objectionable. The fact that the NHL’s top star (Sidney Crosby) has been sidelined since January 1 with a concussion along with quite a few other well-known NHL players (David Perron, Marc Savard, and Mark Staal) has probably weighed on either Shannahan or Bettman’s (NHL Commisioner) decision to post the videos. In an age where youtube can get you more stardom than MTV, it is a good idea for the NHL to integrate this newer form of media into their justice system.

Conference Realignment

Even though they were only three months in to their existence, too bad that the Atlanta Thrashers (RIP) didn’t move to Winnipeg prior to the turn of the millennium in 1999-2000. If they did, Thrashers GM Rick Dudley could have flown around the world and celebrated the turn of the new year in every time zone on frequent flier miles alone. If I am the GM of any team in the southeast division, especially Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff, I am making sure that all of my frequent flier paper work is in order prior to puck dropping on the upcoming 2011-2012 season.

As the Atlanta Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg marked the second time that an NHL franchise has left Hotlanta for western Canada, the NHL was caught flat-footed in an attempt to realign the conferences and divisions in time for scheduling of the upcoming season. Thus leaving the Jets no option but to play in the eastern conference’s southeast division despite the fact that it’s nearest divisional opponent is nearly 1,500 miles away and it’s furthest is over 2,200 miles away. Although players, media, and coaches may complain about the travel schedule, their flights are chartered so there is no waiting around at airports except due to weather delays. They have people carry their bags. They are picked up in nice vans for all transportation purposes. They stay in the nicest hotels. Every meal is catered (and is probably top notch food). Throw in the fact that they have massage therapists on call any time any part of their body feels sore, as a musician who has zig zagged the continent sleeping on couches, eating bar food, playing in smoky clubs (remember those days?), and carrying heavy music equipment, I personally don’t feel too bad for them.

As I write this, all 30 NHL GMs and Commissioner Gary Bettman are at the board of governor’s meeting a few subway stops away in midtown Manhattan. What is the primary topic? Conference realignment. So lets take a look at the 2012-2013 season. The most logical move would be to move Nashville into the southeast division to take Atlanta’s spot, and move Minnesota to the Central so Winnipeg can take their spot in the northwest. However, in a league run by Gary Bettman, one can expect anything but logic. The Detroit Redwings, champions of complaint, have publicly expressed their strong desire to play in the Eastern Time zone, as their unemployed fans don’t like to stay up late and watch the Wings play out west. Although the BJs and Predators are also in the Eastern Time zone and have expressed interest to play in the east, I can’t see Bettman giving such small market teams anything but the GOP treatment; “Oh you have an idea – NO. What is your idea?”

What could be the best solution? TSN, Faceoff.com, and several other Canadian media outlets have been leaking “insider” information since the announcement of Atlanta’s move that the conferences will be divided into two divisions, each with seven or eight teams. Each team would play teams in their division five to six times, conference opponents twice, and cross conference teams one to two times. What are your thoughts and/or proposals?