Last night was pretty crazy, eh? Not only did the Habs steal a game from Boston on the road, but Calgary reneged on a Bruins-Flames Jarome Iginla trade, opting to send the winger to Pittsburgh instead. Boston blew a two-goal lead, lost first place in the division, and lost their consolation prize all in a matter of hours! I know schadenfreude is a poor quality, but I can’t help but smile at this level of Bruins-related misfortune. Needless to say, I’m pretty pumped. Here are some links to keep the good times rolling:
Habs News and Analysis
- With no game until Saturday and a day off today, there’s extremely little roster news (or Habs news, for that matter) to report. We can send our congratulations to P.K. Subban and Brendan Gallagher, though, both of whom scored their 10th goals of the season last night. The Habs now have five players – Ryder, Gionta, Subban, Gallagher, and Plekanec – with double digit goal totals on the season. Gallagher and Plekanec lead the team with 9 and 8 EV goals respectively.
- Here’s a recap of last night’s action from CBS Sports. Tuukka Rask called the loss “heartbreaking” while Peter Budaj and Brendan Gallagher describe the game as a “character” win.
General News and Analysis
- Today’s links centre around Pittsburgh’s acquisition of Jarome Iginla. I know you’ve likely seen it before, but here are the details: the Flames send their 36-year-old captain and his expiring $7 million cap hit to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Yale forward Kenneth Agostino, St. Cloud State forward Ben Hanowski, and Pittsburgh’s first-round pick at the 2013 draft. Iginla leaves the Flames with 10.56 even strength (zone-start adjusted) shots per 60, good for first on the team and 33rd in the league. His possession numbers are not great, though. He ranks 13th on the Flames in CorsiFor% and with off-ice possession numbers greater than on-ice possession numbers. As for the return, Hockey’s Future ranks the newly acquired Agostino and Hanowski as Calgary’s 3rd and 4th best left wing prospects.
- There’s been a lot of reaction to the deal. Penguins fans seem to be jubilant and Boston fans seem disappointed. Meanwhile, Flames fans seem to move freely between fond recollection and general displeasure, often holding the two emotions simultaneously.
- Speaking of displeasure, after the Dennis Wideman overpayment, the disastrous Ryan O’Reilly offer sheet, and the poor rationale given for trading Jarome Iginla, Justin Azevedo of Matchsticks and Gasoline is pretty upset with Calgary’s management team.
- At the time of writing, CBC Sports was running Iginla’s farewell news conference on this webpage. If the video isn’t up anymore, there should be an article.
- CBC’s Tim Wharnsby has a brief retrospective of Jarome Iginla’s career, starting with the Edmonton native’s “back-to-back Memorial Cup titles with the Kamloops Blazers in 1994 and 1995.”
- As if you haven’t had enough, here’s some more Flames-related news. Yesterday, Mike Keenan openly admitted to cap circumvention. He stated that the contract he signed with Mika Kiprusoff in October 2007 was inked with an understanding that Kiprusoff would not play in his final year of the deal. Tyler Dellow has the scoop.
- Copper ‘n’ Blue’s Michael Parkatti takes a look at the best and worst possession teams of the last five years using EV Corsi percentage. By this measure, the 2013 Edmonton Oilers and 2013 Toronto Maple Leafs join the 2008 Atlanta Thrashers, the 2012 Minnesota Wild, the 2011 Anaheim Ducks and the 2010 Florida Panthers as the six worst possession teams of the last half decade. Meanwhile, the 2013 Montreal Canadiens are listed as one of the 25 best possession teams of the same period, with the 2008 Detroit Red Wings and 2013 Los Angeles Kings finding themselves in the top two spots.
- Shifting gears entirely, Lighthouse Hockey’s PGI answers a question we’ve all asked at some point this season: how would 76er Kwame Brown fit into the Flyer’s lineup?
- Graeme Nichols over at the 6th Sens provides the commentary for Eugene Melnyk’s latest (and greatest) radio interview. In this gem, “the Euge” talks about African mixed martial arts (!), how you can’t eliminate fighting because hockey players “have too much testosterone in them,” and the forensic case he’s building against Matt Cooke. I don’t know about you guys, but I find Melnyk endearingly ridiculous.
Archive Material and EOTP News
- I honour of Crosby and Iginla joining forces again, here’s the “Golden Goal” from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as seen on five different telecasts.
