posted "Wild On..." about Minnesota Wild.   April 24

Wild On...
Team placement really confuses me sometimes. I mean, how does a small market get a team back after losing a first team because it wasn't doing well? H …

posted "Leaving on a Jet Plane" about Winnipeg Jets.   April 20

Leaving on a Jet Plane
Now, let me see if I have this right, just so I know I'm being completely clear on the subject: Hockey team to Atlanta called the Flames. Flames o …

posted "Take a Bite" about Nashville Predators.   April 18

Take a Bite
The Nashville Predators have at least one thing no other team can claim: Their head coach, Barry Trotz, is currently the longest-tenured head coach in …

posted "A Roar Worse than Their Bite" about Florida Panthers.   April 17

A Roar Worse than Their Bite
There's not very much to say about the Florida Panthers. They've mostly been living an existence that's as unfortunate as it is inauspicious. This was …

posted "Ride the Lightning" about Tampa Bay Lightning.   April 16

Ride the Lightning
There's a very popular pastime in the northern United States, especially along the Rust Belt: Moving to Florida! So naturally, if you're the NHL and y …

posted "At Last! Senators Capable of Doing Things!" about Ottawa Senators.   April 14

At Last! Senators Capable of Doing Thing …
Sometimes, it's heartening to know the NHL has a vast reservoir of intelligence capable of taking care of obvious little things. Like their You Can Pl …

posted "The Real Mickey Mouse Team" about Anaheim Ducks.   April 13

The Real Mickey Mouse Team
With the exceptions of the lockouts, what we have here is the most public of the NHL's many embarrassments. It comes off as nothing but a desperate pl …

posted "Second Round Knockout" about San Jose Sharks.   April 11

Second Round Knockout
The first wave of NHL expansions ran from 1967 to 1974. Then there was the merger with the WHA in 1979. Yeah, that was an awful lot of upheaval for a …

posted "Cap Them Off" about Washington Capitals.   April 10

Cap Them Off
Washington. Oh, Washington. You look at a place like this and you think to yourself, can't these guys do ANYTHING right? Look at Congress, look at the …

posted "Devilish" about New Jersey Devils.   April 09

Devilish
Usually in sports, stories of underdog teams rising to their potential make us all warm and fuzzy inside. Then there's the New Jersey Devils of the NH …

posted "Rocking and Rolling" about Colorado Avalanche.   April 04

Rocking and Rolling
You know, I'm now officially curious as to how it is these former WHA teams followed the same rough pattern: The Winnipeg Jets, Hartford Whalers, Queb …

posted "Rock You Like a Hurricane" about Carolina Hurricanes.   April 03

Rock You Like a Hurricane
You know, there are times when I feel like we arrogant northern hockey fans have got it all wrong about this whole hockey in the south thing started b …

posted "A Dynasty of Drillers" about Edmonton Oilers.   March 28

A Dynasty of Drillers
The big cities usually dominate the professional sports markets. If there's a smaller town lucky enough to be blessed with a major league team, it's a …

posted "Hot as Fire, Cool as Ice" about Calgary Flames.   March 27

Hot as Fire, Cool as Ice
Fire and ice. A greater contrast between two elements doesn't exist. It's difficult to fathom any situation where the two of them might be peanut butt …

posted "Lost on an Island" about New York Islanders.   March 26

Lost on an Island
Among the inescapable facts of life are death, taxes, and New York City sports fans having a serious sense of entitlement. Maybe the New York Islander …

posted "The Other Canadians Team" about Vancouver Canucks.   March 24

The Other Canadians Team
You know the Vancouver Canucks. Oh, you KNOW the Vancouver Canucks. You've been hearing about them everywhere. Robin from How I Met Your Mother is a h …

posted "Desert Dogs Who Need Bones" about Phoenix Coyotes.   March 23

Desert Dogs Who Need Bones
I'm going to take a brief moment right now to do something I don't ordinarily do in my hockey-related musings: Give NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman some …

posted "Flying High Again" about Philadelphia Flyers.   March 21

Flying High Again
Yeah, we all know those famous stories revolving around Philadelphia fandom. Aren't these the fans that booed Santa Claus some 40-odd years ago? The g …

posted "The Chosen Frozen" about Pittsburgh Penguins.   March 20

The Chosen Frozen
All fans of the NHL know that the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins can be nicely and evenly divvied up into two separate eras: The Before Era and Th …

posted "Crown Them" about Los Angeles Kings.   March 06

Crown Them
There are three NHL teams in California. Yes, I know the thought is pretty weird, but then again, so is the state of California, or at least that's ho …

posted "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars" about Dallas Stars.   March 02

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars
I can clearly remember when the Stars were given to Dallas. It was the first time I ever started giving thought to NHL politics, because I was questio …

posted "On Winged Wheels" about Detroit Red Wings.   February 28

On Winged Wheels
Poor Detroit is on the receiving end of a lot of bad things these days. It's the most impoverished city in the country. It's the most violent city in …

posted "Falling Leafs" about Toronto Maple Leafs.   February 26

Falling Leafs
It had been a long time in the making, but in 2008, the Toronto Maple Leafs finally did it. Led by Darren Roanoke, they overcame the long odds and won …

posted "Blueshirted" about New York Rangers.   February 22

Blueshirted
New York City is to baseball as Nebraska is to corn. Hockey is a whole other matter.     When the NHL decided it should probably t …

posted "Big and Bad" about Boston Bruins.   February 16

Big and Bad
Sooooo…. Does anyone really feel sorry for "OWAH SPOTS TEAMS-ER ARE-AH MOAH TAH-CHAHED THAN YOUR-AH SPOTS TEAMS-ER!" Boston anymore? Nah, I thought no …

posted ""To You From Falling Hands We Throw the Torch. Be Yours to Hold it High."" about Montreal Canadiens.   February 14

"To You From Falling Hands We Throw the …
We all know Canada is, along with Scotland, one of the most important ancestral homes of hockey. It's where the game as we've come to know it …

posted "Commit to the Indian" about Chicago Blackhawks.   February 13

Commit to the Indian
Looking at a list of NHL teams, one can't help but wonder: Where are all the teams in the pacific northwest? It seems like a perfectly natural area fo …

posted "The Ohio State Blue Jackets" about Columbus Blue Jackets.   February 12

The Ohio State Blue Jackets
So its come down to this: There is actually an NHL team residing in Columbus, Ohio. How did this happen? Did Gary Bettman think this was just an untap …

posted "Sabre Dance" about Buffalo Sabres.   February 09

Sabre Dance
The National Hockey League in Buffalo. Now really, this should have been obvious right from the very beginning. Buffalo is still known as one of Ameri …

posted the Quick Tip, "Welcome to the greatest sport on Earth. You take a bunch of guys, put them in ice skates, give them ...", on the topic Ice Hockey.   February 04