colintimberlake.comTell her it wasn’t you…

It seems like there are too many people these days sitting at home with a copy of Windows Moviemaker and the ability to capture snippets of YouTube video. The result, more often than not, is some choppy random collage of meaningless images put over some Nickelback song or the Rocky theme, usually to the detriment of the footage and the music.

In this case, a fan went and did right by Minnesota / Dallas hockey legend Mike Modano.

From his humble beginnings as a nervous teenager selected 1st overall in the 1988 NHL entry draft, through to his becoming the most prolific and successful American-born hockey player in the history of the league, Fan X did an admirable job of selecting the right clips, timing the editing and selecting the music. Enjoy some highlights of one of the all-time NHL greats.

Well, I posted recently on the greatness of Bryan Trottier and included the video that the Hockey Hall of Fame put together on his legendary career. But for those who weren’t watching carefully at the time, it may not have been evident that Trottier was as competitive as any, and that mean streak made its way into his on-ice trash talk.

Let’s just say that while he didn’t make any references to “sloppy seconds” (a la Sean Avery), he did coin a fresh term as he and teammate Kevin Stevens tore a stripe off of Minnesota North Stars legend Brian Bellows in the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals. As fantastic as the heckling is, I wonder if Bellows would really be that insulted. Could it be taken as a compliment for any self-respecting hockey player?

The Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1991 and in the following year. Trottier was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame with 1,425 career points (and 184 in the playoffs). But it has been often overlooked that Bellows had a pretty spectacular career of his own. He retired in 1999 with 1,022 career points (and 122 in the playoffs), including a career year with 55 goals and 99 points in 1989-90.

Two players with Hall of Fame skills, but only one with a Hall of Fame mouth!

The following video is a montage that was put together by the Hockey Fall of Fame to honor the induction of New York Islanders great Bryan Trottier.

Trottier combined a rare level of talent and finesse with an abrasive physical game that earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP), Art Ross Trophy (top scorer) and Hart Trophy (league MVP) in a career that saw his name engraved on the Stanley Cup six times: four times with the legendary Islanders dynasty, and twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins. For these final two cups, the former scoring prodigy had remolded himself into a grizzled defensive forward, specializing in shutting down the opposing team’s top offensive talents.

He finished his career with an astounding 1,425 points, to which he added 184 in the playoffs.

The following clip is simply a video that was put together by the New York Islanders organization to commemorate and honor the career of one of their greatest stars, Hall of Famer Mike Bossy. The man was only the second player in NHL history to score 50 goals in 50 games, to which he added the Conn Smythe, Lady Byng and Calder trophies.

Bossy retired with the best goals-per-game average in the history of hockey, a mark that he still holds. One of the classiest players in the history of the game was rightfully the recipient of a classy gesture on the part of one of hockey’s great organizations.

There are only two jerseys retired in the Vancouver Canucks organization, with #12 Stan Smyl and #16 Trevor Linden having made unparalleled contributions to the leadership of the hockey club.

But when the discussion turns to any other players who might warrant the honor, the names thrown around are typically Markus Naslund (#19), Cliff Ronning (#7) and Doug Lidster (#3). The former Canucks captain set the club record for points by a defenseman in a single season (63) in the mid-1980s, a record that still stands. He is also arguably the most talented and graceful skater ever to lace up the skates in Vancouver.

He played for the Canucks from 1983 through 1993, before finishing up his career with the New York Rangers and Dallas Stars, where he contributed to a pair of Stanley Cups. These made for some lofty accomplishments for a player who was drafted 133rd overall (7th round) in 1980 and didn’t don an NHL jersey until three years later.

But his NHL career was sandwiched by two stints with the Canadian National Team, where he played 66 games in 1983-84, and then another 38 in 1998-99. Over these 104 games, he scored 47 points in international competition.

In recent years, Lidster has taken to coaching, with stints as an assistant with Medicine Hat in the WHL, and as a head coach with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. Of particular note is that he will be serving Canada again with his hockey expertise, this time as a coach. Lidster has signed on to coach the Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team at the 2010 games in Vancouver, providing another opportunity for one of the Canucks’ all time greats to put on a familiar display of leadership and patriotism.

As if a go-around with both colon and liver cancer weren’t enough, it was made public today that the man who inspired many by coming back to coaching after facing off against cancer…is going to have to do it again.

The former cop and junior hockey player has been named the NHL coach of the year three separate times (1989, 1993 and 1998). He has added a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils (2003) and appeared in the finals one other time with the Montreal Canadiens (1989).

It is pretty safe to say that a man with his credentials rightly belongs in the Hockey Hall of Fame, as one of the great coaches of the modern era. The hockey world is undoubtedly wishing him the best and standing in his corner as he prepares to battle once again with one of the world’s most fearsome villains.

This man is one of the greats and he’s already proven he’s a fighter. The greats always have another round left in them.

I heard an interesting discussion today, in which a change to the NHL rules was proposed. It struck me as a decent idea and it pretty much went as follows:

if a player on Team A is interfered with on a breakaway against Team B, the rules presently call for a penalty shot for Team A. Given that Team A has been the wronged party, and a penalty shot has been historically considered a more valuable opportunity, why not give the coach of Team A the opportunity to decline the penalty shot and take a power play (2 minute minor to Team B) instead?

The idea makes some sense for several reasons. First, the penalty shot was once revered as the rarest and most special moment in hockey. But in recent years, they have not only become more common, but have almost completely lost their novelty due to the advent of shootouts when a game remains tied after overtime. In these games, viewers are treated to a minimum of six penalty shots, and sometimes more than twenty. Penalty shots just aren’t that special anymore.

Second, as Team A is the wronged party, there is an inherent justice in giving them the option to choose the remedy of their liking.

And third, it would implement a new element of strategy into coaching at the NHL level. Opting for the two minute minor could allow the coach to drain the opposing team’s penalty killers and keep opposing prolific scorers (who rarely kill penalties) on the bench.

Finally, it could increase scoring and excitement, especially if the “penalty shot infraction” occurred while Team A was already on a 5-on-4 power play. While a penalty shot results in one great scoring chance, goaltenders typically stop two-thirds of penalty shots (or more). With a two minute power play (and especially a 5-on-3) there could be an array of scoring chances, depending on Team A’s power play proficiency.

On the other hand, a penalty shot is (in its way) the perfect retribution. What was lost due to the infraction was a breakaway for Team A. Team A had a breakaway, which was illegally foiled by Team A. The solution? A breakaway (penalty shot). While a two-minute minor may also be a suitable remedy, a penalty shot is an almost-exact replica of the opportunity that was lost due to the infraction.

Despite having a career and some single-season achievements that wouldn’t leave him out of place in preliminary Hall of Fame discussions, few hockey fans seem to even remember the name of Dennis Maruk, one of the most prolific scorers of the early 1980s.

It certainly didn’t help matters that, of the four NHL teams for which he played, three of them no longer exist: the California Seals, Cleveland Barons and Minnesota North Stars. However, in his five seasons with the Washington Capitals, Maruk never had a season with less than a point per game. He had 80 or more points in four, 90 or more in three, and his finest season remains one of the best seasons in NHL history by any player.

In 1981-82, Maruk scored 60 goals and 76 assists for an astounding 136 points. The number of players in NHL history who have scored either 60 goals or 130 points in a single season (much less both) is indeed quite an exclusive club.

Maruk had two stints with the North Stars, though the first in the late 1970s lasted only two games. After four strong seasons in Minnesota in the mid-1980s, his career quickly fizzled out with a combined 28 games played in his final two years with the team, to which was added a five-game run with Kalamazoo of the IHL.

The light that burned twice as bright burned half as long, but Dennis Maruk had left his mark on the scoring books of the NHL. He retired after the 1988-89 season with career totals of 878 points in only 888 games.

It seems that fairly regularly people are complaining that the standards for the Hockey Hall of Fame are set too low, that too many former players are being inducted.

Well, setting aside for the moment that there are a wide array of stellar players since the 1970s who have been passed over, and that it took forever for a player like Glenn Anderson to finally be enshrined, and I have to take issue with that statement as it relates to players of the modern era.

Be that as it may, I have to do a double take and shake my head when I actually hear some people citing Bernie Federko as an example of how the Hall of Fame’s standards have fallen too low. No, I am not joking. There are actually people out there making this argument. Bernie Federko, of all people.

Now, I don’t think the Hall of Fame really needs me to back its decisions to induct various members of the hockey elite. But there is something fishy when Bernie Federko is being used as an example of insufficiently high standards. Indeed, if the bar is going to be set at a level where Bernie Federko misses the cut, we are going to see some pretty spectacular players out in the cold when it comes to future Hall of Fame inductions.

Leave Bernie alone!

Federko is a St. Louis legend where, in the pre-Brett-Hull-and-Adam-Oates era, he singlehandedly was the St. Louis Blues offense. Thirteen of his fourteen seasons were played with the Blues, with Federko breaking the 100-point-barrier in four of them. He enjoyed eight consecutive seasons with over 80 points, and eleven straight with over a point-a-game. He did all of this in an era where the most offensively gifted member of his supporting cast was Brian Sutter.

His #24 jersey hangs in the St. Louis rafters, and despite playing for the Blues in an era where they were not particularly successful in the playoffs, he accumulated 101 points in 91 playoff games. He finished with career regular season totals of 1130 points in 1000 games.

All of this followed a spectacular junior hockey career where, in his final season with the Saskatoon Blades, he scored 72 goals and 187 points in 72 games (with 45 points in 20 playoff games that year).

Bernie Federko is now part of the St. Louis Blues broadcast team, and a rightful member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. Wherever the line is going to be drawn for induction criteria, it should be set somewhere south of Bernie Federko, not above him.

Leave Bernie alone! You’re lucky he even performs for you bastards!

To the new generation of hockey fans, Doug Wilson may be known simply as the young-looking GM of the San Jose Sharks, the man who looks a bit like Bob Saget and built that team into an NHL powerhouse.

They may not be aware that he was the first captain of the Sharks, one of the last men in the NHL to play without a helmet, that only Paul Coffey and Bobby Orr have ever scored more goals in a season as a defenseman, and that he won the 1982 Norris Trophy as the best defenseman in the NHL.

With all the talk these days that the standards for the Hockey Hall of Fame are too low (something with which I have an issue, at least with respect to post-1970 NHL players) it is astounding that each year, when the list of eligible players and injustices are thrown around in the media, we scarcely hear the name “Doug Wilson.”

And while it should not automatically guarantee one’s place in the Hall of Fame, a Norris Trophy should certainly get someone into the discussion about eligibility. Many a defenseman has entered the Hall without winning that piece of hardware, recently including such greats (and contemporaries) as Larry Murphy and Borje Salming.

In Wilson’s case, he finished his career with 827 points in 1024 games, an astounding points-per-game ratio for a defenseman (and also a stellar total). He also added 80 points in 95 playoff games.

He enjoyed his best season in 1981-82 with 85 points, though he was a model of consistency throughout his career. Most impressively, perhaps, is that while Orr and Coffey are the only two NHL defensemen to ever score 40 goals in a season, Doug Wilson potted 39 in his 1982 Norris Trophy campaign.

To this we add one of the colorful anecdotes that tend to go with Hall of Famers, the fact that he took off the tip of Paul Cavallini’s finger with one of his patented slap shots. Indeed, his shot was on par with that of the legendary Al MacInnis, and still stands as one of the greatest cannons from the point in the history of the game.

The Hall of Fame is at least one person short as long as Doug Wilson is sitting on the outside.