Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.37

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Just three years ago on the program, we featured a weekly segment called March Of The Penguins, discussing their uncertain financial situation and moreover, their future in the city of Pittsburgh. Well how fast things can change sometimes. Fast forward three seasons and we are focused on an entirely different march of the Penguins, their march to participation in a second consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. Instead the March Of The Penguins has been replaced with the Howl Of The Coyotes as the Phoenix Coyotes face an equally uncertain future and may have played their last game in Phoenix if Mr. Balsillie gets his way.

For the Penguins, getting their hands on two of the best players in the league in two consecutive drafts has certainly helped to facilitate the renaissance in Pittsburgh. The way Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are playing these days, putting them in the same breath as Gretzky and Messier or Lemieux and Jagr is not a stretch. Good ownership, good management and good coaching has put the organization in a position to continue to be successful year after year. Dare I say just three years removed from what was nearly their apocalypse, the Penguins are one of the model franchises in the NHL.

While the Coyotes are indeed in a very undesirable situation, once the suits and ties finish all their work in the courtroom, better days may not be too far off for this team, wherever they end up. Already rich in quality young talent with the likes of Peter Mueller, Martin Hanzel, Mikkel Boedker, Kyle Turris and Victor Tikhonov, the Coyotes will add another key building block with the sixth overall pick in the 2009 Entry Draft. The foundation of youth is present and if those names develop and reach the potential they are thought to have, the Coyotes could be a playoff team in the next couple of years. If anything, at least there is light at the end of the tunnel. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.36

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I spent many nights as youngster watching and admiring the great Steve Yzerman lead the Detroit Red Wings with a passion, drive and determination shown by very few players who have ever laced up the skates. Yzerman was the kind of player who could not only will himself to be better, but will his teammates to be better also. On many of those occasions, I dreamed of one day being in his shoes with the opportunity to lead a team to a Stanley Cup. Alright so I dreamed a dreamed that didn’t come true but the point is I wanted to be Steve Yzerman. Now, ah well, ok I’m just going to come right out and say it: I’m glad I’m not Steve Yzerman today.

Now the Executive Director of Team Canada for the upcoming 2010 Olympics, Yzerman is faced with the immense challenge of among other things, choosing a goaltender for a team that will be under tremendous pressure and at this point, nobody seems to want that responsibility.

Marty Brodeur? Well the incumbents bubble burst in the final minute and a half in the first round of the playoffs against the Carolina Hurricanes. When was the last time Marty Brodeur really played like Marty Brodeur? Doesn’t come to mind right away does it?

Roberto Luongo? Well his crowning achievement internationally was a heroic last minute start in the Semi Finals against the Czech Republic at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey when an injury held Martin Brodeur out. However in the NHL, ten years in the league, two playoff series wins and a seven goal on thirty shot implosion in game seven this season against the Blackhawks.

Cam Ward? He’s already won a Stanley Cup in his young career and this season, he’s outdueled Marty Brodeur in the first round and the powerhouse Bruins in the second round but against Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins, he’s looked like the second best goalie.

Does that mean Fleury is the leading candidate at this point by process of elimination? We’ll find out soon enough, but hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.35

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So here we are, two rounds down, two rounds left to go. Twenty six teams have come and gone, four remain. The Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes remain with a shot at Lord Stanley’s Mug. Of the four that remain, you can’t be surprised that the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins – last year’s Stanley Cup Finalists - are among them.

After winning the 2008 Stanley Cup, the Detroit Red Wings made negligible changes to their roster and fielded much the same team in 2008/2009. With Nik Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Hendrick Zetterberg, and Johan Franzen leading the charge, if the Detroit Red Wings became the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions since the Detroit Red Wings, it certainly could not be considered an upset.

Last year’s Pittsburgh Penguins seem a lot like this year’s Chicago Blackhawks: too young to know any better but lacking just that much experience to go all the way. Therefore with another year of maturity and experience under their belts, the Penguins could have something to say by the time this season is said and done. Against the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals, though battling a resilient opponent, the Penguins should prove to be too deep and too talented a team for the Hurricanes to continue their improbable journey through this year’s playoffs.

The youthful Chicago Blackhawks have had a tough road to this point taking out the remaining Canadian content in the 2009 playoffs through their first two match ups. The Calgary Flames were an experienced playoff team that ultimately fell victim to too many injuries. The Vancouver Canucks, well they just plain and simply got beat by a better team. Against the Red Wings though, the Blackhawks will face their biggest test. I predict a lesson in playoff hockey from the wily Red Wings for the energetic puppy dog Blackhawks.

In the end when all is said and done, expect a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Final. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.34

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The bell rang on round three in the Jim Balsillie vs Gary Bettman title bout earlier this week when the Phoenix Coyotes filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Mr. Balsillie swooped in with a nice, clean tidy, $212.5 million offer to purchase the team…(hey this looks like a pretty good deal for a team that’s mired in a pit of financial ruin), on the condition that he is allowed to move the Coyotes to the “unserved market of Southern Ontario”…(so close.) In Balsillie’s previous attempts to squeeze himself into the exclusive brethren of NHL owners by purchasing the Pittsburgh Penguins and then the Nashville Predators, it was been Gary Bettman and the NHL who have clearly come away with the knockout punch.

Once again though, despite the seemingly precarious financial situation in which the Coyotes reportedly find themselves, the NHL is not amused with Mr. Balsillie’s actions. According to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, “Mr. Balsillie is acting, again, in total disregard of any rules, or any structure. . . . I would be very surprised if the board would look favourably on the way that Mr. Balsillie has conducted himself in this instance." That does not sound like a man who wants to do business.

At this point, I’m starting to believe Mr. Balsillie’s fortune is made up of not real currency but in Canadian Tire money. Why else can the NHL be so deadest against allowing a passionate hockey man with seemingly no limits to his pocketbook become an owner in, let’s be honest, a league that needs to keep a close eye on dollars and cents.

Given the way things have unfolded since the story broke, it looks like Gary Bettman and the NHL will once again land a knockout in round three of their bout with Mr. Balsillie. However I do think one thing is for sure: no matter how many times Mr. Balsillie gets knocked out, I think he will keep coming back for more until he wins. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.

Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.33

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The first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs is now officially in the books and while many things turned out as expected – the Boston Bruins easily brushing aside the Montreal Canadiens, the Detroit Red Wings teaching the postseason newbie Columbus Blue Jackets a lesson in playoff hockey and the usual suspects leading the way in terms of scoring – there were several big league surprises. Here is our look at the top three surprises from the first round.

The Carolina Hurricanes got hot at the right time as the regular season drew to a close but after drawing a first round matchup with the New Jersey Devils, few gave them a chance. The Devils were being touted as the possible Eastern Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Final but the Canes paid no attention. Instead they battled right down to the final second, literally in game four, and stunned the Devils with a late explosion in game seven to advance to the second round.

If there was any year for the San Jose Sharks to finally go deep into the playoffs, this was it. Added were playoff grizzled veterans in Rob Blake, Travis Moen, Jeremy Roenick and Claude Lemieux who were expected to show the way in tough times but instead it was the playoff grizzled Anaheim Ducks that made times tough and never let up. The Ducks were certainly not a typical eighth seed but if anything the Sharks should have at least been in that series. They never were.

While the Washington Capitals defeating the New York Rangers was not a surprise, they way in which they went about it was. Nobody expected the Caps to have to fight back after falling down three games to one. Moreover, if the Capitals were to have any success, it was expected to come with Jose Theodore in goal and not the little known Russian Simeon Varlamov. Now heading into a dream matchup for the NHL against Pittsburgh Penguins, it is hands down Varlamov’s team.

But hey, all that was just rigamarole.