Nothing in Particular + Ladislav Smid or Sheldon Souray

It's status quo in Albertaville today so just a couple news stories I wouldn't mind touching on:

Best Hall of Fame Year Ever?
Two Battle of Alberta stars were inducted into the Hall of Fame yesterday, as Mark Messier and Al MacInnis were joined by Scott Stevens and Ron Francis. How good is this Hall of Fame bunch? So good that the 2nd all time assists in a season (6th all time) and 12th overall, 15th overall in regular season points, and he hasn't even been mentioned. Not to mention this guy.

Jarome Iginla is truly a great hockey player, but when asked I've always said Al MacInnis was the Flames best ever. He's 31st all time in regular season points (holy shit that's unreal) but he was the best Flame when it mattered the most; the spring of 1989.


Eric Lindros in the Hall of Fame?
Look, the precedent has been set that longevity is not a necessity for HOF inclusion. Mike Bossy, Bobby Orr, Ken Dryden, Cam Neely... If Lindros had quit at the height of himself, there would be no questions asked; give him credit, he gave it everything he had, probably much more than any reasonable person would have.


I think a lot of people have forgotten just how good Eric Lindros was - for those who forget, go back and watch the old Rock 'em Sock 'ems - you'll be shocked at how good he was because I bet your memory of him (like my own until I watched the tapes) was distorted by how his career ended. Even Bobby Clarke thinks this guy should make the Hall.

You say the guy never won anything? 1 Canada Cup, 1 Olympic Silver, 1 Olympic Gold and two World Junior Golds. Not to mention the Hart and Lester B. Pearson.

Enough said.

Flames Fan Turns 100
Alice Mcgowan was at the Dome Saturday, catching a game for her 100th birthday. Seriously, this woman is awesome. On the news tonight she was questioning Keenan's ability to relate to the players, and also mentioning the Flames looked better against Minnesota because they were shooting LESS. A woman who appreciates a puck control style offense...is she taken??

Ladislav Smid is a Better Defenceman than Sheldon Souray
Firstly, we're going to be working with a small sample here, so my conclusion may be questionable, but hang with me.

5-5
We'll start with 5-5 quality of opponent, which according to 'behindthenet.ca' (which I admit I don't fully trust), Ladislav Smid has been playing against a higher quality opponent than Sheldon Souray. Smid's GA/60 is 3.26 with a GF/60 3.73, while Souray is 3.09 GA/60 and has a GF/60 1.24. I think that speaks for itself. Moving on, Smid has played 8 games and is a +1, while Souray played 6 games and is a -3.

We also have to take into account penalties, which I think we can all agree, lead to goals against. Smid has 2 minutes worth of penalties, while Souray has 9 minutes. Do the math for penalties/60.

4-5
Smid's GA/60 is actually only 2.06, better than his 5-5 average. Not to mention he on average plays more PK minutes than any other Oiler per game at 3:47. Souray's GA/60 is 6.06, even though he only played 3:25 of PK time per game. Neither have been on for a SHGF.

5-4
Souray's GF/60 is 2.14 while Smid's is 0.00. Smid happens to average only 39 seconds of TOI/G on the PP while Souray lead all Oilers with almost 5:00 minutes per game, at 4:52. I haven't sorted Quality of Teamates while on the PP, but I'm willing to put money Souray's was higher.

To conclude, I sort of felt that when Souray went out and Smid came in the Oilers defence actually had an opportunity to improve. I believe these statistics prove me at least partially right, and I challenge other Oilblogosphere sites to compare some of the other 'fill-in' guys versus Souray. I wonder if we can justify giving Tom Gilbert Souray's 5-5 minutes at the very least.

One Too Many Hall of Famers

Mark Messier, Al MacInnis, Scott Stevens and Ron Francis were all rightfully inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame today amid much fanfare. This was nothing less than a dream year for the Hall, the lockout helping so many great players make the decision to retire. However, as with every year (and this year in particular) a couple of true greats were left off the first ballot, and often times if you don't make that first ballot, you have to wait for a year where things slow down (ala the lockout year) for you chance. And that's just stupid.

The Hall is absolutely right to limit the amount of players admitted to their hockey shrine, however, limiting inductees based on an arbitrary number is just too damn...arbitrary - especially when the one true factor should be impact/skill in the game of hockey.

Take Cam Neely's late induction during the lockout. If Neely was good enough to make the Hall, shouldn't he have been good enough to make it the year he retired (or the first eligible year anyway). Why the lockout year, just because there was an opening? Inducting someone into the hall just because there's a lack of nominations is just as stupid as limiting the number of inductees arbitrarily. If a person isn't good enough to make it, don't put them in just because it's a slow year, if they are good enough to make it, don't limit them arbitrarily.

This year I think there was one player in particular who deserved a first ballot induction (and one day he may very well end up in the Hall); Claude Lemieux.

Flames (and Detroit) fans probably just cringed at that. Claude is notorious around these parts for his antics both in the '86 and '89 cup finals, and in Michigan for his playoff antics in general (1996, Kris Draper ring a bell?). My brother suggested this is why Claude won't get into the final; he's not just a good, he's a villain. In my opinion though, Claude's NHL performance is too compelling an argument to not induct him into the Hall.

In his 24 season in the NHL, Lemieux missed the post season only 3 times. He missed the post season in his first two cracks with the Montreal Canadiens when he played only 9 times in two seasons. The only other time he missed the post season was in the 2000-01 season, playing for the Phoenix Coyotes. The COYOTES. He actually made a postseason with that team in one other year. The rest of his career, Lemieux spent his springs killing himself to win games.

He scored 80 career playoff goals which (according to Wikipedia) is eighth all time in the NHL. The top 5, according to NHL.com. are Wayne Gretzky (122), Mark Messier (109), Jari Kurri (106), Brett Hull (100) and Glenn Anderson (93, and another Hall oversight).

Lemieux is 3rd all time in post season games played at 233. Patrick Roy is first with 247, and Mark Messier is 2nd with 236. Scott Stevens is tied with Lemieux.

Lemieux is 3rd all time in post season game winning goals (19). Wayne Gretzky and Brett Hull are first with 24 apiece. Behind Lemieux are Maurice Richard, Joe Sakic, Mike Bossy and Glenn Anderson.

Lemieux won the Conn Smythe trophy in 1995, playing on a team with Petr Forsberg, Joe Sakic, and Patrick Roy. He played better than all of them.

Claude Lemieux is one of only 4 players (I'm pretty sure 4, though I can name only 3) that has won the Stanley Cup with 3 different teams.

Claude Lemieux has won the Stanley Cup 4 times.

He played for Canada in the '87 Canada Cup, taking home first place in that famous 3 game series against the Soviets.

Hell, those statistics make some of the guys who got in look bad.

The Hall has made exceptions for other dirty players; Mark Messier for instance, was no saint.

Now, I know there are a lot of guys who deserve to get into the Hall, and haven't yet been inducted. Glenn Anderson, and from this year, Adam Oates (the man who was always 5th best, and that's a compliment. Poor guy always seemed to come up just short, but he was as talented as any of them, just never had the luck) and especially Igor 'the professor' Larionov.

But right now, there is no player I can think of that is more deserving to get into the Hall.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Two games into this tournament and Canada is 2-0, and while there is still a long ways to go, a lot of questions have been answered.

Game one was a clinic by the Swedes on how to play on the big ice surface, using their forecheck and positioning to really difuse the Canadian attack most of the time. I thought that if the Swedes didn't actually outchance the Canadians, it was damn close. The difference was that Canada buried its chances, while the Swedes managed to find a way not to score on every occasion. This game was proof that the Canadians are not going to run over the competition ala the Dream Team in 2005, and that the Swedes are true Medal contenders.

The number one question answered by game 1 was that of goaltending. Carey Price was outstanding all game long, stifling the skilled Swedish attackers, including what Pierre Maguire has dubbed 'the killer b line,' consisting one of the most skilled players in the tournament, Niklas Backstrom. While I did say earlier that the game was close, I never felt (one the Canadians were up 2-0 especially) that it was particularily in doubt. Carey Price was simply playing too well.

Game 2 verse the Americans today was a much more exciting, North American style game, and it was also notable for several bizarre events.

The Good? Canada wins 6-3 on the strength of 2 goals in the last 2 minutes, and Jonathan Toews (pronounced 'Tayvs') emerged as one of the tournament's best. He had several impressive shifts including a dominating cycle shift in the first, a great rebound goal (also in the first) and a breakaway in the third which led to a converted penalty shot goal, killing whatever momentum the Americans were playing.

In addition, Canada faced some adversity with the Americans scoring two quick goals in the second, and coming within one in the third, but played smart hockey and never altered from the gameplan. In addition, the coaching staff has to be commended for keeping cool under the pressure from both the Americans and the poor reffereeing.

Although Skille got the player of the game award for the Americans, I thought Bill Sweat deserved it as he had a goal and rushed the puck into the Canadian zone for an assist on another goal. One of the better American players on the night.

The Bad? The officiating. From the start of the puck there were several bizarre calls and non calls. A slashing call from a poke check, a cross-checking from a push, several phantom slashes, culminating into a Claude Lemieux on Mike Vernon Stanley Cup finals type play, in which and American player blatantly ran Carey Price, which directly led to a goal for the Americans. The officials could have called the play on either the goalie interferece, OR man in the crease without the puck, but blew both calls, cutting Canada's lead in half.

The American's duo of Jack and Eric Johnson were impressive at times, but also got caught several times for goals against. On Toews' third period breakaway Jack Johnson actually threw his stick at Toews to try and stop him. Eric Johnson took a badly timed penalty (can't remember what the actual call was, but the penalty was an elbow) to give the Canadians an extended 5-3 when the Americans only trailed by one in the score.

To be fair though, the duo played fairly well all night, with Eric scoring a goal, and both at times controlling the play in the Canadian end especially.

The Ugly? The poor state of Team USA Hockey's program. The team is year after year living on the edge of mediocrity but they refuse to change their outdated development system or their strange player selection process. Bobby Ryan not on the team?