Podcast Part II-The Future Of The Winter Classic

Here's the second part of the conversation Tom and I had the other night.

It ends a bit abruptly but Tom agreeing with me seemed as good a spot to wrap it up as any. As I said in yesterday's post, it's a work in progress.

Behold! The First Ever Moron Hockey Podcast!

It's a work in progress. At some point, we'll add some production values and do some basic things like identify ourselves.

In this segment of our initial effort tmi3rd and I discuss "Things We Care About".  That means Tom talking about the Predators and me talking Rangers.









We went a little long, so I'm going to break it up into pieces. Coming later this week...a preview of the Winter Classic, the World Juniors and Chris Osgood...Hall of Fame worthy or not?

Goaltending Controversy On Broadway?

Not really but it's uncomfortably close. Henrik Lundqvist has been very King like lately, letting in some incredibly soft goals lately, but he's not about to get dumped for Marty Biron.
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Martin Biron will get his second straight start in nets Monday night when the Rangers face the Flames at the Garden but head coach John Tortorella made it clear that Henrik Lundqvist remains the club's unchallenged No. 1 goaltender.
"This is not a two-goalie system, it isn't a 1 and 1A, it's not that Marty is playing well so we're going to rotate; that is not going to happen," Tortorella said during the club's morning skate. "Hank is our No. 1 goaltender, no question, and we're going to ride him.

"He has to be the backbone of this team for us to get where we want to go."

There's just no hiding the fact Lundqvist has not been sharp in far too many games this year. Unlike other years where they had to ride Lundqvist till he dropped, having Biron represents a legitimate option, at least over the short term while the King gets his act in order.

Lundqvist can afford to be magnanimous about his benching because he knows, long term he's the man. Still, he's been a stand guy taking shots, on the ice and in front of the media when his teammates deserved the blame. The Rangers have lost a lot of 1 and 2 goal games where Lundqvist said he should have made another save or two, when in reality had it not been for him, his lifeless team would have been run out of the barn. His team first statements are totally within character.

Maybe I'm looking at this as too much of a fan but you have to think a couple of games off, some work with the coaches in practice and Lunqvist should be back in shape before long.

As for the rest of the team, it's been an inconsistent year. Some great focused efforts and some other games where they just didn't look like they belong in the league.

On the upside, the most important thing this year has been the blooming of Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan into not elite, but upper level players.  Callahan has been on a tear since his time with the US Olympic team last year. Playing well at that level really gave him a shot of confidence that has carried through the second half of last season and the first quarter of this one.

Brandon Prust, the throw in from last year's trade for Olli Jokinen, has been a revalation. The guy is tenasious on the forecheck, plays hard in his own end, chips in the ocassional goal and isn't afraid to drop the gloves to stand up for himself or a teammate.

Rookie Derek Stepan is struggling mightily on faceoffs and he hasn't scored much since his opening night hat trick in Buffalo but the kid is magic and something good seems to happen almost every time he's on the ice. He's on the Gaborik-Frolov

On defense, the Rangers are a mixed bag though through Mark Staal and Dan Girardi are a solid as ever. Michael Del Zotto still makes some atrocious mistakes in his own end and hasn't shown quite the offense flair  of his rookie season. Steve Eminger has been serviceable in a stay at home role and is getting more and more ice time. I never thought I'd say this but the Rangers should improve once they get Michal Rozsival back.
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All in all, the Rangers are a flawed team but an improved one over the on they put on the ice the last few years. A quarter of the way through the season, they are 5 points behind the Flyers and 1 behind the meh Penguins in the division (and you really can't think the Flyers can keep this pace up. Can they?).

I got nervous, and rightly so, when the Rangers jumped out to a 7-0-1 start last year. It was way too good for the team they had. The crash was as hard as it was inevitable. This pace, 11-9-1, is more realistic and gives the sense the Rangers can grow beyond it, especially with Gaborik finally back. Which brings us full circle...Henrik Lundqvist. Biron can get them through a rough patch but for real success, the King has to be the King.

Islanders Fire Coach Scott Gordon

Yes, the Islanders are still in the NHL. Just barely.

Scott Gordon is out as head coach of the Islanders.

Isles' GM Garth Snow announced today that Gordon was being replaced on an interim basis by Jack Capuano, the head coach of the team's AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. Gordon will remain with the organization as an advisor to Snow.

Gordon was in his third year as the Isles coach and after getting off to a solid start this season, the Isles are currently in a 10-game losing streak.

"We believe we need a change in direction and, with the majority of the regular season still ahead of us, our goal remains to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs," Snow said in a statement. "Scott has made tremendous strides with our team the past three seasons and I look forward to continuing our relationship in an advisory capacity."

Gordon obviously isn't solely to blame for the Isles woes but as the saying goes...you can't fire all the players.

The shot term problem for the Islanders is the fact that the Kyle Okposo and the under rated Mark Streit   haven't played this season. The Isles were working on a pretty thin margin to hang around the top half of teams that wouldn't make the play offs (somewhere between 9-12 in the conference). Take those players out, add in a lackluster start by John Tavares and...ladies and gentlemen, here are your 2010-2011 Islanders.

The bigger issues for the Islanders are an owner, Charles Wang who is holding the franchise hostage to a real estate deal and a GM, Garth Snow, who thought giving Rick DiPietro a 15 year deal was a great idea.

As someone who grew up in the NY area as a Ranger fan when the Islanders were dominating the league, I should enjoy this but it's sad what's happened to this once proud franchise. The best hope is either for Wang to sell the team or move it.

While the firing of Scott Gordon is big news in the Gordon home, it's not really here or there in the Islanders' list of problems. They'll be a new coach behind the bench at the Nassau Coliseum Wednesday for Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, it'll be the same guys in the ownership box and on the ice in blue and orange.

What Did We Learn, Game 8: Pittsburgh 10, New Orleans 20

So we're about halfway through the regular season, and let's look at some bigger-picture things...

Of the six NFC playoff teams from last year (New Orleans, Minnesota, Dallas, Arizona, Green Bay, and Philadelphia), two are completely dead in the water, and the remaining four aren't exactly bathing themselves in glory.

The successful teams this year largely are playing good defense and have a solid running game. It seems at this point that if your quarterback throws for 300 yards, you're very likely to lose. As examples, I offer you Kansas City, the New York Giants, Baltimore, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, the New York Jets, New England... you get the idea.

Name me a quarterback who is having an awesome season. I can't do it- the usual suspects are not hitting a lot of dramatic deep balls for touchdowns.

We'll get to the AFC in a moment, but the sexy picks for the Super Bowl from the NFC- Dallas, San Francisco, Minnesota, Green Bay- are largely out of it. Green Bay still has a shot- as their defense really put it together yesterday- but it's hard to feel terribly good about anyone in the NFC other than Atlanta and the Giants at this point. Not just because I'm a Saints fan, by the way- Atlanta is showing a perplexing tendency to let teams hang around.

So let's consider what we saw yesterday in the NFC South.

Tampa did what the Saints couldn't against Arizona- play smart, ball-protecting football and minimize mistakes. The quarterback-challenged Cards threw an INT within tying field-goal range, and Tampa continues to build its confidence. They play the Falcons this coming week, and that will tell us a lot about what's going to happen in the NFC South.

Carolina hung in there with a coaching staff that's completely mailing it in, and lost to a rapidly-improving St. Louis team. They have the Saints this coming weekend in Charlotte, and this is dangerous territory for the Saints.

And now we get to the Saints.

Protect the football, from arguably the most physical defense in the NFL. Drew Brees threw one bad pick and fumbled a scoring opportunity on a safety blitz.

Enter the Saints' defense. One fumble recovery (by Darren Sharper, no less). One pick (career first by Leigh Torrence). One fourth-and-four from the Saints' 40, defeated. One 52-yard miss from Jeff Reed- and it led directly to the game-tying field goal from Garrett Hartley. And- most importantly- the Saints' D held the Steelers' offense out of the end zone from the six-inch line.

Finesse team, my ass.

Garrett Hartley had two must-make kicks. No problem- although I really wish he'd clean up that hook. Emmanuel Sanders was electric for the Steelers on a couple of big returns- one kickoff and one punt. The fake field goal call completely stunned the Steelers, forcing them to call timeout. On the opposite side, Jeff Reed missed a crucial 52-yard field goal (no shame in that) that changed the momentum of the game and led to the late 1st-half tying field goal.

The Steelers' defense is rated number one against the run for a reason. They demonstrated that ferocity against the Saints, who rushed for a total of 30 yards. The Saints' defense is ranked 16th against the rush, but held the Steelers to a total of 108 yards on the ground and one TD. The TD happened on the same call as the one that the Steelers won their overtime encounter with Atlanta on, and this one went for 38 yards.

The Steelers are not as impressive against the pass, ranked 25th, and gave up 305 yards to Drew Brees, as well as two touchdowns. They did recover a Brees fumble on a safety blitz, and intercepted him once. The Saints, on the other hand, are ranked 3rd against the pass. They gave up 195 yards to Roethlisberger, with one fumble recovery in the passing game and intercepting Roethlisberger once.

The story of this game comes down to turnovers, as ever. On the scoresheet, it only lists four, total- a fumble and an interception for each team. Add to that a missed FG, a blown fourth-and-four, and a goal-line stand, and you make a strong argument for the Steelers having left about ten points on the table.

What now? The Saints have what should be a tune-up game against Carolina in Charlotte. It ain't gonna be that way. This game will be annoyingly close, as ever. If the Saints can extend a lead on Carolina, I'll begin to believe they're really putting it together.

Finally, some thoughts on the AFC...

The class of the conference appears to be New England, the Jets, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. New England quietly keeps winning, the Jets (aside from the head-scratchingly poor offensive play this past week) have a solid winning formula, and Baltimore and Pittsburgh will beat themselves (and their opponents) silly each week.

Not to be overlooked are the Chiefs, Raiders, Indy, Houston, and Tennessee. The Chiefs have a shockingly good defense, the Raiders seem to have found themselves... Indy is, well, Indy, and Houston and Tennessee have delivered notice that they aren't going away either.

Who can say? It's easier to pick out the teams that are history- Buffalo, Denver, San Diego, Cincinnati, Cleveland- than to pick out a clear favorite. Everything from here on out in the AFC will depend on staying injury-free.

Anyway, we shall see. In the Who Dat Nation, however, there is a sigh of relief, as the ship is righted... for one more week.

Gary Bettman Has A Rather High Opinion Of Himself

The Commish knows exactly how to soothe the feelings of the Minnesota Wild fan who got into a bit of a thing with Vancouver forward Rick Rypien...take him out to dinner.

An irate Rypien grabbed heckling Minnesota fan James Engquist while heading to the dressing room following a confrontation with Wild enforcer Rob Staubitz near the Vancouver bench. The two had fought earlier in the game. In addition to suspending Rypien, a 26-year-old Coleman, Alta., native who is in his sixth pro season, the NHL fined the Canucks US$25,000.

"It's a real eye-opener for me, so I think I'm going to come back real strong and better than ever," Rypien said in his first public comments since the incident occurred. "I think I'm going to be more focused and more determined to play the game that I love the most."

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has reportedly offered to take Engquist to dinner and provide him with a pair of tickets for another Wild game. The move came after the fan told a Minnesota newspaper he was contemplating legal action against Rypien for the incident, which lasted a few seconds before Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault and teammate Manny Malhotra quickly intervened.

If I ever had to have dinner with Bettman, I'd sue for emotional distress. Besides, wouldn't most hockey fans rather spend time with someone from the NHL who actually likes hockey?

As for the incident itself. Six game for Rypien, fine. I mean, it's not like it got out of hand or anything.

What Did We Learn: Game 7- Cleveland 30, New Orleans 17

For the second time in three weeks, the defending Super Bowl champions were done in by that which was one of their great strengths- their offense.

Four interceptions by Drew Brees. Two of those INTs were returned by defensive end David Bowens for touchdowns. Remove those scores from the game, and the Saints win. The same can be said of the Arizona game.

Colt McCoy didn't beat anyone. The defense, as ever, did their part.

On special teams, the Cleveland coaching staff dialed up a spectacular fake punt and a very impressive lateral on a punt return. Cleveland players reported some eye gouging and crotch punching by Saints players later in the game.

One can only say the same things over and over so many times. Yes, it helped that Scott Fujita was able to recognize formations and substitutions he'd seen with the Saints, but the fact remains that if the Saints don't turn the ball over, they win the game. Cleveland scored one offensive touchdown, much like the Cardinals previously.

Now Pittsburgh looms, with the strong probability of being 4-4 after eight games. Then comes a trip to Carolina, where the Saints seldom play well.

The fact of the matter is, there are no games that the Saints can count on winning for the rest of the way out. 9-7 may be enough to make the playoffs as a wild card, but it seems entirely likely that the Saints will suffer the embarrassing fate of not making the playoffs in their title defense. They may surprise us- predicated entirely on the offense rediscovering itself- but I wouldn't put any money on it.