The Good Point

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Hockey

The new-found chutzpah of Brian Burke

Brian Burke is not afraid to take a risk. His latest move as general manger of the Toronto Maple Leafs was to trade the Leafs’ next two first-round picks and a this-year’s second rounder for Phil Kessel, who he then signed for five years. Any move involving the Leafs is bound to sound big, but […]

Hockey

NHL Comebacks: Not for everyone

First Claude Lemieux, now Jason Allison and Theoren Fleury. Two players that have seen better days, yet they follow in the footsteps of many just like them. Too many. Players who have had a nice little picnic in the National Hockey League, achieved mediocre careers – at best – and made millions of dollars doing […]

Hockey

The Leaderless Leafs

In the latter half of the 2007-08 NHL season, long-time Toronto Maple Leaf captain Mats Sundin had a couple of opportunities to do right by his hockey club. Depending on what you consider to be noble – standing by your team or gracefully stepping down – Sundin had the chance to do each, but instead, […]

Hockey

Sympathy for the Coyotes

Jim Balsillie is not going away quietly. He wants to buy a NHL team. He is willing to pay dearly for one, much more than others are willing to pay. His latest bid for the Phoenix Coyotes is over $212 million, much more than the only other major offer, a $140 million deal put forth […]

Hockey

Ode to the Red Line

There you sit, center of centers, dividing the playing surface in two. Unlike your cousins, the blue lines, you perform a task ever so critical, a duty that is carried out by no other. You proudly sit in the middle of the cold ice surface, separating it ever so symmetrically into two indistinguishable halves. Skating […]

Hockey

Jeremy Roenick’s persona is of a dying breed

The man was never a complex being, only stating his intentions and thoughts with various hues and arrays. And yet, it could not be more complicated to invoke a sentence, painting or photo that would singularly encompass the character and persona of Jeremy Roenick. Splatter a paint ball on canvas, however, and it might be […]

Hall of Fame

Saku Koivu’s debatable tenure in Montreal

In the summer of 1993, the city of Montreal was busy celebrating their hockey club’s 24th Stanley Cup championship. That same summer, the team drafted 18-year-old Saku Koivu, a promising young Finnish prospect playing for TPS in Finland’s SM-Liiga. After a couple more successful seasons in Europe, the Montreal faithful began to lick their proverbial […]

Hockey

Joe Sakic: 20 Years of Excellence

Many words come to mind when one mentions the name Joe Sakic. Passion, dedication, leadership, loyalty, class, and humility are a small handful of descriptors that characterize the seasoned NHL veteran, but perhaps no word personifies Sakic’s illustrious career in the National Hockey League better than the word excellence. Joseph Steven Sakic was born on […]

Hall of Fame

The “most winningest” team in hockey

Last April, I wrote about the “most winningest” team in sports, and based on the success of the story, have decided to take a deeper look into the numbers behind the experiment. For the next four weeks, I’ll be dissecting the four major sports and the teams that have won the respective coveted prizes in […]

Hockey

Penguins and Wings wage war for NHL dynasty

What does it take to really call a team a dynasty? Back-to-back championships? Or does a team have to win three in a row or three in four years? In the NHL, dynasties are recognized in the Hockey Hall of Fame and, to date, there are nine inductees. With back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances, both […]