Barry Trotz graciously accepts his Goofiest Looking Coach Award- Puck Daddy spotlights yet another great Russian interview, this time with mercurial sniper Ilya Kovalchuk. When Alex Ovechkin burst onto the scene in his rookie year, he was first compared to Kovalchuk and then to Pavel Bure once it was obvious who was the bigger impact player.
While he burnt me the year he was my first round selection in fantasy hockey, he still grabs my attention like few others. Really, with Ovechkin's bumper car checking mentality, Kovalchuk might be a better analog to Bure. He certainly relates to Bure by playing in a struggling Southern US market without much help from his mediocre teammates.
His response of choice to the Thrashers-related probes was to say "wait until 2010," the year he will become an unrestricted free agent. It's obvious why there are trade rumors but the Thrashers would be insane not to throw all their resources at Kovalchuk. Honestly, he's the only reason the franchise deserves to exist.
If he was in a better market or on a decent team, he'd be just a rung or two lower than Crosby-Ovechkin. It's a real sin that he's never been on a hockey video game cover as he ranks as one of the most unstoppable digi forces the polygonal world's ever seen.
- This article is more than a week old but is absolutely worth reading: Michael Farber's "five stealth MVPs."
He brings up the fact that Barry Trotz works miracles with a Nashville Predators club that always seems to persevere through any number of calamities. It's obvious why people do not want to bring this up very often: Nashville is a place meant for country music and inbreeding in the eyes of many. But Trotz is much like the NFL's longest reigning coach Jeff Fisher, and not just because they're both coaching teams in Tennessee.
They both enjoy and earn startling longevity in a sports world where "What have you done for me lately?" is the ultimate management question. (Eddie Murphy must be rolling in his grave.*) Also, Trotz wins the Goofy Looking Coaches Cup in a heated 7-game series with Jacques Lemaire and his comb-over.
* He's not dead you say? Well, I say he died after Beverly Hills Cop and was replaced by an unfunny money grubbing robot. We all miss money grubbing but genius Eddie Murphy with his politically incorrect stand up and his fashionably incorrect loud leather suits.
- Fans wrote in a request for the Penguins to play WHAM! for Alex Goligoski goals (man, how did people not know that George Michael was gay???). While that song will probably gain more support, I'd like to recommend a dark horse candidate in The Go! Team:
Miami Five-O for the win.
- Am I the only one who gets annoyed that NHL 09 allows people to interfere so much? Every time there's a loose puck, some online douche hits me illegally while trying to retrieve it. And a little part of me dies.
- From the shameless bewbage department: Eyes on the Prize features hot women with Montreal Canadiens merchandise. If you need something to do to kill time, just play "Guess the PhotoShopped images!"
Cleavage: nature's billboard- A lot of people are annoyed that Habs fans keep stuffing the ballot box. My main reaction is a whole lotta "Meh." Although I agree that Habs fans should focus their efforts on continued bra stuffing instead.
- During the switch from Time Warner Satan Cable to Hopefully better Verizon FIOS, I've been without Center Ice for at least three weeks. Every steak tastes less juicy. Every morning less crisp. Every wound less gaping.
Life will go on but the question is: should it?
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