Hockey Talk for the Intelligent Fan

And by work, I obviously mean figuring out exactly what the hell happened to the Boston Bruins, determining why the Blackhawks have put up such a strong fight against the Canucks, and discussing the possibly impending doom of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Will the real Boston Bruins please stand up?

Actually, I think they have.  The Bruins are an imperfect team with a lot of inexperienced guys playing key roles.  But this series has been far more about the Hurricanes proving the cliche “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish”.  The Canes roared through the second half of the schedule, and carried that momentum right into the playoffs.  The Bruins finished off Montreal early, rested, waited, and now they look like they have no idea what hit them.  Oh, and Eric Staal is pretty freaking amazing, too.

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Canucks/Blackhawks - no domination?

The simple answer here is that the Blackhawks have found ways to put the puck behind Roberto Luongo, and Nikolai Khabibulin has looked like the “Bulin Wall” of his Tampa Bay Lightning Stanley Cup days.  I still think this series ends with Luongo taking over - but it’s turning into an excellent series to watch!

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Bankrupt Coyotes?

This story reads like a bad soap opera.  Jim Balsillie, who has tried numerous times to buy an NHL team, has thrown his hat into the ring with an offer to buy the Phoenix Coyotes.  of course, he wants to move them to Southern Ontario, which has been his goal all along in attempting to purchase a team.

Meanwhile, while Commish Gary Bettman was en route to meet with current ownership about potential buyers, Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes suddenly filed for bankruptcy - which of course, means there will be far less legal opposition now to the Coyotes being moved, since the move would be a good thing legally and financially.

Bettman maintains that the NHL is refusing to pull out of Phoenix, because they aren’t giving up on the city.  The real point business-wise is that Phoenix fans won’t suddenly become fans of other teams, they’ll simply find something else to do. And while another team in Southern Ontario will draw very well and probably sell out often, they are already fans - they aren’t growing the sport any, just changing their affiliation.

This is gonna get ugly, friends.  Expect a protracted court battle on this one.