Joe Thornton with the Celly of the year, League news.

So.. In a post game interview, Joe Thornton couldn't help but over hear an interview between Patrick Marleau and a reporter. She asked Marleau, "Do you think Hertl was showboating a bit." To which Thornton epically responded, "Shut up, have you ever played the game? I'd have my cock out if I scored four goals. I'd have my cock out strokin' it." 

Celly level = LEGENDARY. 

I can't believe Thornton actually had the stones to say that to a reporter. Afterwards a few reporters had words with coach Todd McLellen and asked him about what Thornton said to which he responded,"(chuckle) you've never been in an NHL locker room before?" Props to coach for laughing that one off. 

Staying with the Sharks, Vancouver defensemen Alex Edler will miss three games for a controversial hit on Sharks Forward Tomas Hertl. Knew that one was coming.. doesn't surprise me that it comes from a team like Torts' Canucks. Sharks took this one 4-1, even without a contribution from Hertl. The kid had to know it was coming.. so did the rest of the squad. You don't go out there and do that to a team as a rookie, and than expect to be treated like an all-star. Fact: players in the NHL gun for another teams all-stars. Thats why I wasn't that upset about what Adam Oates had to say about the young Czech forward.  Kinda surprised Edler didn't get more for this but either way.. here's the hit in case you missed it: 

Patrick Kaleta is also facing a hearing for his hit on Columbus defensemen Jack Johnson. Good on Boll for stepping up, gotta love that. What would have been even better would be if Dubinsky rolled up, mustache and all. Kaleta should see significant time for this. Clear head shot, and you can see him crack Johnson in the jaw with ease. According to CBSsports.com, since the league offered Kaleta an in person meeting, they can suspend him for a minimum of five games. Not like the Sabres are going to miss him anyways.. they stink. Here's the video:

So last night, Steven Stamkos recorded his sixth shutout in his young career.  Whilst this was happening, my roommate was pondering who to drop on his fantasy roster, to pick up an extra goalie. Knowing I had the #1 waiver pick up (because my team is far superior to the rest), I egged him on to drop Stamkos, and it was working. That is until his phone rang with a ESPN scorecenter update, "duh na na duh na na Stamkos records 6th shutout.." He smiled and politely dropped Mike Ribiero. Fuck. Anyways.. I just have a feeling this guy is going to pump out some goals this year. Like 60. Ok that's a little much.. but he's got the talent to do it, I wouldn't be surprised if he reaches 50 again, but hit 60 so I can look good. Bolts route the Panthers 7-1, and there's still no time table for Thomas' return. 

Jonathan Bernier recorded his first career shutout as a Leaf, and I think it's safe to say that James Reimer is going to be sitting in the corner with a dunce cap for a while. The two are just light years apart, and Bernier has a decent defense in front of him, and a more than capable offense. There's no reason he shouldn't play well this year, and there's no reason he SHOULDN'T be starting in Toronto. J.S. Gigurere recored a shut out last night as well, against the runners up for the cup. Pretty impressive.. He's a sneaky goalie.. Since becoming a backup, he's only posted two losing records since 2009 and has had a save % of .90 or above since the beginning of his career. Varlamov and Giggy are a nice 1-2, and it's paying off. 

Chirp Hard on sunday, 11 PM eastern, 8 Pacific, come talk shit. One more thing, Matt Duchene is REALLY fast:

New School vs. Old School

Happy Thursday ya'll, you know what that means. Thirsty Thursday obviously, so go down to your local pub and grab a round, it's on me.. HA

So Adam Oates decided to be the first to open his mouth about the UNBELIEVABLE Tomas Hertl Goal. Honestly, I thought it was going to be Don Cherry, because we all know how much he loves Europeans. Oates went on to explain that the goal was 'disrespectful' towards the NHL. He also went on to say this:

"I'm upset. I was just talking to George [McPhee] and he said all the kids do that nowadays, which I understand. But would he have done it on his first goal?" Oates said. "He hasn't scored yet tonight and gets a breakaway, is he going to do that on his breakaway? We'll see."
"I think it was a little bit of a mood thing, which I'm sure they talked about, because they didn't play him after that," Oates continued. "I'm glad the coach did that because this league, it will bite you if you're not sharp. Don't disrespect the league. I'm sure it was a rookie mistake."

Easy cowboy.. You're making this into a much bigger deal than it needs to be. The kid was in the moment, it's his first couple NHL games. Let me tell you something, if I had the creativity and skill to pull that move, I'd have done it in a second, hands down. That's also because I'm in the same age range as Hertl.

You saw how George McPhee said, "Kids do that nowadays." I'll bring up a conversation I had with the worlds most interesting man, AKA my grandfather. He asked me what music I was listening to, as we sat in the waiting room for a doctors appointment. I lent him one of my ear buds and said, "It's hip hop poppy."  He looked at me with a scowl and said,"what kinda music is this hippity hop? Doesn't anyone listen to Glenn Miller anymore?"

Case and point. The league is not following the same rules as it did when you played Mr. Oates. They may not have pulled that in your time, but we're in an era of spin-o-rama's and lacrosse style goals. Whether YOU think it's disrespectful or not, means nothing, because I guarantee someone is going to score another goal like that at some point this year.

Now I do understand hockey has a lot of unwritten rules: the enforcer 'rule', the offer sheet 'rule', etc etc.  To that I say this, Tomas Hertl, the league knows who you are now: Watch your back. Obviously he's not going to get away with this every night, but everyone in the NHL knows who this kid is. They're going to be gunning for him left and right. Cue the enforcer rule. God I love the NHL's set of checks and balances.

So Adam.. Relax a little bit. I know you're not taking anything away from the kids goal but let him have his moment. You and I both know he's not going to pull that again without a serious problem from the other team. The old time hockey purists need to calm down. There's no difference between Hertl going shelf between his legs during a blowout, and Lebron James doing a 360 windmill dunk during a blowout. You're not wrong Mr. Oates, you just have to realize that the times, they are a changin'. For those who haven't seen the goal yet.. you're crazy but.. here it is.

OOOOOWEEEEEE!!!

Don't mess with John Tortorella

I was going to touch on this in the previous article, but this is an entity of its own. I know this took place a few days ago, but I thought this needed a little more spotlight. The media in Canada needs to get one thing straight: John Tortorella is the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, and he's going to yell at you; deal with it.

This all started in a bought between the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers. Assistant coach Keith Acton's son dropped the gloves with Canucks stand out Ryan Kesler with 41 seconds left in the frame. That's right, Acton's son, like we're in fuckin pee wee's. Anyway, they dropped mitts probably because the Canucks were having their way with Edmonton, and pumped out two goals in 18 seconds.

Tortorella doesn't take kindly to his star players getting shoved around either (except Gaborik), so obviously he went the only path he could: Yelling at Will Acton's dad. Here is Acton yelling back.

HEYYYY YOUUUU GUYYYYYYYSSSSSSSS

He's a droopy eye and a couple teeth short of Sloth from the Goonies. Props to whoever made the comparison.  Tortorella apparently was yelling at Keith Acton for talking to his players saying;

"He's yapping at my players. I can't just sit there and watch that."

Lets not forget that a week earlier, Patrick Roy was fined 10,000 dollars for yelling at the opposing team's players from across the bench.

If you thought this was the end of the feud, it wasn't. Tortorella didn't take kindly to comments made on CBC Canada about the game, and how he handled the situation, and this was the rebuttal by Torts:

If Glenn Healy had that look more often when he was playing goalie, he'd still be in the league.  Lets be honest.. if he could play goalie in the first place he would have been around for longer.

It just comes down to this: You don't tell John Tortorella what to do with his team. All of us here in New York know of his heated battles with Journalist Larry Brooks. the fact of the matter is, he stands up for his boys, and he sticks by his players. I mean c'mon.. he had a lot to say about Avery, but always defended him when he wasn't in the wrong.  I have no problem with what torts does, because he brings teams together. What Glen said about the guys in New York is a farce, I have never seen that team as unified as they were, under Tortorella.

The thing I like most from Torts is he's the one telling it the way it is. There's no BS, there's no fluff, its all out on the table, for the brief time there is an interview. His, "If i wanted any lip from you, I'd jiggle my zipper," attitude needs to be taken on by a lot of coaches in this league. Yeah he's got his faults, but the guy coaches, and he's a great coach. He brings teams together and makes them play better, that's what a coach does. So Glen Healy, shut up. If you want to know what's going on, be a coach, not an analyst.

Quick note: found this, thought it'd be good for a laugh. I wonder if he was class president?

League round up, come CHIRP HARD este noche.

OK so we're gonna play a game today. We're gonna guess what today is. Here's a few hints.. It's the middle of the week.. Lots of people like to do this stuff when they're drunk... or sober.. w/e.. Nothing? We'll if you couldn't guess you're an idiot. It's next to the time on the upper right hand side of your computer screen.. only down fall is.. it doesn't say HUMP DAYYYEEEEEEEEEE.

Awesome. Now that that's off my chest, we've had a few things going on in the league over the past few days. Jonathan Quick gives up a quickie.. lol Rick Nash took a bump to his noggin, on the same night the Rangers get smoked.... by the San Jose Ninja Hertl's. Torts is still yelling at people, at least its not at Pete Deboer this time. Anyways...

Just quickly had a conversation with my associate Chris Macri, and he says Tomas Hertl is just the flavor of the week. I disagree. I think he's going to end up like Vlad Tarrasenko on steroids. The Sharks haven't had an up and comer like this since Logan Couture. They reached the conference finals the first two years into Couture's entry level contract. Not only that he killed it in the playoffs those two years, netting 4 goals as a rookie in his first year. He went on to sport 56 points next year followed by 14 in the playoffs.. He's still on the team. So is Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Martin Havlat.. There's just too many weapons on this roster for him not to continue his success. Obviously he's not going to record two goals a game for the rest of the year, but he's going to produce. Another reason I think he's going to have a successful season is this:

Props to the two smoke shows in the back making him blush. But its not because of the women, fame, and fortune. It's because he's humble. He loves to play the game. Look at how excited he is in that interview just to be playing in the league. You can tell just by the way he plays how happy he is to be in the league. On top of that he's the first rookie to score four goals in a game since 1988 when Jimmy Carson did it, and the first player to score four goals in a game since the great Owen Nolan. The kid is going to have a year, and I wouldn't be surprised if he broke 40-50 points. 

In this same game, Rick Nash took a nice shot to the head, shoulder. It's debatable, Stuart was just finishing his check, and it looks like he caught his shoulder more than anything. In my honest opinion, the Rangers weren't getting smoked just yet, but Nash new it was coming.. the Rangers played like garbage all night, and Nasher didn't want to stay out for an embarrassment. Come on.. I love my blueshirts more than anything, but the guy barely hit you. You'll be lucky if he sees a fine. If he is out for a while though, being that this is a concussion scenario, the Rangers scoring woes will be even worse. In case you haven't been watching, they're currently being outscored 6-14. Three of those goals came with help from the other team, like this one:

So really they've only scored three goals themselves. Pathetic. Something needs to change. On the other side of the river, the scoring isn't the problem. It's keeping the lead. Things will come around for the Devils but it has to be heartbreaking to lose three games in a row with a lead. Vancouver is a toughie, but there's no excuse for the Islanders at home, and losing to Edmonton. Jagr can't be their number one scorer all year.. and its not going to happen, because he's probably going to get hurt. When is Henrique and Mr. Ryder going to show up?

Speaking of Injuries, Niklas Backstrom suffered his first of many injuries this year stopping a breakaway from Eric Nystrom. During the move, he sprained his knee and left the game. The worst part about it is, they called a penalty shot on the play, and Josh Harding was left out to dry, taking a penalty shot as his first shot of the game. The guys has averaged 49 1/2 games in the past four years. The Wild were hoping that the Injury prone Backstrom would come around this year, but he's out right in the middle of week two. Take note fantasy fans: he's on my team, and I'm probably getting rid of him. 

Tim Thomas also left his game last night with an apparent groin injury. I guess that's what happens when you take a year off to practice politics, big time Timmy Jim. Taking a look back at the play though, you can clearly see that he's injured. It was a SOFFFFFT shot from the point, and he barely got back to the far post before the puck came out of the back of the net. There's no time table for his return, but both are listed as day to day. 

That same game got new head coach Craig Berube his first win as a Flyers coach. I still think good ol' Pete got the short end of the stick but that's neither here nor there. The Flyers looked better last night, and had a little more jump to their step. They were playing the Florida Panthers mind you... but a W is a W. 

While we're on the subject of goalies, check out this new mask from Detroit keeper Jimmy Howard: 

Howard is supposedly wearing pink pads, a blocker and catcher. What a stud. Real classy thing to do, to support all of those beautiful women out there that fight this terrible disease. If you're interested and feelin' saucy, donate to Relay for Life and support cancer research right MEOW. That's all for today folks, don't forget to check out Chirp Hard radio tonight, drink some beers, and talk hockey. 

Flyers fire Peter Laviolette

News coming out of Philadelphia is indicating that Paul Holmgren, general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, has informed press that he has relieved Peter Laviolette of his duties. Assistant coach Kevin Macarthy was also let go.   The move comes extremely early in the season, and was stated as a 'gut call' by Holmgren.  The Flyers are off to an 0-3 start and, Giroux, Voracek, Simmonds, Hartnell, and Schenn are scoreless, while Lacavalier is the lone goal scorer in their top six. There are only two other Flyer players that have scored in that span.. thats pretty bad.

"Right from the first day of training camp I was concerned with how our team looked." General manager Paul Holmgren said at a press conference Monday. "Things have to get better and they will."

In all honesty, this line up is not terrible up and down. The defense is suspect.. and the goaltending obviously is as well, but its really not a bad team. It doesn't help that Pronger's career is probably done but, the fact still remains though, you're the guy that put this team together Paul.. if you're not happy with it, change it. If anyone should have been fired, it should have been Holmgren, the best call he's made in the past couple years was signing an offer sheet for Shea Weber. 

In my opinion, if Nashville didn't match that offer sheet, this would be a verryyyyy different looking Flyers team. The call to get rid of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards was questionable. Obviously they had a few off ice issues.. but what player in their 20's is not gonna go out in a city like Philly when they're an athlete?  Look at how awesome that roster would be with those three names.. two of them cup champs since leaving Philly. Obviously with Carter and Richards, you don't get to keep Voracek, Schenn, Simmonds, and Couturier, but what have those four done, in comparison to Richards and Carter? Production wise, it doesn't even compare. 

So Mr. Holmgren, you've assembled this team, and it is what it is. Is Laviolette really to blame here? The guy was just working with what he was dealt, and has one better coaching records in the NHL amongst active coaches. A lot of people are to blame, but Laviolette got hosed here.

Opening night, league round up, CHIRP HARD este noche.

Wahoooooo! We're off to the races. The Nhl's season is underway, which began last night, and was a very exciting night at that. Two come backs, two victories, and a blood bath in Montreal. Quickly before we jump into this awesomeness, Coffee Break tonight on blogtalkradio.com. Here's the link. You can also get there through the tab at the top of the page. Show starts at 11 PM out East, and 8 PM for sunny California.

Anyways.. 67% of the Canadian teams played last night, while there was a barn burner going on in Chicago. What a way to celebrate your banner raising night too, huh? Come back after giving up the lead and win it. Holtby has to have that last shot though, that just stunk. Although Washington lost, the plus side is Mikhail Grabovski looks to be working out, netting a hat trick and a helper, in his first game. He's going to be a great story this year, because he's hungry to play. The Leafs never used him to his full potential, and playing with countrymen Ovi-wan Kenobi will bring out the best in him.

Another great story is going to be Michael Frolik, the guy has just been waiting to be on a team that's not stacked to the nines with forwards, or Florida.. He wasn't being used to his full potential in other places, and I can see him meshing well with other guys in the room. The Jets are going to be sneaky this year.. people forget that they brought in Frolik, as well as Setoguchi. They also have young guys like Mark Scheifele, and Jacob Trouba that can make an impact. They did. The two rookies combined for three total points, and two goals. Trouba also netting the tying goal, in last nights come from behind victory against the Oilers.

The other two Canadian teams squaring off (literally), were the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs. This was a brawl, with 25 total penalties handed out, and 10 fights. Good 'ol North East hockey. Best part about all these fights.. We got to witness our first ever self inflicted knock out. Which you can see... here.  Nasty fall.. everyone here at E2W hope's he's ok, but that's the nature of the business. If you're gonna go in swinging, you better believe you're gonna take a couple on the chin, just not from yourself. Leafs take this blood bath 4-3, and Mason Raymond scores the winner. Another funny thing about this game was, we saw two guys square off, and oblige each other to take off their helmets.. but neither wanted to be the first and get the extra penalty. So you see them talk for a second, and come to a mutual agreement on timing, and than proceed to beat each others faces. Side note: Travis Moen.. Prust can handle his own, down boy.

Speaking of the leafs, Mr. Irrelevant Phil Kessel signed his new contract, for 8 years at 8 million dollars per. Is he REALLY worth that? Yeah, in that neighborhood. Although he's been criticized for his lack of a defensive game, he's a monster offensively. He's fourth overall in points over the last two seasons, and 4 fourth overall in goal scoring over the last three. Maybe he's worth a little less because his defensive game stinks, but he's worth around there 7-8 mill a year. He was really starting to rev it up last year two, and without the lockout-shortened season, he would have had a career year.

Reimer started in net last night for the leafs, which is strange considering they traded for the promising young Jonathan Bernier. I'm sure Reimer will have a season ending injury within the next few days and Bernier will be in there in no time. In other goalie news, the Flyers are starting Steve Mason, not Emery for their opener. Not sure about this one.. the goalie situation isn't ideal in Philly, but if you're going to start someone, at least give the seasoned guy the nod. Unless Mason kills it to start the season, they're going to eat him up just like they do to every goalie in the city of brotherly love. Also, the Flyers brought in big boy Hal Gill to a one year deal. Kind of irrelevant.. but at least he'll bring some size to a mediocre defensive core.

Last thing before I run out of breath. Tim Thomas has decided to put politics aside, and start for the Panthers opening night. How happy is this guy.. he won a Stanley cup, took a year off, insults the president, and now he lives on the beach. On top of that he has a mustache that makes the Brawny man look like a 12 year old. He could be a nice little surprise for a franchise that could use a serious turnaround. Either way.. Thomas gets the nod to start, and play hockey, right near de beach.. BOY-EEE.

Stepan saga over, after one post.. It's magic!

And with that ladies and gentlemen the Derek Stepan saga is over. Its being reported that the 23 year old winger has signed a 2 year deal worth 3 million dollars a piece. Atta boy Step.  Must have read the article this morning.. what a stud. The Rangers now have the missing piece to their center puzzle, as well as a much needed offensive performer. Stepan was the Rangers #1 center last year, and top point scorer with 18 goals, and 26 assists with 44 points. Stepan was reportedly looking for a $7million dollar deal, while the Rangers were looking in the neighborhood of 6, because of their cap issues. None of that is of any relevance, because they finally found an asking price. It does seem as though Stepan did have to settle a bit, but honestly.. he's going to be a Ranger for a long time, the next contract they settle on will have him grinning ear to ear. For more information on the Derek Stepan contract, visit the website below. Later freaks. 

                     Steps to victory