Tuesday February 14, 2012
It's barely eight months since Rick Nash reportedly paid a visit to Jeff Carter, assuring him that a trade to Columbus wasn't the end of the world.
You can imagine what the Nash pitch sounded like: much talk of potential, about joining a team on the rise and the chance to be part of something special.
Perhaps he painted a future filled with deep playoff runs and - seriously, Jeff - a real shot at the Stanley Cup.
He probably didn't say, "You and me will be hottest names on the trade rumor mill come February!"
But that's where Rick and Jeff stand today.
In the midst of a miserable season, Carter is reportedly available, less than a year after the Blue Jackets took on his decade-long contract.
Nash, enduring another lost year in hockey's Bermuda Triangle, sees his name surface in trade rumors every season.
What might the Jackets ask in return for either player?
That's one of the topics addressed in our latest round-up of NHL trade rumors.
Photo: Nash to Carter! If only it happened more often for the Blue Jackets (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images).
Friday February 10, 2012
115,00 appears to be the target.
Getting 115,000 through the turnstiles for the 2013 NHL Winter Classic would set a world attendance record for a live hockey game.
On January 1, the Detroit Red Wings will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the legendary "Big House" in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
One of America's most famous sports shrines, Michigan Stadium is home to the University of Michigan Wolverines, a college football dynasty.
It's also a brute of a venue.
It's hosted crowds of up to 112,000 for football.
And it's where Michigan and Michigan State drew a crowd of just over 113,000 for the "Big Chill," an outdoor hockey game played in 2010.
The Big Chill currently ranks as biggest crowd ever for a hockey game. But only for another 10 months or so.
Along with the venue and projected attendance, just about everything else gets bigger as the NHL Winter Classic enters its fifth year.
The week leading up to the NHL game has been dubbed the Hockeytown Winter Festival, with numerous events at Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers.
It includes outdoor games featuring AHL, NCAA, junior, and high school hockey teams, along with an "alumni" game featuring retired Red Wings and Maple Leafs
It should be spectacular. But it could also leave behind a crippling Winter Classic hangover.
What could the NHL possibly do for an encore?
If the league sees the January 1 outdoor party as a permanent event, bigger and bolder is not a sustainable approach.
The 2013 NHL Winter Classic will be a hockey extravaganza for the ages.
But the 2014 Winter Classic will be a better indicator of whether outdoor hockey is destined to be a fixture on the NHL schedule, or a passing fad.
Photo: A view from the cheap seats during the 2010 "Big Chill" game between Michigan and Michigan State (Leon Halip/Getty Images).
Sunday February 5, 2012
Want this guy's record?
It's 36 years since he set it. But he doesn't appear especially willing to give it up.
That's Darryl Sittler as he looked in 2008, before an NHL oldtimer's game. He certainly looks like a man who could still play.
Sittler spent most of his 15-year career in Toronto, and ranks as one of the all-time greatest Leafs.
His 484 goals and 637 assists earned him a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
He also put on one of the great single-game performances in hockey history, racking up 10 points against Boston on February 7, 1976.
The record prior to that was eight points in a game. A dozen NHL players have managed that total in the years before and since Sittler's big night.
Gretzky and Lemieux did it more than once, and on one memorable occasion in 1981, a pair of brothers did it in the same game.
The most recent eight-point performance could not have been expected by anyone.
Going into last Thursday's game against Chicago, Oilers forward Sam Gagner had just 22 points on the season.
After coming up empty in the first period, Gagner scored four goals and four assists in the final 40 minutes, claiming his spot on a very exclusive list.
But even on a night when everything he touched seemed to end up in the net, Gagner still couldn't catch Sittler.
You have to wonder if anyone ever will.
So who was the hapless goalie on the wrong of end of Darryl Sittler's record-setting game?
Who are the other members of the eight-point club?
Read on for those answer and more.
See also:
(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Monday January 30, 2012
Because the award has long been sponsored by an auto company, the Most Valuable Player of the NHL All-Star Game is sometimes referred to as the guy who gets the truck.
The vehicle is usually wheeled out to center ice for a photo op with the MVP, as it was in 2009 when hometown sniper Alexei Kovalev got the truck in Montreal.
But corporate sponsors are a fickle bunch, and now they've opted to give away cars instead of trucks.
"The guy who gets the car" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
In any case, Marian Gaborik got the car on Sunday.
The New York Rangers forward had a hat trick and an assist in the 2012 NHL All-Star Game.
That makes him the 44th All-Star MVP since the award was introduced in 1962.
Gaborik joins a list that includes the expected names (Howe, Hull, Orr, Gretzky) and a few unexpected ones as well (Greg Polis, Eric Daze).
The list also provides the answer to a good trivia question: who was the first MVP of an NHL All Star Game?
It's a name fondly remembered by many Maple Leaf fans.
NHL All-Star Game MVPs Since 1962
2012 NHL All-Star Game: Rosters and Scoring Summary
A History of the NHL All Star Game
Photo: Marian Gaborik gets his odd-looking trophy and a set of keys. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images).
