Around the league – Nov 5, 2009

14 years ago

The Carolina Hurricanes are on a ten game losing streak, the longest in the NHL since the St. Louis lost 13 straight from March 16th to April 8th in 2006.

Longest losing streaks for each franchise:

Anaheim:	Eight in 2005	Atlanta:	12 in 2000
Boston:	11 in 1925	Buffalo:	Eight in 2003
Calgary:	11 in 1986	Carolina:	Current; Hartford had nine in 1983
Chicago:	12 in 1951	Colorado:	14 in 1990
Columbus:	Eight in 2000	Dallas:	Ten in 1976 (North Stars)
Detroit:	14 in 1982	Edmonton:	11 in 1993
Florida:	13 in 1998	LA:	11 in 2004
Minnesota:	Five in 2001	Montreal:	12 in 1926
Nashville:	Seven in 1999	New Jersey:	14 in 1976
Islanders:	12 in 1973	Rangers:	11 in 1943
Ottawa:	14 in 1993	Philadelphia:	12 in 1999
Phoenix:	Ten in 1980 (Jets)	Pittsburgh:	18 in 2004
St Louis:	13 in 2006	San Jose:	17 in 1993
Tampa Bay:	13 in 1998	Toronto:	Ten in 1967
Vancouver:	Ten in 1997	Washington:	17 in 1975

It is interesting to note that in the NHL official guide and record book it lists Washington and San Jose as holding the record with 17 straight losses, but the Penguins lost 18 in 2004. (This is also listed in the NHL official guide and record book). They did lose one in OT, and I wonder if that is why they aren’t listed as the record holder. I made a call to the statistician of the NHL and am waiting for a response.

When the Capitals lost 17 in 1975 there was no OT so all of theirs were in regulation, but in 1993 when the Sharks tied the record there was overtime. The Sharks were awful that year setting the record for most loses in a season with 71. They went 11-71-2. Ouch.

In case you are curious the longest streak in other leagues are:

NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers: 24
MLB: Philadelphia Phillies: 26
NFL: Tampa Bay: 26
CFL: Hamilton: 16

ICE WOMEN? ICE LADIES? ICE GIRLS? OF THE WEEK

It was amazing how many emails I got last week because of my Ice Women title. Some guys were pretty pissed, some were intimidated, and Dave actually sent me this:

"Trying to empower women is not the job of some lame ass sports reporter. Society went down hill the day women were allowed to vote."

He actually wrote that. I would hope that he is a rare breed, and does the title really bother some of you? If so, too bad, because the boys here at OilersNation are backing Ice Women from now on.

And our Woman of the week is Courtney from the LA Kings. She was the 44th girl to tryout for their team. We can’t get a team of eight women in Edmonton, and they get 44 just to try out!

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Barring a major injury Ryan Smyth will make team Canada. His game his simple, and there are few guys as passionate about the game as Smyth. I can’t see anyway he doesn’t make the squad if he is healthy.
Strange stat. Nik Antropov is 7th in assists but doesn’t have one goal.
While Oiler fans have a right to be annoyed at Shawn Horcoff’s production to salary ratio he does have company. Chris Drury is a $7.05 million cap hit and he has six points. Eric Staal is a $8.25 million cap hit and has five points. David Legwand is a $4.5 hit and has no goals and three points. Brian Rolston has five points to go with his $5.06 million.
And the worst bang for their buck goes to the Washington Capitals as they are paying Michael Nylander $4.875 million to play in the minors. He has zero points in the NHL and six points in the AHL.
Then there are guys who give great bang for their buck. James Neal has 17 points for his $822,000. Rich Peverly will make $475,000 and he has 16 points already. Sharks D-man Jason Demers has ten points for his $543,000.
It is not in the NHL, but OHL Commissioner, David Branch, went over the line with the season long suspension to Michael Liambas. A 20-game suspension would have been fair. The hit was vicious, but he didn’t leave his feet, didn’t use his elbow and he actually glided the final few feet before contact. Nothing with that hit was grossly outside the rules. Branch tried to make a statement, but he never once addressed that he would look into making helmets fit better, or ensure the kids tighten their chin straps. Ben Fanelli’s helmet seemed to come off at the point of contact, not when he hit the glass. Regardless of when it came off, it came off to easy and that is what Branch should have focused on, not abusing his power and suspending a young man for the rest of the season.

SAY WHAT?

"I have taken rolling pins to mine for 20 years I have no more feeling in them in." — Brad May comparing his hands to Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg’s.

LEADERS THROUGH THE WEEK

Here are the top ten in pts, goals, assists and other stats.

Goals:
Fourteen: Alex Ovechkin (leads for the third straight week)
Eleven: Anze Kopitar Patrick Marleau, Marian Gaborik and Steven Stamkos
Ten: Dany Heatley, Rick Nash and Corey Perry
Nine: Dustin Penner, Ilya Kovalchuk, Sidney Crosby, James Neal, Ryan Malone and Steven Reinprecht (Four goals this week).

Assists:
Sixteen: Joe Thornton (leads for the fourth straight week)
Fifteen: Tomas Kaberle
Fourteen: Nicklas Backstrom and Vinny Prospal
Thirteen: Anze Kopitar and Brad Richards
Twelve: Marty St.Louis, Dan Boyle, Nik Antropov and Paul Stastny

Points:
24: Kopitar (leads for second straight week)
23: Ovechkin
22: Marleau
21: Nash (six points this week)
20: Thornton
19: Penner, Gaborik and Ryan Smyth
18: Heatley, B. Richards, Backstrom and Vinny Prospal

Plus/Minus:
+13: Alex Goligoski
+11: Matt Carle and Ryan O’Reilly
+10: Ovechkin, Crosby, Henrik Tallinder and Davis Drewiske.
+9: Penner, Jay Mckee and Wayne Simmonds

PP Goals:
Six: Heatley
Five: Andrew Brunette and Stamkos
Four: Smyth, Kopitar, Gaborik, Marleau, Scott Hartnell, Milan Hejduk, Mike Richards, Devon Setoguchi, Raffi Torres, Rich Peverley Mikael Samuelsson and Niklas Hagman.

Hits:
65: Ryan Callahan…(leads for fourth straight week).
59: Chris Neil
54: Dustin Brown
53: J.F Jacques
48: Stephane Robidas
45: Matt Cooke, Marc Staal and Scott Nichol
44: Andrew Alberts and Brooks Orpik

Shots:
86: Ovechkin
63: Zach Parise
58: Crosby, Nash, Jeff Carter and Michael Cammalleri
54: Samuelsson and Eric Staal (only three goals on 54 shots this year)
52: Mikko Koivu and Vinny Lecavalier (two goals on 52 shots so far)

FINAL POINT

Normally it is forwards with high shooting percentages, but Pens’ D-man Alex Goligoski has six goals on only 20 shots for a scorching 30%. Reinprecht has nine goals on 27 shots to lead the league at 33.3%.