Faceoff Factor

A Week Out West - Dec 9-15

Ashley Gallant | National Hockey League

Dec 16, 09:29 AM | Hype this story!

Quote of the Week
“Really, who thinks of living in California as a Canadian kid? You just don’t. Now when I go home to Canada to play a game, I am like, ‘This weather here sucks.’ I used to love it as a kid, but now it’s like, ‘Wow let’s get back to California now.’” – Joe Thornton.

The Dominators
Jarome Iginla, Right Wing, Calgary Flames (5G, 1A, 4 games)
Iginla virtually carries this team, and had a great game in Tampa Bay. He is definitely on the MVP list.

Milan Hejduk, Right Wing, Colorado Avalanche (3G, 4A, 4 games)
This includes a big 6 point (3-3) game last Sunday.

Kristian Huselius, Left Wing, Calgary Flames (4G, 2A, 4 games)
Another Flame that had a big game in Tampa.

The games that made you cheer. Or freak out. Or cry. Or all of the above.
Colorado Avalanche (9) St. Louis Blues (5) – Sunday, December 9th, 2007
It’s not too often that you score 5 goals and lose the game, but that’s exactly what happened to the Blues thanks to a second period that saw the Avs score five goals.

Joe Sakic has been out with a groin injury for awhile, so someone had to step up and produce for the Avs – on this night, it was Milan Hejduk. Hejduk scored three goals, for his fifth career hat trick, and had three assists.

Edmonton Oilers (4) Detroit Red Wings (3) shootout – Thursday, December 13th, 2007
Things are starting to look up for Edmonton. This was their 9th shootout win of the season (a 10-1 record as of Saturday night), which is more than twice the number of wins of any other team in the NHL. Sam Gagner is money in the shootout, and has two of the top ten shootout goals of the season so far. And he’s only 18 years old.

The Oilers are starting to get great goaltending from Dwayne Roloson and Mathieu Garon, and now Sheldon Souray is back to help the team on the powerplay. It’s too early to really tell, but this team could push for a playoff spot.

Calgary Flames (9) Tampa Bay Lightning (6) – Thursday, December 13th, 2007
This game was a lot closer than the score suggests, since the game was tied at one point in the third period. It was also a game with a lot of emotion because it was the first time the Flames were in Tampa Bay since losing the Stanley Cup in 2004.

In one respect, it’s nice to see a game with plenty of scoring because it’s exciting to see, but then you see the stats – the Flames and the Lightning occupy the bottom two spots of the League in terms of save percentage. I guess that’s why we saw 15 goals in this game, including hat tricks from Iginla and Huselius.

Injury Report
Brendan Morrison, Centre, Vancouver Canucks – wrist
Morrison provides some secondary scoring for the Canucks, which will certainly be missed.

Joe Sakic, Centre, Colorado Avalanche – groin
Joe has been out for a few weeks with a groin injury, and now he’s on IR. Colorado have had a few guys step up since Sakic went down, but it’s harder to win when your captain (and one of your best players) isn’t playing.

Jeremy Roenick, Centre, San Jose Sharks – knee
Roenick has caught a second wind in San Jose, and now he finds himself on IR. I’m not sure just how much the Sharks will miss JR in the lineup, but I certainly miss his off-ice comments.

Odds and Ends
Predators make changes
The Predators have been through the wringer this year, but now they have new ownership (led by Chairman David Freeman) and a new President of Business Operations, Ed Lang. Furthermore, the Preds have given general manager David Poile additional duties – he will also be the Director of Hockey Operations.

In (somewhat) related news, the Preds have signed forward David Legwand to a 6-year contract extension worth $27M.

“This is the first step moving forward under new ownership and is a sign of commitment, a desire to win and a desire to keep the core of our young team together in Nashville,” said Poile. “David Legwand continues to improve and take on a larger role each season. He is entering the prime of his career, and we feel that he is becoming one of the league’s most complete players.”

Hopefully all of these changes mean that the team is on the upswing

Third time a charm? Katz puts offer in to buy Oilers again.
Katz is an Edmonton native and one of the wealthiest men in the nation. He has tried to buy the Oilers on two occasions, but the current group of owners has said no each time. However, Katz has offered $188M for the club (including $100M towards a new arena), and it looks like things may go through.

Ducks and Blues make a trade
The Blues get Andy McDonald, while the Ducks get Doug Weight, Czech prospect Michal Birner, a 7th round draft pick in 2008, and Scott Niedermayer. Looks like Burke did his job to get Niedermayer back in the lineup, and he also told Scotty that this is the last time he’ll go through all of this fuss.

The Week Ahead
Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks – Sunday, December 16th, 8 PM ET.
Scotty returns. ‘Nuff said.

Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers – Tuesday, December 18th, 9:30 PM ET.
Dallas is currently first in the Pacific Division, and the Oilers are on a roll. If Dallas wants to win this won, they had better avoid a shootout.

Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings – Saturday, December 22nd, 8 PM ET.
It’s a battle between division leaders.