From Around the League

I've done a post on players I hate, and I've done posts on my favorite Avs of all time as well as Avs players that I'm glad to have seen move on, so naturally it would make sense to do a post of players around the league that I like that don't play for Colorado.  At first I thought that I would just throw maybe ten names give or take out and do a little on them, but then I changed my mind.  Instead I'm going to look at all 29 other teams and see who on those teams I enjoy watching or really like.  Thus since this is going to be a long enough post I won't waste anymore with the introduction and jump right into the first team, alphabetically of course.

Avs Gone ... With Pleasure

I have done my list of my favorite Avalanche players, and I've done a list of NHLers that I just can't stand, so now I think it is time for a list of Avalanche players that I'm not upset to have seen move on.  There are few that I really didn't like, plenty that were just members of the team and I didn't cheer individually, but few that I didn't like for one reason or another.  Here is a list of those that I could put in that "didn't care for" category however...

Pirates - Stranger Tides

Friday night my soon to be wife and I went out for dinner and a movie.  That movie just happened to be the fourth installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.  I truly enjoyed the first three but coming into this one with two thirds of the main cast not coming back I wondered how this movie would turn out.  As it turned out, the show could go on and do so quite well.

How I Hate Thee ... Let Me Count the Ways

I love hockey, but as with any sport that you watch that you really enjoy there are going to be teams and players that you just can't stand.  Some of those teams and players you'll have logical reasons for, such as the player's attitude or the team being a major rival of your team.  Some of those teams and players it isn't logic though and is just a gut dislike of.  I certainly have teams and players that fit into both categories.  Here is a far from inclusive list of some of those players and teams for me in the NHL.  I think you'll notice a bit of a trend...

Past Meet Present - The Strange Door

Last week's recap was removed when Blogger was doing their maintenance however it looks to be back in my drafts so I could re-post it.  Thanks Blogger for retrieving that!  On to the recap for this week however, the last week we'll play for a while as I'm off to be wed soon.  :)

Where we left off last week was with the party split into two groups separated by a wraith-like "guardian" in the hallway outside their doors.  That is where we began this week...

Past Meet Present - Between a Rock, a Hardplace, and the Unknown

Another night has come and gone and it was quite the adventurous one for the Karameikan Fist.  The group began with discussing their options, returning below, and encountering a number of things that left them in a bit of a hard place.  The night ended with the group splitting as they fled from their last encounter ... but the recap is below, not here in the first paragraph.

2012 Winter Classic

The NHL recently announced the location and the participants of the 2012 Winter Classic with this year's event being at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia between the Flyers and the New York Rangers.  Previous years games have been good games and the event has been fun to watch and has brought a lot of positive attention to the sport.  Last year HBO produced a great 4 episode "24/7" series that was a behind the scenes look at the Capitals and Penguins who were last year's teams, following them for several weeks prior to the event itself.  The show was an incredible look at hockey beyond the ice and will be done again this year for most likely these two teams.  This year should be another good game and fun event, however it isn't free of criticism.

After the Playoffs, the Draft Excitement

Tonight and tomorrow night the second game of the conference finals will be played so there are at least 10 more games to be played to find our champion in the NHL this season (and potentially as many as 19 games).  As such it might be considered being a bad fan to be looking forward to and talking about the NHL draft coming up in June this early.  However the Avalanche have long been out of it and as such being an Avalanche fan I fully embrace the upcoming draft as the team looks for more pieces to get it back to the finals in the future ... and I can do so while enjoying what has been some great playoff hockey thus far.  (Go Sharks! ...can't stand the Nucks...)

It has only been in the past few years, in fact the year that the Avalanche finished 28th in the league and drafted Matt Duchene, that I began getting interested in the draft itself.  However since that time my interest in the prospects and the draft have grown and each year I look forward to it once the season is winding down and ending.  Not more than the hockey itself, but quite a bit.  In this post I'll talk about why I enjoy the draft so much, and a part of that will be the differences in the NHL draft versus the NFL draft (the only other one that I really have any experience with or that really means anything) and part of that will address the challenges that scouts and teams face when drafting.

ESPN Loses, NHL Wins

Recently the NHL signed a new 10 year contract with NBC and Versus (who is actually going to be renamed NBC Sports) which will pay the league $200 million a year.  While the NHL negotiated with other broadcasters including ESPN, this they felt was their best offer and what was best for the sport.  I tend to agree.

Yes, ESPN is the "sports leader" in broadcasting but I don't think they are really the best option for the NHL.  They do have name recognition, and they are on nearly every TV everywhere, so the NHL does miss out a bit there.  They are also considered one of the top sports stations available and likely have more viewers than any other sports network.  So why do I think that the NHL did it right this time by NOT going with ESPN?

The Calder is for Rookies, Right?

The Calder Trophy is the award handed out each year "to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League" ... but does it really get given to that player?  Sure, I suppose it can be argued that it does, however there is a pretty big problem with who is considered a rookie and who isn't.  I have gone into changes I believe should be made with other trophies but previously I haven't discussed this one.  However that changes here today.

The Avalanche Offseason

Even though the playoffs still rage on the Avalanche season has been over for a while now and thus it isn't too early to start considering what the team should do heading towards next season.  The draft I will touch on in its own blog, but here I will focus on the current members of the Avalanche and give my thoughts on whose contracts should be renewed and who should be allowed to go on their way.  I may even touch on some free agents that will be out there and comment on who I think the Avalanche should pursue.

You'll find that this writing will touch on everyone that ended this past season as an Av and will also have a few of the young guys coming up in the system as I will be listing them and commenting on each, and then I'll give additional thoughts after that.

Past Meet Present - Wait, the Treasure Map is Real?

After a week off because of a busy work schedule the "Karameikan Fist" adventuring company was back at it again last night.  A good deal happened last night and we saw our first in party disagreements, and by the end of the night they discovered that there may be more to Temeris's treasure map than they initially gave credit for.  Here is what happened...

Tron, Hereafter, 127 Hours

Yet another weekend has passed and we got the chance to watch a few more movies.  This week I got to check out the new Tron, then watched "Hereafter" which I knew little about going into it, and we also got to see why all the awards were talking about "127" Hours and James Franco (or as you'll come to read, we didn't get to see why in my opinion).  Without further ado, here are my brief thoughts on those movies.

Huskers in the Draft

It was a pretty decent draft for the Huskers this year.  With no real star power on offense, and a defense that has some good players but few true stars as well, having 7 players taken is a pretty good day. 

The first of the group, and highly rated cornerback, was Prince Amukamara.  Being a shutdown corner I was hoping he would go to Detroit who could use his skills.  Despite being a 49ers fan growing up I have rooted for the Detroit Lions for a while (despite the bad years or maybe because of them) and then when Suh went there last year Detroit actually got much more of my attention than the '9ers.  Having another Husker on the team would have been nice but Detroit instead got another defensive tackle who is supposed to make that defensive line one of the best in the league.  Instead though Prince fell to the Giants at 19th.  Unfortunately I will wish him the best but can't root for the Giants.

Avalanche recap - a Season of Disappointment

Life sure has been busy of late, leaving little time for writing of anything.  Then add to that the content of this post, a recap of the Colorado Avalanche season, and you get more hesitation in writing as the epic collapse during the second half of the season took a while to get over and fully sink in.  Going from in a playoff spot in January to winning only a handful of games and falling all the way to 29th in the league over the last couple of months, along with some trades that I wasn't a fan of, the injuries that were ever present in the season, and disappointments all around, and it isn't surprising that this writing has been started and stopped as well as delayed a few times.

I had considered doing a player by player recap and even breaking this into three posts, one focusing on the offense, one on the defense, and then a final one on the goalies and the front office, however in the end I'm just going to do the one post and while some players will be touched on it won't be a review of every player as I had initially thought to do.  Thus, without further ado, here is a recap of a season that was painful to watch near the end...