Common Sense Prevails: The Kid Goes Down
Robert Cleave
October 23 2011 12:40PM
As reported earlier this afternoon, Mark Scheifele is headed back to Barrie after his brief turn in the NHL. The Kitchener native had an impressive pre-season before scuffling against the grown-ups, potting one goal during his seven game vignette with declining ice time as the games progressed.
Jets Game Day: Bad Company
Robert Cleave
October 20 2011 01:50PM
On the heels of a somewhat disappointing outcome in the Big Smoke last night, Winnipeg's two game roadie finishes this evening with a game versus one of the few teams likely to be looking up at them by season's end. Our nation's sump hole for tax dollars capital hosts a very bad hockey team, one that seems a clear favourite to have the best shot in the Nail Yakupov derby next spring.
Jets Game Day: Reality Check
Robert Cleave
October 17 2011 10:30AM
The only good thing about the scuffling start the Jets have posted is that it's thrown the flaws of the team into a stark enough relief that even the cheerleaders have had to acknowledge the obvious. Giddiness over the return of the club, understandable as it might have been, appeared to obscure the fact that the team that moved north wasn't very good and that the roster hadn't been bolstered in any meaningful way.
October 14 News and Notes
Robert Cleave
October 14 2011 07:03PM
After a summer of sloth, our review of some of the recent events of note from around the league returns Nationwide. In this iteration of the round-up, the Flames snap out of it, the Oilers sleep through another night in St. Paul, and the Jets get a reality check in the Windy City.
Hockey Prospectus 11/12: The New Normal
Robert Cleave
October 13 2011 11:22AM
(Full disclosure: A few weeks ago, Timo Seppa asked me if I was interested in reviewing the latest iteration of Hockey Prospectus' annual for the Nations' audience. I accepted a free PDF copy of the book for review purposes, with no other compensation offered. I'm not trying to make myself out as particularly noble, though. Had Timo offered me a giant vat of cash in exchange, I'm fairly certain that I would have accepted it - RC)
When does the revolutionary assimilate into the mainstream? That's the question that I've been asking myself over the last few years as the statistical analysis movement occurring in hockey blogging circles has become increasingly accepted by the game's insider cohort. We've gotten a few signs this summer that the pace of acceptance is quickening, with Calgary's hiring of Chris Snow and the amusing series of deflections Doug WIlson felt compelled to resort to when he was interviewed by Fear the Fin amongst them.
That noted, most season previews still are infused by a sense of the traditional, so a book like Hockey Prospectus' 11/12 annual that grounds itself in the modern approach is operating in a space that remains somewhat uncluttered. This year's edition, nearly 500 pages in length, is HP's third attempt to create a season preview imbued with the modern sensibilites of the hockeysphere.
