Unfortunate news has trickled through the Calgary Flames camp as GM Darryl Sutter has announced veteran forward Daymond Langkow has been shut down for the year, possibly signaling the end of his career.
Langkow suffered a neck injury last season from taking a slap shot in the neck awkwardly. The damage caused to his spinal cord sat him out the final 10 games of the regular season, all of training camp, and now the entire 2010-11 season. A Calgary official is said to have given Langkow a 50/50 chance of recovering enough to play in the NHL again.
During recent exercise, Langkow reportedly felt numbness in his lower body, clear signs of not being anywhere close to playing shape. The red falg has been raised for his safety, as he has been shut down entirely.
"Zero progress then a step backwards," GM Darryl Sutter said of the decision to take Langkow off the ice and shut down all exercise last week.
"We'll try this, and your guess is as good as mine. We're eight months into it and here we are -- that's a concern."
It is a serious blow for the offensively thinned out Flames squad, but a bigger blow for Daymond himself. At only age 34, Langkow is 14 years experienced split between Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Calgary. In 1,013 career games he is 259-382-641with a +82 rating and 533 penalty minutes.
Last season Langkow set his lowest numbers since 1998-99 as he notched 14 goals and 23 assists for 37 points with a +2 rating in 72 games.
Langkow is a skilled, smart forward with solid leadership and gentlemanly play. Let us have high hopes of Langkow’s recovery, but extreme caution as the injury itself is a frightening one.
"Be thankful our centremen have done a good job for us," said Sutter, whose club has not made Langkow available to the media for some time as he quietly contemplates his future.
"This is not a hockey decision -- it's a life decision," added coach Brent Sutter.
Langkow is the 4th highest paid player on the Flames at $4.5 million per-year, with two years remaining on his contract. While the Flames would much rather have Langkow healthy, the free cap space is greatly needed to the ceiling high Flames.
Although the news is a bit late, it is certainly well worth mention.
The Calgary Flames have announced that they have come to terms with 27 year-old defenseman Mark Giordano, who was set to become a free-agent in July, to a five year contract extension worth $20.1 million, an average of $4.02 million per year.
The early signing was huge for the Flames, as Giordano has displayed great skill on the blueline in his short NHL career. Giordano was signed as a free agent in 2004, and re-signed as a restricted free-agent in 2009.
"To sign a player like this before the July 1 deadline for free agency was a top priority. And it has been identified as a top priority some time ago," Flames assistant GM Jay Feaster said in a release. "It's a good day for the organization."
It was his 2009-10 campaign the really sealed the deal in terms of a contract renewal and raise, where he posted career numbers in 82 games, scoring 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points, a +17 rating and 81 penalty minutes. Also in 2009-10, he played 7 games with Team Canada in the World Championships, notching 3 goals and 1 assist with a +2 rating.
Through his four NHL seasons with the Flames Giordano has appeared in 207 games, scoring 21 goals and 48 assists for 69 points, a +30 rating and 195 PIMs.
The 6’0 203lbs. Toronto native has shown an ability to play well worth the contract renewal and rate. He has developed into a great all-around defenseman with the ability to muck it up and stop skilled forwards, and also be able to join the rush consistently as he possesses a quick release, pass ability, and great on-ice vision.
"There's no other place I've envisioned being, I want to thank the owners and coaches for believing in me,” Giordano told the team website. “I've wanted to be part of this team, part of this city for a long time. It's a great fit.”
The Flames got off to a torrid start this year, but have been improving steadily. Giordano has 1 goal and 3 assists with a +2 rating and 11 PIMs in 12 games this year, and will securely a strong asset for the Flames future both short and long term.
Unrestricted free-agent goaltender Vesa Toskala has reportedly sought work in Europe after not having been signed thus far by an NHL club.
The 33 year-old Finn has signed a one-month loan deal with AIK of the Swedish Elite League according to a Swedish newspaper. He will replace the injured Christopher Heino-Lindberg and serve as the primary backup for starter Viktor Fasth.
"Toskala is looking for a club in the NHL or KHL and needs time to play at as high a level as possible," AIK Sports manager Anders Gozzi told Expressen. "Therefore this is a very good solution for both parties."
Toskala’s exit comes as no surprise after his below average performance through three years with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toskala was traded to the Anaheim Ducks Januray 31st, and then immediately traded from Anaheim to Calgary where he appeared six times. In 32 total outings last season, Vesa went 9-12-3 with a 3.48 GAA and .880 save percentage with one shutout.
After being drafted in 1995 (90th overall) by the San Jose Sharks, Toskala looked sharp early, and dominated the goal crease with a commanding .930 save percentage through his first two seasons. Since then, Toskala’s numbers have dropped consistently in 8 total NHL seasons. His numbers have dropped now to 129-82-25 through 266 games with a 2.76 GAA and .902 save percentage with 13 shutouts.
Toskala is most likely hoping strong play in Europe will translate into team’s interest in the States. From watching him play, he’s seemed to be one of the guys likely on his way to Europe via Finnish Elite, Swedish Elite, or KHL due to his inconsistency. He has seemed to have lost it, and can no long make up for his 5’10 frame disadvantage. Toskala is, though, a lightning fast goaltender that has displayed (in San Jose from 2001-2007) a real ability to compete at the NHL level. Playing for a hockey mecca like Toronto is something that some goaltenders will never be able to handle, and Toskala may just be one of those guys.
I enjoyed watching him play in San Jose from the start, but I felt increasingly bad for the guy year-by-year in Tornoto. It would be great for him to succeed in Europe and return to a team that better suits his mental level more than his level of play.
The New York Islanders have announced rookie forward Nino Niederreiter, who was drafted 5th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been returned to his junior club of Portland.
“I think he looked at it as (the decision) could go either way,” said Islanders head coach Scott Gordon. “And really, that’s how we felt the entire time; it could go either way.”
The 18-year old appeared in 9 games, the maximum amount of games played before a team must make a decision on an entry-level player, impressing greatly with one goal, one assist, and 8 Penalty minutes. *NHL teams essentially have nine games to evaluate a recent draft pick before making a decision about his future. Once a player appears in his 10th game, it burns the first year of his entry-level contract. While he can still be sent back to junior after that, it rarely happens.
“I had a great experience up here, and I was really happy to be here,” Niederreiter said. “I think it’s better to go back to juniors, get a little bit more experience of being a big leader up there. In the end, I think it’s the right decision.”
The Swiss born future star was rightfully disappointed to not stick with his new NHL club, but took the news maturely, professionally and soundly. Combined with his ethic at the NHL level was his positive outlook on the situation, GM and head coach Mike Johnston of the Portland Winterhawks happily slotted him into Friday night’s game against Kelowna just the day after he was returned to the club.
"I talked to him (Thursday) when he was at the airport in New York and I thought he sounded a little bit down, a little bit discouraged," Johnston said Friday from Portland. "When I met with him this morning, he had already been with his teammates for a half hour and he had a big smile on his face. We talked about what he learned, what were the best parts of being in the NHL."
"He's excited about being back here, he knows he's got some things to work on and he's also pretty excited he had nine games in the NHL as an 18-year-old."
Last season, his first in the WHL, Niederreiter tallied 36 goals and 24 assists for 60 points, with a +11 rating and 68 PIMs in 65 games for Portland. In 13 post-season games, Nino scored 8 goals and 8 assists with a +1 rating and 16 PIMs. Despite not scoring in 4 World Championship games for Switzerland last year, his World Junior Championship numbers are solid through 7 games, notching 6 goals and 4 assists for 10 points.
"It is not an exact science," said Johnston, a former assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks. "We've all witnessed both sides of it. It's a matter of the organization making the right decision for the right reasons. ... Obviously, guys like (Kings defenceman) Drew Doughty, they're ready to play.
"There's certain players that can step in and they're going to play good minutes, they're going to handle the puck, they're going to maintain their confidence."
While Niedereitter may not possess the requirements as of yet to stick in the NHL, but he did average 13:35 minutes per-game in the best league in the world quite respectably. He tallied his lone NHL goal, making him the fourth youngest player since 1967, and youngest in franchise history to light the lamp, matching the early starts of 2010 Draftees Jordan Eberle and Jeff Skinner.
“I think he could have success not being on the power play and being in a third line situation,” said Islanders head coach Scott Gordon. “He could work his way into that role, but we already have guys that are playing on the power play that have been successful. It’s not like we’re in a situation where you have a struggling power play and you need someone with some offensive abilities to add to the power play.”
Nino will in fact be in the NHL at some point, but the truth is that the Islanders are not competing for a Cup at the moment, and have plenty of youth on the ice currently. Nino’s demotion is not of disappointment from the organization or himself, but a move of building, strengthening, and bettering the young Swiss forward through the league he played in last year.
Head coach Mike Johnston is aware of the transition ahead of Nino.
"He's going from playing (at the Bell Centre) in Montreal to coming back to playing in Portland," said Johnston. "There is a bit of an adjustment period and there's a mental letdown. He's a very driven kid, very focused player and he wanted to play on the Island. He has a lot of confidence and since Aug. 20 when he went there, he was focused on making that team."
"Now he hasn't made it, he's got to switch gears and jump back into junior."
While the transition may be tough, Portland is thrilled to have him back.
"To be honest, we weren't really sure what was going to happen until early yesterday morning," said Johnston.
"It was pretty exciting for us. It's great for our team, our organization."
"But in the end, from my perspective, we still wanted what was best for Nino."
Nino’s experience has been great, having received praise from management, coaching staff, and teammates, but is eager to get better – particularly offensively.
“I mean in the end, definitely the offensive skills,” Niederreiter said. “It’s hard to get scoring opportunities in the NHL. And if you get the puck, you just have to score, and I think that’s the biggest thing you have to learn here.”
With Gordon’s assessments, and the fact that injured players such as Kyle Okposo and Trent Hunter set to return soon, Niederreiter has been sent packing for now – but keep a watchful eye for this kid next season, as he is set to be a key piece to returning Long Island to glory.
The Devils bad start just became tenfold worse. It was announced Tuesday that top-line right winger Zach Parise will undergo exploratory surgery on his torn Meniscus in his right knee, and will subsequently miss three months.
On the same day, the Devils also announced that rookie center Jacob Josefson will be sidelined for 6-8 weeks with a detached ligament in his thumb which had put him out the two games prior to last night’s contest.
The injury to Parise occurred in Saturday night’s loss to the Los Angelis Kings in the second period in a collision with Kyle Clifford, which sat Parise out for the third period and now apparently for the next few months plus.
"The good news is that the meniscus is 100 per cent intact," Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday evening. "They didn't have to do anything to it other than stitch it. It will be a 100 per cent recovery and there will be no risk of anything down the road later and that's the most important thing."
Though the collision with Clifford was slight, the awkward fall was brutal. Parise admitted to having originally injuring his right knee back in August, something he’s had to deal with over the off-season and through the first 12 games of the regular season.
"It’s been bothering me," he said. "I know exactly when I hurt it. I hurt it in August and it’s been bothering me. It hasn’t gone away. I kind of hurt it every game."
"It's something I hurt skating this summer and it hasn't gotten better," Parise said via telephone from home in New Jersey. "Every game I feel like I'd hurt it more. It would just keep happening and I feel like I've been ineffective on the ice. At the end of the second period I came off the ice and it hurt really bad," Parise said. "Every game I'd re-hurt it or re-tweak it and it gets to the point where you tell yourself it's not getting better."
The fact that Parise played through injury doesn’t come as a surprise considering the fact that he’s a hockey player, nor surprising with the fact that the Devils have more-than needed the star top-line winger’s services. The truth is, however, Parise would have served himself and his team better by finding a solution in a quicker manor. Having gone through this injury myself and having two surgeries on the same knee, the meniscus can be tricky, and definitely hindering.
Parise is a pivotal piece to his struggling team, and currently sits in a two-way tie for 3rd best in team points, having scored 3 goals and 3 assists, and is tied three-ways in total goals scored for 2nd best on the team, all whilst being injured.
Last season, Parise had a solid year in point production scoring 38 goals and 44 assists for 82 points in 81 games, followed up with a +24 rating and just 32 penalty minutes. In the Olympics for Team USA, Parise netted four goals and four assists with a +4 rating in six games, his biggest goal being the game tying tally with 24 seconds remaining in regulation to send USA to overtime against Team Canada in the gold medal game.
Parise, 26, has in short order become one of the top wingers in the National Hockey League. Through 419 NHL games Parise has scored 163 goals and 178 assists for 341 points, a +62 plus/minus rating and 145 PIMs.
In short, any time a player of Parise’s caliber goes down for three months (plus) it’s bad news for a team, but the fact that the blow was dealt to the Devils is devastating to the franchise.
The New Jersey Devils, who are currently 27th in the league, have gotten off to their worst start in 27 years. The Devils are 4-9-1 through 14 games, are tied for dead last in goals (25), and also tie for league worst in goals against (45). The questions of the usually dominant team’s play this season have been plentiful, and there seemingly isn’t one place the Devils aren’t struggling in.
There is no doubt an emphasis put on the injury bug, having lost 56 man games to injury entering Monday’s contest in Vancouver. The list includes left wing Brian Rolston (sports hernia, Oct. 9, 10 games), defensemen Matt Corrente (broken left hand, Oct. 27, two games), Mark Fraser (fractured right hand, Oct. 13, eight games), Anton Volchenkov (stiff neck, Oct. 9, 10 games), Bryce Salvador (concussion, 12 regular season/two preseason games), and Anssi Salmela (knee, 12 regular season/six preseason games).
In last night’s contest against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Devils achieved a much needed victory, but lost star goaltender Martin Brodeur during the course of the game to a mild injury to his elbow. Thankfully, Brodeur’s injury isn’t serious as he expects to play in next Friday’s contest. Backup Johan Hedberg came in relief, and backstopped the Devils to their first victory in three games.
"It's not pulled or torn," Brodeur said. "I just banged it. From past experiences with bruises, usually it takes a couple of days to feel 100 per cent.” He went on, “We'll see how this one reacts."
"Adversity is part of life," GM Lamoriello said. "As I said earlier, it's how you handle it and what you do with it. Right now, we just have to do what we are capable of doing. The players who are here have to step up and make the best of the opportunities they are going to get right now."
While injuries have been an issue, the true issues with the team are deeply seeded, and will take extensive work to right. The problems start at the top, as the team has been poorly structured by the oft sharp hockey mind of general manger Lou Lamoriello under the salary cap rules of the NHL. The Devils sit at the absolute ceiling of the $59.4 million cap limit, with top name, high paid players such as the aforementioned veteran forward Brian Rolston, who makes over $5 million and is currently off the books due to long term injury. A good look at the team on CapGeek.com has one scratching his head.
At some point, all of these players will be healthy, and I would think regardless of a change in production; a change is looming.
The major problem for the Devils has been overall team chemistry, as nobody has taken charge to set themselves apart and lead the team offensively. Ilya Kovalchuk currently leads in points (3-5-8), while veteran off-season signing Jason Arnott took the reins in goal scoring leading in last nights’ contest against the Hawks, raising his total to just 4 goals.
Ilya Kovalchuk has undeservedly taken the brunt of the bashing for the Devils’ offensive slump, after he signed a 17-year $102 million contract on the offseason, essentially causing Lou to get off track with his salary structuring. There is no doubt Kovy has and needs to find another level to restore his usual 40-goal (plus) per-season pace, but the blame may fall perhaps more undeservedly on rookie head coach John MacLean.
MacLean most likely isn’t the one at fault here. While the team has not found consistency or chemistry, MacLean has struggled immensely trying to get his team to produce, even going as far as benching the star winger Kovalchuk and juggling lines about the best he can. Unfortunately for MacLean, if the team continues to play this way, as often is the case; MacLean will be the first man out.
For as much as salary and injury have been a struggle for the Devils, the fact that they have made the Playoffs 13 years strait has also produced a somewhat thin depth chart. They have dressed 9 depth players, 6 of which are rookies, who all combine for no more than 38 NHL games of experience heading into Friday night’s game. By a long shot, rookie defenseman Matt Taormina has done a splendid job, recording 3 goals and 2 assists in his first 14 NHL games, and is one of only six players with a plus rating.
It is the defensive end of the game that the Devils have struggled with too, with players such as forwards Patrik Elias (-7), David Clarkson (-8), and defenseman Andy Green (-10) sitting an embarrassing 647th, 657th, and 665th in plus/minus respectively out of a total 669 players to step onto the ice this season (keeping in mind that a multitude of players are tied for true player positions).
The defense has been depleted heavily in terms of veteran defensemen, as the Devils have currently half of their defensive unit making their respective NHL debuts.
Even the legendary Martin Broduer has been far from excellent this year, thus far recording a 3-8-1 record in 14 games, with a 2.70 GAA, a .904 save percentage, and two shutouts. The 38 year-old veteran is used to a solid defensive style of team play, and a solid corps of defensemen in front of him. Broduer, too, has come under fire, with many critics questioning his ability late in his career. I don’t personally buy this for a second, and with the organization in shambles like it currently is, I see Broduer as the probable strongest asset of this team.
The Devils certainly have some work to do, whether it be in regards to the coaching staff or the trading block (or both), the Devils expect better results, and with the roster they have there isn’t any real reason why they shouldn’t get there.
There isn’t really a single player that doesn’t need to step it up in the absence of Zach Parise and Brian Rolston on offense, but particular names do come to mind. Veteran team leader Jamie Langenbrunner is a skilled right winger that needs to step up and play the big minutes he’s used to getting. So far this year, like most of the team, he has underperformed. He did get going in the right direction last night against the Hawks, netting a goal and two assists, but his 2-6-8, -5 rating through 14 games isn’t impressive. Despite his lackluster performance thus far, he is tied with Kovalchuk for team lead in points, and is but two goals away from the team lead in goal scoring as well which really makes you look at the rest if the team. Veterans Jason Arnott, Patrcik Elias, Dainius Zubrus, and Travis Zajac must be better. These six players (not including Parise) only account for 14 goals through 14 games.
We placed New Jersey at the top of the Eastern Conference in our LTL Power Rankings due to their solid roster of players and veteran presence. I’m not afraid to admit when I’m wrong, but I truly don’t think we are far from it. The Devils will find a way, but the bridge to be gapped will be tough, and possibly quite painful for the Devils fan to endure.
If you’ve been frequenting our site you’ve probably noticed some changes. The unfortunate one has been our lack of content over the past week and a half. Dustin’s move to Michigan over this past week left him incredibly stressed for time, and myself freeing up as much to spend some time with my good friend before he departed Florida.
We made the most of the 22.5 hour straight drive by making it in time for the Red Wings home game against the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, my first experience at the Joe, and had a blast there.
Though we’re incredibly behind in terms of news and content, we should be back full operational by next week, starting with a few more notable pieces of news that we haven’t covered. For a full list of news related by-date happenings over the past couple of weeks, we strongly suggest you visit FantasyHockey.com.
We do have positive changes in place! If you’re new, welcome, we hope you enjoy what we’ve got going and hope you keep coming back for more!
A few changes have come since our last update post, and we just wanted to clarify where we’re at and what you can expect from us in the near future.
ESPN Scoreboard Widget
On the right hand side we’ve added the ESPN Scoreboard Widget. This streams live game scores, and upon clicking a game, you will be redirected to espn.go.com where you can view a full game Recap, Box Score, Play-by-Play, Photos, and Conversation. ESPN’s full-time staff has the ability to do all of the things we want to do, but the best we can do here is be a portal to a user friendly, information-filled network. *This feature is regrettably not yet available for our mobile version.
Features
We will be posting our Top Performers of the Week on a weekly basis. We will view the week in whole, and select the top performers and list their respective accomplishments. This information can be valued greatly for fantasy picks! Over the past two weeks this feature has been missing, but will for sure be back at the latest by next Sunday.
LTL Game Coverage
Through the first handful of days in the regular season we offered our own scoreboards with links to NHL.com for stats, including our own game-by-game analysis. This is something we desperately want to provide, but our time limitations make this an impossible feat. In order for us to keep up with news and original articles, we have collectively decided to stop this feature at the moment, but have high hopes it will make a return to the site. NHL.com, TSN.ca, and ESPN.com do a great job with this and we encourage you to visit these sites for game-by-game coverage.
LTL Team Previews
Unfortunately, the Team Previews section is being all but scrapped. Our ambitions were a bit higher than our capabilities as we started this site at the tail end of August, incredibly close to the start of the NHL season. Our goal was to tackle this team-by-team alphabetically, and the two of us meet in the middle before the start of the year. We have failed to meet this loft goal, but encourage user feedback in regards to a team you want to know about. We will be changing our team-by-team details from previews to analysis, but we don’t have any kind of a time frame at the moment.
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Dustin and I have been overly busy lately. Countless hours have been poured into what we’re doing, and while our hit count is respectable, the response we’ve received has been a bit of a disappointment. We won’t give up, we want to provide you with as much as we can, but we hope that you will get involved. We want to hear your opinions, please let your voice be known. Whether you agree totally or you think we’re completely wrong, it’s your activeness and interest that keeps us inspired.
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Once again we apologize for the inactivity of late, but we are determined to get right back in the action and talk more hockey.
Langkow suffered a neck injury last season from taking a slap shot in the neck awkwardly. The damage caused to his spinal cord sat him out the final 10 games of the regular season, all of training camp, and now the entire 2010-11 season. A Calgary official is said to have given Langkow a 50/50 chance of recovering enough to play in the NHL again. 
Although the news is a bit late, it is certainly well worth mention. 
The 33 year-old Finn has signed a one-month loan deal with AIK of the Swedish Elite League according to a Swedish newspaper. He will replace the injured 
The New York Islanders have announced rookie forward 
On the same day, the Devils also announced that rookie center 
Ilya Kovalchuk has undeservedly taken the brunt of the bashing for the Devils’ offensive slump, after he signed a 17-year $102 million contract on the offseason, essentially causing Lou to get off track with his salary structuring. There is no doubt Kovy has and needs to find another level to restore his usual 40-goal (plus) per-season pace, but the blame may fall perhaps more undeservedly on rookie head coach 
There isn’t really a single player that doesn’t need to step it up in the absence of Zach Parise and Brian Rolston on offense, but particular names do come to mind. Veteran team leader 