Grab bag: It feels a little like '93

In the grab bag:
- The week's three comedy stars, with a Vladimir Putin cameo
- An obscure player who was drafted ahead of Henril Lundqvsit and looked like Mr. Bean
- Debating the NHL's playoff scheduling policy
- Why do backup goalie still have to sit off by themselves in some rinks?
- Don Cherry has an eventful week
- And a YouTube breakdown of happier times for the Habs

>> Read the full post on Grantland

Your guide to the Montreal Canadiens' 2014 playoff controversies, ranked in increasing order of ridiculousness

The Montreal Canadiens will face the New York Rangers Thursday in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final. They forced that game by extending the series on Tuesday, in a wild 7-4 win that saw them light up the previously unbeatable Henrik Lundqvist.

So what happens Thursday? Your guess is as good as mine. The Canadiens’ playoff run has been one of the most unpredictable in recent memory, already featuring a sweep, a seven-gamer, a major injury, and a rotating cast of heroes and goats.

But here’s one thing we can count on: The game will produce some sort of controversy. It wouldn’t be a 2014 Montreal Canadiens playoff game without some.

And we’re not just talking the run-of-the-mill stuff every team goes through this time of year — a weird bounce here, a possible dive there, and a healthy dose of referee-baiting between each game. No, the Canadiens are well past all that. They’ve spent the last six weeks finding new and exciting ways to give hockey fans something to argue about.

Some of it has to do with their being the only Canadian team in the playoffs, and all the media scrutiny that goes along with that. Some of it may just be a weird fluke. And, let’s be honest, a big part of it is that this is self-inflicted by a Montreal team specialized in drumming up minor controversies as part of a concentrated “the whole world is against us” campaign they’ve used to define their playoff run. Hey, if it works, it works.

But whatever is behind the phenomenon, you have to admire any team that can generate more postseason controversies than games played. So, in honor of the Canadiens’ achievement, let’s take a look back at the most controversial moments of their playoff run, in increasing order of ridiculousness.

No. 20: The Brandon Prust hit

Of all of Montreal’s playoff controversies, this was the most straightforward. A guy throws a hit that injures an opponent, in this case New York’s Derek Stepan. Some think it was dirty, others call it clean. The league weighs in with a suspension, which the player grudgingly accepts.

All of which is pretty much par for the playoff course. Then again, we’re just dealing with the hit itself — the fallout comes later in our list.

No. 19: Montreal bars sue the Bell Centre

By now you’ve heard about how Montreal fans have taken to packing the Bell Centre to cheer on the Habs, even for road games. The Canadiens have been inviting fans to watch the games on the arena’s big screen, with portions of the proceeds going to charity.

It’s a cool story, and further evidence of just how hockey-obsessed Montreal can get during a playoff run. But not everyone is happy about it; Montreal bar owners are going to court to try to stop the team from staging the events — or at least to prevent the team from selling beer during them. Have you ever seen 21,000 die-hard Montreal Canadiens fans who don’t have access to beer? I haven’t, but I once had to spend a half hour with two, and I feel qualified to tell you this is a really bad idea.

No. 18: P.K. Subban gets pelted with a water bottle after scoring an OT winner

Hey, maybe Subban looked thirsty.

Also, go ahead and get used to seeing P.K. Subban’s name, because he’s going to show up in this list kind of a lot.

>> Read the full post on Grantland

Grab bag: 52, 53, 54... Bossy's record is no more

In the grab bag:
- The week's three comedy stars
- My Teemu withdrawal sets in
- A rare bust from the loaded '88 draft
- What's wrong with Thomas Vanek?
- Don Cherry drops an f-bomb (or does he?)
- And a YouTube breakdown of Selanne's record-shattering goal

>> Read the full post on Grantland

How long will the western reign of the Kings and Blackhawks last?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: The Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks are locked in a battle for Western Conference supremacy, with the winner heading on to play for the Stanley Cup.

Oh, right — you have heard that one, because this year’s Western Conference final is a repeat of last year’s matchup. It’s also L.A.’s third straight trip to the final four, and Chicago’s fourth in six years. The two teams have combined to win the last two Stanley Cups, and three of the last four. And with all due respect to the Rangers and the Habs, the winner of this year’s series will likely be a solid favorite to take home the championship yet again next year.

There sure seems to be a pattern developing here — a two-headed Western monster that isn’t leaving much room for other contenders. That’s not good news for teams like the Blues, Sharks, and Ducks, who’d like to think of themselves as having legitimate Cup chances. And it’s especially rough on teams like the Avs, Wild, and Stars, who seem to be on the verge of breaking into that group. As for teams like the Oilers, Flames, and Predators — well, they probably feel like they should just give up now.

But hold on. After all, this is the NHL, where fortunes can change quickly. All hockey fans need to do is take a look at the Vancouver Canucks to see how quickly an elite team can crumble. If you’re a fan of a Western Conference team, maybe there’s still hope.

So let’s take a deeper look at how the Hawks and Kings got here, and whether we can find any signs that they’re on the verge of letting somebody else have a chance any time soon.

The Talent

Let’s start with the easy one: Both of these teams have a ton of really, really good players. I know, that’s not exactly breaking news. But the Kings and Blackhawks aren’t just stacked with talent; they’re stacked with talent in remarkably similar ways.

Both teams are built around a top two-way center, with Chicago captain Jonathan Toews getting some recent “best player in hockey” talk and L.A.’s Anze Kopitar not far behind. Both players are surrounded by a very good top six, with the Kings boasting big names like Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik, and Mike Richards, while the Hawks can send out an even better trio in Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, and Marian Hossa.

Both teams feature a stud defenseman anchoring the blue line (Chicago’s Duncan Keith and L.A.’s Drew Doughty), both have a very good no. 2 defenseman who could be a top guy on many teams (Brent Seabrook and Slava Voynov, respectively), and both supplement that top pairing with a solid complement of supporting pieces.

Then there’s goaltending. In Corey Crawford and Jonathan Quick, each team has a solid goalie who seems to elevate his game in the playoffs. We’ll leave that “seems to” in there since there’s always the risk that playoff sample sizes can be misleading — but both guys have been excellent again this year, and it’s fair to say both teams are very comfortable with their goaltending when the games start to matter.

So, yeah, both teams have deep rosters featuring plenty of great players. After all, that’s what you’d expect from a pair of Stanley Cup contenders. But if you’re a Western Conference team hoping the Kings and Hawks will come back to the pack over the next few years, the depressing parts come next.

The Salary Cap

The NHL has been a salary cap league since 2005, and we’ve become used to seeing top teams feel the strain of financial pressure within a few years. The best teams end up overspending on their elite talent, the supporting guys have to seek their fortunes elsewhere, and the resulting lack of depth brings the top team back to the pack. Call it the Pittsburgh Model.¹

And in fact we’ve already seen that scenario play out with one of these teams. When the Blackhawks won the Cup in 2010, they were forced to part ways with a big chunk of their roster, including good players like starting goalie Antti Niemi, defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, and forward Andrew Ladd. It was exactly the sort of enforced parity that hockey fans had been promised under a cap system.

And all of that kept the Blackhawks from the ranks of the elite teams for … two whole years. They’d win another Cup by 2013, and now they’re on the verge of yet another. And looking ahead, they’re not exactly in bad shape for next year and beyond.

>> Read the full post on Grantland

A complete history of the Obscure Former Player of the Week

My favorite thing to write at Grantland every week is the Grab Bag. I’ve been doing it for two seasons now, and it gives me an excuse at the end of every week to ramble about current stories, spend way too much time on YouTube, and make a bunch of jokes about stuff that happened 25 years ago that nobody will get.
One of my sections is the Obscure Former Player of the Week. So I pretty excited to get an email from a reader this week who was a fan of the feature, and had taken the time to crunch some numbers about the various players who’ve been mentioned. Obscure players and overly complicated statistical analysis? Count me in.

So even though I suspect it may not interest anyone but me, I’m going to repost it here. A big thanks to reader Mitchell for putting this together, and congratulations to him on his appointment to the unpaid position of official historian of the obscure player section. Everyone go follow him on Twitter at howintensive.

• There have been 51 Obscure Former Player sections, with 52 players total. (The only double-up: Greg Adams and Greg Adams)
  
• There have been two Grab Bags with no Obscure Player section. (11/1/13 & 11/8/13).
  
• Position breakdown: 14.5 right wingers, 9 left wingers, 11 centers, 10.5 defensemen, and 7 goaltenders (All positions based on hockey-referece.com, with half points awarded for players listed at multiple positions)
  
• Most represented season: 1991-92, with 22 Obscure Players playing at least one game that year
  
• Most common reason for being chosen: Name oddities and/or puns accounted for 17 selections
  
• Homer watch: Of the 52 Obscure Former Players, only nine played for the Leafs at some point. (I was shocked by this. I would have put the over/under at 20, easily.)
  

And here's the full list, and their reason for being selected:

Rick Vaive - RW '79-'92 (5/16/14) - Stripped of his captaincy with the Leafs.
Jimmy Mann - RW '80-'88 (5/9/14) - Jets draft bust
Stephane Quintal - D '89-'04 (5/2/14) - New head of Player Safety
Sergei Krivokrasov - RW '93-'02 (4/25/14) - Every playoff goal was an OT game winner
Frank McCool - G '45-'46 (4/18/14) - Historic shutout streak, won a championship, and disappeared.
Ted Irvine - LW '64-'77 (4/11/14) - Father of Chris Jericho
Todd Okerlund - RW '88 (4/4/14) - Father was "Mean" Gene Okerlund
Val Fonteyne - LW '60-'74 (3/28/14) - Full season without a penalty
Pat Falloon - RW '92-'00 (3/21/14) - Draft bust
Bill Derlago - C '79-'87 (3/14/14) - "Builder Lego"
Alan May - RW '88-'95 (3/7/14) - Most-traded player at the deadline
Larry Goodenough - D '75-'80 (2/28/14) - Good enough name.
Norm Maracle - G '98-'02 (2/22/14) - Do you believe in Maracles?
Kelly Kisio - C '83-'95 (2/14/14) - Valentine's Day pick
Dave Silk - RW '80-'86 (2/7/14) - Miracle on Ice player
Bronco Horvath - C '56-'68 (1/31/14) - In honor of Denver playing in the Super Bowl
Shawn Chambers - D '88-'00 (1/24/14) - Rated 1/100 in NHLPA '93
Larry Playfair - D '79-'90 (1/17/14) - Did not actually play fair
Rob Zamuner - LW '92-'04 (1/10/14) - Made Canadian Olympic Team instead of Mark Messier in 1998
Fred Sasakamoose - C '54 (1/3/14) - Born on Christmas; first Native Canadian to play.
Herb Cain - LW '34-'46 (12/20/14) - Led NHL in scoring but is not in HOF
Corey Millen - C '90-'97 (12/13/13) - Forgotten part of the Iginla-to - Calgary blockbuster.
John Albert - C '14 (12/6/13) - ALBERT ALBERT ALBERT.
Vincent Riendeau - G '88-'95 (11/22/13) - Another goalie nicknamed “Red Light”; gave up Lidstrom's first goal.
Terry Yake - C '89-'01 (11/15/13) - Was not pronounced "Teriyaki"
No section (11/8/13)
No section (11/1/13)
Jim Boo - D '78 (10/25/13) - Halloween name
Vic Lynn - LW/D '43-'54 (10/18/13) - Played for all 6 Original Six teams
Don Murdoch - RW '77-'82 (10/11/13) - “The Tomas Hertl of the 1970s”
Chris Terreri - G '87-'01 (10/4/13) - Devils' starter who lost his job to Martin Brodeur
Hugh Jessiman - RW '11 (6/28/13) - Draft bust in ultra-deep 2003 draft.
Blaine Lacher - G '95-'96 (6/21/13) - Had a good lockout-shortened season w/ Bruins; also a cool nickname
Darin Kimble - RW '89-'95 (6/14/13) - Enforcer who played for both Blackhawks and Bruins
Bill Muckalt - RW '99-'03 (6/7/13) - Forgotten piece of Alexi Yashin trade; went through entire NHL season without a goal.
Bill McCreary - RW '81 (5/31/13) - Not the referee; once flattened Gretzky
Per Djoos - D '91-'93 (5/24/13) - Was named Pear Juice
Lonny Bohonos - RW '96-'99 (5/17/13) - Was on line with Mats Sundin during playoffs for some reason
Chris Kontos - LW/C '83-'93 (5/10/13) - “The guy who had that one really crazy playoff run. No, not John Druce. The other one.“
Manon Rheaume - G (5/3/13) - Female goalie who played for the Lightning in an exhibition game.
Tony Twist - LW '90-'99 (4/26/13) - Do not mess with Tony Twist, on the ice or in the courtroom
Neil Sheehy - D '84-'92 (4/19/13) - Wore number 0
Greg Adams - LW '81-'90 & Greg Adams - LW '85-'01 (4/12/13) - Two different players on same team, same name.
Marc Bergevin - D '85-'04 (4/5/13) - Got traded 7 times, plenty of own goals, now Habs GM
Mike Sillinger - C '91-'09 (3/29/13) - Owns the record for most times being traded
Harold "Mush" March - RW '29-'45 (3/22/13) - March Madness
Phil Bourque - LW '84-'96 (3/15/13) - Did the upside down blade on breakaway before Kaspar Daugavins
Steven Halko - D '98-'03 (3/1/13) - Never scored despite many SOG and lots of ice time
Kari Takko - G '86-'91 (2/22/13) - Part of the Takko-Bell trade
Chris Valentine - C '82-'84 (2/15/13) - Only Valentine to play in NHL.
Reggie Savage - C '91-'94 (2/8/13) - Scored first career goal on a penalty shot; great name
Nolan Baumgartner - D '96-'10 (2/1/13) - Part of 2 big trades- Eric Lindros draft trade, and Clark-Sundin.
Dave McLlwain - C/RW '88-'97 (1/25/13) - Played in all four divisions in one season