Cam and Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job

Where the hell have these Hurricanes been all season?


In the four games since he was named Captain, Eric Staal has seven goals and is a +2. True, he has no assists in that span, but the most important number is that the 'Canes are 3-1-0 in that span. Tonight at Madison Square Garden, Staal and co. trounced the Rangers 5-1, two of those goals coming from Staal himself. Cam Ward too was pretty stellar, stopping 37 of 38 shots just a few days after breaking Arturs Irbe's franchise win record of 130. Even the oft-maligned Sergei Samsonov popped two goals tonight in the Big Apple. So again I'll ask: What the hell?

I'm pleased as a fan that the 'Canes are winning games. It's fun to watch your team win. But after such a horrendous start to the '09-10 season, it had seemed that GM Jim Rutherford had declared it a lost cause and that a rebuild was beginning. Having gone on record saying that "you don't want to win too many games" at a certain point in order to ensure a high draft pick, this sudden burst of 5-goal games has got to have him scratching his head. Was Brind'Amour's captaincy really such an elephant in the room that as soon as it was removed the team that we all expected at the start of the year suddenly showed up? Staal now has 40 points in 39 games. I feel that I must eat crow on my post a few days ago about his production. This may be an aberration, but I'm reminded of two years ago when Brind'Amour hurt his knee at around the midway point of the season. Whitney, Williams and Cole were also out for big stretches of time with injuries that year, and Staal put the mostly AHL journeyman team on his back and almost willed them into the playoffs. The win tonight puts the 'Canes 14 points out of 8th in the East, with 30 games left to play. However, to even sniff 90 points on the year, a generous cutoff, they'd have to go something like 23-4-3 (for 49 points). That seems pretty unlikely. So the question is: play for the eighth seed, or play for the high draft pick? It would seem that shoring up the future would be the most prudent, but when the team is capable of dominating games as this (admittedly short) stretch has shown they are... where do we go from here?

Mindless Rambling

Am I the only one who thinks that those Brinks/Broadview security ads are kind of sexist? Watch out, upwardly mobile young women! Psycho ex-boyfriends and/or potential thieves are around every corner; your weak feminine frame will be unable to stop the inevitable onslaught of deranged males. Buy our security system to protect your ridiculously ornate, heavily candle-decorated house... because all the unmarried women I know have tons of money and need to protect it.

O Captain, My Captain

It was announced yesterday that, effective immediately, the captaincy of the Carolina Hurricanes would transfer from Rod Brind'Amour, he of the insane workout regimen, meandering nasal bone and owner of the NHL's worst +/- for two years running, to Thunder Bay wunderkind and multimillionaire Eric Staal. It's been a roller coaster of highs and lows for Brind'Amour over the last few years; he won his (and Carolina's) first Stanley Cup in 2006 and two consecutive Selke awards the following seasons before going on to tear his ACL and slip slowly into punchline territory as his production and icetime began to shrivel and diminish like George Costanza in a cold pool.


















Staal, too, has seen ups and downs since his 100-point, Cup-winning sophomore campaign in '06. He's never again reached triple digit points (the closest he came was in '07-'08 with 82, averaging exactly one point per game as the Hurricanes were knocked from a playoff spot by Washington on the very last day of the regular season) and in '08-'09 was actually second in team scoring to Ray Whitney. On the other side of that coin, he did pop 15 points in 18 playoff games that season as the Hurricanes rocketed from bubble team to Eastern Conference finalists. His franchise-record consecutive start streak came to an end this year after starting in every game but one of his first five NHL years, and goes into tonight's game second in team scoring, again to Ray Whitney, with 33 points in 36 games (though to be fair, Whitney only has one more point in ten more games played). Staal's tendency to be dominant against crappy teams only to disappear against powerhouse teams has been well documented and discussed all over the internet; here is a good example, and here is a rebuttal to it. Scroll down this very blog, and you'll see an example of an angry 'Canes fan bitching about Staal's performance this season and its inconsistency with the amount of money he's getting paid.

Right this second though, that's neither here nor there. The Hurricanes organization has made the decision that, moving forward, the basement-dwelling team they ice is Staal's to command, and his game tonight showed that they might just be on to something. Staal had his best goal output of the season with a hat trick, and the 'Canes were 3 for 3 on the power play (something that just a day ago would have seemed impossible for a team that's been dismal on the man advantage this year). For the moment at least, it seems Carolina is in good hands.

Facts

This is a blog, and as such I am under no obligation to hide my opinion. But in this particular piece, a reality check is getting deposited into your brain banks. If you'd prefer to think of it as the cold hard cash of truth, that's your prerogative. Let's look at four NHL players, shall we?

Alex Ovechkin, LW Washington Capitals

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
28	23	18	41	150	17

Sidney Crosby, C Pittsburgh Penguins

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
35	22	21	43	132	14

Evgeni Malkin, C Pittsburgh Penguins

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
29	10	24	34	120	13

Eric Staal, C Carolina Hurricanes

GP	G	AST	PTS	SOG	+/-
25	6	13	19	108	-6

Just from looking at these stats, the casual observer could tell you that one of these things is not like the others. What the casual observer may not be able to tell you is that these four men have, as of the '09-'10 NHL season, the highest salary cap hits in the league. That number is not exactly indicative of actual salary for a particular year, but it is the average salary that the player will earn over the course of their contract. Respectively, Ovechkin's hit is $9.5 million, Crosby and Malkin both are at $8.7 mil, and Staal brings up the rear at $8.25 million. For comparison, the next highest cap hit is Brad Richards of the Stars at $7.8 million.

What the hell is wrong with this picture? Not only is Staal the only player of the 4 highest paid NHL'ers with a negative +/- rating, he has significantly less points than all three of his cash-earning peers. This may stem from the fact that he has played less games than the others, but again, who is paying him an average of $8.25 million to not play hockey games?

Points per game as of today, '09-'10:
Ovechkin: 41 pts in 28 games = 1.464 (holy toledo)
Crosby: 43 in 35 = 1.229
Malkin: 34 in 29 = 1.172
Staal: 19 in 25 = 0.76

Again: THESE ARE FACTS.






































Another fact: He loves Nintendo. Okay, I don't know if that's a fact or not.

How to beat the North Carolina Panthers

Shut down the running game and make them give it to this guy:





Would you want him on your team on third and fifteen?

Zlatan v. Eto'o: Who's better?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic switched from Inter Milan to Barcelona. This is an awesome pick up for Barcelona. But the catch was…..they gave up Samuel Eto’o. Eto’o will now call the San Siro his home for the foreseeable future. There have been people claiming various things from Barcelona have gotten the better end of the deal to both teams will benefit equally. I even read one article where the author called Eto’o (28) “old” and Zlatan (27) “young”. They are one year apart!!! Watching both these players play with their respective club teams over the past two years, I have noticed some things about these two world class players.

When watching Zlatan play with Inter Milan the past two years, I noticed that he disappears in big games. He just does not have that killer drive to finish off big teams most of the time. Eto’o, on the other hand, consistently shows up in big games with big goals for Barcelona. Let’s look at the stats from the past two years.

When talking about Zlatan, we will rate his play in big Serie A games. He will be judged against the four other big teams in Italy: AC Milan, Juventus, Roma, and Fiorentina. In two Serie A seasons (16 big games total), he scored 5 goals. 4 of those goals came in two games and another one was a penalty. So he did not score in 13 of the 16 biggest league games for Inter. Even worse, he hasn’t scored league goals against AC Milan OR Juventus in this time frame (8 games).
Now let’s look at Eto’o. We will compare him to the same standards in La Liga. The teams I used were Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, and Atletico Madrid. Eto’o has scored 9 goals in the 16 biggest La Liga games for Barcelona, with one being a penalty. Plus, he has scored at least one goal against all of the big teams. He did, however, fail to score in 7 of those games. But he was injured two seasons ago (07/08) and missed 3 of these big games. So he, technically, went 4 games without scoring.

Still don’t think Eto’o is a big game player? Let’s look at the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona have 3 titles in their history and Eto’o has been on two of those teams. Not only that, but he has scored in the two finals that he has played in. Zlatan has yet to play in a semi-final and is always criticized about his lack of goals and overall production in the Champions League.

Let’s now look at overall league goals. In 08/09, both players did not have injury problems and were available for all 38 league games if their coaches chose to play them. Zlatan scored 25, the most in Serie A. Eto’o scored 30 goals, but he only registered second place in La Liga goals scored! First went to Diego Forlan with 32.

In 07/08, both strikers had injury problems, with Eto’o’s keeping him out for the longer period of time. Eto’o scored 16 league goals in 18 games. Zlatan scored 17 goals in 26 games. If Eto’o played the same amount of games Zlatan did two years ago, he would be on pace to have scored 23 goals.

Individually these players are quite different. Zlatan is a target man and is used to being out of the play for as long as 10 minutes. He doesn’t do a whole lot of movement to get the ball either. He usually stands between the two center backs and throws his hands up in disgust sometimes if he doesn’t get the perfect pass. He is allowed to be very selfish with his decision making as well, being he is the focus of Inter's attack. Eto’o comes from a team where it is all about total team movement. He drifts out wide on both flanks and comes deep if it means it will help the team offensively. Need examples? His two Champions League final goals came from him making runs from the wide position. Matter of fact, he was positioned out wide right in the 08/09 final and he played that position well because he knew what was on the line. Could Zlatan do that? I can seriously see Zlatan pouting and not trying if Guardiola told him to start anywhere besides central striker. Barcelona plays with constant team movement, even if the ball is on the other side of the field. This is a concept that many people are fans of called “Total Football” (Speaking of Total Football, shout out to the ’74 Holland World Cup team, the best team to never win the World Cup). When watching Zlatan, he stands still if there is no chance of him getting the ball with little regard for cutting passing lanes between the center backs. This total football will not work for him because he does not have the industry, hustle, and drive that Eto’o does. Barcelona will have to change their style of play to better suit Zlatan.

Now many will ask “Why did this switch even happen?” I believe this is Guardiola trying to make this Barcelona team HIS team. They did win the Spanish treble last season, but it was all with Frank Rijkaard’s boys. This Zlatan acquisition is the first big step in the Guardiola-era. He wants the team to be built around Lionel Messi and sees Zlatan as the perfect strike partner for him. Good Luck having two selfish players as strike partners.

As for Inter’s new hit man, manager Jose Mourinho can get the best out of a lot of players. Example? Eidur Gudjohnsen. While at Chelsea, Mourinho got a lot out of Gudjohnsen, but not as a striker. It was as a midfielder with Drogba as a lone striker. That’s right. Eidur played in the midfield for Chelsea for two years and to great effect, despite the naysayers who said playing him in the center of midfield was a crazy idea. So I’m sure Mourinho can take Eto’o and get the most out of him, even if it sometimes means not being a central striker. But I’m almost certain that Eto’o, as long as he is helping the team, is ok with that.

So I believe that Eto’o/Inter got the much better end of the deal. They have a big game player who has won a lot and still looks hungry to win more. Now don’t get me wrong; Zlatan will get his fair share of goals with Barcelona. Double digits? More than likely. 20+? A good solid maybe. But how many will be big, important goals? Especially now that he is not the main focus of his team’s offense. You can watch all the YouTube clips of Zlatan you want, but over a 90 minute game, I’ll take Eto’o.

Marvell Wynne: Born in the Wrong Country

I just watched Toronto FC lose to the Puerto Rico Islanders in the CONCACAF Champions League (a joke of a tournament in the first place), which means they are eliminated. One player who was noticably disappointing was Marvell Wynne. The more I watch Marvell Wynne, the more I think about how much of a better soccer player he would be if he were born in Europe. Now, one can say that about every player not born in Europe but for Wynne I feel especially sorry for him.

I believe I can imagine fairly accurately how he was coached growing up. He was always faster than the other kids, so coaches encouraged him to "hustle" and "always go fast/hard". I think these coaches let actual tactics and defensive positioning slip through the learning process because Wynne can always sprint back. Which is absolutely wrong. The more I watch him, the more I notice he is out of position. When the USA played Costa Rica, his awful positioning forced Onyewu over to the right to cover for him being inexcusably too far up the field when three Costa Rica players were on his side of the field. But Wynne caught up with them so it was all good, right? No. Costa Rica tore the USA apart with the give-and-go (no matter how fast you are, you can't outrun the ball) and scored their 2nd goal.

A good friend of mine is a big fan of Marvell Wynne. She always talks about how fast and strong he is. And it's very true. The kid has speed to burn and is very strong. But that's where the compliments end. The same goes for soccer announcers as well. After they get done talking about his physical attributes, they move on to a different subject. No one ever talks about his skill on the ball, his tackling, his crossing, positioning, or other nessessary skills that are crucial for an outside back to have. Truth is he has very little of that. It just goes to show how soccer is treated in this country. He played for UCLA for two years, a prestigious soccer college. I still ask why? Is that all one needs to be good at soccer in this country? Just to be faster than everyone else?

Wynne is the same age as Johnathan Spector. In my opinion (and hopefully most people's), I would pick Spector over Wynne any day of the week. Spector is a lot slower than Wynne, but that is the only thing Wynne has over Spector. All those attributes I talked about in the previous paragraph, Spector has them. Not only does he have them, he has shown them (most recently in the Confederations Cup). Spector is in Europe as well. I doubt Wynne will ever go to Europe.

Now look at a player like Micah Richards, an English right back who is currently starting for Manchester City. He became a full starter at 18 years old in 2006. He is very similar to Wynne as far as phyiscal traits are concerned. But it did not matter to coaches in England as a youth trainee. They still made sure he had the basics drilled in him. Richards is two years younger than Wynne but is a much more accomplished right back and is a candidate for England's 2010 World Cup roster. Unless multiple injuries occur, Wynne isn't going to South Africa next summer.


If Wynne was born in any other country, he would be a better player. But in America coaches took his speed for granted. Now he is suffering for it. At 23 he can still improve. But from what I've seen so far I truly think he is playing to his full potential.