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Playoff Preview 2014
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
PHOENIX COYOTES
IF THE COYOTES MAKE the playoffs, it will be by the slimmest of margins, since statistically this is the most middle-of-the-road team in the NHL. Phoenix was basically the median in goals for and goals against, with a better-than-average power play getting dragged down by one of the worst penalty kills in the league. What distinguishes the Desert Dogs from most other squads is the activation of their blueliners. Keith Yandle (the team’s leading scorer) and emerging star Oliver Ekman-Larsson are deft and confident puckhandlers and the most dangerous offensive players on the team thanks to their ability to swoop in from the blueline to create opportunities for the forwards and themselves. Not surprisingly, Yandle is Phoenix’s runaway leader in power play points, while Ekman-Larsson is third, just behind Radim Vrbata. And…
CIS CHAMPIONS
Gabrielle Davidson is going to need to a bigger trophy case. Named the championship tournament’s MVP with six goals and three assists in three games, Davidson was the main reason why the McGill Martlets took home the Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s title. Already with two goals in the final against rival Montreal, she assisted on Brittney Fouracres’ double-OT title-clinching tally. By defeating the Caradins, the Martlets captured their fourth CIS championship, three back of the all-time mark held by Alberta. One the men’s side, the Alberta Golden Bears lost just three times all season, yielding, on average, fewer than two goals per game, and rode their stellar defense to a 3-1 victory in the final over rival Saskatchewan and tournament MVP Derek Hulak. With the win, Alberta took home its 14th…
DETROIT RED WINGS
AS KEN HOLLAND WATCHED the Canadian Olympic team practise in Sochi in February, he clarified his position on this year’s trade deadline, and it was pretty difficult to argue with his logic. The way he explained it, if his team is healthy, it will be good enough to compete in the playoffs. If the Red Wings continue to be besieged by injuries, what would be the point of making a bunch of patchwork trades at the deadline to supplement a team that was without its core players? And that is exactly what has happened with Detroit. Which prompted Holland to declare, “We’re going to go with the kids and see what happens.” The Red Wings have done a remarkably good job being competitive, and they’ve also done an outstanding job drafting and…
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
THE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS walk into the playoffs every year as favorites in the East – at least on paper. But reality and, more specifically, goaltending have prevented them from building on that one Stanley Cup accrued in the Sidney Crosby era. This year’s edition faces the same challenge as always, but with an extra degree of difficulty. Marc-Andre Fleury is still the starting netminder with a question mark looming above his mask, but now the Pens have to deal with a blueline that has been ripped apart by injury. Kris Letang was in the most serious of circumstances when he suffered a stroke in late January, while Paul Martin’s broken hand meant the team’s two top blueliners were out of commission down the stretch (though Letang resumed skating in mid-March). The…
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