Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Yearbook 2005-06
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.
Fire still alive on Red Mile
An extra year in production and we’ll finally find out if the Stampede City sequel can deliver. When the final buzzer last sounded on an actual NHL game, way back in the spring of 2004, the Flames went down in defeat. This squad, however, was not a group of losers. Having ended a seven-year playoff drought, the gritty Flames stunned the hockey world by reaching the Stanley Cup final, exorcising their playoff demons. The last time the club had won a series was the Cup win of 1989. Now comes the much-anticipated encore. Recent history has seen upstart playoff teams fall by the wayside in follow-up performances, as was the case for the two previous runners-up from Anaheim and Carolina. Expectations along Calgary’s Red Mile will be to buck that trend and maybe even claim…
Soothing words for hockey hearts
Learning to reconcile with a loved one after you’ve been burned isn’t easy. On the bright side, you’re not alone. A Google search of the words “how to love again” turned up more than 51 million references, including several by North America’s leading advice-giver, Dr. Phil. So we thought we’d apply the good doctor’s wisdom to our collective relationship with the NHL, one that has been severely ruptured by a one-year separation. You may want to keep this self-help guide with you while watching big league games, repeating the mantras out loud until you’ve overcome your mistrust and cynicism. We know it will be hard, especially if richly compensated players such as Bobby Holik (he of the $13-million buyout and $4 million new salary) go into 20-game goalless droughts, or blueline behemoths such…
Offensive focus by GM’s design
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Steve Rucchin and Sergei Fedorov will be among the familiar faces when the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim return to the ice this season. Just about everywhere else in the organization, name tags will be necessary. Since Anaheim followed up its unexpected drive to the 2003 Stanley Cup final with a disappointing 12th-place finish in the Western Conference in 2003-04, the team has undergone changes in ownership, the GM’s office and behind the bench. After 11 mostly unsuccessful seasons under the Walt Disney Co., the Ducks are now the property of Henry and Susan Samueli. The Orange County entrepreneurs and philanthropists completed their purchase of the team June 20 and immediately announced the hiring of former Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke to run the Ducks’ hockey operations. Former coach Mike Babcock signed on…
Youth gone Wild drives Minnesota
The departures of the bearded Matt Johnson and stubbly Andrew Brunette partially explain why razors are gathering dust in the Wild dressing room these days. The main reason is an invasion of peach fuzz. The Wild began the 2003-04 season as the eighth-oldest team in the NHL, with an average age of 28.3. They finished it as the third-youngest, pulling that average down to 26.1. With fewer veterans and more prospects, Minnesota is poised to ice its youngest team ever in 2005-06. GM Doug Risebrough has spent five years talking about The Plan and how the organization is committed to implementing it no matter how tempting the league’s new economic order is to the fiscally conscious franchise. The expansion team built on the competitive sweat and spirit of unwanted journeymen and washed-out draft…
Made possible with the support of
