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April 8, 2008
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.
Coach Sauter keeps truckin’
It was fitting Oklahoma City Blazers owner Bob Funk presented his longtime coach Doug Sauter with a new Ford pickup truck as part of a pre-game celebration honoring Sauter’s historic coaching achievements. As far as mileage, the Blazers have got their money’s worth out of Sauter. In February, he became the first CHL coach to win 500 games – all with the Blazers. In 13 seasons with Oklahoma City, Sauter, the longest-tenured coach in North American pro hockey, has two league championships and four regular season titles. Overall, in 33 years of coaching at the junior and pro levels, Sauter has more than 1,200 victories.…
LOS ANGELES
WHAT HAPPENED? It would be easy to dissect the Kings’ season had there been one colossal area of failure. Instead, they suffered more of a death by paper cuts. Goaltending was strong at times, but a major weakness at others. Lack of secondary scoring was an issue early, but later in the season, young players stepped up and two solid lines were formed. One consistent problem was defense, as coach Marc Crawford never found a reliable shutdown pair. Lubomir Visnovsky struggled badly and rookie Jack Johnson isn’t ready to carry a team. Moreover, in the second year of GM Dean Lombardi’s rebuilding phase, there is general disappointment. The Kings were widely expected to contend for the playoffs, but never even came close.…
Starting from 10
10 TOMAS HOLMSTROM’S bread and butter is creating tough, ugly playoff goals. 9 You can’t really have a final these days unless CORY STILLMAN is involved. 8 No matter what team he’s on, SCOTT NIEDERMAYER delivers Stanley Cups. 7 NICKLAS LIDSTROM averages more than 30 minutes of ice time in the playoffs. 6 BRAD RICHARDS and his Conn Smythe Trophy are a welcome sight in in Dallas. 5 CAM WARD wasn’t even the Canes’ No. 1 goalie when their ’06 run began. 4 As the games get more important, so does JAMIE LANGENBRUNNER. 3 Sometimes MIKE GRIER has been the only positive on his playoff team. 2 Ask Ottawa what it’s like to face SAMUEL PAHLSSON in the springtime. 1 You don’t want to play MARTIN BRODEUR when there’s a Cup on the line.…
SNAPSHOTS
WITH NO CLEAR CUT favorite for the Stanley Cup this season, it’ll be interesting to see who gets taken first overall in office playoff pools. Most seasons, it’s just three or four players in the running. A quick survey around our headquarters revealed names such as Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Joe Thornton, Brad Richards, Jarome Iginla, Alex Kovalev, Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Sidney Crosby, even Ryan Getzlaf. OTTAWA’S LUKE RICHARDSON is the active NHLer who has played the most regular season games without winning a Stanley Cup. He’s at 1,410 followed by Trevor Linden (1,373), Teppo Numminen (1,314) and Jeremy Roenick (1,313). The all-time leader is Phil Housley (1,495). EVEN HEROES CAN finish second. Since the first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP was given out in 1965, it has been handed…
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