Prime Time Sports Summary - April 17, 2007

Here are the NHL Stories from Prime Time Sports last night (National Hour):

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: Jim Kelley from Rogers Sportsnet
NHL Phone In: John Muckler, GM of the Ottawa Senators

Main NHL Story: John Muckler called into the show and both McCown and Kelley talked to him about some of the issues surrounding the Senators. McCown first brought up the state of the series with the Penguins. Muckler commented that it is a very tough series and will continue to be one. The Penguins team is young and fast and Ottawa must match that with skill. McCown continued, mentioning how this series will be seen as a "hurdle" for the Senators to get over, given their past playoff performances. Muckler responded that he knows his team must win in the playoffs, regardless of their regular season performances. Muckler feels that this 2007 team is built differently than previous years and has all the make-up of a playoff winning team. Kelley asked Muckler about the state of his team and why they should be considered a playoff team. Muckler responded with the example of the adversity the team faced when they were plagued with injuries. Those injuries allowed some of their 4th liners and AHL players to prove themselves, which in turn has made the Senators a very deep team in terms of NHL playing time and experience. Muckler really thinks the maturity of Ray Emery will also help them to succeed. Kelley and Muckler talked about the physical side of the series and the playoff on whole and so far Ottawa is winning the physicality battle in the first round. McCown brought up the issue of the Gary Roberts trade and some of the rumours going around the trade. Muckler responded simply with no comment. As was mentioned on AM640's Leafs Lunch yesterday, by Bruce Garroich of the Ottawa Sun, Roberts didn't go to Ottawa because Muckler would not give Florida their first round pick, but I digress. Kelley asked Muckler about his feelings on the officiating so far in the playoffs. Muckler seemed quite happy with the Officials and feels he has a great pair of Refs for the Pens and Sens round. This brought on a discussion about the style of play in the post-lockout era and the officials. Kelley asked Muckler about the play of Daniel Alfredsson, who seems to be playing for vengeance this series, because of the weak defensive move he made on Buffalo's Jason Pominville in last years playoffs, which ended the Senators hopes at the 2006 Stanley Cup. Muckler just said that Alfredsson is playing like a leader, like the captain of the team or, in other words, like he should be. Finally, McCown asked Muckler if he had any feelings about the CBC snub by the NHL on the Saturday night game last week. Muckler said what is best for the NHL will be decided by the NHL.

Bullets:
Jim Kelley and Bob McCown sent their condolences to the family of Gaetan Duchesne, who died of a heart attack at the young age of 44.

Prime Time Sports Summary - April 9, 2007

Here are the NHL Stories from Prime Time Sports last night (National Hour):

Host: Bob McCown
Guests: David Shoalts and Stephen Brunt from the Globe & Mail

NHL Discussion: Today's roundtable was about the two historic Canadian teams that failed to make the playoffs; the Leafs and the Habs.
The Leafs
The discussion started by going over Shoalts' article he has written in Monday's Globe & Mail. Shoalts outlined in his article (at the bottom) why the Leafs ended up like they did and also gave each Leaf player a "do he add value." Both McCown and Brunt questioned a few of his decisions, but Shoalts was able to deflect a majority of the queries. One point that he did bring up was his ranking of Andrew Raycroft. He gave Raycroft a "sometimes" worth his value and justified it by saying that on the list of NHL goalie salaries Raycroft is ranked 23rd with his $2 million contract - justifiable given that it must mean the NHL has 22 better goaltenders in the league. McCown and Shoalts then brought up the Leafs mistakes; signing Raycroft and signing McCabe. Shoalts discussed the age old argument of why did JFJ give Raycroft a new contract when he entered Toronto with still one year left? Now, given his 2006-2007 performance, the Leafs will be unable to trade for him and will be forced to spend about $700k - $1 million on getting a decent back-up tender. The McCabe contract was, like everyone thinks, just a bad move on JFJ's part. The guy is untradable - the only deal that could get done (McCown said jokingly) is Yashin for McCabe, but who wants that? Given that the roundtable was on a roll about bad decisions, they then focussed their efforts on the one who made these decisions, John Ferguson Jr. McCown suggests the Leafs go out and hire NHL Executive Colin Campbell, while Shoalts suggests it won't help, as Campbell himself will be a new GM and he will have his hands tied by MLSE management. Final thought - who would you resign? who would you trade for?
The Canadiens
The Habs discussion was a little less in depth as neither reporter spent much time around the team this season, however they were quick to point out the rough season Montreal had. The season started well for the Habs and then went sour around Christmas time. So many negative events occurred at once that the Habs had the life sucked out of them. The personal loss of Bob Gainey, the Koivu injury and the fact that their was a new coach behind the bench all played into the sourness. Shoalts also brought up the problems the team had with Kovalev and Samsonov plagued their season. The future for the Habs still looks bright, with players like Ryder and Higgins just gaining their NHL senses, however there is a slim chance that Souray will resign in the off-season - Shoalts points out that Souray wants to move out to LA. The coaching situation will be a hot topic for the Montreal media as well, because it is pretty much certain Gainey is not going anywhere. However, the roundtable agrees that a majority of the problems Carbonneau faced were simply out of his hands and Gainey will give him another season to prove himself.

Bullets:
The Ed Belfour fight - what is news about this?