Who Is Ray Whitney?

Ray Whitney, #13 Phoenix Coyotes
PHOTO: nhl.com

So we all know who Ray Whitney is, and we all are finally realizing that he is good, but how good is he? Whitney was a name that was seldom mentioned even just a few years ago. Somehow he has managed to remain one of the most underrated players in the NHL over the last decade or so, and despite the fact that he is 40 years old, he is still putting up great numbers late in his career. 

Success in hockey came early for the Canadian-born Whitney. In his third year playing for the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL), he lead the league with 185 points and helped the Chiefs win the 1991 Memorial Cup. He was drafted 23rd overall by the San Jose Sharks in 1991, however his NHL career didn't start off as well as he would have liked. Whitney played the better part of two season in the International Hockey League (IHL). After four partial seasons with the Sharks, Whitney was sent down and split time in the American Hockey League (AHL) and IHL. It was only in the 1997-98 season, when Whitney was already 25 years old, that he started to play complete seasons and put up points just shy of a point per game.

On March 31st, Whitney became the 79th player in history to reach 1000 points in the NHL. He had 77 points in the regular season this year, and since the lockout has put up 468 points in 529 games. In total, he has 1003 points in 1229 NHL games. He also helped the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup in the year following the lockout season. Despite the good numbers, and the ability to do so year after year, he rarely seemed to be mentioned in a conversation of top players in the league. In fact, in the last twenty years that he has played in the NHL he has never made more than $3.55M per season.  

Philadelphia Flyers - Acquiring a goalie PART II

Ilya Bryzgalov pulls the puck out of his net as the Flyers
face elimination in the playoffs
PHOTO: NHL.com

When Paul Holmgren, the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers, acquired Ilya Bryzgalov, he thought all of the goaltending issues that plagued the team over the past few years were a thing of the past. But as time has shown, not only is there still have a ton of issues, but they are also shedding quite a bit of salary towards their goalies, mainly Bryzgalov, whereas in the past that wasn't the case. Holmgren made some aggressive moves in the summer to fit Bryzgalov's salary under the cap, and isn't getting his moneys worth, while Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the big name players that he traded, are in the Conference finals with the Los Angeles Kings. I don't think Holmgren ever thought that he needed a backup plan for a starting goalie, but he definitely needs to figure something out for next season.

The last time the Flyers won the cup was 1975. While the Flyers have shown themselves as Cup contenders in recent years, goaltending has been a lingering thorn in their side. Since the lock-out, the Flyers have used several goalies from season to season, and even game to game. There have been eight goalies to play more than a handful of games, Antero Niittymaki, Robert Esche, Martin Biron, Michael Leighton, Ray Emery, Brian Boucher, Sergei Bobrovsky and Ilya Bryzgalov. All of which have shown that they are not capable starting goalies. With the exception of Bryzgalov, they are either all back-up goalies or they aren't even in the NHL anymore.

Rambling on about Sheriff Shanny

Shea Weber smashes Henrik Zetterberg's face into
the glass twice
PHOTO: TMLHockey

Brenden Shanahan is in charge of administering discipline to NHL players whose actions are not within the rules of the NHL and thus warrant punishment. The punishment is usually a fine, suspension or both.

Let us look at his role administering suspensions and fines thus far in the playoffs. Things started off really bumpy when Shanahan chose only to give Shea Weber a $2500 fine for his attack on Henrik Zetterberg in game one. Weber took Zetterberg by the back of his head and smashed his face into the glass twice. Since that decision, it seems Shanahan is determined to punish every player regardless of whether they are a superstar or not, which is something that should have been done from the start, but now leaves a void of confusion from player to player as to what will get you suspended and what will not.

After Four Games Of The First Round In The West

Crawford lets the puck slide past him in overtime and the
Blackhawks lose in another tight game with the Coyotes
PHOTO: nhl.com

So, we've made it to the halfway point of the first round of the playoffs, and it has been rather eventful when compared to previous years. Here is my breakdown of each series this far.


VANCOUVER CANUCKS vs LOS ANGELES KINGS

The Canucks finished this season with the best record in the NHL, which earns them the President's trophy, but things didn't quite go their way early in the playoffs. Daniel Sedin didn't play in their first three games for the Canucks as the Kings jumped to an 3-0 series lead. Vancouver would win game four with Daniel Sedin in the line-up, but have a big hill to climb.

Roberto Luongo played in net for the Canucks in games one and two, and played considerably well, but Cory Schneider was given the call for game three to change things up. Despite the loss in game three, Schneider, who played well, was given the nod to start in net for game four which he won. This raises a lot of questions about the future of Luongo and whether or not he will be playing for the Canucks in the near future.

The real goaltending story in this series is Jonathan Quick for the Los Angeles Kings. In my opinion he has been the best goalie of the playoffs thus far.

Are the Leafs the worst team in the league?

Leafs are dominated by the Flyers
PHOTO: mapleleafs.com

The Toronto Maple Leafs suffer yet another humiliating loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers and all is lost for many Leaf fans. While some fans are calling for General Manager Brian Burke to be fired, others are calling the Leafs the worst team in the league.

The harsh words and opinions may simply be the aftermath of another disappointing season, which showcased a rather significant debacle. Regardless of anything, the fact of the matter is that the Leafs haven't appeared in the playoffs in eight years.

But let's be honest, everyone calling for Burke's head and running around saying the Leafs are the worst team in the league, are the same people that were claiming to be the #1 Leaf fan a few months ago. So, sometimes things didn't go as planned. In fact, things went terribly. This season ends as a completely failure for the Maple Leafs, but why is everyone blowing up over how bad the team plays in meaningless games?