Youngest ever...again...

Sindey Crosby is setting the bar in the youngest player in NHL history category every day it seems. Or at least the mainstream media gives you that feeling.

Let's see what records has Sid the Kid set in that category so far:


- Youngest player in NHL history to record 100 points in a season.
- Youngest player in NHL history to record 200 career points.
- Youngest player in NHL history to have 2 consecutive 100 point seasons.
- Youngest player to be voted to the NHL All-Star Game.
- Youngest player in NHL history to win the Art Ross Trophy.

And now the youngest player in NHL history with a 'C' on his sweater.

I pretty much had it with: Is he the "next great one". I don't know, and to be honest I don't really care. At least not yet. The guy is 19 years old people. Will he be the best player ever to wear an NHL jersey? I don't know. Will he be one of the best players in the history of the game? Likely, if he stays healthy.

But I've had enough of this hype, this is getting sick and disturbing. Look at it this way, if the Capitals decided to name Ovechkin as their captain would it be on the first page of every Canadian sports web page? You wake up, go to tsn.ca to see some new news on the finals, to read a couple of "analysts" talk how the Spezza line will work in Ottawa and BAM...there it is... Sidney Crosby named captain of the Penguins! The messiah gets to wear the 'C'!

Dude I don't care! I wanna know more about the finals! Look, I get it, the league needs someone who to help the ratings, but come on! He was only named team captain! The only Crosby news relevant enough at this point in the season, the only news worth putting on top of the sports page would be if he got injured during an inline game, or him winning the Hart.

Game 1 watched in just 523,000 U.S. households

Fact 1: Versus is available to 72 million homes.

Fact 2: The first game of the 2007 Stanley Cup finals on Versus was watched by 523.000 households.

Fact 3: The first game of the NBA eastern conference finals between the Pistons and the Cavs on ABC has been watched in 2,9 million households.

Fact 4: The NBA is panicking that the ratings are down from last year.

Fact 5: Garry Bettman will tell you that nothing's wrong with the NHL.

What does that tell you?


And again people in Canada will start complaining that Garry Bettman is an idiot and nobody in the U.S. cares about the NHL. Do you really think that a guy in Miami or Chicago is interested in the Stanley cup finals featuring a small market team like Anaheim and a bunch of angry dudes with no teeth from Canada? Of course not.

C'mon, California and Florida combined have 5 NHL teams, Canada just 6, and hockey is a religion in Canada. Bettman should finally realize that there's just no way that he's gonna make people in let's say Atlanta watch the NHL. People in Atlanta wanna watch the Falcons and maybe the Braves and that's it. Same goes for the Predators, Hurricanes and the Coyotes. There's just no way that an NHL team located in a small market, or a city where football rules (which is pretty much every city in the U.S. at this point). Would the league have worse ratings if the Predators were in Winnipeg? Quite frankly I don't know, all I know is that the league can't afford to lose any more viewers and maybe it's time to take a gamble and move some teams back to Canada. At least there the arenas will be full, even if the team isn't exactly a cup contender.

The fact is that the NHL isn't gonna get better ratings by pushing Crosby as the "next great one", they should just move some teams back to Canada where people care about hockey.

And the Conn Smythe trophy goes to...

Ok, so we're two games into the Stanley cup finals and people are already bold in their predictions for the Conn Smythe trophy. A LOT of people are claiming that the trophy should go to Daniel Alfredsson even if the Senators lose the series. I had a had a loooong conversation with a guy from Sweden a few hours ago on who should win it...and here's what i think:

Ok, so let's go through this step by step. Has Alfredsson been the best Sens player up to the finals? You could say that, but on the other hand the whole Spezza line has been awesome. Heatley is the playoff leader in points and assists, Alfredsson has the most goals and Spezza is second in goals and points...BUT...what has the Spezza line shown us in the finals? Pretty much nothing, except that they simply can't play against Ducks' checking line. And Conn Smythe usually goes to the player that plays great for the whole playoffs, not just the first three series. On the other hand Ray Emery has been awesome in my opinion these playoffs. If it wasn't for him the Sens would lose both games in the series by 3 goals at least. So if anyone is getting overlooked here it's Ray. Give the guy some credit for crying out loud.


What about the Ducks? Giguere? Prongs? Scott Niedermayer? Getzlaf? Pahlsson even?
Yeah, all of those guys could get it, after all there are at least two games left in the series. Pronger is tied for the lead in points for the Ducks, he's the leader in assists with 11 and has the best +/- rating of all the players in the finals with +8. Scott Niedermayer? I dunno to be honest. If he gets a few points as the series progresses then maybe. Getzlaf maybe, Pahlsson probably not. Everyone who says that one of these guys should get it has a legitimate point and can back it up with stats. But there's one guy whose stats don't speak for themselves. J.S. Giguere. Sure, he's been constantly good, just had a shutout last night, has a solid goals against avg., but the thing that stands out with Giguere is that he wasn't that great during the regular season, wasn't even a starter when the playoffs started, didn't have his mind on hockey because his son had an eye surgery and a lot of people expected Bryzgalov to be the starting goalie for these playoffs. If that happened, we would probably be watching a Detroit-Ottawa finals right now. If it wasn't for Giguere the Ducks wouldn't beat Detroit, maybe not even Vancouver. He had a great playoff run, and if the Ducks win the Cup then he gets the Conn Smythe.


Anyway, you see what you got me doing damn Swedes? Predicting the Conn Smythe trophy winner two games into the finals. :)