Rangers have given up on 2008 3rd round pick, the giant-sized 6’4″ Russian winger Evgeny Grachev(91), dishing him to St. Louis Blues.
In 2 seasons in the AHL with Hartford/CT Whale, he’s underperformed but did get called up to the NHL for 8 games this past season, but failed to register a point.
He’s still very young at 21 and definitely still has a lot of potential to grow into the power forward force he’s projected to become.
Minnesota native Nate Prosser(15) re-upped with the Wild for the 2011/2012 season with a one year/two-way contract.
After proving reliability in his 1st pro season for Houston, he earned a call-up and saw action in a couple of NHL games registering one shot and no points.
He is being eyed to challenge for a spot on the blue line out of training camp.
AHL ref Terry Koharski(10), younger brother of now retired NHL ref Don Koharski, blows the whistle on the 2010/2011 hockey season.
The off-season has officially begun.
Each year for the past few I make predictions of which team will win the Cup in the different pro leagues and sometimes try to pick the winner of the President’s Trophy in LHJMQ too.
The picks below we made on December 4, 2010 on my now dormant Myspace site.
The pic is close up of the Stanley Cup as it’s being raised by Boston Bruins‘ captain Zdeno Chara(33) at the team’s Rolling Rally Parade through the streets of Boston on June 18.
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early Cup predictions 2010/2011 season 2 months in and I’m ready to commit…
NHL – Stanley Cup…this year it’s a really tough call and more than who will win it I feel like it’s more of a default choice to pick Vancouver Canucks to be champs.
6/15: Boston Bruins beat down Vancouver Canucks in game 7 of the Finals 4-0 to win their 1st Stanley Cup in 39 years.
They won 3 game 7′s to accomplish the 16 wins, a first.
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AHL – Calder Cup…this one’s a goaltending selection more than anything but two months into the season Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins seem to have it all.
6/7: Binghamton Senators make an incredible playoff run to win the Calder Cup for the 1st time in 29 years of pro hockey at the Broome County Veteran’s Memorial Arena.
I posted an 8-0 record with the B-Sens in games I attended.
WBS Pens lost in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals to Charlotte, who were then swept by the Senators in the Conference Finals.
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ECHL – Kelly Cup…Victoria Salmon Kings is a team that is absolutely stacked with minor league talent. The only questions might be if they are able to play as a team and will their goaltending be good enough to be a Cup winner? In the East, I like Wheeling Nailers chances this season.
5/21: Salmon Kings underperformed all season and barely made it into the playoffs in the 8th spot in the Western Conference. As a matter of fact, they were the only team in the league to qualify with a losing record (32-36).
Team insiders maintained this was a team built for the playoffs and that was all that mattered. That turned out to be true, because the Salmon Kings skated themselves convincingly to the Conference Finals before running out of water against the eventual 2011 Champs, Alaska Aces.
On the Eastern Conference side of the league, Wheeling Nailers were always one of the top teams, ending up 4th overall and pushing the postseason all the way to the Conference Finals vs. Kalamazoo Wings, where they ended their playoff hopes.
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CENTRAL HOCKEY LEAGUE – Ray Miron President’s Cup…it’s been a few years since Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs made it to the CHL Finals but this season’s team looks to take the title for the first time since they won it in 2001 (their third consecutive). This is the first year of the IHL folding into the CHL to make a super AA league.
5/27: Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs did in fact pull off the game 7 President’s Cup Finals‘ 2-1 win vs. the favored Colorado Eagles, who were playing in their comfortable, always sold out Budweiser Events Center home arena.
The irony of the win is that once the season ended, the Mudbugs ceased operations (at least in the CHL for now) after winning the Cup (no banner hanging ceremony next season. How completely odd? SPHL future?) and Colorado Eagles made the completely sensible move up the professional hockey league ladder and joined the ECHL.
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SPHL – President’s Cup…no solid reasoning behind this choice (it’s more of a hunch) but Mississippi Surge look good to win the single A cup.
4/15: Mississippi Surge claimed their 1st President’s Cup with a 3-0 series sweep of August Riverhawks.
On a side note, I only just figured out that the Surge are the former Mississippi Sea Wolves in the lower league. And that happened because Michael Ryder won the Stanley Cup.
He started his pro career with the ECHL Sea Wolves.
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LHJMQ – President’s Cup…with their lightning rod start it’s easy to pick Quebec Remperts to win but I actually had them pegged before the season started.
Bruins‘ veteran defenseman Andrew Ference(21) never lets the fact that he’s a bit undersized for a d-man get in the way. He always plays and hits super-big, just like a B’s guardian of the blue line should.
Much maligned Bruins‘ veteran forward Michael Ryder(73) came alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs, especially the Finals vs. the Canucks, where he picked up 6 of his 17 points (8 goals, 9 assists) in 25 games.
Folks in Boston will be quick to point out that he finally earned some of that $4m paycheck he gets for playing like he did. They are also quick to push him out of town, because of his potential asking price and lack of overall effort.
I say sign him for 1 more year at $2. with bonus incentives. Can GM’s do that anymore?
I like Ryder for the fact that he’s come all the way up from the ECHL Mississippi Sea Wolves, through Hamilton Bulldogs AHL and Montreal Canadiens and for the past 3 seasons with the Bruins.
Bruins‘ 2010 1st round draft pick (#2 overall) rookie Tyler Seguin(19) gets that backwards cap wearing thing situated as he rolls on the duck boat.
He looks real happy to be there. Nice watch.
Bruins‘ fans couldn’t have been happier to see a player riding the duck boats than they were seeing Marc Savard(91) taking part in the celebration.
He may have seen his last time on the ice in his professional career but if that unfortunately happens to be situation, he leaves the game a Boston Bruin and Stanley Cup champion.
In his fourth season as head coach of Boston Bruins, Claude Julien has taken a heap of criticisms but probably none more than this year, even as the team pushed one step closer with each game played to 16 wins in the postseason to get the Cup.
No more doubting him for now, he brought the Cup to Boston.
He’s looking pretty happy holding the Prince Of Wales, Eastern Conference Champs‘ trophy at the Rolling Rally.
22 years in the NHL and 3 Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh, Carolina and finally with Boston and that’s a career for Mark Recchi(28).
I love this career stat for him: 1652 games played, 1533 points.
He enjoys one final spin through town on a Champions Rally Boat with daughter Christina and sons Austin and Cameron.
