The last time Ondrej Pavelec took the ice against the Washington Capitals he lasted less than three minutes before he was taken off the ice on a stretcher after collapsing unconscious in front of a stunned crowd at Philips Arena. Friday was quite a different story. With Pavelec between the pipes and health on his side, he stonewalled the NHL’s best team; turning aside all 29 shots he faced for a 5-0 shutout.

It was a game that the Thrashers owned from the start and “owned” is not a common term used by opponents facing Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals.

The five-goal margin of victory was the largest this season for the Thrashers and the first five-goal win since Jan. 12, 2010 in a 6-1 win over Ottawa. It was also the team’s first shutout since April 10, 2010 when they knocked out the Pittsburgh Penguins 1-0; the same game rookie Evander Kane knocked out Matt Cooke with one punch.

The win improved the Thrashers’ record to 8-9-3 (19 points) for the season and contributions came from every line on the ice. Ben Eager opened the scoring with his third goal of the season, putting the Thrashers ahead 1-0 at the 2:42 mark of the opening frame then several other players found the net.

Nik Antropov, Evander Kane, Dustin Byfuglien and Alexander Burmistrov finished off the scoring with 18-year-old Burmistrov’s tally being one for the highlight reel. After skating the puck into the Capitals’ zone, the Russian turned defenseman Jeff Schultz and the Capitals’ rookie goaltender inside out before sweeping the puck in from behind the net. It was Burmistrov’s third goal of the season and fifth point (1g, 4a) over the last five games.

Kane who scored a pair of goals in each of two previous games against the Caps this year, has seven points (5g, 2a) in four games against Washington this season.

The Thrashers are 2-1-1 against the Caps in four games this season with a 2-0 record on their home ice.

Scoring Summary

Period (Time) Goal (Assists)

1 (2:42)    Eager (3) (Antropov)

1 (8:52)    Antropov (5) (Eager, Oduya)

1 (9:07)    Kane (8) (Little)

2 (19:10)   Byfuglien (6) (Kane)

3 (17:17)   Burmistrov (3) (Ladd, Bergfors)

Scoring by Period

ATL: 3 – 1 – 1 — 5

WSH: 0 – 0 – 0 — 0

Shots by Period

ATL:  7 – 14 – 15 — 36

WSH: 12 – 10 –  7 — 29

Special Teams

ATL: PP – 0/2   PK – 3/3

WSH: PP – 0/3   PK – 2/2

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After posting a 26-7-4 record and 2.25 GAA in the regular season then taking home Lord Stanley in hockey’s second season, goalie Antii Niemi has been ‘fired’ by the Chicago Blackhawks and in the same swoop replaced by the aging Marty Turco.

Niemi crime?

Demanding and receiving 3^rd party confirmation that he should be paid more money than his $800,000 contract called for was enough to make Chicago look the over way. “2.75 million dollars? We thank you for your services with the team.  Mr. Turco, please come right in! We have your 1.3 million waiting for you.”  

Has a Stanley Cup Champion ever had such a dramatic makeover going into the next year as the Chicago Blackhawks are having this year, and if so, what does that say about the current salary cap? Heading into that Niemi arbitration hearing, the Blackhawks had already lost Ben Eager, Dustin Byfuglien, Brett Sopel, Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, John Madden and Adam Burris to free agency or trades. Walking away from Niemi makes 8 players off last year’s winning roster.  

That still wasn’t enough number crunching for the Blackhawks, and while most GM’s of Stanley Cup winners need only point out their most recent work, some questions do need to be raised for Blackhawks General Manager Stan Bowman.  

You certainly have to pay for greatness, and the Blackhawks made a real commitment to two of the brightest stars in the league, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews who both will make $6.3 million this year.

Surprisingly though, neither Toews nor Kane are Chicago’s highest paid player, and that may be why the team found themselves in the situation they are in.  When you think of elite NHL defenders, the name Brian Campbell probably doesn’t make the list. Sure he’s a nice player, but eight years and $56.8 million? That averages out to $7.1 million a year, when Campbell at best deserves maybe half that.

$ 7.1 million is Zdeno Chara money, it’s more than Nicklas Lindstrom is making, Campbell deserves to be making Brad Stuart money, ($3.75 million a year) but it’s fair to say at his current salary, he might be the one player that prevents the Blackhawks from repeating this year, no matter how well he plays.

And sure, most teams have at least one deal that sticks out like a sore thumb. Tim Thomas is getting $5 million this year from the Boston Bruins not to play, and for a guy who never scored more than 22 goals in a year, Shawn Horcoff far away in Edmonton is somehow making $6.5 million this year.

In the case of Boston though, Thomas’s contract hasn’t killed them, and to be fair, neither did Campbell’s. Heck the Blackhawks won a Stanley Cup with him, you can’t do much better than that! But when you combine that deal with the other bad deal that the Blackhawks had in place with goaltender Christobal Huet making $5.75 million a year, it becomes clear that the Blackhawks needed to revise the script even after their winning year.

In that sense, signing the still very talented Marty Turco to a one year $1.3 million deal is actually a step in the right direction.   

Used with permission of the author.

Based in Washington, D.C. Michael Hoffman has covered D.C. sports for numerous publications and is the Washington Capitals columnist for Examiner.com. Hoffman is also an NHL contributor to Sports Climax. 

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

ATLANTA, GA. – Rick Dudley used to skate alongside Craig Ramsey years ago when they laced their skates up in the same locker room for Cincinnati in the AHL and the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL. Today the Atlanta Thrashers new GM named Ramsay the fifth head coach in Thrashers’ history.

Ramsay, 59, comes to Atlanta with nearly 40 years of NHL experience as a player, coach and talent evaluator for six different NHL teams including the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins.

Ramsay has been behind the Boston Bruins bench as an assistant coach from 2007 to 2010. While in Boston, Ramsay helped the Bruins reach the post-season each year, while capturing the Eastern Conference’s best record during the 2008-09 season.

The Bruins advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in both 2009 and 2010, this year blowing a 3-game lead to the Philadelphia Flyers who went on to the Stanley Cup Finals before bowing to Dustin Byfuglien and the Chicago Blackhawks. Byfuglien just joined the Thrashers after being obtained by Dudley in a 9-player deal with the Blackhawks yesterday.

Prior to joining the Bruins, Ramsay served as an associate coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2001 to 2007, earning a Southeast Division title and the Stanley Cup during the 2003-04 campaign.

Ramsay also served as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Flyers from 1998 to 2000. He was named interim head coach in February 2000, guiding the team to a 16-8-1-0 mark while claiming the Atlantic Division title with 105 points. Ramsay led the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils in seven games. He remained behind the bench to begin the 2000-01 season before being replaced after 28 games with a 12-12-4-0 record.

Before joining Philadelphia, Ramsay worked as an assistant coach for the Ottawa Senators (1996 to 1998) and the Florida Panthers (1993 to 1995). He began his coaching career with the Buffalo Sabres organization where he served as an assistant coach during the 1986-87 season and took over as interim head coach late in the year, posting a 25-37-6-0 record. Prior to leaving the Sabres in 1993, Ramsay also served as the team’s director of player personnel and assistant general manager.

Ramsay’s NHL playing career spanned 14 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres from 1971 to 1985, earning 672 points (252 goals, 420 assists) in 1,070 career games. The Weston, Ontario, native twice reached a career high with 71 points and tallied eight straight 20-goal seasons for the Sabres from 1973 to 1981. He also appeared in 89 Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Sabres, posting 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists) in those contests.

Ramsay, who was selected by Buffalo in the second round (19th overall) of the 1971 NHL Entry Draft, appeared in 776 consecutive games with the Sabres from 1973 to 1983, which ranks as the fourth longest consecutive games streak in NHL history. He was also named the recipient of the Frank J. Selke Trophy in 1985, given annually to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.

Ramsay began his professional career with the Cincinnati Swords of the American Hockey League during the 1971-72 season where he tallied 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in 19 games. During his career, Ramsay played alongside Thrashers General Manager Rick Dudley for a total of seven seasons with Cincinnati (1971-72) and Buffalo (1972-73 to 1974-95 and 1978-79 to 1980-81).

Prior to his professional career, Ramsay played four junior seasons for the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey Association from 1967 to 1971, tallying 232 points (84 goals, 158 assists) in 206 games. Ramsay’s best junior season came in 1970-71, when he earned 106 points (30 goals, 76 assists) in 58 games with Peterborough.

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After winning the Stanley Cup after a 49-year drought, the Chicago Blackhawks are cleaning house and as expected are dumping some overhead to free up cap space. An announcement came yesterday that confirmed the winner of the Dustin Byfuglien sweepstakes are the Atlanta Thrashers.

The Thrashers acquired Byfuglien, Ben Eager and Akim Aliu, along with defenseman Brent Sopel from the Chicago Blackhawks for forwards Marty Reasoner, Joey Crabb and Jeremy Morin, as well as a first-round choice (24^th overall) and a second-round choice (54^th overall) in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, according to General Manager Rick Dudley.

“This deal immediately improves our hockey club and adds valuable size, speed and Stanley Cup experience to our roster,” said Dudley. “Dustin Byfuglien is a prototypical power forward and another young, rising star we are adding to our roster. With Brent Sopel and Ben Eager we also get a defensive-minded defenseman who is one of the better penalty killers in the league, and a tough, checking line forward who is an outstanding forchecker. Akim Aliu joins our stable of talented prospects.”

Byfuglien, 25, recorded 16 points (11 goals, five assists) in 22 post-season games while helping lead the Blackhawks to the 2010 Stanley Cup Championship.  The 6-4, 255-pound left wing led the NHL in post-season game-winning tallies (five), tied for the league lead in power-play goals (five), and was tied for third in the league and shared the team lead in overall goals.  Byfuglien posted 34 points (17 goals, 17 assists) while appearing in all 82 regular-season games with Chicago.

The Minneapolis, Minn., native has earned 109 points (55 goals, 54 assists) in 260 career NHL games with the Blackhawks  and has added 25 points (14 goals, 11 assists) in 39 Stanley Cup Playoff games.  Byfuglien, who was selected by the Blackhawks in the eighth round (245^th overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, also posted 74 points (26 goals, 48 assists) in 124 career American Hockey League games with Norfolk and Rockford.

Prior to his professional career, Byfuglien played four seasons of junior hockey from 2001 to 2005 with Brandon and Prince George of the Western Hockey League, tallying 142 points (48 goals, 94 assists) in 189 games.

Eager, 26, appeared in 60 games with Chicago last season, earning 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) and a team-leading 120 penalty minutes.  He added three points (one goal, two assists) in 18 post-season contests.

The Ottawa, Ontario, native has earned 52 points (27 goals, 25 assists) and 621 penalty minutes in 255 career NHL games with Chicago and Philadelphia.  Eager has also posted five points (two goals, three assists) in 37 Stanley Cup Playoff games with the Blackhawks and Flyers.  The 6-2, 230-pound left wing tallied 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) and 509 penalty minutes in 123 career AHL games with the Philadelphia Phantoms.  He collected three points (one goal, two assists) in 19 AHL playoff games and helped the Phantoms capture the 2004-05 Calder Cup Championship.

Eager, who was originally selected by the Phoenix Coyotes in the first round (23^rd overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, recorded 139 points (59 goals, 80 assists) in 243 career Ontario Hockey League games with the Oshawa Generals from 2000 to 2004.  He also tallied four points (one goal, three assists) for Team Canada at the 2002 Under-18 World Junior Championship.

Sopel, 33, appeared in 73 regular-season games for the Blackhawks last season, posting eight points (one goal, seven assists).  The 6-1, 200-pound defenseman added six points (one goal, five assists) in 22 Stanley Cup Playoff games.  His plus-seven rating in the playoffs tied for fifth on the Blackhawks and 11^th in the NHL.

The Calgary, Alberta, native has earned 211 points (42 goals, 169 assists) in 588 career NHL games with Vancouver, the NY Islanders, Los Angeles and Chicago.  He also posted 105 points (26 goals, 79 assists) in 182 games with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch and tallied one assist in four games with Kansas City of the now-defunct International Hockey League.

Prior to his professional career, Sopel collected 155 points (35 goals, 120 assists) in 207 games with Saskatoon and Swift Current of Western Hockey League from 1993 to 1997.  He was originally selected by Vancouver in the sixth round, 144^th overall, of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft.

Aliu, 21, tallied 17 points (11 goals, six assists) in 48 AHL games last season with the Rockford IceHogs.  He also earned 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 13 ECHL games with the Toledo Walleye.

The 6-3, 225-pound center has posted 19 points (13 goals, six assists) in 55 career AHL games with Rockford.  Prior to his professional career the Okene, Nigeria, native played four seasons of junior hockey from 2005 to 2009 with Sudbury and London of the Ontario Hockey League, recording 167 points (76 goals, 91 assists) in 205 games.

Aliu was selected by Chicago in the second round, 56^th overall, of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Reasoner, 33, appeared in 80 games for the Thrashers last season, tallying 17 points (four goals, 13 assists).  The 6-1, 205-pound center tallied 47 points (18 goals, 29 assists) in 159 games after signing with the Thrashers as a free agent prior to the 2008-09 season.

The Honeoye Falls, N.Y., native has earned 223 points (82 goals, 141 assists) in 624 career NHL games with  St. Louis, Edmonton, Boston and Atlanta.  He also posted eight points (two goals, six assists) in 23 career Stanley Cup Playoff games with St. Louis and Edmonton.

Reasoner, who was selected by St. Louis in the first round (14^th overall) of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft, appeared in 124 AHL games with the Worcester IceCats and Hamilton Bulldogs, tallying 127 points (57 goals, 70 assists). In addition, Reasoner has represented the United States five times in International Competition, including the IIHF World Championships (2002, 2003, 2006) and the IIHF World Junior Championship (1996 and 1997).

Prior to his professional career, Reasoner played three years for Boston College, collecting 162 points (69 goals, 93 assists) in 111 games.

Crabb, 27, recorded 53 points (24 goals, 29 assists) in 79 games last season with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.  He ranked third on the team in goals and was tied for fourth in points.  The 6-1, 190-pound right wing added 11 points (six goals, five assists) in 14 Calder Cup Playoff games.

The Anchorage, Alaska, native has posted nine points (four goals, five assists) in 20 career NHL games with the Thrashers and has 139 points (55 goals, 84 assists) in 256 career AHL games with Chicago.

Crabb was originally selected by the NY Rangers in the seventh round, 226^th overall, of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.

Morin, 19, registered 83 points (47 goals, 36 assists) in 58 games with the Kitchener Rangers last season, his first in the OHL.  The 6-1, 190-pound left wing ranked fourth in the OHL and second on the team in goals, and was third on his team in points.  He added 21 points (12 goals, nine assists) in 20 OHL post-season games.  The Auburn, N.Y., native also represented the United States at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship, recording seven points (two goals, five assists) in seven games while helping his team to the Gold Medal.

Morin was selected by the Thrashers in the second round, 45^th overall, of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

Additionally, the Thrashers will send two choices in the 2010 Entry Draft to the Blackhawks, including a first-round choice (24^th overall) and a second-round selection (54^th overall).

MORE NHL: After 49-year drought, Blackhawks win Stanley Cup

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Previously published in USA Hockey Magazine April 2009 Edition

CHICAGO – In a day of banged-up economies, collapsing housing markets and difficult daily challenges, if you are searching for an inspirational story, look no further than the Chicago Blackhawks forward Dustin Byfuglien.

Since being chosen in the late rounds of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Blackhawks, the 23-year-old Minneapolis native has beaten the odds and evolved from NHL prospect to becoming a permanent fixture on a revitalized Blackhawks’ roster.

While the ‘Hawks dress the youngest roster in the NHL and are building a winner around young superstars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, Byfuglien is becoming a vital piece of the puzzle.

Looking to use Byfuglien’s hulking 6-foot-3 frame to create traffic in front of the net, Chicago moved the rugged defenseman to forward, and the move has paid huge dividends. Byfuglien responded with a breakout season in 2007-08 tallying 19 goals and 17 assists in just 67 games, finishing fifth on the team in scoring. That same season, he recorded his first career hat trick in a span of just 5:39 against Phoenix on Nov. 30.

“At first I didn’t like the move because I didn’t have experience playing forward. I had no choice but to adapt so I did,” said Byfuglien. “Playing with good players like we have, I adapted quickly and now I’m pretty much there to stay.”

When asked about Byfuglien, Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville had nothing but praise for his young winger.
“Buffs is one of those guys who no matter what line he’s on he gives us a contribution,” said Quenneville. “He’s got NHL size and ability. He’s a physical presence. We utilize his size around the net, and he’s got a tremendous shot. Buffs gives us versatility; we have played him on defense as well as forward and use him on the power play.”

The journey to the NHL was full of challenges for Byfuglien. He grew up in a single-parent family, living in a trailer behind his grandmother’s house. While his mother supported the family working in a blue-collar job at a local plant, Dustin spent time with his cousins, skating on the two local outdoor rinks in the neighborhood after getting his first pair of skates when he was about 4 years old.

With American players now commonly going high in the draft, Byfuglien attributes that to the quality of today’s hockey programs.

“The U.S. is coming around in their programs for young kids,” said Byfuglien. “When I was growing up, there were some players from the U.S. getting drafted but not like now. Before, if someone [from the U.S.] got drafted high it was really talked about. Now it’s more common. Many of the top players and top picks are coming from here and that’s great for the kids who want to try to make it.”

In a competitive league like the NHL, it is a difficult challenge even for the top picks to develop and make an NHL roster. Despite being a late round pick, Byfuglien was determined to make it.

After his first call-up from the AHL Norfolk Admirals, Byfuglien stepped onto an NHL sheet of ice for the first time on March 1, 2006 and responded by netting his first NHL goal, the game-winner in a 3-0 win over Nashville. He still refers to that game as his most memorable hockey moment.

When asked about mentors and childhood idols, Dustin is quick to credit his family for guiding him to where he is now.

“Neal Broten was the hometown hero when I was growing up, but I looked up to my cousin Derrick more than I did any of the NHL players at the time,” he said. “My grandfather had a lot to do with my development, too. He always stayed close to me, making sure I was the best player I could possibly be.”

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