For the 2013 playoffs onward, we will be referring to Conferences A, B, C, and D as the Smythe, Norris, Adams, and Patrick Divisions, respectively, in all playoff posts.
That is all.
Posts Tagged ‘Retro’
The Canadiens Diaspora: Fall 2010
The 'Holy Shit, Chelios Finally Retired' Edition
It’s back! The ex-Oilers and ex-Habs trackers are here again for 2010, covering all the free-agency moves and minor-league goaltending you can handle. Note that I’m only adding people who made their respective NHL rosters, though I’m keeping the rest in hand in case they get called up later in the year (exception: Sheldon Souray, who stays on the list out of spite). Here we have the listing (complete so far as I can determine) of all the ex-Habs in the NHL as of the end of October 2010, where they are now, and what the details of their stay(s) with the franchise entailed. Leading news is the retirement of the NHL’s elder statesman, Chris Chelios, at the age of 48. To put things in perspective, no one on this list was even drafted, never mind playing in the NHL, when he was traded by the Habs in 1990. Also retired: super-pest Darcy Tucker, most recently of the Colorado Avalanche but most memorably of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Suffice to say, I won’t miss the little shitbag one bit.
The companion ex-Oilers post can be found here.
The Oilers Diaspora: Fall 2010
Where have you gone, Marty Reasoner? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. Woo woo woo.
It’s back! The ex-Oilers and ex-Habs trackers are here again for 2010, covering all the free-agency moves and minor-league goaltending you can handle. Note that I’m only adding people who made their respective NHL rosters, though I’m keeping the rest in hand in case they get called up later in the year. Here we have the listing (complete so far as I can determine) of all the ex-Oilers in the NHL as of the end of October 2010, where they are now, and what the details of their stay(s) with the franchise entailed. Lots of turnover this summer (and thank God for some of those moves), and two retirements of note: Georges Laraque and Kirk Maltby. I deliberately waited until the end of the month so we’d see a few borderline cases (Dany Syvret, Ryan Potulny) get call-ups, though not all of the ones I anticipated (hello, Marc Pouliot) made the cut. Also, this only counts actual NHL appearances: Dany Sabourin wearing a ball cap on the end of the bench for a couple of games won’t cut it.
The companion list of ex-Habs can be found here.
Hitmen to Play Outdoor Game
Curtis Glencross tells us what he really thinks of signing Raitis Ivanans (Sun Media)
Yes, I know, all the hullabaloo is about the Flames and Habs playing the Heritage Classic on the 20th, complete with Ronald McDonald-inspired jerseys1, but really, the most exciting news of the day for me is that the Hitmen will be following it up with a game against Jordan Eberle’s alma mater, the Regina Pats, the next night. I believe this will be the first outdoor game in WHL history, so I’m incredibly excited that I could be a part of that. I mean, there’s every possibility that the weather could be crappy, because either a) it’s 15 C out and Chinooking or b) it’s -20 C out like it was in Edmonton seven-plus years earlier, and hey, it’s Alberta, so why not have both? But I digress. Outdoor hockey. Not every day you get to be a part of that kind of spectacle or atmosphere. I wonder if the Hitmen will reach back into Calgary’s WHL/WCHL past and play with the sweaters of the Calgary Buffaloes or something like that; goodness knows the Pats have the history to bring to bear for this thing. I also wonder how well-attended it will be, especially by people without the money or interest in going to the NHL event.
Speaking of, what’s even more exciting is that there might be a possibility I could go to both games. I mean, I’m purely speculating here, so don’t go running off saying this is a done deal, but it sure would be nice if there were some sort of package for Hitmen season ticket holders to get good seats to the Monday game and shitty high seats to the Sunday game. Again, I’ll get to be part of a once-in-lifetime event, seeing an outdoor Habs game with my Montreal-born-and-raised mom, and furthermore, I’ll get to laugh when the Habs beat the Clownshoes Flames while non-ironically wearing that Godawful barberpole the Habs put out a couple of years back when the Centennial celebration began. (As an aside, thank God the Habs went conservative and settled for bringing back the late Forum-era numbering as their only “throwback.” I liked some of those designs, but the barberpole across from the McDonald’s jerseys would’ve been too much. Though if you’re going to recall ’24, why not go all out and bring back the globe jersey?)
Regardless of how it turns out, though, this is a very exciting time to be a hockey fan here in Calgary. I’m already anxious for February.
1 – Yes, yes, I know that they’re based on the 1924 Calgary Tigers, who played in the city’s first Stanley Cup Final against the Canadiens. I figured this would happen, and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Flames for actually reaching that far back into the city’s hockey heritage, which most people probably didn’t even know existed. Note, however, that hockey sweaters used to have a million stripes, whereas now they don’t, because they look awful in new materials with more vibrant dyes and lighting and white ice. So it was with the Habs, so it is with the Flames.
The Canadiens Diaspora
Back in February, I went through the NHL and found all the ex-Oilers I could, and how they came to and left the team. For a follow-up, I decided to go through the ex-Habs, to see if I could find any sort of similarities or patterns in how they left the team. This list only considers players who played at least one NHL game in 2009-10, and is only up to date as of the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
