Hello again loyal readers it's Josh back again with your weekly hockey news. This week has been a little slower than last week but there are still some interesting topics to discuss and I will do my best to address them with my own opinions and theories behind hockey's biggest stories. This week I will talk about a falling Star that got traded, the Pittsburgh Penguins lose one center but regain another, the surprise basement teams of the Pacific and the Senators losing continues.
Back in 2007 there was a young 23 year old Swede named Fabian Brunstrum that almost every team in the NHL was hoping to sign as a free agent. Teams flew him over to their cities and tried to bribe him with all of these expensive awards if they were to sign with them. In the end he chose the Dallas Stars and when he finally arrived to play in the NHL he recorded a hat trick in his first game. Since then it has been all down hill for his career. After being demoted to the AHL at the start of the season he was finally traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs. I am not sure if going from the strong Stars to the struggling Leafs will help Brunstrum's career but it is funny to think that this guy who was supposed to be such a big star player turned into a washed up player that is stuck in the AHL. We shall see how a change of scenery affects his career.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been without Sidney Crosby for five games now due to a concussion but that hasn't as big of a problem as it sounds. This is mostly attributed to the play of Jordan Staal who has returned from foot surgery and a broken hand to once again be a dominate force at center. In their past to game Staal has five points including two game winning goals. He has thrown lots of hits, blocked lots of shots and just been an all around good player. I'm sure the Pens still want Sid back but at least the don't have a big whole in their lineup because of it.
Due to some recent losing streaks the San Jose Sharks and the Los Angeles Kings find themselves tied for last place in the Pacific division, a division that everyone thought one of them would be leading at the start of the season. San Jose just keeps losing games but LA is in a worst situation. They just finished an 8 game home stand in which they only got 2 wins. They were the team that seemed like the team to beat and though they won 5-2 last night it was against the Oilers. I am sure Edmonton will turn it around but just the fact that they have fallen this far in the standings make one think that something else could be up with this team. Only time will tell.
And finally the awful Ottawa Senators continue to lose and many people have written off their Coach Corey Clouston and assume that he will be unemployed in the near future. However, General Manager Brian Murray also appears to be in hot water and when his contract expires I expect he will be done with the team. Of course the players on the ice need to step up their game too. Sergei Gonchar and Daniel Alfredson have been very quiet all season while Jason Spezza hasn't done much and now is injured. This season couldn't be going any worse from this past powerhouse team that got all of the way to the Stanly Cup final in 2007.
So that is all that has occurred this week around the NHL. As the league passed the half way point last week the playoff picture has begun to shape up in the Eastern Conference and every team in the West seems to be a contender. I can't wait to watch more hockey.
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