| | What's happened to the vaunted Pacific Division? Parity, that's what. And there's still -- believe it or not -- more to be said about the Keith Primeau trade and the Canadian government's decision to back out of helping NHL teams with direct aid.
Medium pressure: Pacific swoon
We raved about the Pacific Division for the first two months of the season and for good reason. All five teams were strong, and all of them had winning records. But things have really leveled off for San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim over the last three weeks or so, and they've come back to the pack.
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PACIFIC TUMBLE
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Team
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Last 20
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Overall
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Sharks
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7-10-3
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22-23-6-5
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Kings
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6-12-2
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20-19-7-3
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Ducks
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7-11-2
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20-23-6-1
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That doesn't mean these teams have gone to hell in a hand basket and are out of the playoffs, but it shows how even the league is. The resurgence of teams like Calgary, Washington and the Rangers shows how momentum and confidence (and injuries) can even things out.
These teams have to get back on track and try to recover what they had. Maybe they were playing a little bit over their heads at the beginning of the year. It doesn't make them bad teams, but they've lost a lot of the steam they had early in the season.
Low pressure: Primeau trade
Thank god it's over. Carolina gets Rod Brind'Amour, who is just an outstanding player. He can play on the power play, short handed or in any situation. He's an experienced player and a great leader in the locker room. Primeau was never going to play in Carolina again, and they needed to get someone in return for him. The Hurricanes' players all knew Keith wasn't returning, and they wanted to see the organization get something done. They couldn't afford to wait too long and Brind'Amour should make an immediate impact.
For Philly, I don't know who in the NHL is going to be able to put up two centers who will be able to handle the one-two punch of Eric Lindros and Primeau. Centers around the league must be cringing about the thought of having to play against these two in a playoff series. It makes the Flyers -- on paper -- so strong up front. That doesn't mean that they don't have other concerns to address -- the Flyers still have questions on defense and in goal -- but Primeau should make them better.
This trade also affects the Rangers and the Coyotes who were frequently linked to trade rumors surrounding Primeau. At the end of last week, it seemed certain that Primeau was headed to Phoenix with Keith Tkachuk going to New York and Petr Nedved headed to Carolina. The question now is whether this will settle down the situation with Tkachuk in Phoenix. It won't completely because there will still be questions surrounding Tkachuk all year. It will be a big challenge for Phoenix's management to deal with the situation. If Tkachuk is going to stay with the Coyotes then management will have to do something to reassure Tkachuk about his future.
High pressure: Canadian bailout
This situation looked great a week ago when the Canadian government came up with the plan to aid the Canadian hockey teams. However, three or four days later it fell through because of the public outcry. The enormity of the criticism really stunned everyone.
This was a case of the fans saying they've had enough. People are tired of the numbers. Fans in Canada have been watching hockey for years, and they know the game; but they're fed up with the players salaries and the money the owners are spending.
I think this may be a big wake-up call for the league and the players. The situations with Primeau, Alexei Yashin and Nikolai Khabibulin show that the owners are starting to realize that salaries have gotten out of hand, and that something has to be done about it.
The future for some of these teams (Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton) is not good. Some will likely have to move, or they may be forced to play with inferior talent and just try to compete and break even. Who knows what the solutions are? I don't know. But it seems like the federal government in Canada isn't going to be one of them.
Brian Engblom is a hockey analyst for ESPN, and he played 11 seasons in the NHL. | |
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