Frozen Pucks - Playoff Edition

June 16, 2009 8:55am CDT

As we head into the offseason we will give one last nod to the just completed 2008-09 season with a review of the finals matchup between the Penguins and the Red Wings. We will also spend some time talking about a few of the names that have prominently been mentioned in trade rumors the past week.

STANLEY CUP FACTS

* Kudos to the Pittsburgh Penguins who did the seemingly impossible when they defeated the Red Wings on their home ice in Game 7. This was the first since 1979, a span of 19 chances covering all four major sports, in which the visiting team defeated the home team in a Game 7 to win the championship. The Penguins were also the first NHL road team to emerge from Game 7 victorious in the Finals since the '71 Canadiens. The Penguins were also the first club since 2004 to win the final series after trailing three games to two.

* The Wings have nothing to be ashamed of. After all, they still have won four Cups in the past 12 seasons. Still, they led the series two games to none and three to two, so their fans, as well as the organization, can't be too excited about the way that things ended.

* Chris Chelios likely won't be back with the Red Wings but he would like to continue his career at age 47. Chelios recorded just 18 PIM, was a +1 and didn't have a single point in 28 regular season games.

* Sidney Crosby's knee injury that kept him out of all but one shift in the third period of Game 7 isn't serious. Crosby likely won't even have an MRI on the knee. "In a few weeks, it should be all right," said Crosby.

* Pavel Datsyuk was able to play the final three games of the Finals after missing the previous seven playoff games with a foot injury. He had two assists in Game 5 but was held of the score sheet for the last two games as he generated only three shots. A noble effort, but his loss this series was one of the determining factors in why the Wings failed to emerge victorious.

* Marc-Andre Fleury was 0-3 with 11 goals allowed in Detroit in the Finals before he stopped 23-of-24 shots in Game 7 including an amazing lunging save with just seconds left in the game. "I saw the rebound go to my right and Lidstrom coming in so I just dove for it and tried to get my body there," Fleury said. "I got it in the ribs. It was great." Overall MAF only produced a .908 save percentage in these playoffs, but he came up big when the club needed him and he did backstop the squad to four victories in their last five games so he certainly deserves plenty of props.

* Sergei Gonchar played the series with a torn MCL in his knee. It is unclear at the moment if he will need surgery, but he gets an "A" for his effort even if he recorded just two points in the seven games. "Lots of guys were playing with bruises," Gonchar said.

* If you want to talk about struggling offensive weapons, look no further than Tomas Holmstrom who failed to score a goal over the last 19 playoff games. For a man who has averaged a goal every 4.3 games in his career, that is some putrid production.

* Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin both made the wrong call. Each player left the Penguins to join the Red Wings in '08-'09, and each walked away without a chance to hoist the Cup yet again, and neither player is certain to return to the Wings next season. For his part, Hossa failed to score a goal in his last eight playoff games and he had just one measly assist in the last five games, hardly the production the team was looking for from their 40-goal, 71-point winger. "I couldn't get anything done during the series. You try not to let things get to you, you block it. But everyone's human."

* Evgeni Malkin won the Conn Smythe trophy as the playoffs MVP after scoring 14 goals and 36 points, the highest total in the league since Wayne Gretzky scored 40 points in the 1993 playoffs.

* Max Talbot was the Game 7 hero with two goals. He also scored a goal and had two assists in the clinching victory over the Hurricanes in the Conference Finals. All told Max, who scored just 12 goals on the year, lit the lamp four times with two assists in the Finals.

ON THE ROAD BACK

* Andrew Brunette continues to work his way back from a torn ACL that he played the last three months of the season on showing why he is one of the true iron men in the league (he did lose his 509 consecutive games played streak due to the injury). Still, Brunette skated in 80 games and recorded 22 goals and 50 points, the fourth-straight effort of his that has yielded at least 19 goals and 50 points. He should be ready to go by the start of the 2009-10 regular season.

TRADE WINDS

* Jay Bouwmeester is set to become a free agent on July 1, and after the Panthers surprisingly failed to trade him at the trade deadline this season, they run the risk of losing him for nothing since it appears highly unlikely that he will chose to sign a new deal with the club. Therefore, the team will likely try and trade his rights to the highest bidder prior to the July 1 date. In essence, the team acquiring his rights would have a window of time, up until that target date, to exclusively negotiate with Jay. Given that Bouwmeester has recorded at least 12 goals and 37 points in each of the past three seasons, and that he is just 25 years old, you can bet that the bidding will be hot and furious for his services once free agency starts and he is free to negotiate with whomever he wants. Bottom line is that unless a team acquires his rights in the next two weeks and makes an outrageous offer, one would have to think that the talented rearguard will take things to the free agent market to try and drive that price of his northward.

* Dany Heatley wants out of Ottawa. Apparently he has grown tired of Ottawa and longs to move out west. He has submitted a list of teams that he would accept a deal to, and that list apparently consists of at least San Jose, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver (other teams have also been mentioned like Chicago, St. Louis and Boston, though those three clubs aren't exactly going to get Heatley a home out west). The Senators would like to move him before July 1 at which point Heatley is due a $4 million bonus, but which team will want to make a move before then and have to eat those bonus dollars? The Sharks might make sense as a trading partner if they decide to part with captain Patrick Marleau as each player's salary is fairly close (they are separated by $1.2 million with Heatley making more at $7.5 million). Whoever gets Heatley will get one hell of an offensive weapon given that he has scored at least 39 goals in each of the past four seasons with at least 13 goals on the power play each season.

* Ian Laperriere isn't on the trade block per se, but it is clear that he will be with another club for the 2009-10 season after the Avalanche offered him a one-year deal for less than his 2008-09 salary ($1.15 million). Ian is a great teammate and leader, and he does have some value in leagues that use PIM since he had 163 last year, his third-straight season of at least 133 and the 11th time in 12 seasons that he has produced triple digits. Still, he has just 11 goals and 27 assists the past two years, so he is likely best left as a waiver-wire pickup when injury strikes your club and you need a penalty minute boost.

* The Chris Pronger trade to the Kings that a few media outlets were reporting last week appears to be nothing more than a false rumor. That isn't to say that Pronger won't be moved this offseason, but it does appear that the rumored deal with the Kings was sheer wishful thinking. Pronger is coming off a year of 48 points and 88 PIM. The only other blue liner to reach both of those marks in the just completed season was Sheldon Souray who recorded 53 points and 98 PIM.