Congrats Jason, but what the hell?

A hearty congratulations is in order for one Mr. Jason LaBarbera of the Vancouver Canucks for earning his first win in his debut in the blue and green. He stopped 31 shots from a struggling Nashville team and earned NHL's second star of the night. With Ovechkin trailing just behind, earning third star rewards for his goal and pair of assists, only Jiri Hudler could top LaBarbera's .969 save percentage with his pair of goals and single assist at the Winter Classic earlier this morning.

I don't want to appear mean or bitter-salty in any way, but what the hell? I will first direct that toward Canuck followers; one in particular that wrote an introductory article about LaBarbera that is not as provocative as its title makes it to be: Jason LaBarbera Leaves Kings for Canucks.

Hold the phone, here. Is this implying that he just decided to leave and that management in Los Angeles had no choice in the matter? It sure as shit sounds like it. I don't want to turn this into some "She's All That" teen scene but, let's not forget who dropped the other. If Jason LaBarbera had a record powerful enough to just let him decide where and when he wanted to go, the Kings would have gotten more than a seventh round draft pick in the 2009 NHL Draft.

I would next like to direct that question toward the NHL (yeah, you read right; nothing is safe or too sacred) and in specific, the people in charge of the NHL website. Quick recorded 2 shutouts in 3 games. The one game left over? He let in 2 goals. That bumps him completely back to third? I just don't find that sort of scale of talent to be fair, moral or to include common sense. No offense, but I'm just saying...

Lastly, I would like to direct that towards all of Vancouver, Canuck fans, and all others unfamiliar with Jason LaBarbera up until this game. As much as I would like to think that the Vancouver Canucks would have been lost without the mighty saving abilities of LaBarbera, things should be put into perspective. For starters, the Vancouver defense had saved his ass on more than one occasion. Next, the Predators have not been playing very well at all.

The last time that Jason had been in net against Nashville was October 25, 2008. It was the second game of a back-to-back in which he had the shutout against the St. Luis Blues, with the Kings winning 4-0, the night before. After letting in 3 goals in a span of 3:16, he was replaced with net minder Erik Ersberg at 12:48 of the first period. In the previous seven games, the Predators had gone 3-4-0 (collecting 6 out of a possible 14 points) and averaged 3.4 goals per game as well as 28.3 shots on goal. However, the Predators also (in that seven game span) averaged 3.86 goals against per game as well as 25.1 shots against.

This meeting between Nashville and LaBarbera would not turn out to be so gruesome. In the seven games before this one, the Predators had again collected 6 out of a possible 14 points with a 3-4-0 record. Their average shots on goal had gone from 28.3 to 30.1, but their average goals scored per game went from the previously listed 3.4 to a lowly 1.7; as their average shots against per game went from 25.1 to 30.6 which conflicts with the average goals scored against per game dropping from 3.86 to 2.43.

This might not mean much (other than the fact that I have a gift for crunching numbers to make them look relevant) to most people, but I see this as a clear sign that, going into this game, Nashville was ever-so-slightly splitting at the seams and as a team, they were at a most vulnerable point. I am not saying this to discredit the victory of the Nucks over Preds; I am just saying that before LaBarbera is showered with praise and glory (like the kind that comes from one win rocketing you to NHL's second star) we might just want to wait until he plays a more challenging opponent or maybe until....a game goes into a shootout.

Congratulations, Babs. I honestly hope that everything works out. I would love to hear the Cinderella story of the goalie whose talent seemed to shy away from every team but his hometown's. Cheers to you LaBarbera, because if it weren't for you, who knows how many starts Cloutier would have received. Oh, yea, if you could just pass a sarcastic "thanks" to those in Vancouver for Dan, that little gem, that would be great.

Remember 2008? You probably don't want to...

I was going to have an extensive post about the transitional year that was 2008. I was going to write about the breakout season for offense at the tail of the 07-08 season, ask if a house fell on Dan Cloutier yet, discuss the flushing away of all leadership on the team over a summer, examine the hits and misses of Kings Hockey advertising. When I went to the Kings' website for references, however, I had noticed that they had done everything for me. I scrolled and reminisced about the happier times; when seasons only lasted until January and we had that one guy on the team- what's his name? Jake Jonestown or something. I don't know, he played defense and was pretty good from what I remember. I must applaud LAKings.com for doing such a great job on summing up the year. So I highly, highly, highly, highly recommend you check it out.

2008 Los Angeles Kings Part I
2008 Los Angeles Kings Part II

While you are at it, you might as well read what the best have to say about the NHL-wide roundup of 2008. So do yourself a favor and check out:

2008: A year in PuckDaddy
Yahoo's top 10 NHL stories of 2008
THN's Adam Proteau unleashes on the 2008 NHL
Slap Shot provides a look into the 2009 NHL season
Not into reading? Fox makes an '08 slideshow
TSN's Craig Custance talks top headlines
Jeff Mackie recalls more to 2008 than Avery
A small review by Matt Eichel @ Bleacher Report

I will warn you (a bit too late, perhaps?) that most of the articles (with the exception of the brilliantly done Hockey News article by Adam Proteau) are all the same headlines and comments.

In a nut shell: Alexander Ovechkin must be heaven-sent, Sidney Crosby cannot grow facial hair, Sean Avery= Douchey Wiener Mouth, Tampa Bay is up shit creek, and guess who won the Stanley Cup for the fourth time in eleven years? Nope, it's not even close to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

So there is the NHL in 2008. If you checked out a couple links (hopefully the Kings ones first) I am sure that you have received a good sense as to where the sport is as well as is headed. All that I really didn't have to do anything. This feels illegal...