Ritters Rant: Olympic Goalies, Kessel, Crosby, Peverley, Danton, and More

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price made 53 saves last night en route to a 2-0 loss to the Nashville Predators. As tough as it is to see a goalie lose after making 53 saves, you need to keep in mind that Price has victimized his teammates more often than not, and only has one regulation win thus far. The number one job is still Jaroslav Halak’s.

There will be a lot of differences between the Olympic entries, some teams will have great defense, others, great offense. One position that will be solid for every team will be goaltending.

Canada can take its pick of Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, and Marc-Andre Fleury. U.S.A. hockey has Ryan Miller, Craig Anderson, and Tim Thomas.

Russia Has Evgeni Nabokov, Nikolai Khabibulin, and Ilya Bryzgalov. Finland has Miikka Kiprusoff, and Niklas Backstrom, and Sweden has Henrik Lundqvist.

That’s a rather impressive list of back-stoppers, highlighting the point that there will be no easy nights for the forwards at the 2010 Olympic’s in Vancouver.

Sticking with the Olympics, If he wasn’t part of the conversation before, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos has to be on team Canada’s radar. With 13 goals in 17 games, Stamkos is in a five-way tie for second overall amongst all NHL shooters.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel has four goals and seven points in his first seven games. With the majority of his teammates having played 17 or more games, only Alexei Ponikarovsky (7) and Niklas Hagman (6), have more goals than Kessel...Houston, we have a goal scoring problem!

Carl Gunnarson made his NHL debut with the Leafs last night. With three shots on the night, the obvious observation is that Gunarsson likes to shoot the puck, the other observation is that Gunnarsson probably took another four or five shots that missed the net entirely, thus his accuracy needs to be worked on.

There have been a ton of surprises early on in the NHL season, none more surprising than Atlanta Thrashers forward Rich Peverley, who, after 16 games with the Thrash this season has eight goals, 21 points, and a plus/minus rating of plus-five.

Peverley is a "sleeper", and should be on your acquisition list if you are part of a fantasy pool. Keep in mind, Peverley had 13 goals, 35 points, and a mind boggling plus/minus rating of plus-18 in just 35 games with the Thrash last season. Where did this guy come from?

Looks like Maple Leafs defenseman Francois Beauchemin broke his finger last night. Funny, for the most part, Beauchemin has had his finger up his butt this season, so I am a little surprised that he broke his finger in the first place!

Beauchemin is a minus-nine on the season, and grossly overpaid—broke his finger..pffttt!—break a leg why don't ya!?

Watched the Mike Danton interview on Sportsnet last week, after all he’s been through you can’t help but pull for the guy. Here’s the skinny on Danton’s NHL career; 87 games played, seven goals scored, five assists, and 182 penalty minutes.

Danton’s ruff and tumble play could be a valuable addition to a few NHL clubs, but does any team need the headache of having this "sideshow" on their roster? Fact is, there are 100 guys that can bring what Danton brings without the headaches...

There’s no getting away from it, the Philadelphia Flyers dynamic defensive duo of Chris Pronger and Matt Carle is the best in the NHL. Pronger and Carle have a combined plus/minus rating of plus-30, have registered 29 points, and both players are averaging nearly 25 minutes in ice time per game. Redonkulous!

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle is ranked second overall in assists amongst all NHL players with 19. To put that stat into context, that means Kaberle has more assists than Joe Thornton (18), Sidney Crosby (10), and Pavol Datsyuk (12), three of the best set-up men in all of hockey.

Speaking of Crosby, there has been a lot of talk of his recent scoring drought, and his the apparent slide in his play. Crosby has 10 goals, 20 points, and 73 shots on net (fourth overall); clearly, Crosby’s numbers could be better, but he’s still a magician with the puck, and he makes every player around him better.

Trouble is, the players that Crosby is surrounded by have been playing like a bunch of third liners. Bill Guerin has four goals in twenty games, Chris Kunitz has three goals in nineteen games, and Ruslan Fedotenko has four goals in twenty games.

Fact is, Crosby’s linemates have let him and the team down, with Crosby dishing you the puck you should have 12-15 goals in 20 games, it shouldn’t take three players to pull it off.

Until next time,

Peace!