My new home: On Facebook

For the kind, lost souls that are still coming here...

I've got one of those Facebook pages that all the kids are talking about, and updating it seems to be a breeze. For now the plan will be to post any new articles I'm working on both there and Twitter, at least until I set up a new website that can do something similar.

I'd like to get back to blogging on a far more regular basis, probably at The Globe's website, and that might be something we look at figuring out for next fall. This year was a big adjustment just in terms of just switching over to the paper side of things and the travel involved, but hopefully will get back to some bloggy content as well.

Follow @mirtle

UPDATE Here's the new address for the Facebook page: facebook.com/JamesMirtle. Plan is to keep it updated pretty regularly, with an eye to creating something like what journalist Nicholas Kristof has built here (obviously on a much smaller scale).   

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Where you can find my writing

Just a very brief history of where my archived material is:

December, 2004, to October, 2008: Blogger
October, 2008, to January, 2010: From The Rink
October, 2009, to present: The Globe and Mail

I've also started posting links to my writing on both Twitter and Facebook regularly, but don't currently have a set website where original material appears. That may come in the future.
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Who has Hart this season?

NHL statement on latest Winnipeg rumours

Bill Daly, Deputy Commissioner of the National Hockey League, today released the following statement:

"In response to the many inquiries we have received in light of the story in the Phoenix Business Journal this morning, we would like to make clear that at this point in time the National Hockey League has no "deal" in place to move the Coyotes' franchise to Winnipeg -- or to any other city for that matter -- in the event a transaction cannot be timely consummated in Glendale. Our focus continues to be on completing a transaction with local ownership that is committed to operating the team in Glendale. Based on the communications and information we are receiving on a regular basis, the stakeholders involved continue to express a high level of confidence that that can be successfully achieved. We will not focus on completing arrangements for one or more alternative option(s) until such time as it may become necessary.

"With respect to Winnipeg and Messrs. Chipman and Thomson, we have had ongoing discussions over time regarding their potential interest in owning an NHL franchise (as we have had with a number of other individuals and cities around North America) and potentially bringing an NHL franchise back to Winnipeg. It remains an intriguing possibility and one we would consider given appropriate circumstances, but there is nothing new to report on that front at this time."

>> league release

McGinn's wild ride: 14 callups, 14 demotions

There's no end-of-season award in the NHL for most air miles accrued, but if there was, San Jose Sharks winger Jamie McGinn would win in a landslide.

In only his second NHL season, McGinn has skated in 44 games, missing 22 while in the minors with the American Hockey League's Worcester Sharks. Along the way he's been demoted and recalled a stunning and league-leading 14 times, making for more cross-country flights between California and Massachusetts than he can recall.

- March 13, The Globe and Mail

And I have more on this story at Globe on Hockey.
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Roberts helps Stamkos's rise

It ultimately came in a losing cause, but it was Stamkos who snapped home the game’s first goal and later added an assist, showcasing his impressive new-found physique and earning the game’s second star.

The problem was – as has been the case on too many nights this season with Tampa – Stamkos’s teammates let him down. And the Leafs own young sniper, Phil Kessel, capped a wild overtime with his 23rd goal of the season to give Toronto a 4-3 win.

- March 12, The Globe and Mail

Assistant GM Jeff Jackson on leaving the Leafs

“Coming back to the Leafs, four years ago, was pretty cool,” Jackson said. “It was an honour to be drafted by them, it was great to work for them. It’s one of the toughest sports markets in the world, so it was kind of a baptism by fire on the management side.

“In a lot of respects, it’s been a rough four years because of the inability to have success. I was hoping I’d be part of a winning team here because when it happens, it’s going to be a great place to be. So, it is a hard thing to be leaving, but it’s just the right time.”

- March 10, Globe on Hockey

Meet the Caputis

A barber with a salon just north of Toronto, Caputi grew up in the city, cutting his son’s hair and coaching his hockey teams. What he never dreamed of was watching Luca, now 21, skate with the Toronto Maple Leafs – the NHL team both had cheered for their entire lives.

As diehard a fan as they come, Caputi said he still thinks about the Leafs’ playoff run, 17 years ago, and that fateful missed high-sticking call on Los Angeles Kings star Wayne Gretzky. “We bleed blue,” he said.

Last night, Luca Caputi gave his father another Leafs memory – one his old man will likely be recalling the rest of his years.

- March 10, The Globe and Mail

Players still split on headshot rule

Most players around the league said Monday they want to see hits like the one Penguins winger Matt Cooke laid on Savard penalized – and even suspended. But beyond that, there's little consensus on what, if any, rule changes are needed to prevent similar checks.

Some say all hits to the head should be outlawed. Others scream sacrilege at the thought.

Another group altogether attempts to avoid saying much at all.

- March 9, The Globe and Mail

Burke comments on deadline day

“We turned down two picks for Poni because we liked the prospect better,” Burke said. “A prospect is farther along the food chain, as far as development. This is a guy who’s a second-year pro, has played in the NHL, a guy we really liked in junior, a guy we really like as a pro – that to me has far greater value than a draft pick that I’m not going to see for three years, if I ever see him at all.

“You can see with the Kessel deal, we are not interested in a five-year rebuilding plan. We’re trying to improve this team on a much more rapid time frame. You saw in Anaheim that it didn’t take five years. That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

- March 4, The Globe and Mail

Trade deadline: Six sellers to be busy

With parity ensuring that all but the bottom feeders are still in the playoff hunt with 20 games to go, it's been the six teams in the league's basement - the Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets - getting most of the attention as teams gear up for the 3 p.m. EST trade deadline on Wednesday.

"Since about Thursday or Friday, there've been quite a few calls," Columbus GM Scott Howson said yesterday.

- March 1, The Globe and Mail

2010 Olympics: Picking the tournament all-stars

There are a trio of end-of-tournament awards that they hand out in the men's Olympic hockey tournament: One for the MVP, one set of three Directorate Awards for each position and then a media all-star team.

Here's who took home that hardware in 2006, when Sweden won over the Finns:

Media all-stars: Antero Niittymaki, Nicklas Lidstrom, Kimmo Timonen, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu and Alex Ovechkin

MVP and top goalie: Niittymaki
Top defenceman: Kenny Jonsson
Top forward: Selanne

There's still one game to go so this may change a bit, but here are my picks for 2010:

Media all-stars: Ryan Miller, Brian Rafalski, Shea Weber, Pavol Demitra, Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews

MVP: Miller if the U.S. wins or a top Canadian forward who makes an impact in the final if they win (Toews, Heatley, Iginla, Crosby and Getzlaf are in the running)

Top goalie: Miller
Top defenceman: Rafalski
Top forward: Could be Parise if he has a big game or one of the aforementioned Canadian forwards

The tournament scoring leaders are all listed here and goaltending leaders are here.
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2010 Olympics: Players in the hunt for medals

Four teams left and two more big games Friday in Vancouver. Here's a team-by-team look at the NHL players in the running for medals:

Anaheim: Getzlaf, Koivu, Niedermayer, Perry, Ryan, Selanne, Whitney
Boston: Bergeron, Chara, Satan, Thomas
Buffalo: Lydman, Miller, Sekera
Calgary: Hagman, Iginla, Kiprusoff
Carolina: Gleason, Pitkanen, Ruutu, Staal
Chicago: Hossa, Kane, Keith, Kopecky, Seabrook, Toews
Colorado: Budaj, Stastny
Columbus: Jurcina, Nash
Dallas: Lehtinen, Morrow
Detroit: Filppula, Rafalski
Edmonton: Visnovsky
Los Angeles: Brown, Doughty, Handzus, Johnson, Quick
Minnesota: Backstrom, Koivu, Miettinen
Montreal: Halak
Nashville: Suter, Weber
New Jersey: Brodeur, Langenbrunner, Parise
NY Rangers: Callahan, Drury, Gaborik, Jokinen
Ottawa: Ruutu
Philadelphia: Pronger, Richards, Timonen
Phoenix: Lepisto
Pittsburgh: Crosby, Fleury, Orpik
San Jose: Boyle, Heatley, Marleau, Pavelski, Thornton
St. Louis: Backes, Johnson
Tampa Bay: Malone, Meszaros, Niittymaki
Toronto: Kessel
Vancouver: Demitra, Kesler, Luongo, Salo

So, in all, 26 NHL teams still have a hope of a player bringing back a medal. Those not in the running are Atlanta, Florida, the Islanders and Washington. The Ducks have the most players still in the running with seven, followed by Chicago with six and L.A. and San Jose with five.  
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KHL, WADA sign agreement

Today in Vancouver, the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) signed an agreement declaring the KHL’s intentions to abide by the WADA’s World Anti-Doping Code and the Code's main principles and regulations. In doing so, the KHL becomes the first major, international professional sports league to commit to the tenets of the WADA’s best-in-class anti-doping regulations and measures.

“By establishing this partnership, we are positioning the KHL as a leader among other sports leagues on this issue,” said KHL president Alexander Medvedev. “This agreement further demonstrates, through our commitment to create a drug-free environment for all of our players, the willingness of the KHL to be transparent in its operations.”

One of the KHL’s first steps under this newly signed agreement will be the creation of a player ambassador program as part of “Clear Ice,” the league’s own anti-doping program, featuring such KHL stars as Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Yashin and Sergei Federov. The goal of the ambassador program will be to further educate both fellow players and youth sports participants about the dangers of drug use.

>> KHL release

A positive step, one would think. It'll be interesting if there'll be in-season testing done, which is something WADA has criticized the NHL for not having in the past.
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The past 30 years of Olympic participation

Here's a quick look at how the 12 countries that are in these year's Olympics have fared over the past 30 years at the Games. I included the Soviet Union as Russia but not Czechoslovakia for the Czech Republic and Slovakia:

	Country	1980	1984	1988	1992	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	Avg
1	Russia	2	1	1	1	4	2	3	4	6	2.7
2	Sweden	3	3	3	5	1	5	5	1	5	3.4
3	Canada	6	4	4	2	2	4	1	7	?	3.8
4	Finland	4	6	2	7	3	3	6	2	?	4.1
5	Czech Rep.					5	1	7	3	7	4.6
6	USA	1	7	7	4	8	6	2	8	?	5.4
7	Belarus					DNQ	7	4	DNQ	9	6.7
8	Slovakia					6	10	13	5	?	8.5
9	Germany				6	7	9	8	10	11	8.5
10	Switzerland	DNQ	DNQ	8	10	DNQ	DNQ	11	6	8	8.6
11	Norway	11	12	12	9	11	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	10	10.8
12	Latvia				DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	9	12	12	11.0

This year's tournament will go down as the worst finish ever for Russia, who had never placed lower than fourth since first entering Olympic hockey in 1956. Canada's low point, meanwhile, came in Turin four years ago.

The U.S. has a chance to win gold for the first time since the Miracle on Ice, while Finland and Slovakia have never won gold. (The Slovaks have already earned their best-ever finish given the worst they can now do is fourth.)
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Burke's tears

After Brendan publicly revealed his sexual preference, Brian was flooded with requests to do advocacy work on behalf of gays. He told the groups that while he supported his son, he had other causes: land conservation, blood donation and children's literacy. He didn't want to dilute that work. This, too, changed on that Friday in February. Brendan's causes are Brian's now. He will do a public-service announcement aimed at eliminating the bullying of gay children. And he plans to march in the Toronto Pride Parade. "I'd promised him I would march with him," says Burke, who briefly left the Olympics last Friday to attend a memorial service for Brendan at Miami of Ohio. "He won't be there, but I will."

- Michael Farber, Sports Illustrated

Another excellent piece from Farber.
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2010 Olympics: The Canada 'bias'

Dan Dunleavy, in Vancouver to cover the Olympics for the Rogers radio network, picks Russia to win the men’s hockey tournament. To use Catriona Le May Doan’s term, it’s a gutsy call, because the Canadian media, generally, are terrified to predict any country but Canada winning hockey gold. They risk being condemned by the xenophobes as twisted, unpatriotic and even seditious. Truth is, Russia, based on its talent up front and its goaltending, should be the favourite.

- William Houston, Truth & Rumours

It's nice to see that the tournament's quarter-finals played out with the most talented teams advancing*, as I think if Russia had won we'd be hearing overly simplistic analysis ad nauseam about how having a few snipers like Ovechkin and Malkin is the path to icing the best team. (Nevermind that this was a team with two "star" calibre defencemen, both of whom are on the downside of their careers.)

The fact is, Canada continues to boast the best depth in this tournament and is a completely reasonable choice as the favourite. Meanwhile, a team that relies on Dmitri Kalinin to play 15 minutes a night on its back end, and which has Evgeni Nabokov - a netminder who has flamed out more than once in the postseason - as its backstop, does not have the advantage in a best-on-best event.

Russia always had too much KHL talent playing key roles and, if its top guns couldn't get things going, they weren't a good enough group defensively or in goal (i.e. Finland) to win games 2-1. 

Given the format, any team on any night can beat another, but based on their talent at every position, Canada is a perfectly reasonable favourite - likely more in 2010 than any other year. This is a country with two former Norris Trophy winners on the blueline and three more players who are favourites to win this year. Six of Canada's defencemen are in the top 11 in scoring among blueliners.

All that said: Given no team has a better than 25- or 30-per-cent chance of winning, any prediction for the Olympics is a shot in the dark, and there's no outright "favourite" worth condemning other picks for.

If there was, it wasn't the Russians, who we have seen this from in the past (the 2005 world junior tournament comes to mind) and who allowed internal politics to decide some of their roster selections.

*- Sweden's tied 2-2 with Slovakia in the quarter-finals as I write this

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NBC's Brokaw on Canada

Good stuff.
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2010 Olympics: Looking at roster depth

There have been a lot of great discussions about Team Canada over the past few days, including one I had with Tyler D. on Twitter most of last night. He's defensive of how the team's played so far; I think that, given their talent advantage, they should have been better (even beyond Brodeur).

Part of my argument simply comes back to where I think Canada has a real edge, and that's in its depth, and the best way I could think to illustrate that is below. Here's Canada's roster, sorted into lines based on ice time so far in the tournament (more ice time and you're higher up), along with who I think the other three contenders are based on their play so far.

Canada could very well have to beat all three to win gold:

	For.	Canada	Russia	Sweden	USA
	1	CROSBY	MALKIN	BACKSTROM	PARISE
	2	MARLEAU	OVECHKIN	ALFREDSSON	LANGENBRUN.
	3	NASH	KOVALCHUK	ZETTERBERG	KANE
	4	HEATLEY	DATSYUK	H.SEDIN	STASTNY
	5	THORNTON	SEMIN	ERIKSSON	KESLER
	6	GETZLAF	AFINOGENOV	D.SEDIN	BROWN
	7	E.STAAL	RADULOV	FRANZEN	BACKES
	8	TOEWS	ZINOVYEV	WEINHANDL	PAVELSKI
	9	PERRY	ZARIPOV	FORSBERG	DRURY
	10	IGINLA	MOROZOV	PAHLSSON	RYAN
	11	M.RICHARDS	V.KOZLOV	HORNQVIST	MALONE
	12	BERGERON	FEDOROV	MODIN	KESSEL
	13	MORROW			CALLAHAN
	Def.	Canada	Russia	Sweden	USA
	1	WEBER	GONCHAR	LIDSTROM	SUTER
	2	KEITH	NIKULIN	OHLUND	RAFALSKI
	3	NIEDERMAYER	A.MARKOV	KRONWALL	J.JOHNSON
	4	BOYLE	KORNEYEV	TALLINDER	ORPIK
	5	DOUGHTY	TYUTIN	MURRAY	E.JOHNSON
	6	PRONGER	KALININ	ENSTROM	GLEASON
	7	SEABROOK	GREBESHKOV	ODUYA	WHITNEY
	8		VOLCHENKOV	JOHANSSON

For all of the Big Seven countries, here's a similar chart.

In terms of top-end talent up front, Russia's as impressive as they come with five excellent weapons. From forward No. 7 on, however, Canada has a healthy advantage, with five of their bottom seven forwards serving as captains of their NHL teams. Their top 11 forwards are all essentially point-a-game all-stars, most of whom are in their prime.

The blueline, however, is where I think Canada should have the biggest edge, as its top six are all in the top 11 in scoring among NHL defencemen and log huge minutes. Weber, Keith and Doughty are potential Norris Trophy candidates, while Russia's relying on three KHL blueliners in their top six.

Sweden's depth, meanwhile, measures up better, although both Franzen and Kronwall are coming off injuries (and who knows what you get from Forsberg at this point). The Americans' defence, beyond the top two, should have its hands full with every elite team in the tournament (which they did with Canada given the shot totals).

When Chris Pronger is your No. 6, you should be laughing. (Not crying.)

Of course, goal is a huge piece of the puzzle, and as I said going in, that could very well be Team Canada's trouble spot - despite the big names. Luongo will definitely be tested by Russia, and despite his sterling international record, there are question marks there.

Up front and on defence, however, Canada should have an edge over everyone in the tournament. Maybe not every minute of every game, but more often than not.

As an aside to all that, Gabe Desjardins had a good look at the recent historical record for the contending teams and pegs Canada's chances of winning it all at just 20 per cent. He's definitely right that this is a far more difficult tournament to win than many make it out to be, and a  gold-or-bust mentality is silly, but realistically, this team should be able to at least medal more than half the time.

Nagano was proof of how difficult a tournament formatted like this is to win. Salt Lake City saw the stars align. Turin, meanwhile, was a disaster. 

A loss in the quarter-finals this time around will mean a sixth-place finish for Canada, meaning that in four Olympic tournaments, they would have one gold, one fourth, one seventh and one sixth. Whether its the pressure or some sort of weakness many are overlooking, that's simply an underperformance for this group.

But if they finish second, third or fourth in Vancouver? That's probably getting closer to where the odds lie. 
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2010 Olympics: Who's getting the big minutes

I've been working on a couple stats packages after the initial games of the Olympic tournament, looking at some of the leaders from all 240 skaters to this point.

Here are the ice time leaders through the round-robin games, separated into forwards and defencemen:

Rk	Forwards	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM	+/-	M/G
1	THORESEN	Norway	3	0	3	3	0	-2	20:30
2	ZUCCARELLO A.	Norway	3	0	1	1	2	0	19:51
3	VIKINGSTAD	Norway	3	3	0	3	4	-2	19:39
4	DEMITRA	Slovakia	3	1	2	3	2	1	19:30
5	HANSEN	Norway	3	1	0	1	2	-2	19:01
6	ELIAS	Czech Rep.	3	2	2	4	0	0	18:45
7	HOSSA	Slovakia	3	2	1	3	2	1	18:38
8	HANDZUS	Slovakia	3	1	2	3	0	2	18:37
9	GOC	Germany	3	1	1	2	0	-1	18:34
10	GABORIK	Slovakia	3	1	0	1	2	1	18:34

Norway's one of the few teams in the tourney to have shortened its bench so far, and that makes sense on some levels given their lack of depth. These players' plus-minus is pretty impressive given this is a team that's been outscored 19-5 after three games.

Slovakia, meanwhile, has to go with its few key offensive stars in big minutes, and they've delivered so far. Handzus, in particular, has impressed me in facing opponent's top lines.

The top Canadian and American forwards (Crosby and Parise), meanwhile, have both only played in the 17 minute range, something that is likely to change now that we're in must-win territory. 

Rk	Defencemen	Team	GP	G	A	PTS	PIM	+/-	M/G
1	HOLOS	Norway	3	0	0	0	2	-3	28:41
2	TRYGG	Norway	3	0	0	0	0	-5	25:25
3	STREIT	Switzerland	3	0	2	2	0	-1	25:05
4	CHARA	Slovakia	3	0	0	0	4	1	23:51
5	SALO	Finland	3	0	1	1	2	1	23:47
6	TIMONEN	Finland	3	2	0	2	2	1	22:38
7	SEIDENBERG	Germany	3	1	0	1	0	0	22:37
8	EHRHOFF	Germany	3	0	0	0	4	-1	22:34
9	JAKOBSEN	Norway	3	0	1	1	6	-6	22:29
10	WEBER	Canada	3	0	3	3	2	1	22:00

More Norwegians logging huge minutes. I don't know a heckuva lot about Holos other than he plays in the Swedish Elitserien (and I put him on my fantasy team), but being only minus-3 while playing roughly half of Norway's lopsided games is impressive.

The others, save for Weber, aren't surprising given their team's lack depth on the blueline and need to ride their few NHL studs. I imagine we'll see a ton of Ehrhoff and Seidenberg against Canada on Tuesday night. Chara will be a huge part of Slovakia playing spoiler, too. 

Kimmo Timonen's really impressed me in the games I've seen for Finland, as he continues to be one of the NHL's more underrated blueliners.
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