Hockey Hell Class of 2009

Last week saw the announcement of the US Hockey Hall of Fame's class of 2009 -- congrats are owed to former NHL stars Tony Amonte, John LeClair and Tom Barrasso for their selection to the hallowed halls.

That signals the beginning of the second annual Hockey Hell inductions! Last summer we got a great response to the inaugural class, so this year brings an opportunity for the readership to weigh in on the nominations. Every Friday, for the next five weeks, you the reader will have an opportunity to review the nominations and vote for one candidate in the poll on the right. Voting will be open until the following Friday.

The rules are pretty simple: The purpose of Hockey Hell is to recognize the villains of the game. Think of it as a sort of anti-HoF. Qualification is based upon dirtiness, notoriety, famous cheap shots, “pest” factor, and general personal disdain.

Last year's First Line featured 6 of the biggest scumbags to ever lace up a pair of skates:
C - Sean Avery
LW - Chris Simon
RW - Claude Lemieux
D - Sprague Cleghorn
D - Ulf Samuelsson
G - Ron Hextall

This year we'll be looking for a Second Line to provide a little depth to the lineup. Voting starts tomorrow morning! Keep this page bookmarked as it will be updated to reflect each poll.

August 7-13 - Centers - Bobby Clarke, Dale Hunter, Ken Linseman
August 14-20 - Left Wingers - Tie Domi, Jarkko Ruutu, Dave Schultz, Darcy Tucker
August 21-27 - Right Wingers
August 28 - September 3 - Defensemen
September 4 - September 10 - Goalies

Great reads from around the blogosphere

It's the middle of the week, I've got work to do, so here are some quality links in place of actual thoughts:

• Best link of the day -- Jim Kelley showing us another side of Joe Sakic, one that isn't easily pimped on ESPN but is relevant nonetheless. The league is losing one of its best.



• Obama is taking a bit of heat from hockey bloggers, but here's an encouraging read from the Washington Post about the growth of the game in DC. Glove tap to On Frozen Blog for the find.



• Just as everyone is jumping on board the Blackhawks bandwagon, The Program has a little dose of reality. Could the Hawks, Pens and Bruins all be moving too quickly? A post for another day.



• Speaking of the Hawks, here's another look at their disasterous Summer of '08.



• Lions in Winter has been coming up with some great stuff this week. Namely, an in-depth look at coach killers and a rundown of Canadien prospects who are falling through the cracks. I have a sick fascination with obscure players and highly-touted busts, so this is a preview of guys I will be mocking in 5 years.



• Speaking of the Habs, here's an insightful look at Tomas Plekanec. Thankfully, not every player is a Dany Heatley.



• Red Light District is doing an Ultimate Playoffs tournament. It's nigh impossible to read this and not end up with strong opinions.



• The Sens need to give Heatley's "A" to... somebody. The fact that Kovalev is even a candidate boggles the mind.



• Oops! Looks like the Pronger deal counts as an over-35. The Bruins ran into this snafu with Tim Thomas... looks like GMs are asleep at the wheel when it comes to the fine print on this rule.

And in doesn't-merit-a-link news, LeTurtle is finally calling it quits. Good riddance to old rubbish.

Bruins vs. Sabres: Stuff To Look Out For (plus other items)

Bruins play in Buffalo tonight after a long layoff. The opponents get much easier after this game; with the exception of Saturday's date with the Red Wings, we won't see another top-5 team until after Christmas.

Things to keep in mind tonight:

- The Sabres will wear their classic road jerseys. It's good for the soul to see them looking like a team that plays on ice skates and not rollerblades.

- Not to make any crazy predictions before Thanksgiving, but a regulation win in this game would put us 13 points ahead of the Sabres with a 3-1-1 record against them head-to-head, and only two matchups left (1/3 and 4/11)... that would pretty much mean we no longer have to worry about them catching up. Not that we should be thinking that way just yet. But I am.

- The Sabres have lost 5 straight. After this game they have the Pens and then the Habs. They play Pittsburgh 3 more times before Christmas. If they don't turn it around in this game, it might not happen at all.

- Ryan Miller usually plays pretty well against us, but last time he melted down and got chased. Will he be intimidated or motivated? We'll see tonight. I suspect he'll play lights-out.

- Buffalo rolls out an outstanding top line, but that's about it. Afinogenov has only scored once this season. Craig Rivet is a -5. Numminen is a great story, but -7 after 20 games is ugly. Still, they're not an easy team to defeat because Lindy Ruff is a great coach. This is a must-win and they should come out fast and furious.

Thoughts on other goings-on leaguewide:

Interesting to see how chippy the Leafs and Thrashers got last night. Combined, these two teams are a veritable chowder of suck, but that just brings frustration to the table and leads to extra intensity. Apparently the Leafs were running Kovalchuk, who finally snapped Bure-style and stood up for himself. Later in the game Jason Blake got explodified by a very illegal jump-check, something we're seeing far too often lately. Check out the highlights here. Leafs fans are now beginning to clamor for an enforcer. Meanwhile, the Thrashers are perhaps the worst-run franchise of all time, at least in terms of player movement.

Patrick Roy's son got suspended for 15 games. No, not that son. The other one. This happened 4 days after Roy's number was retired. Five days after he broke the all-time wins record, the police had to investigate him for domestic battery. Karma has a way of catching up, sometimes quickly, and the way a man runs his family is the truest window into his soul. There is no doubt that Roy was an all-time great. But his legacy shrinks almost daily.

Great writeup on Felix Potvin by Pierre LeBrun. If you liked hockey in the '90s, you probably liked Felix the Cat.

Darren McCarty is now playing in Grand Rapids of the AHL. Claude Lemieux is playing for Worcester. Tragically, Worcester does not play Grand Rapids at all this season.

Keep an eye on Habs/Wings tonight. A win for us and a loss for Montreal would open up a very nice cushion, while the reverse would draw them within striking distance. Meanwhile, we have the Wings on Saturday and it would be nice for them to be a little banged up by the typical Montreal cheapshottery.