Malkin Scores, But Can't Keep Marty From 450
October 19, 2006
By
James Meyerriecks
While the story in Pittsburgh was clearly Evgeni Malkin, one of the best goaltenders the league has ever seen did his part to steal the show. Malkin looked strong all night, showing fantastic speed, tremendous creativity, and even poking home his first career NHL goal Wednesday night, Martin Brodeur stopped 37 of 38 shots for his 450th career victory as the Devils beat the Penguins 2-1 in Mellon Arena.
Malkin had more than a handful of chances in this one, and kept the crowd in Pittsburgh buzzing all night long. He had a deflection off the crossbar in the first period before he punched a rebound through the pads of Brodeur for the Pens' only goal late in the second. In the third period, Malkin again made his presence felt with a sizzling slapper that deflected off of Brodeur's glove and broke the glass behind the net.
The enigmatic Russian center, considered by many to have a similar impact to that which teammate Sidney Crosby had last season, was moved around quite a bit. He began the game playing on a line with Crosby and winger Mark Recchi before settling into his expected role as second line center, where he played the pivot between Recchi and Ryan Malone. He also got to see some time alongside one of the better defensive left wingers in the league in Nils Ekman, and got an opportunity late in the game (when New Jersey finally took a penalty) to showcase his skills on the Power Play.
Malkin has arrived, and it looks like anyone trying to downplay his impact had better start eating their words. This kid isn't going to be a great player in this league.... he's already there.
Still, while the night clearly belonged to Malkin for most of the league, Martin Brodeur continued his assault on just about every goaltending record that his idle, Patrick Roy, once held. Brodeur moved to within 101 wins of Roy's all-time record, becoming just the third goaltender in NHL history (joining Roy and Florida's Ed Belfour) to win 450 or more games. He was workmanlike in holding one of the league's most exciting offenses to just 1 goal on 38 shots, and spoiled the debut of Malkin just as he did in Crosby's first game a year ago. Hats off to Brodeur, who figures to be the most celebrated goaltender of all-time when he hangs up his skates. Thankfully, that won't be for a few years, yet.
Around the League
- Tomas Vokoun stopped 38 shots as he won his third straight game and earned his first shutout of the year in Nashville's 3-0 win over the New York Rangers. Vokoun, who certainly seemed to be struggling to find a rhythm after missing the end of last season (and the playoffs) with a blood clot, has almost immediately worked himself back into must-play status in the past week. In three starts since allowing thirteen goals in his first two games, Vokoun has allowed just two goals on 95 shots. Nashville concludes their east coast trip tomorrow night with a game in New Jersey, however, and as hot as he is, I wouldn't be surprised to see Vokoun rested in favor of Chris Mason.... Preds center Josef Vasicek sat the game out with a strained hip flexor. It's uncertain whether this will land him on the IR or not. If it does (particularly if you're in a keeper), look out for Alexander Radulov, who would certainly be the expected call-up. Radulov was a monster in Juniors, and has six points in just four games for Milwaukee in the AHL.
- Brian Rolston scored his fifth goal of the season and Marian Gaborik buried a wrister 25 seconds into overtime as the Minnesota Wild moved to 6-0 with a 2-1 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings. Manny Fernandez stopped 34 of 35 shots in the victory, while former Wild farmhand Patrick O'Sullivan scored his first NHL goal in the loss.
- Alexander Semin scored his team-leading sixth goal as the Washington Capitals downed the Florida Panthers 5-2.
- John-Michael Liles scored his first two goals of the season and Peter Budaj made 27 saves as the Colorado Avalanche escaped from Toronto with a 4-1 victory.
- A pair of former Senators scored as the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1. Martin Havlat scored his league-leading seventh goal of the season in the first, while Bryan Smolinski scored his third of the year early in the third to provide the difference. Sophomore sensation Christopher Higgins scored his fourth of the year in a losing cause for the Habs, while Nikolai Khabibulin made 28 saves as he improved to 4-1 on the year.
- Ryan Getzlaf scored the first of three Power Play goals from the Ducks in the second period as Anaheim beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1. Rookie Shane O'Brien scored his first NHL goal 100 seconds later, while Chris Kunitz buried the final Power Play tally with less than two minutes to go in the period. Corey Perry had a goal and two assists in the win, while J.S. Giguere turned away 21 of 22 shots for the win.
For the time being, this is a temporary preview of something we may be running on the front page at FIC three or four days a week throughout the NHL season. If you want your daily hockey fix now, I'll also be running this as an off-site blog for the time being. The following is just a taste of what you can find at Neutral Zone Trap! If you would like to see NZT on the front-page at FIC all year, please vote here!
James Meyerriecks has been actively involved at FIC since its inception in 2001, and has been writing The Hook throughout the MLB season since 2002. This season, he'll be tackling a weekly hockey column, The Blue Line, as well as a semi-weekly blog called Neutral Zone Trap. He's also represented FIC in a handful of Experts Leagues over the past three seasons and is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.
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He will play. I remember this from when the story broke. Jim, please correct me if I am wrong. Anyone in Russia is allowed to legally break any contract if they provide a two week notice. Now, of course they are protected if Malkin comes back to the league, they have his rights, but according to International law, he is free and clear for two reasons. Number one, he abided by Russian law, and number two, there is no agreement with the Russian elite leagues and the NHL. Now, the reason that there is not a contract between the two leagues is because the Russians refuse to do so, because they want the ability to sue in an International format. I just told you why he is free, and no one understands why the Russians are not compliant towards signing a deal? My guess is that these are some suspect characters who are used to strong arming anyone they come into contact with.
So to answer your question, yes you are safe owning him. Jim please correct me if I am wrong because I am going off memory.
http://www.fantasyinfocentral.com/forums/sports33124.html
As you can see, he feared for his life when he first defected.
Edit: If the Russians were to sign a deal, they would receive compensation when their players got nabbed.
The pact calls for somewhere in the vicinity of $200,000 American that the NHL must pay the franchise that they take a player from, and is something that they have signed with just about every other big hockey nation in the world. However, Russia wants to have negotiating rights that would allow teams to auction a player off to the highest bidder, much like the Seibu Lions are about to do with Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Honestly, it's the Russian Superleague (run predominantly by the Russian Mafia) that has done this to itself. Rather than taking the easy $200,000, they now have nothing to show for letting Malkin walk because they've gotten too greedy.