Langenbrunner Named Team USA Captain

0

Written on 1/11/2010 by Jim Cerny


This isn't going to get much play in the press, certainly not when considering the fact that Mark McGwire just announced that---shocker!---he did take steroids during his Major League Baseball career, but USA Hockey announced today that Devils' captain Jamie Langenbrunner will serve as captain of the 2010 US Olympic Hockey Team in Vancouver.

Really this had not been a well-kept secret. Langenbrunner has been spilling the beans to the Devils beat writers himself.

But secret or not, this is a solid choice by the powers-to-be at USA Hockey, including team GM Brian Burke and head coach Ron Wilson.

Langenbrunner is one of the most underrated players---and captains---in the sport, though not to those who follow the game closely, and certainly not to anyone within the Devils organization. Hard-working, intense, respected, no-nonsense, honest, big-game player. Those are just a few of the adjectives that can be used about Langenbrunner.

He is also a two-time Stanley Cup winner---once in Dallas, and once in New Jersey. He is now a two-time Olympian. He is a four-time 20+ goal scorer, coming off a career-best 29 at the age of 34 a year ago. He led the all scorers with 11 goals and 18 points during the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Langenbrunner's resume is so impressive. Yet so few really appreciate his value.

Now he will have the opportunity to help shape the future of the US Olympic program by leading an extremely young squad in Vancouver that will be the core of future Team USAs---if the NHL continues to take part in the Winter Olympics. And I think he is the right man to captain this band of (mostly) youngsters.

Many believed when Chris Drury was selected to play for Teams USA in '10 that he would be the captain. And though I believe Langenbrunner is the correct choice as captain, what is Drury's true value to this team if he is not the captain? Drury's on-ice play has diminshed so that you can most definitely make the argument that others---even vets like Mike Modano or Bill Guerin---make more sense on this roster.

Drury's value to this team---as a three-time Olympian, captain of two NHL teams, and with one Stanley Cup ring---seems to be as a leader, the captain. But he is not even an alternate. Brian Rafalski, Ryan Suter, Dustin Brown, and Zach Parise landed those slots.

Burke said today on a conference call, "We know what Chris Drury can bring. He doesn't need a letter."

That is true, and Drury will still be a valuable member of the leadership core of Team USA in February. But in hockey, there is something special about wearing a letter. And if this is really Drury's value to the US Olympic Team, then him not wearing a letter stands out more than if he was not selected to play on the team.

After Rangers' practice this morning, Drury replied with a quick "No" when asked if it mattered to him if he would wear a letter with Team USA. But that's all he had to say about it. Hmmmm.

Nonetheless, none of that should take away from the announcement about Jamie Langenbrunner, a well-deserved honor for an understated, but perfect, choice as captain os the 2010 US Olympic Team.

Posted in , , , , , , | Comment Now!

Ugly Start for Maple Leafs

2

Written on 10/13/2009 by Jim Cerny


Are the Toronto Maple Leafs really this bad?!

I mean after Brian Burke's summer of cleaning house, this is what the Maple Leafs are? A team that can't keep the puck out of its own net, is horrid down-low in its own end, has trouble finishing at the other end, and compounds one dumb penalty after another by being a putrid 57.9% on the penalty kill so far this season?

Yikes!

Well at least they can fight (witness Colton Orr tangling with Donald Brashear, above). And to their credit, the Maple Leafs did battle the Rangers for a bit last night before succumbing under the weight of their own ineptitude to the tune of a 7-2 final at Madison Square Garden.

In fact Toronto was the better team---certainly the harder-working team---for stretches of the second period last night, prompting Rangers head coach John Tortorella to say after the game, "They're a quick, hard-working hockey team . Obviously, they are a team that is building again...but they took it to us in the second period."

While that praise is nice, it doesn't clean up the mess the Leafs made for themselves in the opening period or the one that saw the Rangers pull away with four unanswered goals in the third.

Two quick penalties by the Leafs two minutes into the game handed the Rangers a 5-on-3 power play. Seconds later, Toronto was in a 1-0 hole when defenseman Luke Schenn put the puck into his own net. Six minutes later the Maple Leafs allowed Vinny Prospal all the time and space he desired behind Toronto's cage before watching his perfect pass lead to a Wade Redden goal, and a 2-0 deficit.

That the Leafs did not quit is commendable. That they put forth such a horrid start and finish is not acceptable.

The numbers are atrocious to start the season. The Maple Leafs are one of two winless teams in the NHL---at 0-4-1, they are still two points worse than the 0-1-3 Islanders---and they have surrendered a league-worst 24 goals in those five games, nearly five per. Their goals against---4.80---is exactly twice what their goals for average is---2.40. You're not going to win too many games that way.

Throw in the brutal PK, the early disappointing play of their big-time free agent acquisition Mike Komisarek, and the fall-off in the play of the sophomore Schenn, and it's easy to understand the Maple Leafs brutal start to '09-'10.

Many other reporters have written excellent pieces about the state of the Leafs, but I suggest you check out Chris Botta's take on FanHouse. Botts was at the game last night, and was disgusted with Toronto coach Ron Wilson's post-game lack of accountability.

I missed Wilson's huffy post-game exit as I was in the Rangers' locker room. But read Chris' take. Good stuff.

So will things get better in TO this season? I'd think they'd have to, especially with Phil Kessel eventually returning to the lineup. But based on what I witnessed last night---as well as watched on the tube during Saturday's loss to Pittsburgh---this could be one long year for the Leafs.

Posted in , , , , , , | Comment Now!

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)