The Contract Trap!

When players play super well, in their rookie season their respective teams often sign them to monstrous contracts with big money attached. When young players gain these huge contracts from their teams, they often stop playing as well, as they did to get the contract. One explanation is-  due to trying to live up to the hype of their contracts! Right now there are perfect examples of 2 young players not playing up to their "standards" in the NHL. Luke Schenn of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tyler Myers of the Buffalo Sabres. These are two players whose teams are trying to build franchises around them, and they are pegged to be the future captains of their teams.

Let's start with Tyler Myers, Myers was drafted 12th overall by the Sabres in 2008, after 2 seasons in the NHL, the 21 year old Myers signed a contract that will keep "The Big Easy" in Buffalo for the next 7 years. Back in September Myers and the Sabres agreed to the 7 year deal worth $38.5 million. Myers is coming off 2 great seasons with the sabres, in which saw him win a Calder Trophy and surpass the 30 point plateau both seasons. But this season "The Big Easy" has become a major concern on defence, for the Sabres. Now last season Myers got off to quite a slow start but picked up his play down the stretch, "I felt the pressure last year and at times I was way too hard on myself," He said. "I got off to a tough start but was happy with my game after Christmas, especially after the All Star game." It appears lightning has struck twice, as Myers is playing very poorly to start off the season. Through this seasons' 8 games, Myers only has 2 points, which are assists. Myers is currently averaging a bit more than 21 minutes of ice time, and has gone 28 games without scoring a goal and 2 games without recording an assist. But it's not just his point totals that have fans worried, it's his play on defense, that's worrying everyone. He is making very poor choices on the ice; pinching at the wrong times, making bad passes, has to many turnovers and is losing his checks. Myers is now paired with veteran defence partner Robyn Regehr who will hopefuly help calm Myers down. One thing Myers needs to pick up is his aggressive play, through 8 games he only has 12 hits - less than 2 hits a game. Defenceman need to be aggressive and hit the opposition regularly, when defenceman are not hitting, often their point totals are effected, like in Myer's case. But here is a good thing for Sabres fans-, Tyler Myers will be fine! Based on last seasons' turn around from a slow start, this is nothing to panic over for Myers and Sabres fans everywhere. He is having a difficult time living up to his big contract, he just needs to get back to basics and become the reliable Tyler Myers that everyone loves! Myers is a player that the Sabres want to stick around for the foreseeable future and maybe even take over the captaincy one day, but first he needs to fix his slow starts to the regular season. Myers and Regehr should soon fine chemistry and Myers can stop worrying about the big contract looming over his head. But Myers slump will soon end, I'm positive about it.

Next up is Luke Schenn, despite Mike Komisarek being chirped hard by all the Leafs fans, it's Luke Schenn who needs to step up his game the most. Schenn's ice time has been reduced by 25% this season, making his new ice time average 15:43, which is the lowest amongst the Leafs D-men and to boot he is struggling majorly in his own defensive zone. Schenn was a big part of the major turnaround with the Leafs in last seasons' 2nd half. The Leafs rewarded him, with a huge contract extension; 5 years $18 million. Since he signed the contract, Luke has been uptight and has had trouble moving the puck. “He has had trouble starting games and I think Luke has put a lot of pressure on himself,” Wilson said. “He has to relax and he will be fine.” Coming off a strong season last year, in which he set a career record for assists. As soon as Schenn calms down, and just simplifies his game, his defence he will be just fine. For Schenn to succeed his game needs to be as simple as possible, 1 pass and out, nothing fancy, or he becomes flustered. Many bandwagon fans are calling for a trade, but HELLO after signing this contract, Scheen is not going anywhere! His future and the future of the Leafs is together and he's likely the future captain. Schenn should find a little extra motivation this season as he will be facing his younger brother several times with the Flyers. Plus if the Flyers make it to playoffs and the Leafs don't! i wont be a very fun time at the Schenn house this summer! No older brother wants to be chirped by their younger brother for playing better! Good news for fans, is Schenn has never really been, nor is he expected to be, a big contributer on offence, but he did lead the league in hits and blocked shots last season, and could very well do it again this season.

Unfortunately for these young defencemen fans jump on and off bandwagons faster than it took the two of them to sign their new multimillion dollar contracts. Right now they are trying to do to much and prove to bandwagon fans that they are worth the money they're being paid. They both need to simplify their game! For Myers he needs to be more physical for Schenn he needs to keep it simple. I have no doubt that these two defenceman will settle down and be just fine. It's part of the jinx of rookies signing their next major contracts, they always play like crap afterwards, someone needs to break that jinx, maybe one of them will win an award this season.
So my message to fans is to stop freaking out over their poor starts to the season, you are not helping them any by booing and chirping these young players. Give them time it is STILL early in the season, their teams are winning and the most important time for these two to play well is down the stretch!

What you Need to Know!

Hello readers and blogger's alike! TODAY IS FRIDAY! I'm going to be talking about some of the stories that took place this week, but were not worthy of a blog of their own. This will most likely become a normal Friday blog, "What you need to know." This blog will consist of a whole bunch of little stories from around the NHL.
Here we go.....

First we start things off with the Toronto Maple Leafs; earlier this week we heard from back-up goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, and he is feeling much healthier than previous seasons and how expects to be a series contender in the leafs carousel of goaltenders. Early last season he was expected to be the leafs no.1 goaltender, but due poor play and injury, he lost the job to Jean-Sebastian Giguere. After the loss of the number one job he got sent down to the AHL Marlies to see if he could stay healthy and step his game up. Gustavsson has gone through a total of 3 heart surgeries, to repair an irregular heart beat. it is expected this season that Gustavsson will be the back up to unlikely hero James Reimer. Reimer was called up near the end of the season and had quite an impressive stint with the big boys, even winning the number 1 job away from season veteran Jean-Sebastian Giguere. Gustavsson is sure he can help young rookie Reimer in his development as well as help the team overall.“That's my goal. To push him and [have him] push me and to do whatever I can to make this team better.”The leafs are in a tough division for goaltenders, that includes the likes of; Miller, Price, Brodeur, Thomas and Lundqvist, they need the young tandem of Reimer and Gustavsson to step up and keep them around in the East. the one part of the puzzle that has been lacking for the Leafs is goaltending, they have a respectable bunch of forwards lead by Kessle and a stellar defense that any team would want lead by Phaneuf and Schenn, now it comes down to the goaltending. So the question remains can Reimer and Gustavsson match the goaltending caliber of a Ryan Miller or Tim Thomas? we'll have to wait and see.

next up is a report that surfaced from a former Washington Capital; Matt Bradley. After a total of 6 seasons with the Capitals, Bradley had some choice words for his former team and teammates. bradley insisted that the team just didn't show up in the playoffs, because a few key members didn't really care. "I think our locker room was maybe a little bit too nonchalant, and guys weren't disciplined the way they should have been," Bradely told TEAM 1200. "Those two things are big things. It wasn't that guys were going out the night before a game, but not being ready to practice or missing practice with questionable injuries and not being focused."IS THIS IT? HAS MATT BRADLEY FIGURED OUT WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WASHINGTON CAPITALS COME PLAYOFFS? no! this is Bradley lashing out that he is not apart of a Stanley Cup contending team anymore. Bradley is now a member of the Florida Panthers, does anyone remember their last chance at coming close to a cup? I do believe there is some truth to his argument though, some of the players don't giver their full effort during the post season. who are those players? lets ask Bradly;
"I don't mind saying Alexander Semin's name because he's one guy who has so much talent, he could easily be the best player in the league, and for whatever reason just doesn't care," Bradley said. "When you've got a guy like that you need him to be your best player, or one of your best players, and when he doesn't show up, you almost get the sense that he wants to be back in Russia. That's tough to win when you've got a guy like that who's supposed to be your best player not being your best player. Or one of your best players." HMMM I wonder why Bradley left the Capitals... making some enemies around town. Although it is no suprise that Alexander Semin does not care, everyone in the sports world can see this, they talked about it all playoffs long, it aint rocket science! Bradley even went as far as criticizing the coaching decision to give star players more ice time :o There were a lot of guys who played well that didn't probably play as much as they needed to, but I love Bruce (Boudreau) and Bruce is a great coach and he was in a very tough position there, because in Washington our top guys are definitely the stars and the guys that people want to see on the ice, so I totally understand," Bradley said. "That just doesn't happen on our team, it happens on a lot of teams. hmmm here is a random thought; maybe fans buy tickets to see star players, not 4th line players that ride the bench all game and score 3 important goals all season long. The fans want to see the Ovechkins and Semins that why they come out to the games! surprisingly enough Bradley had nothing bad to say about Ovechkin!
"I never worry about Ovi," he said. "He's an all-in guy. He's young; he makes his mistakes the same as anyone would. I often try to put myself in his position. And you've got to remember, he's 25 years old, he's got a guaranteed $120 million, he's on top of the world, and he still for the most part makes the right decisions."
good idea Bradley never criticize the captain of the team you just left! Bradley finished the post season with 3 goals and 8 assists, while Semin had 12 goals and 18 assists! Bradley needs to grow up and maybe contribute more to his team, oh wait he's sitting on the bench all game, my bad!

Next we move on to a story that literally just came in! Chris Drury is announcing his retirement from the NHL! Drury is the former captain of the New York Rangers! Drury, who turns 35 on Saturday, had the final year of his US$35.25-million contract bought out by the Rangers in June after four seasons with club. Drury had a rough season last year with many nagging injuries, thus resulting in 1 goal  and 4 assists in only 24 game. Drury has almost done it all, after getting drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, he won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2001 and took part in the 2002 and 2010 Mens Olympic ice hockey team for the United States, both times winning a silver medal. Drury finishes with totals of 255 goals and 360 assists in 892 career-regular season games with Colorado, Calgary, Buffalo and the Rangers.

And our last story is; The new Jersey Devils Travis Zajac will miss the start of the 2011-2012 season. Zajac is expected to miss 8 to 10 weeks while recovering from a surgery to repair his left Achilles tendon. Zajac is entering his 6th NHL season and has spent all 6 years with the Devil's, he is a key part of the organization and a very good role player. Zajac has put up points to help back up his nasty swagger; He is New Jersey all-time ironman, with a consecutive games played streak of 401, Zajac had 13 goals and 31 assists in 82 games with the Devils last season. In 408 career NHL games, the 26-year-old recorded 89 goals and 160 assists.

thank you for reading this Friday blog, Sorry it went a little long, but I hope you enjoyed it :D just quickly in closing the Toronto Maple leafs are getting close to a deal with defence man Luke Schenn. Schenn is a Restricted Free Agent, and can basically not leave the Leafs. Nonis  the Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations of the leafs expects there to be a deal done by the start of training camp. Stating that Schenn wants to resign and remain a Leaf. Also Steven Stamkos will grace the cover of EA's NHL 12.
Have a good weekend!