Double Deke » Eastern Conference

Joseph retires with 454 wins

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:34:16 +0000

After 18 seasons in the National Hockey League, veteran goaltender Curtis Joseph has decided to call it quits. The 42 year old native of Keswick Ontario made the announcement while at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Joseph originally broke into the NHL as an undrafted player with the St.Louis Blues in 1989, however he also played for several other NHL teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs on two different occasions, the Calgary Flames, the Detroit Red Wings, the Edmonton Oilers, and the Phoenix Coyotes.

He actually did not play any games this season and last played in the NHL during the 2008-09 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs playing his final game on April 9, 2009, witch was a 3-1 loss against the Buffalo Sabres. During the 2008/09 season he played 21 games, posting a 5-9-1 record with a 3.57 GAA and a 0.869 save percentage.

In all he played 943 career NHL games where he posted a 454-352-90-6 record, including 51 shutouts, a 2.79 GAA, and a 0.906 save percentage. Only Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Terry Sawchuk and Ed Belfour made more regular-season appearances then Joseph. His 454 regular season wins is fourth in all-time NHL wins trailing only Martin Brodeur (585 and counting), Patrick Roy (551), and Ed Belfour (484). He is currently the NHL goaltender with the most wins who has have never won a Stanley Cup. Joseph ranks second in Blues history with 137 wins and 15,987 minutes played. As a member of the Leafs, he retires with 138 wins, good enough for fourth all-time Leafs net minder behind Turk Broda, Johnny Bower and Felix Potvin.

Joseph also happens to have the NHL all-time record with the most loses, his 352 losses is the most in League history tied with Gump Worsley. The 51 recorded shutouts he got puts him 20th in all-time NHL shutouts.

He appeared in 133 post season games, posting a 63-66 record with 16 shutouts and a 2.42 goals-against average. He backstopped the Maple Leafs to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1999 against Buffalo and then again against Carolina in 2002, but was never able to bring his team to the next level. On April 13, 2008 after leading the Calgary Flames past the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals he became the first NHL goaltender to win a playoff game with five different teams.

Joseph was a three-time nominee for the Vezina Trophy, finishing second in the voting to Buffalo’s Dominik Hasek in 1998-99. He was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in the 1999-2000 season, for being the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. He played in two NHL All-Star Games, representing the St;Louis Blues in 1994 and then the Maple Leafs in 2000. He helped Team Canada win the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Playing for Toronto was perhaps the pinnacle of his career, getting to play for his home town fans. However his hunger to win a Stanley Cup led him to sign with the dominate Detroit Redwings after Dominik Hasek retired. A move similar to Ray Bourque’s late career move from Boston Bruins to the Colorado Avalanche. Joseph’s move however never really worked out for him and he never got a cup like Bourque managed to do. It didn’t help much that Hasek then returned to play with the Red Wings giving them two of the leagues best goaltenders of witch they couldn’t afford giving Joseph the shaft.

Joseph was always a very steady and reliable goaltender throughout his lengthy career whom was extremely great under pressure and could be depended on time and time again. He kept many of his team’s competitive when perhaps they shouldn’t have been and it’s a shame he never got to win the Stanley Cup.
And although Joseph boasts some strong statistics, many people will no doubt argue that he is not Hall of Fame material because he never won a Stanley Cup, and has the most NHL loses.

We feel that he should become inducted in the Hall of Fame one day but only time will tell. Either way he was a very classy player, great goaltender to watch during his peak period and his 454 wins is certainly an impressive feat and we have to remember he did it playing on some teams that were not as competitive, compared the teams that Belfour, Brodeur or Roy (who recorded have more wins) have played for.

[photo source: Flickr - flickr.com]

New Jersey Devils Team Info

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:32:14 +0000

Team: New Jersey Devils

Arena: Prudential Center

Division: Atlantic Division

Contact Info:

New Jersey Devils

165 Mulberry Street

Newark, NJ, United States 07102

Websites:

Official team web site: http://devils.nhl.com/

Elias web site – http://eliaspatrik.com

Martin Brodeur web site – http://www.martinbrodeur30.com/

The New Jersey Devils are part of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference of the NHL. The club was originally founded in Kansas City, Missouri as the Kansas City Scouts in 1974, then moved to Denver, Colorado to become the Colorado Rockies. But after only two seasons it was then relocated again to New Jersey in 1982 where it has since remained.

The franchise was poor to mediocre for most of its first 13 seasons, only making the playoffs once. However, under current president and general manager Lou Lamoriello, the Devils have made the playoffs in 19 out of the last 21 seasons, including each of the last 12. They have won the Stanley Cup three times (1995, 2000 and 2003).

The Devils are known for their defensive based style of play, but have recently also excelled with their offense skills as well. The Devils have a close rivalry with both the New York Rangers, and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Devils have won the Atlantic Division season title eight times, most recently during the 2008-09 season.

Martin Brodeur has been the back bone of the Devils success and during his time with the Devils (the only NHL team he has ever played for) he has become the NHL’s all-time leader in regular season wins, shutouts, and games played.

Tanguay agrees to deal with Tampa

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:12:51 +0000

Alex Tanguay recently signed a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning, “was given his No. 13 jersey and introduced to the local media during a press conference at the St. Pete Times Forum”. Details of the contract were not released but it is thought the deal was worth close to $2.5 million, or almost less then half of what he made last year in Montreal.

Adding Tanguay to the roster will create a pretty dynamic combination with any of the existing Litning stars such as centers Vinny Lecavalier & Steven Stamkos, right wing Marty St. Louis, and left wing Ryan Malone. Tanguay is a great play maker so do not be surprised to see him play along side Vinny (whom could use some help bring him up to his usual level of play) for most of his time.

Don’t be surprised if Tanguay teams with Lecavalier, who’s also looking to rebound a bit. Tanguay is known for his ability to hold on to the puck and make pinpoint passes, and Lecavalier, a finisher, needs someone to get him the puck.

The former Montreal Canadien forward missed a good portion of last season after he separated his left shoulder when then-Lightning (kind of ironic that it was a Tampa Bay player …) forward Evgeny Artyukhin checked him hard in to the boards last December. All though he was limited to play only 50 games during the 2008-09 season, he still finished with 16 goals and 25 assists and was plus-13 with five power-play goals.

[Story Source: ST.Peterburg Times on Tampabay.com ]

[Image Source: RumeurslnhenImages.com]

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When will Heatly be Happy?

admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:27:20 +0000

When will Dany Heatly be Happy? The big cry baby is still looking for a new home… but not having much luck getting one. After a few busted attempts this summer to teams like the Edmonton Oilers, he is still an Ottawa Senator. Heatly has reported that he will still report to training camp if he’s not traded before the start of it and general manager Bryan Murray stated that he was not expecting his phone to ring with an offers any time soon.

“I have a contract … if I’m still a Senator at training camp time, I’ll be ready to go.” said Heatly.

And now that the Senators have signed former Montreal Canadien forward Alex Kovalev, there is a good chance that we could see a big line playing at Scotia Bank place again. Imagine Kovalev, Heatly and Spezza.

Ottawa starts the new NHL season on October 3 against the New York Rangers, will Heatly be there? only time will tell …

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Maple Leaf Rebuilding Mode

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:07:32 +0000

We all know that the Toronto Maple Leafs have been a troubled team over the past few years missing the playoffs again for another year (a Leaf franchise record now) but they are in the middle of what is often called a rebuilding mode.

Over the past few seasons we saw them shed a number of players in an attempt to give the team’s youth more ice time. Some of the players that were let go over the past year included Mats Sundin, Bryan McCabe, Nik Antropov, Dominik Mora, Darcy Tucker, Pavel Kubina, Martin Gerber, Brad May, Boyd Devereaux, Tim Stapleton and Curtis Joseph. There has also been a major change with the General Manager and coaches. Bryan Burke has come to the team to try and turn the franchise around and Ron Wilson was brought in as head coach for the 2008-09 season.

The Leafs did not just cut and trade away players, they also added some new names to the roster that include Mike Komisarek, Francois Beauchemin, Garnet Exelby, Colin Stuart, Colton Orr, Wayne Primeau and Jonas Gustavsson.Adding players like Komisarek, Beauchemin and Exelby shows that the leafs are trying to regain a tougher image as well as a younger squad.

The Leafs also have plenty of salary cap room left to play with, so we should look forward to seeing Burke fills that space with some players from teams like SanJose, Boston and Calgary that still need to add players but shed salary. The Leafs are therefore very well positioned to act as a salary dump one of of those teams looking to free up some space in order to improve their team. The question is which teams are running out of cap space and still have roster spots to fill? And who will Burke find to help the team finally make it back into the playoffs.

Sidney Crosby top 10 Goals

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:17:42 +0000

An early top ten of the “Next One” Sidney Crosby (I am sure the site will have many more for him as time goes on)

Alexander Ovechkin Top 10 Goals

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:11:36 +0000

TSN counts down Alexander Ovechkin’s Top 10 Goals.

Maple Leaf Draftee Ruegsegger’s 360 Degree Assist

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:13:58 +0000

[originally posted on the DoubleDeke.com forum - Dec 15 2008 by "DoubleDeke"]

Ruegsegger drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs makes a slick 360 degree pass to Colborne during a Denver University Pioneers varsity hockey game

Wow the future for Leaf Fans may be bright after all

Maple Leaf Rebuilding Mode