Preparing for the Post-Olympic Frenzy

NHL hockey fans across the USA and Canada are well into a weeks worth of Olympic hockey. There's still plenty more to go in what may be known as some of the greatest hockey games in recent memory. This also means that these same fans are sitting and watching their beloved superstars and itching to return to NHL action.

Furthermore, that same wait time is in effect for the NHL General Managers, who cannot make trades until the NHL trade freeze is lifted following the conclusion of the Olympics. GM’s can talk all they want, but can’t submit a single thing to the league until the clock strikes 12 midnight on March 1st.

I can only imagine what the GM’s are going through right now, because it simply has all NHL fans at the edge of their seat. They might be watching Olympic hockey, but all are wondering where certain players are going to end up as a result of the tight 65-hour window following the Olympics. The anxiety is surely building.

If you’re a Maple Leafs fan, you're wondering if the reports are true of Tomas Kaberle possibly sticking around in Vancouver a little longer then anticipated prior to the Olympics starting.

If you’re an Oilers fan, you’re preparing your goodbyes to maybe a half a dozen players, or more?

Florida Panthers fans are just starting to digest the letter sent from the Panthers ownership group. I think it’s fair to say, this ownership group is refreshingly honest and seems to have a real plan in place now. However, was this letter intended to prepare the Panther fans for a shocking Stephen Weiss or Nathan Horton trade?

Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Ray Shero’s had the green light from owners Ron Burkle and Mario Lemieux to max out on the salary cap. He has done just that, and has a Stanley Cup ring to show for it. However, the Penguins need a shut-down defenseman and a winger for Evgeni Malkin, but first need a partner to help them clear some room. Who leaves Pittsburgh mid next week for cap purposes? Who is on Ray Shero’s radar? Penguin fans are beyond anxious and ready to find out.

Rumor mills are beginning to explode, reporting every single time two GM’s are seen together sipping coffee in Vancouver. These websites are having an effect apparently, because it has people debating feverishly on team message boards. Some of the most off-the-wall deals are being mentioned as potentially taking place when the freeze is lifted. Funny thing is though, there might actually be legs to some of them. It leaves a handful of people really itching for that 65-hour window to start.

The best way to go about this is to sit back and enjoy what’s about to take place in Vancouver. Herb Brooks is surely looking down and asking everyone to do the same. I can promise you an incredible ending to what has been an outstanding Olympics for NHL and KHL players.

Following that, we will get our answers to so many questions around the National Hockey League in a very short period of time. Deals are going to happen as soon as Monday March 1st.

All of that being said, rumor mills don’t have much longer to entertain the NHL fan base. Fans themselves can start the count down. Big ticket players around the league will need to hurry back from Vancouver to start packing. It’s going to get crazy, and I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to the breaking news to start coming through.

Enjoy the rest of the Olympics, and may the NHL General Managers bring you what you wish for.

Olympic Hockey Preview

The 2010 Olympic Games from Vancouver are underway and the NHL has entered a two-week hiatus to allow stars from around the world to compete. With competition beginning on Tuesday afternoon, SportsJudge chatted with Olympic hockey expert Timo Seppa to get his take on the Games:

SportsJudge: Typically the Olympic Games are played on a much larger ice surface than what is standard in the NHL. Since these games are being played in Canada, that will not be the case. What impact will the normal NHL-sized ice surface have on the Games?

Timo Seppa: I love international ice and long for it every time it's missing from the tournament. The NHL's done a nice job of opening up the game since the lockout, taking away all the clutching and grabbing--from this point of view, the lockout was actually a great success--but going to international ice in the NHL would make the game even faster and more offensively-oriented.

With less room to move, what teams will this hurt the most? What teams will benefit?

Speed and skill teams like Russia and Sweden would have benefited from international ice. I'd say the US and Finland are two of the winners. Since 1980, the only time the US has medalled in recent history was in Salt Lake City, on the NHL-sized rink.

The NHL has halted league play for Olympic participation since 1998, but hinted it may not for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. Will the outcry from Russian superstars like Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin force the owner's to give in?

Bettman and the powers that be would be nuts to forgo the Olympics in the future. It's not like folks rip it like the World Baseball Classic (with injury concerns). The rest of the hockey world sure as heck cares about the Olympics. I can't think of anything better--even Stanley Cup playoffs--than say, Canada vs. the United States, Russia vs. the Czech Republic or especially, Sweden vs. Finland.

In the 1988 Games in Calgary, Team Canada was favored on home ice, yet left with a disappointing 4th place finish. Is this the year Canada finally wins Gold at home?

Canada's clearly one of the four favorites, with Russia, Sweden, and USA. Puck Prospectus has picked Russia as the gold medal favorite. I admit, they are stronger at goaltender (Evgeni Nabokov and Ilya Bryzgalov) and defense (Andrei Markov and Sergei Gonchar) than usual, but I like Sweden to repeat. No team has the kind of crazy quality depth they do with the Sedin twins, Daniel Alfredsson, Nicklas Backstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom, rookie Patric Hornqvist, the wily old Peter Forsberg and of course Henrik Lundqvist in net.

What will it take for USA to knock off Canada?

For Ryan Miller or Tim Thomas to stand on his head, because Team USA's defense is their weakness. Also, with checking-oriented 3rd and 4th lines (shocking choices like Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan over the likes of Bill Guerin and Scott Gomez), those checking lines will need to do their job of shutting down the opposition's stars. But yes, Team USA is capable of beating anyone in the tournament, I'm just not sure they pull off two or three games in a row like that against the big boys.

Besides USA-Canada, what's one game in the preliminary round that fans should be sure to watch?

I'm biased, but Sweden-Finland is a grudge re-match from the 2006 Finals. I don't think the Swedes have so much of a problem with the Finns, but the Finns definitely have a Little Brother complex when it comes to Sweden. That game, along with USA-Canada, should be for secondary round byes, unless someone's faltered in their earlier games. The situation in Group B, with Russia, Czech, and Slovakia is more muddied.

It should be a great, great tournament. I'm really looking forward to it.

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Timo Seppa is a Finnish-born hockey writer at Puck Prospectus who also runs the statistical website Ice Hockey Metrics. Timo represents Puck Prospectus in the SportsJudge.com Fantasy Hockey Challenge.