The Year of the Outdoor Game: A Look at 11 Teams and Their Jerseys Part 1

Since us fans were deprived of the annual Winter Classic in 2012-13 (and the league was deprived of the astronomical profits), the NHL decided to build six outdoor games into this season's schedule. Seems like a little bit of an overcompensation, oversaturation maybe, but the league is venturing into uncharted markets.

We can argue day and night over whether bringing the outdoor festivities to more fans is a positive move or if it cheapens the novelty and spectacle of the idea but I think one thing we can all agree on is the excitement over the new swag rolled out by each team involved.

While most teams employ forward-thinking third jerseys for a handful of home games each year, the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic typically gives us the opportunity to honour tradition. In the past, the combatants have dug deep into their respective histories, crafting memorable pieces as unique as the event itself.

With the Stadium Series set for its inaugural year, the NHL has sought for a different take to the outdoor sweater. Well, the results are in (except you, New Jersey) so let's put each team's work up against each other for each event, bust out our patented rating system, and find out who would win if the teams played 60 minutes of fabulous.

How's Your Rebuild Hanging?: An Early Look at Colorado and Edmonton

If you take a look, the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers have a good amount in common. They have had several high draft picks in the past few years, both saw recent changes in the front office and behind the bench, they both ice a majority of younger players on any given night, and both are now facing new opponents after the dissolution of the Northwest Division.

After finishing the 2012-13 season 29th and 24th, respectively to Colorado and Edmonton, it could be agreed that both teams are in the midst of rebuilding. We knew very well that Edmonton was seeing some growing pains as they have had three consecutive number 1 draft picks while struggling to gain competitive relevance in the league, but nothing formal had been assumed for the Colorado organisation until 4-year head coach Joe Sacco was relieved of his duties this summer.

The early season results for both teams aren't quite what we may expect, however. The Oilers Watch is a yearly occurrence as we await the maturation point for the promising young talent in the Copper and Blue, and yet they sit at the basement of the Pacific. The Colorado Avalanche, on the other hand, jumped out to a 10-1-0 record through the month of October and remain in the conversation to this day with 43 points in a league-low 31 games played.

So what is contributing to Colorado's success that Edmonton is missing? Let's take a look and see what we can find out.

Alternative NHL Standings: Chasing the Almighty Win

New York Times reporter Jeff Z. Klein (@jzedklein) recently put together an alternate version of the league standings (More simply laid out on Puck Daddy here). Instead of the current system-where two points are awarded for any win, one point awarded in a shootout or overtime loss, and zero points in a regulation loss-he implemented the three point system. In case you aren't familiar, this proposed format would award three points for a regulation win, two points for an overtime or shootout win, one point for an overtime or shootout loss, and zero points for a regulation loss.

As you can see, the results were, well, fairly underwhelming. While there was a small amount of jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference was exactly the same, save for flip-flopping Anaheim for San Jose at the top of the Pacific.

The whole purpose of this exercise is to see how things would look if more value was placed on winning in the first 60 minutes of the game as opposed to dragging things out, and the league is expressly in favour of shorter games. Granted, things may have actually been different if teams played with the knowledge of three points on the line rather than two but we do get an idea as to whether this would bring with it a noticeable change.

While this scenario is an improvement on the system we have now, it still places points at the forefront and not necessarily, you know, wins. So for those of you who think that we should just call a win a win and a loss a loss, here's a set of the current standings where wins are presented as a percentage, not a point total.

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid: 2013-14 Week Six First Career NHL Goals

Welcome friends. Another week of goals awaits us, but something seems different. While we haven't seen things taper off in dramatic fashion, this week 6 of our 9 goals were scored by defencemen. Well, putting the biscuit in the basket from the back-end certainly is a different beast than from the front lines. Let's take a look at what we have here:

On Forecasting the Market for Goaltenders

Let's take a little trip into the not-so-way-back machine. The year is 2006, a few weeks before the start of the '06-'07 season, and goaltender Rick DiPietro is entering into a pact with Garth Snow and the New York Islanders that would pay him $4.5 million per year. Doesn't sound too crazy does it? He had been playing with the big club since 2000 and was steadily becoming a serviceable netminder at 25 years of age. One figures the Islanders wanted to pay him what they felt he was worth to the organisation and solidify him as the present and future of the team's crease.

But wait! While a $4.5 million cap hit doesn't make you bat an eyelash, the 15-year term to the deal might seem a little strange. It was certainly the first of this magnitude and especially unheard of for a goaltender. Even Evgeni Nabakov, unquestioned elite starter in San Jose, and Martin-freaking-Brodeur, both of whom had signed the same year, couldn't wrangle more than 4 and 6 years, respectively, from their owners.

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid: 2013-14's Weeks Four and Five First Career NHL Goals

We had a healthy dose of first career goals in Week Four but things seemed to taper off the following week. Since this is beyond late anyways how about we do two weeks all together? Sounds good to me so here we go.

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid: 2013-14's Week Three First Career NHL Goals

Welcome to Week 3 of first NHL goals. The excitement keeps on rolling, especially if you happened to be watching the league on Thursday the 17th when six guys populated the list. Let's jump right in, shall we?

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid: 2013-14's Week Two First Career NHL Goals

The young players continue to roll at the beginning of the season. We still haven't hit the 9-game tryout period before Entry Level Contracts are officially active so expect to keep seeing the kids to keep finding the back of the net, trying to make a case for a spot on their respective rosters. This week we saw 10 rookies posting their first goals. Let's meet them, shall we?

Inside the Numbers: Do Teams Sit Back to Force the Shootout?

If you have been monitoring the action around the NHL entering the weekend then you might have noticed that quite a sizeable amount of games have been ending in the shootout. In fact, of the 16 games occurring between Thursday October 17 and afternoon of Saturday October 19, 6 were decided in the shootout, a 37.5% occurrence. Shootouts are a polarizing topic, you may love the skill and novelty of it or you may despise the fact that it isn’t a suitable representation of actual hockey, but the reality is that they exist so we will have to deal with them until something better comes along.

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Kid: 2013-14's Week One First Career NHL Goals

With how the Collective Bargaining Agreement is structured, players aged 18 or 19 are allowed a tryout period of 9 games before their entry-level contracts kick in. In a sense, this is kind of an extension of training camp for them, where if they actually make the opening night roster they get a good look from executives in full NHL-speed situations. If the player doesn't make a strong impression, no big deal, just send them back to juniors or the AHL and try again next year. But if he plays well he could be looking at the start of his career.

In training camps and prospect camps, one way to get attention is to pick some fights. Hockey players have to be tough so dropping the mitts seems like a great way to show the coaches that they aren't afraid of getting physical against the opposition. But the thing that really matters once the calendar flips to the regular season is results. And how does one get good results? By scoring goals of course!

With one week of 2013-14 in the books, let's take a look, chronologically, at who put up their first career NHL tally.

2-4-T's Official Division Standings Predictions

I am not typically in the business of making predictions when it comes to the NHL. Hockey tends to be too fluid an organism for that and I like it that way. That said, since I have joined the vast terrain of the hockey blogoverse I felt it was time to take a stab at it.

On Trading Tyler Seguin

I doubt anyone would make the claim that growing up as a celebrity is an easy thing to do. Not only does fame carry with it enormous expectations but this particular set of celebrity must deal with the temptations of what are often considered social norms for us nobodies with the realization that every action is chronicled in the spotlight. Of course some child-, teen-, and young adult-stars handle the pressures well-or at least are savvy at keeping things under wraps-others quickly become associated with scandal. For every Melissa Joan Hart or Joseph Gordon-Levitt there is a Lindsay Lohan or Justin Bieber.

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Central Division Part 2

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss:

Minnesota Wild

Last Season's Result: 8th in the West, Lost to the Chicago Blackhawks during the Western Conference Quarterfinals in 5 games

Additions: Jason Pomminville, F (Buffalo); Nino Niederreiter, F (N.Y. Islanders); Keith Ballard, D (Vancouver); Matt Cooke, F (Pittsburgh); Brett Clark, D (Florida)

Subtractions: Pierre-Marc Bouchard, F (N.Y. Islanders); Matthew Hackett, G (Buffalo); Matt Cullen, F (Nashville); Justin Falk, D (N.Y. Rangers); Tom Gilbert, D (Buyout, UFA)

Available Cap Space: $2.784 million

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Central Division Part 1

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss:

Colorado Avalanche

Last Season's Result: 15th in the West

Additions: Nathan MacKinnon, F (Entry Draft); Alex Tanguay, F (Calgary); Cory Sarich, D (Calgary); Andre Benoit, D (Ottawa)

Subtractions: David Jones, F (Calgary); Milan Hedjuk, F (UFA); Shane O'Brien, D (Calgary); Chuck Kobasew, F (UFA); Ryan O'Byrne, D (KHL); Greg Zanon, D (Buyout, UFA); Aaron Palushaj, F (Carolina)

Available Cap Space: $10.289 million

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Metropolitan Division Part 2

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss:

Carolina Hurricanes

Last Season's Result: 13th place in the East

Additions: Anton Khudobin, G (Boston); Andrej Sekera, D (Buffalo); Mike Komisarek, D (Toronto)

Subtractions: Jussi Jokinen, F (Pittsburgh); Joe Corvo, D (Ottawa); Dan Ellis, G (Dallas); Chad LaRose, F (UFA); Marc-Andre Bergeron, D (NLA); Jamie McBain, D (Buffalo); Bobby Sanguinetti, D (KHL); Tim Brent, F (KHL); Tim Wallace, F (SHL)

Available Cap Space: $4.885 million

A Glance At This Year's New Uniforms

Ah yes, the slow summer months are waning and we have hit the last couple weeks before the preseason activities commence. Sure, things have been slow but a few teams have tried to keep us guessing by releasing the new jerseys they will be donning for the coming years. Carolina, Dallas, San Jose, and Minnesota all have come out with different looks, some more striking than others, and Buffalo also has an upcoming alternate in the works that is about a month and a half past due. So which teams have hit it out of the park and which fans should stock up on the old sweater before they are no longer available? 2-4-T uses their scientific rating system to find out.

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Metropolitan Division Part 1

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss:

New Jersey Devils

Last Season's Result: 11th place in the East

Additions: Jaromir Jagr, F (Boston); Cory Schneider, G (Vancouver); Ryane Clowe, F (N.Y. Rangers); Michael Ryder, F (Montreal)

Subtractions: Ilya Kovalchuk, F (KHL); David Clarkson, F (Toronto); Henrik Tallinder, D (Buffalo); Alexei Ponikarovsky, F (KHL); Johan Hedburg, G (UFA, Buyout); Steve Sullivan, F (UFA); Matt D'Agostini, F (Pittsburgh)

Available Cap Space: $3.879 million

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Pacific Division Part 2

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss

Calgary Flames

Last Season's Result: 13th in the West

Additions: Karri Ramo, G (KHL); TJ Galiardi, F (San Jose); Kris Russell, D (St. Louis); Shane O'Brien, D (Colorado); David Jones, F (Colorado); Ben Hanowski, F (Pittsburgh)

Subtractions: Jarome Iginlia, F (Pittsburgh); Mikka Kiprusoff, G (Retired); Jay Bouwmeester, D (St. Louis); Alex Tanguay, F (Colorado); Blake Comeau, F (Columbus); Leland Irving, G (SM-liiga); Roman Cervenka, F (UFA); Anton Babchuk, D (KHL); Steve Begin, F (UFA); Danny Taylor, G (SHL)

Available Cap Space: $7.69 million

So You're a Restricted Free Agent Without a Contract, Now What?

Probably one of the least interesting events during hockey offseason, aside from Sidney Crosby's misadventures at the DMV, is the cycle of RFAs. Unlike the near-live auction frenzy associated with their unrestricted counterparts, the RFA game is more akin to a chess match with far fewer pieces and moves.

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Pacific Division Part 1

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss:

Phoenix Coyotes

Last Season's Result: 10th in the West

Additions: Mike Ribeiro, F (Washington); Brandon Yip, F (Nashville); Thomas Greiss, G (San Jose)

Subtractions: Boyd Gordon, F (Edmonton); Raffi Torres, F (San Jose); Jason Labarbera, G (Edmonton); Matthew Lombardi, F (Anaheim); Steve Sullivan, F (New Jersey); Chad Johnson, G (Boston)

Available Cap Space: $6.123 million

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Atlantic Division Part 2

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss:

Tampa Bay Lightning

Last Season's Result: 14th in the East

Additions: Valtteri Filppula, F (Detroit); Ben Bishop, G (Ottawa); Jonathan Drouin, F (Drafted 3rd Overall)

Subtractions: Vincent Lecavalier, F (Philadelphia, Buyout); Benoit Pouliot, F (N. Y. Rangers); Marc Andre Bergeron, D (Carolina); Adam Hall, D (Philadelphia); Cory Conacher, F (Ottawa); Mathieu Garon, G (UFA)

Available Cap Space: $2.609 million

2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis: Atlantic Division Part 1

In anticipation of the coming season, the staff at Two Minutes for Typing will be breaking out our scalpels, slicing the divisions in half, and dissecting each team to see what will be making them tick this year. Of course some appear to be more ready for the rigors of a full 82-game compliment than others. With that in mind, we will be looking through the microscope at who will perish on the operating table, who has a fighting chance under the knife, and who will be sewn, stitched, and sipping ginger ale come playoff time. I present to you 2-4-T's Preseason Prognosis.

The Miss:

Buffalo Sabres

Last Season's Result: 12th in the East

Additions: Henrik Tallinder, D (New Jersey); Jamie McBain, D (Carolina); Matt Hackett, G (Minnesota)

Subtractions: Nathan Gerbe, F (Carolina, Buyout); Jason Pomminville, F (Minnesota); Robyn Regehr, D (Los Angeles); Jordan Leopold, D (St. Louis); Lindy Ruff, Coach (Dallas)

Available Cap Space: $10.505 million

On the Notion of European Expansion

I recently read an article by Huw Wales on the blog Defending Big D which reiterated the now 5-year-old question of whether the NHL should consider expansion into Europe but with the twist of considering this before looking into more North American cities. For those unaware, there are quite a handful of popular destinations for new NHL franchises in the Western Hemisphere. Among the list are Quebec City, Quebec; Markham, Ontario (roughly 30 km/20 miles from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto); Seattle, Washington; Kansas City, Missouri; and Houston, Texas.

Now the article did a fairly good job of outlining the ups and downs of such a proposition but I couldn't help but read this with an "are you serious?" attitude. I mean we just realigned the league, sure because Winnipeg was a couple villages too far from being realistically "Southeast", but also because Detroit has been bitching and moaning about playing games past their bed time when making Pacific Coast road trips in the past. I'm sure the organization would be thrilled about making a visit to Stockholm, Sweden once a year.

An Alternate Way to Bet on Sports

Like most people, I enjoy a good sports bet every once in a while. But not like most, I try to make it fun while not basing bets on monetary rewards. For example, A friend of mine (R.I.P Cesar Pichardo) and I would make "hat bets". I have an uglier than sin Blackhawks trucker hat and the stakes would revolve around the loser wearing said hat for a full 24-hour period . I guess you could call it a "hat of shame".

2-4-T Exclusive: A Visit to Day 4 of the Blackhawks Prospect Camp

When I was commissioned by the higher-ups here at Two Minutes for Typing to cover the 2013 Prospect Camp for the Chicago Blackhawks I did what any upstanding journalist would do: not show up until the fourth day and be two hours late. But it was a great experience to see a few of the future Blackhawks and a bunch of other hacks who will never crack the roster. It made me feel better about how bad I am at the sport even though those low on the totem pole in the mix could embarrass the hell out of me with little to no effort.

But all attempts at comedy aside, this was absolutely a new experience for me as I do not get the chance to witness many of the up-and-comers prior to service in the big boys' league. Watching hockey in this sort of environment also helps put in perspective the level of difficulty involved in attaining a job at the professional level in any sport. While I do believe that all involved in the camp are still a far cry away from graduating to the NHL, I did make a few mental notes on some players who quite possibly are a little closer than others.

It Was Nice Knowing You, Northwest and Southeast Divisions

With the start of Free Agency last Friday it appears that the calendar in the NHL has turned to the 2013-2014 season. It's an exciting time before the first puck drops sometime in October when you have the chance to look at the moves your respective teams has made, over-analyze things, pull your hair out, and ball up into the fetal position until the boys win a game and you tell your friends you knew they would turn things around this year.

What the Hell Is Philly Doing?

It’s a good thing we have a new Collective Bargaining Agreement in the NHL, even though we sacrificed half of a season to get there. The aftermath of the 2004-05 lockout birthed those laughable long-term deals that dove into salary-minimum territory towards the tail end of the deals when the player who signed probably wasn’t expected to actually be playing anymore. Free Agency makes General Managers go crazy I guess.

2-4-T's Postseason Wrap Up

Congratulations to the 2013 Stanley Cup Winning Chicago Blackhawks.

On Injuries in the NHL

Injuries in the NHL are an interesting thing. First, let's go with the elephant in the room where unless an ailment is blatantly obvious, the description states "upper-body" or "lower-body" regardless of anything between a concussion to a broken toe. Most other sports will present injury reports as "shoulder", or "knee", or "ribs" or what have you. But no, the NHL could fill an Us Weekly with injury rumors before anything certain comes to light.

2-4-T's Game 4 Assessment and a Look Ahead to Game 5

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a series.

2-4-T's Game 3 Assessment and Keys for Game 4

Well that Tuukka Rask kid sure is OK. Just OK though. I mean he has only had 3 shutouts in his last 7 games, 1 of those 7 is a loss, and only let in 1 goal in each of 3 out of 4 of those non-shutouts. What's a Tim Thomas, amirite?

2-4-T's Game 2 Assessment and Keys for Game 3

After the excitement of Game 1 it was tough to predict how both the Bruins and the Blackhawks would come out for Game 2. Surely no one would have counted on seeing another game with multiple frames past regulation but we would more likely see one team capitalizing on the opposition’s weaknesses after 112 minutes of looking for where those holes may be.

This Year's Jack Adams Award

The thing I like about the NHL Awards is the discussion and reasoning that occurs not only leading up to the end of the season but even in the early stages. As a non-member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association these are basically the only steps of the process where my opinion is valid in any way. For instance, I could pose my argument for why John Tavares should have received the Hart Trophy in one video clip that happened in February with:

2-4-T's Game 1 Assessment and Keys for Game 2

I guess you could say the atmosphere at the United Center on Wednesday was....electric?

Sorry. It seems I am slowly morphing into a blogger or someone that creates headlines on NHL.com. But all weather puns aside I think Game 1 was quite the treat for hockey fans all around. Especially in a season where the conferences did not intermingle I would say we are seeing the best of both worlds come together. Yes, the Blackhawks have a reputation for their speed, offensive zone cycle, and depth. And sure, the Bruins are known to play bruising and physical, push aggressively on the forecheck, and start and finish plays from the point. But it goes without saying that neither team has seen each other's particular breed prior to Game 1.

On the NHL's Coaching Carousel

On May 7, 2013, the San Jose Sharks completed a sweep of the Vancouver Canucks. 15 days later Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault was out of a job. On June 7, 2013, the Boston Bruins pulled a surprising 4-0 series victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins and even before then whispers had begun to circulate around the league regarding whether Penguins coach Dan Bylsma would suffer a similar fate. This seems to be a common narrative in the NHL season after season where 29 positions could become vacant after the failure to bring hockey’s Holy Grail back to the home fans. Hell, even when a team struggles in the regular season we start to hear murmurs.

Officiating and the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Officiating in any professional sport has to be one of the hardest jobs in the world, especially if you value positive reinforcement. You basically have the amount of time it takes to bat an eyelash to make or not make a call. On top of that, you are married to that decision-'til death do you part-despite criticism from the players, coaches, fans, and the media. An unfortunate casualty of any game could be a win for either team and that is probably the cause of the most controversy.