Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd By now, most hockey fans know Robert Reichel is back in the NHL. But is the NHL back in Robert Reichel? The cunning center from Litvinov doesn’t enjoy the same sterling reputation in North America as he does in Europe. Since his 1990 debut with the […]

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Wayne Gretzky never got 100 goals in one major junior season. Neither did Mike Bossy, Joe Sakic, or Sidney Crosby. But Ray Ferraro, though less celebrated than those other forwards, potted 108 in 1983-84 with the Brandon Wheat Kings as a 19-year-old. Considering no one […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd As legendary coach Scotty Bowman recently noted, no NHL team has ever had three Hall of Fame defensemen like Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, and Serge Savard since his Montreal Canadiens of the late 1970’s. But the Anaheim Ducks come pretty close to that level with […]

Originally published in Prospects Hockey in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Before Sidney, there was Mario. And before Mario, there was Pierre. The Pittsburgh Penguins have drafted some of the greatest QMJHL forwards of all time, and in the 1970’s, perhaps only Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne outshone Pierre Larouche. Growing up in the northwestern Quebec […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd This season, the Phoenix Coyotes are celebrating their tenth year in Arizona under the slogan of “Decade in the Desert.” But cynics might suggest that this franchise is like the Biblical Israelites who wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and the Promised Land is […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Esa Tikkanen and Brett Hull are examples of NHLers who played hard on the ice but exhibited a light-hearted attitude when they took off their skates. However, Dion Phaneuf definitely doesn’t fit that mold. In his second NHL season, the 21-year-old defenseman conducts himself more […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd When Petteri Nummelin was 16 years old, he learned that you should never give up. As the son of Timo Nummelin, the only man ever to be named Finland’s Best Player of the Year in both hockey and soccer, the young Turku-born defenseman faced constant […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd Even though Petr Sykora leads the Edmonton Oilers in scoring in his first season with the Northern Alberta club, that’s not his main concern. The 30-year-old Czech winger, who won a Stanley Cup with New Jersey in 2000, has also experienced the pain of losing […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd Pavol Demitra is a big Metallica fan, but in recent weeks, the shifty forward has been banging his head in frustration when the Minnesota Wild hit the road. Minnesota has sold out every home game in team history and put together the league’s best home record […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd Personal achievements are nice, but when you’re the captain of an NHL team, they don’t mean much. Olli Jokinen has learned that lesson, year after year. In 2005-06, Jokinen’s 89 points signaled his arrival as one of the NHL’s elite power forwards. But his Florida […]