Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd Sometimes Alexander Selivanov must wonder if his career is doomed to consist of a series of bad jokes. Last season, playing for the Edmonton Oilers on a line with Doug Weight and Ryan Smyth, the 29-year-old Moscow native led the NHL with 18 goals at the […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd For such a nice guy, Teemu Selanne has courted controversy frequently over the last year. On 2 July 1999, he was involved in a car crash that injured the president of the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation. Early in the 1999-2000 season, he seemed disenchanted with the […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2006 By Lucas Aykroyd Last year, two young forwards from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden proved it’s possible to be Number Two and Number One at the same time. Brothers Henrik and Daniel Sedin chipped in 75 and 71 points respectively for the Vancouver Canucks, forming two-thirds of arguably the NHL’s best second […]

Originally published on ElSitio.com in 2000 By Lucas Aykroyd Scott Gomez of the New Jersey Devils has a knack for coming first. The 20-year-old rookie center is the first Hispanic hockey player ever to appear in the National Hockey League. He has ranked first in New Jersey team scoring most of the season. And he […]

Originally published in Eishockey News in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd When you think of the all-time classic Edmonton Oilers, you think of names like Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, and Glenn Anderson. But even though Ryan Smyth lacks the Stanley Cup rings of the aforementioned legends, his tenacity and longevity are moving […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd When Ruslan Salei signed a four-year, $12-million free agent deal with the Florida Panthers on July 2, it marked the end of his nine-season run with the Anaheim Ducks. But in the media, this move by the Belarusian defenseman was largely overshadowed by the clamor about […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 1999 By Lucas Aykroyd Martin Rucinsky knows what an unforgiving city Montreal can be. Canadiens fans and media clamor for the Stanley Cup every year even when a championship is clearly out of reach. It’s a tough scenario for a slick but non-physical forward like Rucinsky whose scoring has declined […]

Originally published in Rinkside in 2007 By Lucas Aykroyd Is a youth movement always a good thing? In economics or art, that can be a matter of controversy. The young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who created the late 1990’s “dot-com bubble” looked pretty good–until that bubble burst. And if you want to accentuate the generation gap […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2001 By Lucas Aykroyd When you think of Finnish defensemen, what comes to mind? In all likelihood, it’s a long chain of offensive-minded, elegant blueliners like Risto Siltanen, Jyrki Lumme and Kimmo Timonen. But Kari Haakana looks poised to break that mold if he can stick with the Edmonton Oilers […]

Originally published on EuroReport.com in 2002 By Lucas Aykroyd Pittsburgh seems to be the spiritual home for Czech NHLers, and that hasn’t changed much even since the early season firing of Head Coach Ivan Hlinka. Robert Lang is a case in point. Early in his NHL career, it looked like he didn’t have a prayer […]