JIM LANG ON SPORTS

JONATHAN TOEWS

Let’s make one thing clear; I am not opposed in any way to hockey analytics. The more information that is available for teams to understand the strengths of a player, the better.

Analytics can tell us many things about a hockey player. But it can’t measure the competitive fire that burns inside a player. Exhibit A in my theory is Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks. Trailing 2-0 in their series against the St. Louis Blues Toews put the Hawks on his back and led them to four victories and a series win.

Game Three: The Blackhawks win 2-0 and Toews ends up with the game winning goal.

Game Five: The Blackhawks win 3-2 in over-time and Toews scores the game winner on a breakaway.

Game Six: The Blackhawks beat the Blues 5-1 to clinch the series and Toews scored the game winning goal.

Toews now has nine career game winning goals in the playoffs, the most in the history of the Blackhawks. The amazing thing about that stat is Toews just turned 26 years old.

The bottom line is that there are many highly skilled players in the NHL. But there are only a few that have the ability to take their game to another level in the most crucial times. Time and time again in his career Toews has shown an ability to make the key play and score the key goal when the Hawks, or Team Canada, needed it the most.

In the end that’s what makes Toews such a good leader. He doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. The players in the Hawks dressing room know that when Toews speaks his words are not hollow because of plays like his over-time winner in Game Five against the Blues.

NHL CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS

With the first round finally over here is a brief look at how things will play out in the second round.

The Eastern Conference

Bruins/Canadiens

As a hockey fan, you can’t ask for much more than a Bruins and Habs playoff series. The only thing that would make it better is that if Hockey Night in Canada allowed Bob Cole to call the series. Both teams looked mighty impressive in their respective opening round victories.

Who wins: The Habs are a well-coached, skilled team. But then again, so are the Bruins. What the Bruins have is a distinct advantage in size. So while the Bruins and Habs skilled players cancel each other out, Montreal will struggle dealing with the likes of Chara and Lucic over the course of a seven game series. That is why the Bruins win this series in six games.

Penguins/Rangers

Dan Bylsma can breathe easy for at least a few days. Beating the Blue Jackets was one thing, beating the Rangers is an entirely different thing altogether. First off, the Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist. Secondly the Rangers are a deeper team than Columbus. The two teams split their four games in the regular season with each team winning one game in a shoot-out. In other words, there isn’t a lot to choose between the two teams.

Who wins: the Penguins were able to get away with some shoddy goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury in their series win over the Blue Jackets. They won’t catch any breaks going up against the Rangers Henrik Lundqvist. That is why the Rangers will win the series in six games.

The Western Conference

Blackhawks/Wild

Jonathan Toews turned 26 years old this week. The same Jonathan Toews who scored three game winning goals in the Hawks series win over the Blues. This is the same Toews who now has nine game winning goals in the post-season, more than any other player in the history of the Hawks. The Wild should be proud of the way they played in their series win over the Avs. The fact they did it with a revolving door of goalies is even more impressive.

Who wins: In the first round the Wild faced a young team, not they are going to face a team filled with grown ass men. As great as Toews he is surrounded by great players up front, on defence and in goal. The Blackhawks are a better team and they are battled tested, that is why they win this series in five games.

Ducks/Kings

The only team more upset with the Kings historic win over the Sharks than San Jose was Anaheim.

The Kings are just the fourth team in the history of the NHL to bounce back from a three nothing deficit and rebound to win a series. So the Kings will now take all of that momentum into a series with their cross-town rivals. In their opening round win over the Stars the Ducks received some crucial secondary scoring. They will need more of that secondary scoring as Darryl Sutter and the Kings aim to shut down Getzlaf and Perry.

Who wins: I still can’t believe the Sharks blew it again in the post-season. Especially with a three nothing series lead! The Kings didn’t just squeak by the Sharks in those final four games, they pounded them by a combined score of 18-5. The Ducks are good, but they will be no match for the bad boys from Los Angeles. The Kings will win this series in five games.

THE NFL DRAFT

Usually at this time of the year the NFL draft has already taken place. But over the past few years the NFL has moved the date of the draft further back and even started the practice of holding the first round in prime time on a Thursday night. Personally I love the idea of a prime time opening round to the draft.

There are three drafts that come to mind when talking about the impact it can have on a team.
In 1974 the Steelers selected Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, Mike Webster and John Stallworth in the same draft. All four players went to become hall of famers and they formed the back-bone of the great Steelers dynasty of the 1970’s.

In 1981 the 49ers decided they needed to beef up their defence. Bill Walsh wasn’t fooling around that year and he draft Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright and Carlton Williamson to re-build the 49ers secondary. All of a sudden the 49ers had the talent on defence to compliment Joe Montana, Dwight Clark and their offence.

The foundation of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty was laid down by Jimmy Johnson in the 1989 NFL draft.

In 1989 Johnson was able to grab quarterback Troy Aikman, fullback Daryl Johnston and centre Mark Stepnowski, all in the same draft.

For a draft like to happen you need a combination of skill, experience and a little luck. Teams hold their own internal mock drafts in order to be prepared for every possible scenario on draft day.

But there are times when the team ahead of them makes a trade or drafts someone nobody expected and then all of a sudden a player they never they never dreamed would still be available is still on the board.

Both the Bills and the Falcons have let it be known that they are more than interested in moving up the draft board. The Bills currently have the ninth pick over-all so moving up to number one seems a bit of a stretch. But the Bills could certainly move up to the third pick over-all and grab someone like highly coveted University of Buffalo linebacker, Khalil Mack.

The Atlanta Falcons have the sixth pick over-all and there is the possibility that they could swing a deal to move up to number one and grab the player they so desperately want; South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.

No matter what happens beginning May 8th you have to understand something; for every team that hits a home-run on draft day there are five others that make the wrong choice. And those bad choices will end up costing someone their job as a result.

Remember the time ESPN’s Mel Kiper said that JaMarcus Russell had skill level that is “John Elway-like”? I do, and that pick didn’t exactly turn out too well for the Raiders

(Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimLangSports)