Blake’s Takes: Lightning One Win Away

After everything that’s happened since the league paused for COVID-19 back in March, the Stanley Cup will be lifted this week. Tampa Bay won three straight games, but couldn’t close it out against Dallas in Game 5. They’ll face off again in Game 6 tonight with Tampa up 3-2 in the series.

The Stanley Cup Finals has provided its share of storylines, from the return of Steven Stamkos, the dominance of Joe Pavelski, and bad luck of Tyler Seguin.

Outside of the Stanley Cup, the other 30 teams have been busy handing out extensions and making trades.

You can find five of my favorite storylines below.

Also, here’s the best song I heard last week!
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Puck Junk Podcast: August 11, 2020

1989-90 OHL & 1990 Memorial Cup Hockey Sets

In this week’s episode of the Puck Junk Hockey Podcast, Sal Barry and Tim Parish talk about Phase 2 of the NHL Draft Lottery — including the New York Rangers somewhat controversial win of the first-overall pick. They also talk about the Stanley Cup Qualifying and Round Robin games, the upcoming first round of the playoffs, and Dale Tallon leaving the Florida Panthers. Then, the guys look back at the 1989-90 OHL and 1990 Memorial Cup hockey card sets made by short-lived company 7th Inning Sketch. The cards were charming in a no-frills sort of way and included “pre-rookie” cards of many future NHL players, like future superstars Eric Lindros and Scott Niedermayer. 

Show Notes, Links and Images:
2020 NHL Draft Lottery Phase 2 Results (NHL.com)
2020 NHL Round One Playoff Schedule (NHL.com)
Dale Tallon and Florida Panthers Part Ways (NHL.com)
Topps Now Hockey Stickers order page (Topps.com)
Upper Deck Game Dated Moments for Week 44 (Upper Deck Blog)
1989-90 7th Inning Sketch OHL checklist & images (Trading Card DB)
1989-90 7th Inning Sketch OHL packaging (Trading Card DB)
The creepy Casey Jones card from the 1989-90 OHL set (Puck Junk)
1990 7th Inning Sketch Memorial Cup checklist & images (Trading Card DB)

1989-90 OHL #1 – Eric Lindros

1989-90 7th Inning Sketch OHL card # 174 - Casey Jones

1989-90 OHL #174 – Casey Jones – more about this card here

1989-90 OHL #195 – Where In 91? (Eric Lindros)

1989-90  Memorial Cup #18 – Scott Niedermayer 

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.
Follow Tim Parish on Twitter @TheRealDFG.
Podcast music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

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Blake’s Takes: Looking Past the All-Star Break

Seeing that all eyes were on the All-Star Game last week, there wasn’t much other news in the world of hockey. So I wanted to focus my column this week on a few players that deserve your attention. I’ll also make my case for why the league needs to change their All-Star Game format to something much more interesting. Happy reading!

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Blake’s Takes: Hall Moves to Phoenix for the Holidays

Happy third night of Hannukkah and merry Christmas Eve. This edition of Blake’s Takes won’t be very festive, but it will have some interesting content. Last week was a busy week in the NHL. Taylor Hall was finally moved and Ilya Kovalchuk is now a free agent! I’ll also highlight a breakout performer and take a closer look at one of my favorite plays of the week.

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Blake’s Takes: Drew Doughty is Back and Happy One-Year!

This week marks my 52nd week writing this column. Although I’ve been writing Blake’s Takes for a bit over a year, this felt like the perfect time to celebrate. I want to thank everyone who reads this column each week. I appreciate all of your support and I have really enjoyed the experience. A special thanks to my number-one fan, Aaron Walters, for all of the kind words. Here’s to another 52 weeks!

The NHL is buzzing right now and takes are easy to come by. For this week’s Blake’s Takes, you can expect a Jack Hughes update and additional Devils’ news. Also, I’ll feature one of the best rivalries in the sport that flared up over the weekend and highlight what could be this year’s best goal.

Continue reading “Blake’s Takes: Drew Doughty is Back and Happy One-Year!”

Blake’s Takes: The Offseason Rolls On

The NHL needs to take a page out of the NBA’s playbook and create some buzz during the offseason. There is no one talking about the NHL. Other than a few small signings, roster movement is dead. Thankfully, there were a few headlines that people were talking about this week. You can look forward to a personal story, a new alternate jersey, and a surprisingly long take about a player’s need for a dictionary. Enjoy!

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Blake’s Takes: ‘Canes Ink Keeps Flowing

This week, I had to scratch and claw to find five things worth writing about, but I did it. I could never disappointment my fans. This week, the Hurricanes dominated the news cycle after they re-signed GM Don Waddell, and after Waddell announced that captain, Justin Williams, is still mulling retirement. There were a few other diamonds in the rough like a big jersey retirement and a trophy malfunction.

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Blake’s Takes: More Offseason Talk

There were so many moves made this offseason that I had to comment on some of the signings from the beginning of July. I also look into the new contracts of Jordan Binnington of Kevin LeBanc, and the big trade between Colorado and Toronto.

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Book Review: Game Change

“Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey”  is the latest treatise by Ken Dryden, and a difficult book to categorize. 

As the title implies, the book tells the story of former NHL defenseman Steve Montador, who died at 35 — but “Game Change” isn’t a traditional biography.

It explains how concussions and traumatic head injuries affect the brain, body and mind — but “Game Change” isn’t a scientific journal entry. 

It also recounts how the NHL, over the past century, has reached its current level of violence and physicality — but “Game Change” isn’t a history book. 

“Game Change” is more than the sum of its parts, and like its name implies, it may very well change the sport of hockey. Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goaltender and six-time Stanley Cup-winner, has written several other hockey books. “The Game,” Dryden’s seminal work, is widely-considered to be the best hockey book ever written. “Game Change” may became the most important hockey book ever written, as it thoroughly discusses hockey’s concussion problem — illustrating it with Montador’s biography — and how to fix it. 

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Puck Junk Podcast #20 – Nov. 30, 2016

…with Sal Barry & Tim Parish


Player not working? Listen to this podcast on SoundCloud.

In the latest Puck Junk Podcast, Sal and Tim (@TheRealDFG) talk about:

Playing fantasy hockey on Topps Skate

The Vegas Golden Knights’ name, color, jersey and logo

Gerard Gallant being fired by the Florida Panthers

Lighthouse Hockey’s campaign to make N.Y. Islanders’ third-string goalie J.F. Berube an NHL All-Star Game captain

Podcast #20 weighs in at 55:31, so have a seat before you click play.

Theme music by Jim “Not the Goalie” Howard.

So, what do you think about the new Vegas team, the Panthers firing Gallant or the push to get J.F. Berube into the 2017 All-Star Game? Leave a comment below. ■