Tag Archives: Brent Burns

Beer League Hero

Guest Post: Tips For Beer Leaguers To Improve Their Game

This is a guest post from AJ  Lee of Pro Stock Hockey. Now, if you don’t know what Pro Stock Hockey is, let me tell you. It’s a kick ass website where you can go and get sticks, helmets, gloves, skates, or jerseys that are the exact same thing that the pros use.

“When you shop with Pro Stock Hockey, you’ll be buying 100% authentic NHL pro stock hockey purchased directly from an NHL locker room. Our staff makes sure every item that comes into our warehouse is 100% real NHL gear, made for NHL players.”

They have worked with How-to Hockey’s Jeremy Rupke in the past on his Coach Jeremy Youtube channel. If you saw the Beer Leaguers use Zdeno Chara’s stick video, that’s a stick from Pro Stock Hockey. Check it out below!

So with all of that being said, Beer League Heroes is happy to partner up with Pro Stock Hockey to give you some wicked grade A tips on how to improve your Beer League game. I know I’m going to need to up my game a bit this season and these tips will be put to use!

Bon Appetite!

BLH

OH! One more thing, at the end of this post is a discount code that you can use at Pro Stock Hockey and the first ten people that use the code get the discount! So hurry up and get ‘er dun!

In general, you’ll find two types of hockey players at a beer league game: the kind who are happy to be there with their friends, and the kind who want to win the league championship like it’s the Stanley Cup itself. If you feel like your skills align more closely with the first type than the second, there are a few steps you can take to make your game better and your team better.

Skate, Skate, Skate

The most fundamental aspect of hockey is often the one in which the most players struggle: skating. Whether you’ve been on the ice since you were a tot or you just picked up the game a few years ago, everyone at every level can benefit from working on their skating skills.

Whenever you have the option to get a bit of ice to yourself, at a rink’s stick and puck or open skating session, lace your skates and practice. Straight-line skating helps you build burst power, great for getting to a loose puck before the competition, but working on agility will make it a lot easier to move the puck up the ice. Line up cones to skate around, or go from faceoff dot to faceoff dot. Work on your edgework and crossovers in the faceoff circle at center ice. The quicker your feet, the easier it is to change direction and free up space for you and your teammates.

Picking Your Shots

Half the time in beer league games, a player with the puck in the offensive zone will fling it at the net and pray for something good to happen. While a lot of hockey players will say there’s no such thing as a bad shot on goal, the more you can improve your shot and your decision-making, the less you’ll have to rely on luck to score a goal.

Start by practicing shooting from inside and outside the faceoff circles: When you’re in the faceoff circles (or the slot), try to go high and beat the goalie glove — or blocker-side. If you’re outside the circles, try shooting low to create a rebound for teammates crashing the net.

Practice concealing your shots, as well: Use tricks such as head fakes and kicks to get the goalie to go down, and try to shoot through defensemen’s legs so that they act as a screen. The less predictable you can be, the better your chances of finding the twine.

Off-Ice Training

Rough-and-tumble hockey players may not be into the newest workout fads, but there’s a lot to be said for trying a new routine. Star center Ryan O’Reilly credits yoga for his success in the game, claiming that it’s not just the most beneficial training he does, but also the most difficult. There are plenty of unorthodox workouts out there that can work out muscle groups that might get overlooked in a normal gym session. Consider workouts, sports or even martial arts that force you to work toward exhaustion so that you build endurance for your next shift. NHL players aren’t lifting weights for a “beach body” over the summer. If you want to notice a difference on the ice, drop the curls and increase the squats.

Nutrition

By definition, a beer league is one in which players don’t care much for denying themselves unhealthy habits. In fact, the oldest joke in recreational hockey is that they only play the game so that they can drink afterward.

While the intense nutrition regimens of pro players aren’t necessary at the recreational league — such as Steven Stamkos’ famously strict offseason diet — simple changes can make it possible to get better performance on the ice. Complex carbs and lean proteins (and no beer) are best before games, and can give you the energy to play through three 20-minute periods. Drinks and pizza after the game can be tempting, but will only weigh you down the next time you get the puck.

But hey, you’ve made it this far – cheers!


Author bio: AJ Lee is Marketing Specialist at Pro Stock Hockey, an online resource for pro stock hockey equipment. He was born and raised in the southwest suburbs of Chicago and has been a huge Blackhawks fan his entire life. Lee picked up his first hockey stick at age 3 and hasn’t put it down yet. 

Here’s your discount code: BLH10

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL, Rumors

Look Forward to These Oilers Rumours in 2016

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Before we get into the nitty gritty of this post, I want to talk shop about the World Cup, then we’ll delve head-first into the rumours.

Wow! Taylor Hall passed over for a FOURTH TIME!!! How did Twitter react?

So there you have it. Opinions vary but if you’re still confused as to why Hall was left off, consider these factors:

  • Hall won’t play centre. Hockey Canada wants players that are versatile.
  • Hall doesn’t play C, therefore, he can’t take draws. O’Reilly is outstanding on the dot.
  • Hall’s off-ice attitude is well-known throughout the league. Maybe Hockey Canada would like to stay away players throwing hissy fits on the bench when their coach sets them straight.
    • O’Reilly did drive a truck into a Tim Horton’s though… So there is that.
  • The quality of competition between the World’s and this World Cup isn’t exactly equal. So throw that out the window.
    • Easy for Hall to put up points versus international powerhouses like Germany, France, Hungary, or Belarus but what about the games where it mattered? Where was he then?
  • Lastly, and most importantly, Taylor Hall picks his nose and eats it.

When Taylor Hall figures out that this is a TEAM game and it’s not all about him, be it on the ice or where ever, he’ll become the player that Hockey Canada calls on. But until then, I think we can stop caring about if he ever makes the national team. He’s a New Jersey Devil now.

THE WORLD CUP

The first two games versus Team Europe were something to behold. The speed and skills were on full display. McDavid didn’t pick up any points but he opens up space for his linemates, who’ve been plenty so far. I think it’s funny that the media is starting to compare him to Crosby in that it’s hard to find a linemate that can play with him. It’s not really, find two guys that don’t need the puck all the time. Eichel and Gaudreau need the puck all the time. I thought Scheifele did okay with 97 in the first pre-tourney game and I was impressed with how Connor played with Auston Matthews in the 3rd period of the game versus the Czechs. But ultimately, maybe it’s Drouin and MacKinnon that will be the best linemates for him.

Yesterday was a helluva day for Oilers and former Oilers as Ales Hemsky had a superb outing versus the North American team. Made me fawn over days past when Hemsky’s hands were as soft as a cloud and of course, I wondered if he’d be a player the Oilers would be interested in but then I thought better of that because we know Chiarelli is not a fan of “soft” players…

Neon Leon Draisaitl… A hat-trick versus the Swedes and we’re not wondering if he can do it without Taylor Hall, are we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UigWUfg3SII

The Oilers Rumours We’ll Be Hearing in 2016

I believe that the Oilers will unload another $6M man by the start of 2017 and that man will be Jordan Eberle. The reason I believe that is because I’m not sure how much Chiarelli and McLellan enjoy Eberle’s lack of a two-way game and his lack of intensity. Not that he needs that to be successful but show a bit of sandpaper from time-to-time, right?

Now, what will make dealing Eberle easier is Brad Marchand coming onto the market. Does anybody believe in what the Bruins are doing over there? They look like a sinking ship but lucky for them they’ve got Marchand, Bergeron and Rask holding things up.

I reckon that the Oilers will be very interested in adding a player like Brad Marchand. He’s got the edge that Chiarelli loves and he scores goals. But the kicker here is, when he’s not scoring goals; he’s helping the team in other ways whether that be on special teams or just annoying the other teams. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want him on the Oilers and what happens when Eberle or Yakupov stop scoring?

*This is just an aside, a personal thought if you will, but I wonder what happens if Philly or Boston starts slow, do you think they’d be willing to get together with Edmonton and Boston for a 3-way? Maybe Simmonds to Boston, Ebs to Philly and Marchand to Edmonton?

Simmonds has three seasons left @ 3.975M and has a modified NTC. Marchand is making $4.5M right now but is a UFA after this season coming up and Eberle has three more years @ $6M. So obviously there’d have to be some more to the deals. (source)*

That $6M on Eberle next to Simmonds’ and Marchand’s salary looks bloated eh?*

The other rumour I believe we’ll be hearing is the Oilers going after Brent Burns.

How much do you think adding Burns and Marchand will cost the Oilers in straight up cash? $15M?

Brent Burns is making $5.76M right now and he’s 31 years old. Could we shoot that up to around $7M or $7.5M per year on the open market? I think those would be reasonable numbers but the term… THE TERM!!! If I were Chiarelli, I’d need him to sign for 5 years maximum. Getting up there around 36/37 years old is a dangerous game. But it’s quite possible that Burns’ next contract will be his last, so… Bump that term up to 7 years and maybe he goes the way of the Ference… Er I mean the dodo.

What about Marchand? He’s making $4.5M this season, so do you give him Eberle’s $6M for 7 years? Surely, that’s what he’d be looking for. Something along the lines of what Lucic signed for.

Yup, I’m saying that Chiarelli will be looking at adding his coach’s former team’s best defender and his own former team’s best scoring winger. How could it be any other way? Isn’t that how things work?

Of course, everything is dependent upon where the Oilers are come trade deadline. If they are in a playoff spot or fighting for one, expect some of the defensive depth the Oilers have accrued through the draft to be used as well as 1st round picks.

Would it be smart for Edmonton to add those two players? I think it would be but they’d have to be clever in how they do it. Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Darnell Nurse are all players that will be putting a major dent in the Oilers’ salary cap sooner than later.

Maybe we say goodbye to Nuge and Sekera too? Shall we take a look at a modified pre-2017/18 roster?

Lucic-McDavid-Marchand
Pouliot-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi
Maroon-Cagguila-Slepyshev
Khaira-Letestu-Kassian

Klefbom-Burns
Davidson-Larsson
Nurse-Fayne

Talbot
Brossoit

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!

SHIRT SALE!!!

We’re having a sale over at the Beer League Heroes’ Teepublic shop!! All t-shirts are $14 plus S&H… It comes out to around $20. A very fair deal and the shirts are facking outstanding! We also do custom 16-bit player designs, so just give us a shout via email (beerleagueheroes@hotmail.com) or Twitter (@beerleagueheroe), or even Facebook, and we’ll do our best to get you your favorite player in 16-bit form! Men’s, women’s children’s, baby’s… We’ve got it all!

Check out some of our options below but keep in mind, we’ve got lots of amazing t-shirt designs over at the Teepublic shop! You can click on any of the designs below and you’ll be sent to that design’s page. If you’d like to check out more designs click HERE <=====

Dig skateboarding? Click the pic and grab this new “Thrasher Magazine” inspired tee!
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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Michael Sifeldeen, NHL

I’ve Got a Burnsing Desire

Allow me to start off with a preamble here: I love Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. I think he’s one of the best and most underrated two-way centers in the entire league. He’s a great kid. Keeps his head down, does his job, does work around the community, and is just generally a likable guy. I’d be gutted if we lost him.

THAT SAID…

What if he doesn’t have a breakout season here in 2016-17? That’s not to say as if he’s necessarily been “under-performing” in his first five seasons in the league. But you can’t say he hasn’t been a little… soft. Last year he dropped 27 games due to a broken finger, and he’s missed 44 total games in his career thus far. The more worrying thing is that he suffered in 2012-13 from the classic 21st century Oilers ailment known as “Shitty Shoulderitis”, and has already had it worked on a couple of times so far in his young career.

Now, this isn’t to say that he’s a broken man and a lost cause, it’s just a general comment on the physical aspect of his game: it just really isn’t there. Sweet baby Nuge doesn’t take sustained punishment by the NHL goon squad too well. Thankfully, he’s a smart kid, and is gifted with incredibly high hockey IQ, so he doesn’t necessarily need to play the toughest game out there. His intelligence on the ice gets him to where he needs to be and generally keeps him out of where he shouldn’t be. Generally.

I still can’t help but think that, as much as I like the guy, if a certain German stud steps up big time and shows he’s ready to sidle up into the 2C spot behind #97, and maybe a guy like Drake Caggiula ends up proving he can anchor a bottom-6… Well then that’s where things could get interesting.

THE TRADE

Here’s how I see it going down. We’ll have to wait for the 16-17 season to play itself out fully, see who gets moved where, who doesn’t live up to the hype here and there, but I see Edmonton shopping out Nuge to a team who needs a solid, 50-point, two-way center who can drive plays and collapse effectively when those plays don’t always work out. (Who couldn’t use that, right?) But specifically, a team like Minny or Columbus. Call me a cynic, but I just can’t see Pierre-Luc Dubois being the savior for that team. By the end of this season, RNH is still locked into a very reasonable $6M contract for another 4 whole years. That is a tasty deal for a long time, something a team on the receiving end of his skill set can build around.

I see us getting at least a 2nd round pick + top-4 d-man or top-9 forward or prospect out of an RNH trade, but that doesn’t matter so much when we look at…

THE TAKE

Literally the most normal photo I could find of this animal

Brent Burns. I want him. And not just for his ridiculous facial hair or ASG breakaway showmanship. He’s just so goddamn good. And as a 6’5″, 230-pound, right shot offensive defenceman, he’s exactly the type of hockey player that Peter Chiarelli is having exquisitely deviant dreams about right now.

Burns put up 27 goals and 48 assists (75P!!) in a full 82-game campaign last year. His boxcars read like this for his career so far: 797GP-141G-282A-423TP. He’s +3 in RelCorsiFor% averaged for his career. His playmaking is elite with a FirstA/60 rate of 0.53. He’s a giant goon and is a nightmare to play against because he’s so offensively strong while simultaneously being huge and very difficult to break past for opposing offensive players. He’s just so goddamn good.

He’s also coming into free agency at the end of this season. And his contract expiry is such that not only does San Jose not have to resign him before the dreaded expansion draft rolls around, he also doesn’t need to be protected from the clutches/talons/swords of the Las Vegas BlackJackKnightBirds or whatever they’re called this week. To me, this is a perfect storm for Burns to be testing the waters and seeing what a new team might be willing to give him to essentially cap off his fine career.

THE DEAL

Right now, Burnsy makes $5.76/per. A very respectable deal, no doubt. He’ll want more. So if the Oilers just so happen to find themselves, oh, I dunno, ~$6 million dollars richer by the end of next season, what can we reasonably offer Brent Burns that would convince him to pack his bags and head up to E-town?

Well, he’ll be 32 by the time this move is even viable. So I don’t see us wanting to offer him anything over 6 years. He’ll probably want to pull a Weber and be playing (“playing”) into his 40s, but it won’t happen. GMs are way too leery about those deals with defenceman nowadays, considering the fact that Arizona Coyotes legend Chris Pronger is still technically an NHLer. I think Burns will ask for 8, we’ll counter with 5, and ultimately settle on 6 years at something between $7.5-$8M. A huge contract, no doubt. But ultimately a workable one when you consider that we just made $4.5M more dollars by shockingly not resigning Nikita Nikitin, and we’re going to find another $3.25M when Andrew Ference’s contract goes away at the end of this season.

We also have our magical, high-profile player-accumulating tool known as Connor McDavid, and let’s not forget that Burns played for years with Todd McLennan behind him on the bench, and you’ve got to think that if the combo of McD + Chia gets us Looch, McD + MacT could get us Burns…

Anyway, keep in mind here that while San Jose is struggling to say the least with cap space, they are on the verge of losing Thornton and Marleau and their accompanying cumulative $13.4M to unrestricted free agency next season as well. So you never know, maybe they’ll throw the cheque book at Burns and tell him to write in a number he likes. Or, maybe they’re going to clear house and start from scratch. I know I’m sure hoping it’s the latter. Sorry, Nuge.

Click the pic and grab a 16-bit McDavid tee for the summer!
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Armchair GM, Edmonton Oilers, Micah Kowalchuk, NHL, Trades

How Much Does a Right-Handed Defenseman Go For Anyway…

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So, at this point of the year, we’re left wondering with these two questions.  First, what is a quality Top-6 NHL winger worth, and second, what is the going price for a quality Top-4 right-handed defenseman.

In an effort to answer these burning questions while I wait for the snow to melt so I can start golfing, because, well, that’s what us Oilers fans do in the spring, here’s my best guess.

To do this, we can essentially just look at the deals for defensemen, there’s really only been 8 deals involving high-end right-handed defensemen in recent history, and here’s how they break down:

  • Jason Demers, originally a 7th round pick, had played parts of 6 seasons with the San Jose Sharks when he was dealt to the Dallas Stars for a 3rd round pick and Brenden Dillon. At that point of his career, he could safely be considered a 4/5 defenseman who has flourished in Dallas with more opportunity;
    • He was dealt for a defenseman who was younger and considered to have more upside at the time, and who was 6’3 225lbs.
  • Kevin Shattenkirk, in his first season with the Avalanche, was dealt along with a 2nd round pick and Chris Stewart, at the time considered a Top-6 NHL power forward, for Erik Johnson, a first round pick, and a depth forward;
    • Once again, we have defensemen going both ways in this deal as a balance, and both were considered quality young defensemen with high upside;
  • Matt Niskanen was dealt, along with James Neal, to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Alex Goligoski, who at the time was considered a potentially premier offensive defenseman;
    • Again, we see a defenseman for a defenseman swap, with the better defensemen resulting in the inclusion of a scoring winger;
  • Tyler Myers, along with pending UFA winger Drew Stafford, a pair of prospects and a first round pick to the Winnipeg Jets for Evander Kane and Zack Bogosian;
    • Once again we see scoring forwards to balance the deal in favour of who gets the better defenseman, but again there are defensemen moving in the deal;

Now, to look at the deals where no other defensemen were involved:

  • Brent Burns for Devin Setoguchi and a first. Now, it has to be noted here, Burns was as much a winger as a defenseman at this time, and therefore was dealt for another winger with an included draft pick;
  • Dustin Byfuglien (along with Ben Eager, Brent Sopel and Akim Aliu) for a 1st, 2nd, and a selection of depth forwards. Once again, Byfuglien was considered as much a power forward, and therefore his price was more along the lines of a scoring forward;
  • Seth Jones for Ryan Johansen. This was the most recent move, where a larger 1st line center was moved for a player who, although having potential, was a 2nd pairing right-hand defenseman on his team;
  • Johnny Boychuk for two 2nds and a conditional 3rd. It has to be noted that the Islanders caught Boston in a bad cap situation and was able to take advantage of it due to their cap space. This deal, although fans scream for the Oilers to make a similar one, was lighting in a bottle and is unlikely to be duplicated;
  • Dougie Hamilton was dealt for a 1st and two 2nd round picks when he didn’t sign his RFA deal;

So, to summarize, we can discount the Boychuk deal as a rarity, and we can consider the Burns and Byfuglien deals to essential be for forwards (at the time).  That leaves us with the various deals where they are essentially Best Defensemen in the Deal for Scoring Forward and Lesser Defenseman, and then the deal of a 2nd pairing with potential Defenseman for a Top-3 Center.  This shows us how much value is generally placed on a right-handed defenseman, and we can expect one of our younger left-handed defenseman will be going alongside any winger we deal to obtain such a right-handed defenseman.

Now, one can debate the quality of players such as Jordan Eberle, Nail Yakupov or Taylor Hall, but as becomes clear, no one deals a quality right-handed defenseman for a winger unless a secondary defenseman was included.  Goligoski for Niskanen and Neal are an example of this.  The only real exception would be the Burns scenario, which would still place a rough price of approximately Jordan Eberle and our first round pick to make that deal happen.  Essentially, any deal the Oilers do will probably have to include one of Oesterle, Davidson or even Klefbom along with a winger to get that quality right-side defenseman, or else our first-round pick plus a winger.  The only exception would be if the Oilers chose to deal Nugent-Hopkins, who may at best on his own fetch a right-handed defenseman with “potential”.

What do you think, let us know in the comments below! And please don’t forget to subscribe to our Youtube Channel and our Soundcloud page!

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Beer League Hero, Edmonton Oilers, NHL

NHL Breakaway Challenge: Chewie, Jagr 2.0, and Lil’ Burns Bustin’ a Move!

Jagr’s doppleganger?

How about that? The breakaway challenge never ceases to amaze me. Brent Burns dressing up as Chewbacca, PK Subban’s Jagr impression (Mullet wig included), and they brought the kids out again as Jagger Burns and Joe Pavelski’s kids made an appearance! Check it out below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaCHqpiCjNc

Matt Duchene’s juggling act would’ve been awesome if he could’ve kept the puck on his stick and Kuznetsov looked perrrrty nervous out there. Brandon Saad’s first attempt was sweet but his second was piss poor.  Check out the results below!

Participants/Results (from NHL.com):

East:

Brandon Saad, Columbus Blue Jackets

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals

P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens

Goalie: Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils

West:

James Neal, Nashville Predators

Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche

Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks

Goalie: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Subban wins with 31% of fan vote

Who do you think had the best breakway attempt? Let me know in the comments below!