Luongo to be the first goalie captain

The Vancouver Canucks have named goalie Roberto Luongo as the teams captain. Traditionally goalies have not been allowed to be captains. In fact the NHL even has a rule that states that "No goalkeeper shall be permitted to act as Captain or Alternate Captain". Somehow I think that Luongo is going to remain as a goalie this season (he is the seventh best in the league).

So does this blatant disrespect for the rules mean that Ryan Miller has a possibility of taking on the role of captain for the Sabres this season? Last year he acted, and was viewed as, the de facto captain and may do so again this year. However will Ruff (himself a former assistant captain) go against years of tradition and allow Miller to wear a letter. Furthermore what happens when the backup plays a game? Does the team just have their captain sit on the bench for the entire game? I don't think that it will happen in Buffalo, at least not with the number of qualified leaders that the team already has.

On a completely unrelated note, the Buffalo Sabres have signed a five year deal with Coca Cola. This will give Coke "exclusive pouring rights within HSBC Arena", in short you will have to buy your Pepsi elsewhere.

Goals per Game

I'm not one to subscribe to the idea that a higher goals per game average makes more exciting hockey, but it's an interesting statistic regardless. According to dropyourgolves.com scoring is actually down a little this season to 5.53 goals per game. Thats a level slightly lower than the last two seasons but is still higher then every pre-lockout season back to 96-97.

Although there have been some close games this season there have also been a couple in which the score has gotten a bit on the high side. Early last season when the Sabres beat the Fliers 9-1 the coach got fired, and players got cut, this season blow outs of this nature seem almost to be the norm. Yesterday the Boston Bruins beat the Los Angles Kings 8-6, a game which had almost three times as many goals as the average game in the league. While that score might be partially due to the goalies in net for each team, earlier this week All-Star Roberto Luongo allowed four goals in the first period to the Philadelphia Flyers before being pulled in a 8-2 loss for the Canucks. That ruined more then a few fantasy teams who suddenly saw 12GAA for who is one of the best goaltenders in the NHL. Even Toronto has posted an eight point game.

The Sabres are currently second in the league in goals scored per game so far this season, after leading the league in goals scored last year.

The Flyers, who had the leagues worst record last year are first in goals per game with 4.667, ahead of Buffalo's 4.0 goals per game. The next three teams surprisingly are the Leafs, the Blues, and the Hurricanes.

The Sabres play a very strong capitals teams tonight at seven, and then take on Toronto next Monday.