tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-95092952022-11-26T05:46:20.043-05:00► <i>from the mouth (and other orifices) of a sports journalist</i>James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.comBlogger3987125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-69120849785211931312016-10-12T12:01:00.000-04:002016-10-12T12:01:06.219-04:00

The usual annual stats compilation. These are based on opening night 23-man rosters and do not include players on injured reserve. Ht HRk Wt WRk Age ARk ANA 73.6 10 202.2 14 27.7 12 ARI 73.4 13 201.2 16 26.6 23 BOS 73.0 23 197.9 25 27.8 10 BUF 73.4 17 207.1 2 26.2 26 CGY 74.0 3 200.9

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-64899152658244116102016-05-16T12:18:00.001-04:002016-05-16T12:18:10.733-04:00

Just keeping the dust off this place. How is everybody? .

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-23772413088135849662015-10-07T15:02:00.002-04:002015-10-07T15:03:35.413-04:00

The usual annual stats compilation. These are based on opening night 23-man rosters and players on injured reserve.  Teams Wt Ht Age WRk HRk ARk 1 Anaheim 205.7 73.6 27.7 7 6 12 2 Arizona 208.0 74.0 28.5 3 2 2 3 Boston 198.9 73.3 27.5 22 13 15 4 Buffalo 206.9 73.4 26.5 5 10

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-85750606238784465412015-07-10T08:40:00.000-04:002015-07-10T08:40:00.703-04:00

Bob McKenzie is already long at the cottage. The other insiders, too. Sorry to say but I'm also leaving you for a while. This was a crazy, difficult year. The Leafs obviously had a crazy, difficult season, what with their hot start, implosion, coach firing, further implosion and the beginning of the deconstruction of the roster. They won 11 of their last 51 games (!) which even the biggest

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-9215012023461156872015-03-20T00:33:00.000-04:002015-03-20T00:40:27.064-04:00

I never met Matt Wuest in person, but we had intended to at some point. We had talked on email starting back in 2009 and, later, on Twitter DMs all the time. Probably at least once every week or two. After a while of doing that, you feel like you know someone. Getting the news of his death on Thursday was tough, as he was a young, talented and decent man. We also had a lot in common. Matt was

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-54751326734751462372014-11-27T00:37:00.002-05:002014-11-27T00:37:20.299-05:00

I end up spending an awful lot of time on Twitter these days. I've said this before, but it's simply essential to our job -- or at least the way I interpret our job. It not only helps promote stories; it helps promote good ideas, debate and the thought process that creates better work. Having a lot of interaction with readers is a good thing. It was when I ran this blog (2004-2008). It still is

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-69098600002589627712014-10-08T19:04:00.002-04:002014-10-08T19:04:59.479-04:00

Here goes nothing. I'm not predicting who wins shootouts or not, so this is regulation points only. Add in six points to every team if you want to give them all an average number of shootout wins. Since coaching and goalie changes are typically the biggest wild cards (i.e. Bishop/Cooper in Tampa and Roy in Colorado last year) when it comes to predictions, figured I'd note those as well. And

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-54668446392278209472014-10-08T15:29:00.004-04:002014-10-08T15:30:42.258-04:00

The usual annual stats compilation. These are based on opening night rosters. Teams Weight WRk Height HRk Age ARk Anaheim 210.1 1 73.5 9 27.0 24 Arizona 206.1 8 73.9 2 28.3 8 Boston 200.7 20 73.2 15 27.6 17 Buffalo 202.2 17 73.2 15 26.3 29 Calgary 196.3 30 72.7 27 28.2 10 Carolina

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-76259615481792261112014-10-05T15:45:00.003-04:002014-10-06T16:31:30.733-04:00

I haven't been able to find these posted anywhere so I'll just stick them here. Sorry that the formatting is not ideal, but it is what it is. Please don't send me requests for the other 29 teams. 

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-62599280382762723372014-09-01T11:00:00.000-04:002014-09-01T11:00:00.570-04:00

Well, it's almost time to get back at it so... a couple thoughts. First off, I love Twitter. It's been a great addition to the hockey community the last few years, and it's opened doors for a lot of good writers, bloggers and fans to find an audience. For all the bad that you run into on there – and sure there's a lot of nonsense – there's been plenty of good. Good ideas. Good people. Good

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-68571130807390840272014-05-29T16:16:00.000-04:002014-05-29T16:22:01.515-04:00

I'm obviously a little late on this – it's almost June – but I wanted to start saving some links to decent stories I've done throughout the years, giving a reference point for me and anyone else to look back to. This doesn't happen on The Globe's site so I'll archive them here. Here were the 10 most-read stories from last year, which included a lot of drama with the Leafs and around the league

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-43333533317578369772014-01-13T16:29:00.000-05:002014-01-13T16:29:00.399-05:00

Subject: Numbers Geek Go Away  From: Gus Tserotas To: James Mirtle Any chance you could jump off a bridge and spare us your never-ending, totally boring, totally useless numbers crap? Aside from some other numbers-geeks in the media, do you really think anyone who is a real hockey fan gives a damn about your fraudulent numbers? First of all, even if the formulas you are using are sound,

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-67481094684388156802013-10-02T13:35:00.000-04:002013-10-02T13:37:20.250-04:00

The usual annual stats compilation. These are based on opening night rosters. I'll likely have more analysis on globesports.com at some point, too. Teams Height Hrank Weight Wrank Age Arank 1 Anaheim 73.2 20 204.4 13 27.4 20 2 Boston 73.6 6 202.7 17 28.4 7 3 Buffalo 73.6 6 200.2 27 26.3 29 4

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-89811419863668338992013-09-30T12:57:00.001-04:002013-09-30T13:30:30.199-04:00

Well, these are always tough. Doubly so when the league has a realignment that substantially changes how teams will make the playoffs. But here are my best guesses as to how the NHL standings will shake out this year. Hate mail can be directed to the comments... which are moderated by the way. Pacific 1 Los Angeles 104 Playoffs! 2 San Jose 99

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-84477909274372715312013-09-24T12:22:00.000-04:002013-09-24T12:22:05.650-04:00

Subject: Wuss From: dave.mercer@ssq.ca To: James Mirtle Go back and play with your Barbie dolls- Watch another sport where you will quit wetting yourself every time there is any action-Do you know how Belak died-really know? Or just conjecture-Rypien was a fighter not an enforcer you worm who sadly had pre-existing mental health issues- and who hasn’t OD on pills and booze accidentally.  Nobody

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-35411233361355725342013-04-30T18:52:00.000-04:002013-04-30T18:52:35.775-04:00

Putting together an awards ballot is always difficult, but with only the 48-game sample size, things were made much tougher this year. How big is a big enough sample size? What do you do with Crosby and other players like Letang who were outstanding but injured for a few weeks? After a few hours of consideration, here's what I ultimately came up with. Complaints can be directed to Dave Shoalts

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-8941409662147064142013-04-13T23:58:00.000-04:002015-07-09T00:00:04.617-04:00

Cats love the snow? I guess so.  "...you try and pour your heart into it because of what he is. You try and tell his story. There is no way to write something entirely true because how can you write in words what he meant to you? You cannot but you try because he deserves nothing less." - Black Dog Hates Skunks A nice ode to the black dog by Pat there. I'll leave this here in memory of my

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-65157828073059101422013-04-08T00:11:00.000-04:002013-04-09T22:11:01.122-04:00

Where to begin.  Well, let's just say that the last thing on my mind when I set out to try and write about hockey for a living was being accused of being a fan or a homer or any of these various things.  Let alone - as a guy from small town B.C. - a Leafs fan.  But, here we are, what feels like a lifetime later, with Twitter allowing instant feedback on anything and

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-10921858932615473912013-01-19T15:50:00.002-05:002013-01-19T15:53:31.108-05:00

Eastern Conference 1 NYR 2 BOS 3 WSH 4 PIT 5 BUF 6 CAR 7 PHI 8 NJD 9 MTL 10 TB 11 OTT 12 TOR 13 WPG 14 FLA 15 NYI Western Conference 1 LAK 2 DET 3 VAN 4 STL 5 CHI 6 SJ 7 COL 8 ANA 9 PHX 10 NSH 11

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-48395487960506241422013-01-18T17:52:00.000-05:002013-01-18T17:54:31.665-05:00

Based on data from teams' opening rosters on Jan. 18  Weight Height Age Wrank Hrank Arank Anaheim 203.3 73.1 27.6 17 18 22 Boston 200.0 72.9 28.5 26 21 11 Buffalo 203.1 73.3 27.7 19 13 19 Calgary 195.5 72.8 28.3 30 23 14 Carolina 200.5 73.1 27.3 24 18 26 Chicago

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-57709692192128029172012-08-13T13:07:00.000-04:002012-08-13T16:34:43.695-04:00

Olympic Stadium: Where I lived Incredibly nice to be home. On the couch. Half asleep. Normally when I travel for work, the trips all all quick hops - five days here, five days there, in and out to New York or Philadelphia or wherever for a hockey game or three.  The Olympics? Wow.  A little more than three weeks away in a different country, one I had never been to before, and where you're

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-18004648614940661252010-05-19T18:03:00.016-04:002012-03-15T09:23:05.199-04:00

For the kind, lost souls that are still coming here... I've got one of those Facebook pages that all the kids are talking about, and updating it seems to be a breeze. For now the plan will be to post any new articles I'm working on both there and Twitter, at least until I set up a new website that can do something similar. I'd like to get back to blogging on a far more regular basis, probably

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-52387932391529167302010-05-18T08:44:00.005-04:002012-08-13T16:37:51.418-04:00

Just a very brief history of where my archived material is: December, 2004, to October, 2008: Blogger October, 2008, to January, 2010: From The Rink October, 2009, to present: The Globe and Mail I've also started posting links to my writing on both Twitter and Facebook regularly, but don't currently have a set website where original material appears. That may come in the future. .

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-80366943359298460452010-04-08T21:06:00.005-04:002010-04-08T21:10:40.056-04:00

Who should win the Hart Trophy?online surveys

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9509295.post-46040822980326103722010-03-29T20:21:00.000-04:002010-03-29T20:21:22.701-04:00

Bill Daly, Deputy Commissioner of the National Hockey League, today released the following statement: "In response to the many inquiries we have received in light of the story in the Phoenix Business Journal this morning, we would like to make clear that at this point in time the National Hockey League has no "deal" in place to move the Coyotes' franchise to Winnipeg -- or to any other city for

James Mirtlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11221488913251638181noreply@blogger.com1