The Ice Sheet: Pascal Leclaire, Shutout Savant

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

It wasn't so long ago that Pascal Leclaire was a struggling young goaltender who let in more things between his legs than a Parisian call girl. All of a sudden, Leclaire is stingier than Scrooge McDuck and continues to pile up the shutouts.

Last night was blank sheet #7 (a 2-0 win over the Thrashees) for the young Blue Jackets netminder this season, continuing a string of dominating performances that Pascal has put out since the season started.

At 25 years of age, Leclaire is at the point where most goalies are just starting to establish themselves. It shouldn't be a surprise that Leclaire is finally showing his potential, even after years of being shell-shocked behind a poor Jackets D. With his skill-set, Leclaire should be able to maintain a high level of performance as long as his team can continue to play a stifling style for coach Ken Hitchcock.

What a difference a year can make ... from struggling goalie to Vezina candidate.

05-06: 33GP 3.23GAA 91.1SV% 0 shutouts
06-07: 24GP 2.97GAA 89.7SV% 1 shutout
07-08: 24GP 1.97GAA 92.8SV% 7 shutoutsAs if the 5-0 butt-kicking the Wings gave Blues fans last night wasn't bad enough, but now Nicklas Lidstrom has signed a nice 2-season contract extension with the Detroit Red Wings. This ensures the continual pwnage and torment the Wings give the Blues every frickin' game :(

Lidstrom will earn US$7.45-million a year under terms of his new deal. He is making $7.6 million this season.

The extension means Lidstrom will be under contract with the Red Wings through the 2009-'10 season.

"Nick has been the best defenceman in the world for several years," Red Wings general manger Ken Holland said in a statement. "He's a great captain and role model who does everything right both on and off the ice."

What a shock!!!111oneone!! Humpty Havlat is back on the Injury Reserve after suffering another groin injury.

*sigh* Havlat would be such a force in this league if he wasn't more brittle than the week-old Gingerbread House sitting on your kitchen table.

A list of maladies Havlat has suffered in recent months.

23-Dec-07: Groin, sidelined indefinitely.
28-Nov-07: Missed 22 games (shoulder injury).
09-Apr-07: Missed the last 3 games of the regular season (shoulder injury).
13-Jan-07: Missed 3 games (groin).
09-Dec-06: Missed 19 games (right ankle injury).
21-Oct-06: Right ankle injury, early December.
15-Apr-06: Missed 58 games (shoulder surgery).
26-Nov-05: Missed 1 game (hamstring).

While I think expansion or relocation to Kansas City would be a bad idea (small population, overexposed market), Patrick Lalime, who played there for a season, begs to differ with this blogger.

"I think it's (Kansas City) a great place to play," Lalime said.

"We were in the minor leagues there, but I had a lot of fun. It's a beautiful city.

"We had a couple of (NHL) exhibition games there, too. I played one with Anaheim, and the crowd was unbelievable, so I'm sure it could work."

So, they had good attendance for a couple of exhibition games and they could support an NHL club? In that case, why aren't we expanding to London, England? Sheesh.

Gratuitous YouTube Embed: Canada Rules, everyone else drools. End of story.