Episode 0100: Rick Nash Retires, New H.C. Effectiveness, Brind’Amour Report Card, Rookies Get a Pass, Rask Milestone, DeSmith Extension, Giordano an All-Star?, Torts Aftermath, Twitter Poll and More!

Its show 100!  Can you believe it’s been that long?  We are excited to have been around this long and hope to be around for at least another hundred episodes.  Thank you to all that have given us a chance.

We start with a discussion regarding the head coaches that have taken over this season and how much of an impact they have had on their respective teams.  Here we also focus in on Rod Brind’Amour, coach of the Hurricanes and how he is faring in Carolina.

Moving on to the rookies, we pose the question:  Are the other rookies getting a free pass on their performance since Petterson is performing so well?  If you look at the numbers, we would have to say yes.  The only one really close is Colin White and he is 16 points behind.

Tuukka Rask is one win away from becoming the all-time winningest goaltender in Bruins history.  But a dive into the numbers reflects that he needs to be thanking a stout, solid defensive team in front of him to get to this historic milestone.

The Penguins have given Casey DeSmith a 3-year extension.  Again, we have a question.  Is this the start of a new regime in Pittsburgh or just an extension for a reliable backup?  It appears that this is a new start looking at Matt Murray’s durability, but the money suggests it’s just a backup getting paid.

Mark Giordano is having a phenomenal season, but he wasn’t voted into the all-star game.  Clearly this is a result of where he plays and the number of offensive players on his team getting all the attention.  Diving into his numbers, he certainly deserves to be there, but his age and the number of minutes he plays per game suggest that he may not be missing much, and a rest could do him some good.

Rick Nash has been an intriguing player during his career.  His number should certainly be in the rafters in Columbus, but his time with the Rangers (and very briefly with the Bruins) show that he could have done more.  The hardest numbers to accept are his playoff results.  Nash has called it a career after suffering a concussion last March for which he is still dealing with the lingering symptoms nine months later.  We certainly wish him a full recovery and hope that he becomes symptom free.

We talked last week about John Tortorella returning to form and complaining about “part time players” on his squad.  Since his outburst, the Blue Jackets have gone 2-1 while facing Tampa Bay, Washington and Nashville.  Message received?  We think so.

Finally, we reveal the Twitter poll results from last week and it appears that 40 percent of the voters were correct in choosing Winnipeg as the second-place team in their division to move into first.

It has been a great ride to 100 and we hope that there are many more milestones for the Two Man Forecheck to hit before we call it a career.  Thanks for listening, please send us your feedback and…Enjoy the Show!