The NHL's best team beat the league's most exciting team in the 2008 Stanley Cup final: how can you top that?
When the Detroit Red Wings faced off with the Pittsburgh Penguins last spring, there was a hope it was the start of a new era for the NHL. Rather than two teams using suffocating defense to choke the life out of opponents, the Wings and Penguins relied on their top-end skill. Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom led the Wings to victory in six great games, but Sidney Crosby, 20, and Evgeni Malkin - who played like a beast when Crosby missed an extended period in the regular season - served notice that they expected to get back to the final, and fast. The soap opera of the whole affair came in the form of understated - but ultra-talented - Marian Hossa, who joined the Pens as a hired gun at the trade deadline and delivered a clutch play-off goals, but bolted in the off-season, signing a one-year free agent deal with Detroit.
While the post-season belonged to the Wings, the regular season was all Alex. Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals super- sniper, led the league with 65 goals and 112 points en route to MVP honours. More significantly, he led the Caps into the playoffs with a win on the last day of the season. But perhaps most significantly, the charismatic Ovechkin has helped elevate hockey's profile in North America and represents the fun and passion of the game.
Then there's Sean Avery. Loose lips sink ships? and hockey teams, too, as the Dallas Stars have found out. The Stars battled Detroit in the West playoff final last season, then added Avery as a free agent in the summer in the hopes of getting over the hump. Unfortunately, Avery turned out to be the hump. He never fit into the Stars' team-first structure, and Dallas slid down the standings while Avery's infamous inappropriate comments got him booted off the team and, who knows, maybe right out of the NHL.
Another vaunted talker, Brian Burke, made the league's worst-kept secret come true when he ended up as Toronto's GM in November (after parting ways with Anaheim earlier in the season).
Burke arrived at the self-proclaimed "centre of the hockey universe" with a daunting challenge: to turn the luckless Maple Leafs into Cup contenders. Hey, it could happen?
One ice hockey universe over, in Montreal, the Canadiens rolled out the red carpet for a year-long celebration of their centennial season. Of course, the sport's most successful franchise - 24 Cups and counting - will only be satisfied with a parade in June; a possibility, but no sure shot. In the hopes of solidifying a Cup-worthy roster, the Habs chased the NHL's most elusive free agent during the summer. But Mats Sundin is as slippery off the ice as he is on it, refusing to retire or commit to a return, leaving Montreal - as well as Vancouver, Toronto, the Rangers and, oh, another 10 or 12 teams - to deal with a new kind of Stockholm Syndrome. Meanwhile, the phenomena that was Jaromir Jagr also left the NHL - for the Russian KHL - but unlike Sundin, no one really expects to see Jagr in North America again.
Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo will be seen in the NHL again, but the league's top two goalies went down with injuries early in the 2008-09 season, leaving their teams - the New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks, respectively - with the unfamiliar task of winning without their all-world stoppers. Luongo should be back early in the new year, if not sooner, but Brodeur's elbow bent the wrong way, so maybe by March but not before.
Of course, there's one story we haven't touched on, one which could ultimately prove to be far more consequential than anything previously discussed. "It's the economy, stupid" as one US president once said (no, not the shoe-dodging Bush, the guy before him). While franchises in Atlanta, Florida, Nashville and Phoenix, among others, were hurting at the gate before the economy collapsed, the new financial fallout could wreak havoc on a league that can ill afford a step backwards.
Relocation and even contraction have to be considered possibilities, given North America's falling fortunes. As if you did not already know it, this one is worth watching, folks. Think about it? if there are no cars in Detroit, how can there be any Wings?
smccaig@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
More on Quran memorisation:
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
MATCH INFO
Wales 1 (Bale 45 3')
Croatia 1 (Vlasic 09')
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
MATCH INFO
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Hydrogen: Market potential
Hydrogen has an estimated $11 trillion market potential, according to Bank of America Securities and is expected to generate $2.5tn in direct revenues and $11tn of indirect infrastructure by 2050 as its production increases six-fold.
"We believe we are reaching the point of harnessing the element that comprises 90 per cent of the universe, effectively and economically,” the bank said in a recent report.
Falling costs of renewable energy and electrolysers used in green hydrogen production is one of the main catalysts for the increasingly bullish sentiment over the element.
The cost of electrolysers used in green hydrogen production has halved over the last five years and will fall to 60 to 90 per cent by the end of the decade, acceding to Haim Israel, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch. A global focus on decarbonisation and sustainability is also a big driver in its development.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
Countries recognising Palestine
France, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, San Marino and Andorra
'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
