lari

I hate the Red Wings. Like, really hate them. If my 9-year-old brother got raped by a 30-year-old pedophile while going to the mall, I'd still hate the rapist less than the motherfucking Red Wings. Unless of course he was a Red Wing fan. Then I'd super hate him.

I don't think it's as much about affording to pay that much as it is about salary cap issues. Smyth isn't REALLY a superstar calibre forward, first liner yes, top star no, and it's kind of hard to justify paying him upwards of $5.5 M per year for five years. He's a 60 point scorer. Also, Sykora will be a free agent this summer, too.

Sad to see Krazy Karl go to Tampa. Who the hell is this Alaxative guy they got? 6'5" Russian with no hands? Calder scores on his first shift against the Hawks. Havlat is out with the flu. The team has no offense without him. Anyway, Fuck Detroit Fuck Kyle Calder I'm going to sleep.

I think despite all those teams that the West champion is coming out of the Northwest again. Because divisions play eachother 8 teams none of them have high point totals because of how equal the competition in the division is. Minnesota, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver are all teams who I could see lifting the Cup.

Guerin should do well in the Sharks, being reunited with Joe Thornton. The Sharks are definitely contenders in the West along with the Ducks, Predators and Red Wings. These are also the teams that are stacking their rosters the most. Brian Burke is apparently getting Todd Bertuzzi to Anaheim. Nashville already got Forsberg. Detroit only got Calder. I'd think they needed to make another move to keep up.

I heard it too. The deal is ready, pending for Roberts' approval who is sleeping on it. Don't see why he wouldn't agree to it. He could be a perfect fit for the Crosby-line. He can score garbage goals and if need be, protect Crosby.

With Handzus, the Hawks were a good team early in the season. Not to mention the best team in the league in the pre-season (not that it really counts, but still). I don't think it was even that much about Handzus being THAT good, but that there were no other centers to replace him once he went down. There's been a glaring hole ever since the injury - changing the head coach made the team win again for a short while, but they were just overachieving. When a 35-year-old Bryan Smolinski is your best playmaker, you know things aren't right. Next year, hopefully there will be more options once Jonathan Toews gets his feet wet. He was a force in the world juniors. I agree the Hawks could use another piece or two from free agency, but getting a top-line UFA forward doesn't seem likely - first off, they'd need to dump salary, secondly Chicago isn't a very tempting place for a top line guy to go to. At least not with a reasonable price tag. To sign Havlat and Khabibulin, both had to be overpaid. The other option is to trade for a big name guy for prospects/draft picks, but it's hard to justify doing that with no recent record of success. But still, with a healthy team, the Hawks can be in the playoffs. Third best team in Central. But being healthy is not really up to them (of course it would help if they didn't dress the softest pussy lineup every night and get bullied so much). Good teams should have more depth. You are bound to have injuries over the course of a long season. You can't just have one line and then blame bad luck if one of them goes down for the season and the other two miss 20 games each. So Hawks won't be contenders, but with good play could slip into the playoffs. I like the Hawks defense. Goaltending on the other hand.... yeah, Khabibulin has been slightly better than last year, but now again has gotten worse as the season has progressed. Still waiting for his first shutout as a Blackhawk. Defense has Duncan Keith and Cam Barker which are close to being legit top 4 guys even this year. Even more so next season. Keith has incredible wheels and stamina - Barker is real good on both ends of the ice. But Brent Seabrook is the real blue chipper here. My current favourite Hawk. He has future captain and franchise defenseman written all over him, and he's only in his sophomore year in the NHL. Only thing really missing is a veteran leader. Aucoin is the captain, but he has not played well at all in his two years here. When he has played. Half the time he's out with a groin injury. I think 2008-09 might be the big season. Havlat's last season before UFA, Toews' second season and Seabrook, Barker and Keith closing in on their prime...

Tallon's been busy. First Bryan Smolinski to Vancouver for a conditional 2nd round draft pick (probably either of the two 2nd rounders they currently possess based on if Smoke re-signs), then Lasse Kukkonen and a 3rd round pick to Philadelphia for Kyle Calder, followed by Kyle Calder to Detroit for Jason Williams. Sad to see Smoke go. He was good with the Hawks. Especially as a penalty killer. But obviously he'll be an UFA this summer and is already 35, so the trade makes sense. I don't mind Kukkonen and a third for Williams either, but I think we may have overpaid a tiny bit. Kukkonen has been real solid all season, probably the best defenseman after Seabrook. And the Flyers probably wanted to unite him with his buddy Joni Pitkanen (they were teammates in the Finnish League before coming over to the NHL). There is probably some chemistry: Kukkonen has excellent defensive positioning and Pitkanen can move the puck. Seeing this, and seeing how bad Calder has been for the Flyers, I think a straight up trade should have been enough. Getting Williams makes sense too, since the Hawks need centermen. And obviously Tallon had no intention of keeping Calder. He already voiced his displeasure with the team last summer after his buddy Mark Bell got traded. Hey, maybe the Wings are planning on re-uniting the two? Neither has been especially good separated. Since the season is pretty much over, and there's only meaningless games left, we might as well take a quick look at the future. 2007-08 Blackhawks: Havlat - Handzus - Ruutu (assuming Zeus re-signs - if not, sign an UFA: Briere, Drury, Gomez? Anyone) Bourque - Toews - Vrbata/Bolland/Skille/St. Pierre (unless better wingers come with a reasonable price tag via free agency) Holmqvist - Williams - Vrbata/Bolland/Brouwer/Skille/Burish (Jason Williams is a skilled guy that can play defense) ENFORCER (Low, Thornton, Downey, anyone! IMO, they have to dress one) - Sharp - Lapointe Keith - Seabrook Barker - Aucoin (ugh, I hope he gets moved tomorrow) Vandermeer - Wisniewski scratch/reserve: Bufyglien, Richmond Khabibulin Lalime/Crawford Maybe start Toews on the third line and let him replace Williams in the 2nd only when he's ready. And Ruutu might be a better fit in the second as well. Arkhipov and Salmelainen only had one year contracts and should definitely NOT return. Re-signing Jeff Hamilton could be considered if free agency doesn't land us anything. Cullimore has another year, but I'm hoping he gets bought out. There's still the problem of having three guys with huge contracts (Khabby, Havlat and Aucoin), and only one of them playing like he deserves it (#24). Aside from the addition of Toews (the future face of the franchise), it doesn't look much better than last fall. But it WILL make a huge difference if Handzus plays a full season instead of only 8 games. They could still use another forward, if the cap allows that. I wish Aucoin got traded. That'd give enough salary space to add another core player. At least after the Williams trade the roster looks more balanced. No longer 10 d-men d-men fighting for 6 spots, while having to play Ruutu as a center because there aren't enough of them.

Hawks losing 0-2 against the Sharks, but the real action is in the Sabres - Senators game. Neil with a vicious check on Drury that results in an injury. Sabres get mad, but Neil fights the closest guy off. Next shift, Lindy Ruff puts Mair and Peters on the ice and they go right after any Sens they can get their hands on, including Mair pummeling Spezza. Biron challenges Emery and gets pounded, before Andrew Peters steps in and takes on Emery. Now this is hockey. EDIT: Oh yeah, Sabres won 6-5 after a shootout.

Playing the Wings again tonight. Damn I wish the Hawks would dress an enforcer or two. At this point in the season, I don't even care if they lose, but I'd love to see them whoop some Detroit ass. The Red Wings like playing the Hawks too much.

When it comes to 40+ years, what's another year without a cup anyway? Blackhawk fans don't start every season planning a parade unlike Leafies.

Have they not ever heard of a player budget and staying within it?

My predictions Ram-Man pinfall over Beast Man. Beast-Man overpowers Ram-Man, but he finds second wind and spears Beast Man for the pin. Teela beats Evil Lyn in a bra and panties match. Lots of tits and ass. Spikor pinfall over Man-at-Arms. Evil Lyn interfereres, giving Spikor the opportunity to strike Duncan with the weapon arms. Orko pinfall over Stinkor. Gimmick match with Stinkor being used as a comedic character much to the dismay of Stinkor fans praising his work rate. Moss-Man and Buzz-Off beat Two-Bad in a tag team match. Buzz-Off and Moss-Man steal one after a miscommunication between the two heads of Two-Bad, despite Two-Bad controlling the match with their quick tags. Main event: He-Man over Skeletor with a count-out. Skeletor escapes and asks for a rematch later on.

Unfortunately, the Leafs aren't even the team with the longest cup drought.

Aucoin and Samsonov could well be a part of it.

Lalime gets another start tonight. If he plays like he has, he'll be gone by Monday. My sources (the internet ) say the Canadiens are watching him and will probably get him to replace Huet.

The Hawks should have had that game. But I guess it's hard to score with 17 skaters with cement hands and one skilled guy who gets double-teamed by the Canucks all the way to the shower. And yeah, seriously, who is that guy wearing #40 on the Blackhawks and what did he do to Patrick Lalime? Not that it matters. Keep him and trade Khabby.

One more reason to hate the Sexual Predators. I thought it was a horrible trade at first, too, unless of course the Preds win the Cup. But thinking about it, Upshall won't be more than a third liner, if that, the first rounder is going to be low, very likely #30 overall and chances are that won't turn into a top two line player. Third rounder is a crapshoot. Parent is the only real good thing here, but even he is a question mark and probably wouldn't be helping the Preds that much in the near future. Forsberg can help them win the cup and at this point in team building, that's what you should aim for. You can fill your roster with third and fourth liners with ease any offseason anyway. And of course the Predators didn't want Forsberg to go to Anaheim or Detroit. It helps they don't have to carry Forsberg's contract into next season.

I like two points for a win, but give only one for a shootout win. None for the loser, no matter how they end up losing.

I fucking hate shootouts. That wasn't a real loss. It was a draw to me. With Khabby playing better, it would have been a W. I think I'm going to buy him one pint in the cheapest place I can find and that's it. EDIT: my friend, that is. Not Khabibulin. With his $6.75M salary, he can get his own damn drinks. I was actually looking forward to a Lalime vs Thibault tonight, but I suppose neither coach wanted to lose.

Tonight is the biggest game of the season. Why? Because my friend is a big Penguins fan. Ever since the 92 finals, the Hawks/Penguins games have been very important, especially now that they don't play more than once a year. Winner gets the drinks, loser pays. I don't like my odds this year, but goddammit, gotta support my Hawks.

Haha, Detroit sucks. I love it. And Michael Leighton is awesome.

"Lost" film is ruined by security X-ray at airport in Honolulu Idiots.

Are the Canadians any good?

Hawks win again. Havlat's goal was sick. All about determination and soft hands - he runs through the defense, protects the puck, turns the goalie inside out, all the while being blatantly hooked.