2006/2007 Hockey Season Thread

[The Sultan of Swank]

Who's gonna take him? Toronto? He'd fit the bill there.

[The Sultan of Swank]

*Awaits plethora of OMG NOCALLONSUNDINZ!!! WE WOULD HAVE WINNED!!!*

Montreal absolutely dominated the first 40 minutes of the game and a quick start by Toronto in the third made the score make the game look like it was much closer than it was. Class move by McCabe and Sundin at the end punching Markov in the face, maybe if Sundin spits on the ice some more and complains more he'll get the call.

Awesome work by the Habs 4th line in the first two periods, they were throwing on the body everywhere. The Hipcheck on Stajan by Begin was awesome. Watching him fly a good 8 feet was cool. There were two calls I disagreed with, one, the interference on Perezhogen where the Toronto player pushed Perezhogen, then trips while moving away from him was somehow a penalty and there was an interference on Komisarek that was really not a late hit at all. But Toronto also got robbed on the Sundin call, but Montreal won which is the important part.

Montreal chased Raycroft from the net on 5 goals in what 14 shots? Aubin didn't have much work after that, Montreal quit on the pressure in the third which was a costly mistake. They did a complete inverse of every other game they play. Instead of sucking the first 40 and staging the epic comeback they just raped Toronto for the first two periods then got lazy. Montreal's pretty good at winning after the 2nd period. We've only got 1 loss when leading after two if I recall correctly.

It's too bad it's not two games in a row against each other like last season, I guess tomorrow night will be just as important for both teams. If Montreal pulls out a win and Toronto loses then Montreal has a teensy bit of room to work with, if the opposite happens we're back at square one.

[CKN]

Who's gonna take him? Toronto? He'd fit the bill there.

[SeanDMan]

The Canucks pick up Brent Sopel.

To which I say:

NO!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[lari]

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.

[Toe]

Please Felix Potvin made Hextall his bitch and I'm sure Emery would rape both Hextall and Roy in a 2-on-1.

When I saw Biron and Emery about to fight during the highlights the first thing I thought was "this is gonna be a quick one".

Your a racist.

You're a master of the English language.

[Toe]

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.

[lari]

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...

[Toe]

I don't know if the prospects like Dave Bolland or Toews will be ready by next year. Micheal Handzus will be a good number two centre, but the Blackhawks need someone to work with Havlat and be the number one centre.

[NobBe Nobbs]

The problem with Toews is that I think the Hawks are running the risk of burning him out. They let him stay in juniors for this season, which is good, but if he comes up next year he will have a phenomenal amount of pressure on him, probably more so than Crosby or Ovechkin. With the good performances this season, the Hawks have shown they CAN push for the playoffs, and bringing Toews up will imply that they're saying "Yes, this year, let's do it," but in order to do that, they need to change more than just Toews otherwise he'll have a ridiculous burden to carry and will not be able to do it.

Also, chances of us making a trade? Zero? Good, just felt I should check.

[Plubby]

Rumour has it that Roberts has agreed to waive his clause in order to go the Pens. The deal (allegedly) sees Noah Welch going to the Panthers. Im not sure if this has been posted, and I only just saw it, so might not be true.

[lari]

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.

[Enter Blue Guy]

The kings of the 3-way deal have struck again as Bill Guerin is headed to San Jose.

EDIT: It was indeed a 3-way deal with San Jose, St. Louis, and another team.

San Jose has been notorious 3-way dealers over the past fews years. When most teams do it, they bust, but the Sharks make it work.

Pretty good deadline for San Jose, Guerin and Rivet.

Edited February 27, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[gunnar hendershow]

Please Felix Potvin made Hextall his bitch and I'm sure Emery would rape both Hextall and Roy in a 2-on-1.

When I saw Biron and Emery about to fight during the highlights the first thing I thought was "this is gonna be a quick one".

Your a racist.

You're a master of the English language.

I'm sorry for my spelling mistake, but I am sure that everyone got that I was joking.

I know you were joking. I just thought that the door was so wide open there I couldn't resist.

Funny thing is that I was completely annihilated drunk making that post, just like I am now.

I did not watch the Leafs game, watched the Mighty Ducks 2 and 3 instead with some friends. Sounds like Toronto lost, which means tomorrow's game against Buffalo is incredibly important. A loss means Toronto has a bit of a steep hill to climb, while a win keeps Toronto right in the thick of the playoff race.

Hahahhaa I was hammered for my post too.

Also, good trade if Roberts does go to the Pens.

[Enter Blue Guy]

The Roberts deal is already done. Pens also picked up Laraque this morning too.

Edited February 27, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[lari]

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.

[gunnar hendershow]

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 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.

[Enter Blue Guy]

So the Ryan Smyth saga has just gotten interesting.

This morning it seemed like he was going to resign, but apparently now that is been reported as untrue and the Oilers are still mulling over the numbers. No doubt Edmonton could get something nice for Smyth, but at the same time they are losing the face of their team and hell of a player. Smyth has to be the biggest player left still one the block, but right now I'm sure Oiler management has an offer or two right now they are ready to deal if they can't come an agreement with Smyth... Which would be worst case scenario. For some reason I can't picture Smytty wearing the jersey of another team.

Big Bert could go to Anaheim, Smyth's future is unknown, Jason Blake is still on the market, as is Roenick. Still a nice chuck of dealing out there.

Edited February 27, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[NobBe Nobbs]

I'd agree with you, Blue Guy, but Mark Bell hasn't set the world alight and Martin Havlat has kicked some ass.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Er.. that was lari taking about the Blackhawks...

Though it's always nice to acknowledged.