2008/2009 Hockey Thread v2.0

[Reddaye]

I heard Darren Pang saying that Theo wouldn't be a problem because the Rangers aren't an offensive team. Never occurred to him that maybe they'd show some offense if they were facing a horrible goalie.

The Rangers could have been throwing beach balls last night and would have stilled scored. He needs to not just make big saves...but make some kind of fucking saves period.

Also, King Henry is one hell of a goalie.

[TGWL]

Theo got saved by the post quite a few times as well. Damn, Ovechkin is always on fire when he plays the rangers. I thought the refs missed quite a few real calls for both teams, and called a lot of crap. And wow do these sticks break easy.

I hope I'm wrong, but I do believe the caps will beat the rangers and move on to the next round. As a Ranger fan, I felt more confident going against Boston.

[Reddaye]

Well since Burke came out and publicly announced the obvious (ie: his intention to try and get Tavares), the interwebs have blown up into a frenzy. Same old story of course, here are some highlights I've seen:

- Kaberle is a poor defenseman, who isn't worth a first round pick.

- Mats Sundin is an overrated player.

- Matt Stajan sucks.

- Schenn isn't going to amount to anything.

- All of Toronto's players aren't worth Tavares.

- Burke is a "big loser."

Man, we really suck, don't we? I mean, we finished higher in the standings than the LA Kings (who most of these comments were from fans of), without players like Anze Kopitar, or Drew Doughty.

Just thought I'd post this for shits and giggles.

[Evil Chase K]

I'm surprised the Flyers played as undisciplined as they did. When they won in Pittsburgh late in the season they played a surprisingly un-Flyers like (read: smart) game and this time they came out like the Flyers of old and played right into the Pens' hands.

I don't expect it to happen again. Should be a tough Game 2, but hopefully the Pens can make it 2-0.

[TGWL]

My first thought on reading that is, "Wow, they're just insulting toronto because they're scared shit of them getting tavares."

I dont see Toronto moving up and getting Tavares, especially if the Islanders are drafting him. The truth is Kaberle and Schenn together aren't going to get it done. The Islanders really do need to get rid of ricki because of his contract, however if he can manage to stay healthy, it'll be a big mistake. Oh, and Kaberle not worth a 1st round pick, especially with his contract? Idiots!

Persionally, I always thought Sundin was overrated. He's a great player, no doubt about it, but I dont see him the way most people do "who aren't bashing him for the sake of bashing toronto."

I also don't praise Schen as much as Toronto fans, but anybody can see that he's already has become something special for them. I dont see where anybody can say he wont amount to anything.

Toronto suffered from having a star player in net..the team isn't bad. I wouldnt trade a shit load of their players just to move up in the draft. They already have a good team.

[The Sultan of Swank]

They don't have a good team or else they'd have made the playoffs sometime in the last 4 years. What they do have is a few good d men in Kaberle and White and a d man who should turn out to be a great player in Schenn. They however lack in nets where they have Toakala who isn't bad but maybe they need a rotating goalie system with another good goalie. As much as Cujomeans to TO he's not the guy and neither is Pogge, so they need to find someone there. Especially since Toronto gave up waaaaaaay more goals than anyone else. Up front they really lack depth and credibility. While some of the young guys played well it also may have had to do with the fact that they were the only offensiven options for Toronto. So while Theyve got a few good youngsters in guys like Grabs and Stajan I struggle to find a bonafide first line player on the Leafs besides Blake, and even then only if he's scoring otherwise he's invisible.

Toronto has some good young players and Burke is signing prospects which is great, but they're not a good team.... Yet. Rebuilding is a multi year process so Toronto is probably going to miss the playoff again next year too, but it's in the name of progress. I know leaf fans haven't ever really had to go through this before but they're going to maybe get worse before they get better. The sooner fans accept that Burke is building a team that can compete constantly but it might take 3-5 years they better off they'll be. So yeah a pretty bad team now nut they have potential and are I'm capable hands for the first time in forever. So the immediate future is a little bleak but you get to see your prospects grow and develop, then you're fighting for 7th or 8th then suddenly you're a home ice advantage team then who knows, but first I still see 2 or 3 years of suffering.

[Gabriel]

On a slightly related note... Toronto's going one way, and it looks like Montreal's headed the other. 1st in the conference last year... just barely made the playoffs this year... most of their players are UFA's at season's end... there will be a new coach coming in... Montreal could be headed down while Toronto makes its' ascension.

[Reddaye]

They don't have a good team or else they'd have made the playoffs sometime in the last 4 years.

I don't disagree in the least, and have never disputed it. It's just funny to hear fans of a team with more talent than ours that finished lower in the overall standings than us claiming Tomas Kaberle isn't worth a first round pick, etc. Surely Basha even you must admit that Kaberle isn't the useless pile of dung so many people make him out to be. Not sure why I brought up the Stajan comment, although I think 'suck' is too harsh a word for him. He's a solid guy.

Then again this is the same group of fans that say their first round pick this year is worth a "80 or 90 point player + a first round pick," so they're obviously delusional. You rarely find anything resembling coherent hockey discussion on the HF Boards anyways.

I also agree that Sundin is quite overrated, but he's still miles better than anyone who's laced up skates for LA since Gretzky left, outside of maybe Kopitar a few years down the road.

Also: Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer need to get a boat load of points (and PIMs in Pronger's case) before the Sharks eliminate the Ducks in the first round. MY HOCKEY POOL DEMANDS IT!

[The Sultan of Swank]

Gabriel; Montreal has had more man games lost than any other team this year, I'm sorry if what I said upset you but I'm not too concerned about our talent level. The days leading up to July 1 will be tense but I trust that we'll be just fine...

Drifter; I see where you're coming from I'm just saying that Leafs fans who think that next year they'll be a great

Team or something neednto relax and understand they've got some time before that.

[Reddaye]

Great game in Boston right now. That first Bruins goal was a bit testy, IMO. Looked like Price had it covered, and it got poked out of his mitt to me. Laraque is being effective without being a liability. Some really great hockey being played in this game.

Jackets vs. Wings is putting me to sleep...like all Red Wings games do. Osgood is looking as sharp as a tack, but so is Mason. I'm expecting a low scoring affair here.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Great game in boston so far, price didn't have it covered. Lord do I want the Habs to win they're outplaying the Bruins so far.

[Clawson]

Hey Basha, since when was being 21st in something mean you have the most?

[SeanDMan]

I think Basha was including "Man games lost to going back to Russia to sulk" and "Man games lost to being sent to the minors while under police investigation" and "Man games lost to being a flakey and unreliable goaltender" to "Man games lost due to injury".

[Clawson]

Oh well then....touche mother fucker, touche.

[Gabriel]

Bad talk about the Leafs doesn't upset me. I like watching the team, but I'm a Flames fan. I was just stating an observation.

Injuries aren't a legitimate reason to fall so badly over the course of a season. Everyone has to deal with injuries. They're just an excuse people use to explain why they're losing, instead of, you know... figuring out what they're actually doing wrong.

Good night of action so far tonight. Flipped back and forth between Boston/Montreal and the Detroit/Columbus game until the Flames game started. I love the playoffs.

[SeanDMan]

Injuries undermine another element you need to be a successful team though; chemistry. Players mesh and gel with different players differently; look at Iginla and Conroy, some of the struggles Iginla had once Conroy left, and then how well he seemed to mesh with The Dyslexic Squid. When you're a team like Los Angeles or Colorado who just got their entire forward core raped by injury, even when one good player comes back, another would be gone, and even when everyone was healthy, it was basically like their first time playing together. It's impossible to get sustained momentum when you're constantly getting a new linemate. Imagine trying to go into work and one day your PC was replaced with a Mac. The next day it was a Typewriter, and the next day it was LiteBrite. It would be impossible to be productive again even if on day six they gave you a PC again, you'd have changed your entire shift to work around having to communicate with light emitting diodes.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Great game in Boston... I wish we had won the game. It was really close the entire game. Boston got that one powerplay goal in the third and that killed us. Boston did look nervous most of the game up until that point. If Montreal can't win game 2, then they'll lose the series for sure. The positives from tonight were that Montreal played an excellent game against a team that supposed to be much better than them. The big negative was that Montreal, as it so often does, took a bad penalty late in the game.

Clawson, sorry, I misheard the stat. It does't change the fact that Montreal had medium and long term injuries to... Lang (leading scorer at the time), Markov(Leading scorer at the time, 2 Time All Star defenseman), Tanguay, Higgins, Price, Komisarek, Bouillon, Latendresse... the list goes on. Montreal really never got a chance to get any chemistry was the point I was making... Geeze, I'm sorry I gave someone my assesment of the Maple Leafs. I didn't think I was insulting them... um... sorry if I hurt your feelings?

and thank you SDM. For explaining what injuries do to a team... any team.

Anyways, exciting but sad game 1. Hopefully things go better in game 2.

Edited April 17, 2009 by The Sultan of Swank

[Reddaye]

Good game in Boston. Montreal are going to have a tough time bouncing back from that loss, even if they did hang in there pretty well. Boston played pretty poorly in the third period until Chara lowered the boon and blasted that shot in on the power play.

Columbus got dissected. Maybe they should stop batting the puck into their own net, and give Mason a bit more support. Osgood looked to be in form, although he wasn't challenged a whole lot. Wings looked to shut Nash down, and effectively eliminated about 60% of the Jackets' offense as a result.

[Clawson]

Clawson, sorry, I misheard the stat. It does't change the fact that Montreal had medium and long term injuries to... Lang (leading scorer at the time), Markov(Leading scorer at the time, 2 Time All Star defenseman), Tanguay, Higgins, Price, Komisarek, Bouillon, Latendresse... the list goes on. Montreal really never got a chance to get any chemistry was the point I was making... Geeze, I'm sorry I gave someone my assesment of the Maple Leafs. I didn't think I was insulting them... um... sorry if I hurt your feelings?

So because I, correctly, pointed out that you were wrong, I was throwing a temper tantrum about your Leaf comments? Did I mention the Leafs at all in my post? Come on, you're making it too easy.

[Reddaye]

Can't we all just get along? :'(