2008/2009 Hockey Thread v2.0

[SeanDMan]

My post wasn't directed at Montreal, but Colorado and Los Angeles. Montreal just sucked.

[NobBe Nobbs]

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.

Again: Basha. There's a reason this thread became so much more enjoyable when all I have to see of him is his stupid avatar.

[Gabriel]

I realize that injuries cause problems... but it's a part of the game, and you've gotta battle through. But, I mean...if we're going to use them as an excuse... then the Flames were awesome this year, because the end of the season never happened.

The Chicago/Calgary game was fucking awesome... if the whole series is like this, I won't mind either team going through. Just...awesome game.

[wCwCreator]

Watched the late night game with Ducks and Sharks.

I'm not sure if it was the Sharks choking or the Duck's playing the left wing lock effectively but SJ had the PP six times and they didn't score and Kudos to Getzlaf for rocketing a shot past Nabokov~ WICKED!

About the Flames... We'll bounce back.

About the Blues... One thing that stuck out was when they were on the 5 on 3 PP for 2 minutes, Why would you have 5 forwards out there? You need a guy at the point who can set it up, they were all just passing wondering who was going to shoot it. I'd say the Blues win 2 games at the very least.

Washington-New York. I love the Rangers and Avery. All they need to do is go high glove on Theo and they'll score 4 goals a night.

[SeanDMan]

I can see the Blues and Canucks going six. The Blues have a lot of talent, and they aren't pushovers, but they don't have the experience the Canucks do. Our forward core trumps theirs, our defense trumps theirs, and unless Luongo suddenly dies, it's not really a comparison in net. I think the series goes five or six but I don't doubt the outcome.

[Gabriel]

I don't have any delusions about St. Louis beating Vancouver... but they're going to make the Canucks earn the series, and hopefully tire them out a bit.

[Reddaye]

Why didn't I take Milan Lucic in my pool? 12 points from him alone last night when you include PIMs, and now I'm twenty points behind the first place team . Should have clued in about how physical the series with Montreal would be, and then could have cashed in on the PIMs that resulted. Pronger, my 'enforcer PIM whore' didn't take a single penalty last night despite the Ducks being a penalty machine. I really hope this isn't the type of team Burke is looking to build in Toronto...they spend more time in the box than is really needed.

Also, it's looking less and less likely Toronto is going to net Matt Gilroy. Seems that he's looking for a pretty fat wad of cash (I've been seeing reports of $3 million, but that seems to be a bit much). Hopefully Burke sticks to his guns and doesn't overpay for a guy who is still just one big question mark. He dominated NCAA hockey...but he's also twenty five years old. You sort of expect someone his age to play above and beyond 18-22 year olds.

EDIT: A fan at the Bruins game tries to steal Kovalev's stick.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Drifter_2000

[TGWL]

What an asshole ^^

[Toe]

What an asshole ^^

I know, Kovalev is a dick.

[Reddaye]

He is an asshole, but I still found the picture amusing.

To go with what I mentioned before about Gilroy, the New York Post is reporting he's signed a two year deal with the Rangers for between 4-5 million dollars. Seems like an awful lot of money for an unproven player.

[Gabriel]

He is an asshole, but I still found the picture amusing.

To go with what I mentioned before about Gilroy, the New York Post is reporting he's signed a two year deal with the Rangers for between 4-5 million dollars. Seems like an awful lot of money for an unproven player.

Yeah, but that's totally something the Rangers would do.

Could you imagine if they actually tried to build a team, instead of just assemble a group of the best players they can? So many players would love to play in New York, given that the team actually had a direction.

[Reddaye]

Yeah, but that's totally something the Rangers would do.

Could you imagine if they actually tried to build a team, instead of just assemble a group of the best players they can? So many players would love to play in New York, given that the team actually had a direction.

Too true. That Wade Redden contract is an abomination.

Seems as though it's not actually that much. Might only equal out to 1.75 million a season for two years...so it's maybe a little over 3 million total. Nothing concrete has actually come out yet so who knows what Sather has done this time?

I don't understand how they can keep fitting players in and still be under the cap. Antropov, Avery, and didn't they pick up another player or two at the deadline? I know Avery's hit is only half, but they supposedly had no room at all before the deadline, now they can fit in 4+ players without moving any bodies out?

Color me confused.

[Gabriel]

The new signings aren't on the NHL roster, so they don't count against the cap. Also, Sather sent a couple of guys to Hartford before the deadline, and moved out a few roster players then too. Most notably in the Derek Morris deal. I think it was a 3 for 1 trade, if I recall correctly.

They're dangerously close to the cap though. I'm not sure what their free agent list looks like though. Maybe there's a couple big salaries on their way out, I'm not sure.

Also, no suspension for Cammalleri, which means that the NHL suspended Carcillo and fined Stevens because it was a deliberate attempt to injure at the very end of a game that the Flyers got thumped in. It's good to know that, because nobody ever really clarified what exactly he got suspended for.

[Reddaye]

The new signings aren't on the NHL roster, so they don't count against the cap. Also, Sather sent a couple of guys to Hartford before the deadline, and moved out a few roster players then too. Most notably in the Derek Morris deal. I think it was a 3 for 1 trade, if I recall correctly.

They're dangerously close to the cap though. I'm not sure what their free agent list looks like though. Maybe there's a couple big salaries on their way out, I'm not sure.

Also, no suspension for Cammalleri, which means that the NHL suspended Carcillo and fined Stevens because it was a deliberate attempt to injure at the very end of a game that the Flyers got thumped in. It's good to know that, because nobody ever really clarified what exactly he got suspended for.

Alright, that makes sense. I think Antropov is their only free agent this year. Staal comes up next year, so they're going to be in trouble when it comes time to give him another contract. They're really going to be hurting if the cap takes a dive the year after next.

Colin Campbell was on NHL Live today and explained the Carcillo thing rather well. He basically said that Philly put out Carcillo, a guy who never takes faceoffs, never kills penalties, never really get's any additional ice time, and he just 'happens' to club someone in the head during the faceoff with six seconds left. There was no way to penalize him for it, and it basically seemed like something that was done to send a message.

I expect everyone here understands it already, but that explained things nicely for me. I was wondering about it myself.

[Gabriel]

Yeah, I figured that's what it was... that it was a blatant attempt to send a message and/or injure a rival player.

It's just nice that someone in power came out and actually said what the reasoning was... because there was some debate about whether it was John Stevens' asshole coaching, or whether it was the fact that it was a blow to the head... but I figured it couldn't be the latter, because we see more devastating blows to the head in the scrums around the net that don't even get penalized, let alone looked at by the NHL.

EDIT: If that's true about the Rangers, that Antropov is the only UFA at the end of the year... I fully expect them to do some major wheeling and dealing in the off-season. They could be very active at the draft in an attempt to both move out some of the dead weight, and to ease the cap crunch a bit so that they have room to bring in someone from free agency.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Gabriel

[SeanDMan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7mfpZvJ9IA

...someone fell asleep in the editting room.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

It was live.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Also:

NEVER FORGET

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Triple post, this is a great day for the obscure:

If your screen resolution is big enough, NHL.com has images of the Stanley Cup engraving on either side of the page. Generally only one name per row is seen. Paul Fixter (my cousin) is sandwiched right at the top between Bob Hartley and Michel Goulet.

Vic Rauter~! will be doing SportsCentre after Rangers/Caps.

When the NBC broadcasters were filling time before the aforementioned game started, Emrick busted out a story about Hershey Bears trainer Dan Stuck teaching the Caps' new goalie English. Stuck has been their trainer since something like 1975 and at least once gave me a bag of candy.

[Clawson]

Vic Rauter doing Sportscentre is orgasmic. I should tape this.