The Hockey Thread

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Good addition but far too high a price. More later.

[TGWL]

Yeah, he can be a great fit...but I think they paid way too high.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Even with Kessel out until November, you figure a healthy Nik Hagman could get at least 25 goals, Blake showed he could still score last season with 25, Grabs could get at least 20 again, Poni put in over 20 last year too. Add that with a top puck mover (Kaberle), a canon (Beauchemin), and no shortage of solid outlet passers in the back end, I'm not worried about scoring.

I'm worried about goals against, especially on the PK. Hopefully Vesa stays relatively injury free and Allaire (sp?) is whipping him up to form, but I don't see a lot of defensive help coming from our forwards.

Edited September 20, 2009 by Enter Blue Guy

[The Sultan of Swank]

So last night was an example of a team still looking to jell together haha. Good thing it's still the pre-season.

In a strange way I'm hoping that Toronto is competitive this year. All summer people talked about Toronto closing the gap on their defensive ineptability from last season, but who was going to score their goals. I'm not sure about Kessel. I mean, I'm sure he's absolutely a top player no question, but like I said earlier I just feel that it can go two ways with him. He was playing with guys like Lucic and Savard in Boston, now he's going to play with guys like Grabovsky? Blake? Stajan? I just worry that without the solid play makers like Savard he might suffer. Then again, when he's one of only 1.5 legit scoring threats he might respond well to the pressure like Grabobsky did in the first 40 games last season.

I think that Toronto definately will improve 10-12 points over last season. Does it make them a playoff team? I dunno, because the East became a far tougher conference to play in over last year. Boston's still strong as hell, as is Pittsburgh and Wasington. The Lightning got scary better, the entire Atlantic division got way better except the Isles... I think that even if Montreal plays to the best of their potential (which could be quite well when you consider who we picked up) we could hope for 4th at best, and that's a rosy prediction.

With all this uncertainty in mind, at least we can all agree that it will be a very, very exciting year to be a Leafs or Habs fan, it should be a real dogfight for positions 5-10 this year and that'll make every game important.

My biggest concern this year is the return of Scott Stevens soul to the East. Pronger on the Flyers.... watch for every player smaller than 5'11 to suffer a concussion this season.

[Plubby]

Both Budaj and Anderson have been quite good in preseason. This should be an interesting year in Colorado's net again. Hoepfully it won't be so interesting and someone stands on their head

[The Sultan of Swank]

After tonight, Jacques Martin gets out his cutting knife and should likely halve the training camp roster from 50 to around 25. Once he does that, it'll be a better indication of our team, and the pre-season games remaining will be a better barometer for our team.

Pitts/Habs tonight.

Also, god bless my girlfriend. Last week Habs tickets went on sale to the general public. Normally these tickets and subsequently the season are sold out within hours. She stayed up 14 hours from the time the sale opened and waited and waited and waited. Finally she got a turn to pick a ticket, there was only 1 game left, against Florida but she bought a pair of Club Desjardins tickets. So it's free food and drink, and nice and close. Also center ice... Now everyone should go home and ask their respective lady friends.... what have you done for me lately?

[SeanDMan]

Also, with the season starting in a few weeks, consider this another call to join the EWB Fantasy League:

http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/hockey/159551

[SeanDMan]

Also, I've editted the roster list so the teams can now draft like so:

C, C, LW, LW, RW, RW, F, F, F, D, D, D, D, D, Util, Util, Util, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR, IR, IR

That allows for you to pick sleepers in the late round to sit on your bench, and the three IR slots could allow you to pick up, say, a Pavol Demitra or Phil Kessel.

[Reddaye]

Managed to catch the preseason fun on TSN last night. This was my first chance to actually see the Leafs play this preseason and I had a lot of fun watching. Kadri is going to be one hell of a player. He just reeks of skill.

I was also impressed by Stalberg. The guy has some great speed, good shot, quick release...I can easily see him fitting onto the wing of our second line at some point. At 6'3" he's got the size, especially if he can put on more weight. Pretty excited about this guy.

It's also nice to see Komisarek pressing guys against the boards like he's a hungry dog on a raw steak. He's going to give Kaberle a lot of room to move this season. I was a bit worried about us losing Kubina's shot on the PP, but Beauchemin has a fucking RPG for a shot, is younger, less salary, and is obviously a very physical and tough player. I knew he was a good defenseman, but I like him even more now that he's wearing blue and white.

We gave up a lot to get Kessel, but looking at some of these younger guys play, I'd say that we can do a Bruins-esque rebuild and start bringing in free agents as a way to move around our lack of first round picks over the next two years. A bolstered scouting staff will hopefully let us pick some gems with the picks we do have.

Looking like a fun year to be a Leafs fan. ^_^

Edited September 23, 2009 by Drifter_2000

[Toe]

I'm so excited for this season that I started a blog! The link is in my signature!

[Clawson]

I'm so excited for this season that I started a blog! The link is in my signature!

Let Pension Plan Puppets know about it so you can get some more exposure. I have a blog too but I'm too drunk/lazy to ever update it.

[Ruki]

So Wayne is no longer the head coach of the Coyotes.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Actually, I like the Hawks.

[Toe]

There is a player on the Barrie Colts who has 7 goals in 2 games. That is so cool!

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Entire OHL seems to be a scoring bonanza these days. No lead is ever safe.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Man.... I love Scott Gomez.... he's so goddamned good with and without the puck.

I really think this team is a lot better than most people will give credit for.

[SeanDMan]

You guys are all so amped for the upcoming season but none of you have joined the fantasy hockey league. >_>

[Plubby]

The offline draft is putting me off

[SeanDMan]

...how the fuck do you expect to compose a team, then? We can't do a live draft, you live in fucking Australia. Live in an actual country in a proper timezone and we could talk about a live draft.

[Plubby]

...Dear gods, you're dense.

a) That would be why I didn't sign up

b) I live drafted with the EWB'ers two seasons ago :\