NHL Season 08-09

[Richybear]

I'm still curious as to what's going to happen with Dany Heatley, especially now that he wants out of Ottawa. If he goes to NYR, the Rangers franchise will somehow find a way to ruin him. He's pretty much a guaranteed 40G, 85 point guy, but as a Ranger, I can see him racking up around 25 goals and maybe 60 points. LOL

If Hossa really wants a Stanley Cup, he'd take the 10yr/$40m or so that Detroit offers. In 10 years, chances are Detroit will be back at the Big Dance again. As much as I don't like the team, you can't argue with their scouting and the way they replace what they're losing. Plus they plan for the future better than most of the league.

[Bregor]

NHL Awards in twelve hours, I would go to the Japers' Rink viewing party but we got Kirin tonight I think. Really hope Green gets the Norris, he was amazing this season despite the lackluster playoff performance.

[Brill Weave]

I think Green has a better than decent chance to win it. It's not often you come across a defenseman who is able to put up the kind of offensive numbers that he did. Last guy that comes to mind that was that offensively potent was Paul Coffey.

[Arnwulf]

Problem is that Green wasn't too great in the Defensive end. I ultimately think Chara will win it, mainly because of all the hype around him this year. Although I wouldn't be shocked to see Lidstrom pick up the award again either. I would be surprised to see Green win.

[Brill Weave]

Agreed. I won't go so far as labeling Green a defensive liability. But he definitely let that aspect of his game suffer so he can focus on the offensive side.

[Ishido]

I think Green has a better than decent chance to win it. It's not often you come across a defenseman who is able to put up the kind of offensive numbers that he did. Last guy that comes to mind that was that offensively potent was Paul Coffey.

If you mean points the last guy would be... Lidstrom. Goals though, Coffey is the only one that really comes to mind.

Also looking at wikipedia (lol wikipedia for hockey) it's annoying that so few players have +/- listed under their stats.

Edit: Also lol at the Sedins asking for identical contracts to Zetterberg's. They're good but they're no Zetterbergs.

[Arnwulf]

Together they're a Zetterberg. lol

[Brill Weave]

Sorry, yeah I mean goals. Not assists. What does Zetterberg's contract look like? Just for my own amusement I ran some numbers. Here's what I came up with. These are the stats from the last four season for all three of them. I picked the last four because they are the season where all three players really came into their own and blossomed into great players.

Hank Z GP H Sedin GP D Sedin GP
292 328 327

Hank Z Points H Sedin Points D Sedin Points
318 314 311

Hank Z +\- H Sedin +\- D Sedin +\-
98 58 56

Hank Z Shot% H Sedin Shot% D Sedin Shot%
12.775avg 12.35avg 12.175avg

Hank Z PIM H Sedin PIM D Sedin PIM
34avg 56avg 39avg

Hank Z PPG H Sedin PPG D Sedin PPG
1.08 .95 .95

So the stats are definitely in Zetterberg's favor. But the Sedin's aren't that far behind him. The problem is that they both want Zetterberg money which could cause some large salary cap issues for whichever team would sign them.

[Brill Weave]

Oh fuck you you dirty fucking columns screwing up my tallies!

[Abraxas]

pretty sure Hank got 12 year/60mil

[Brill Weave]

Wow if that's the case, that's really fucking reasonable. Especially for a young guy with the talent he has. 5 million a year for a Zetterberg? Sold.

[Bregor]

This is how Detroit has stayed so good for so long. None of their contracts are Jagr/Yashin albatrosses, and players willingly take a pay cut to go there. It's kind of refreshing to see a franchise doing it right, but on the other hand, I'd love to get the players they do for the money they spend.

As for the Sedins, it might be the length of the contract that has teams worried, especially since you're committing to both of them. If they collapse, it's double the bad free agent signing, and you can't really just trade one away to dump their salary.

In an unrelated note, Brill's got a new fan in the Rain thread, check it out. :D

[Brill Weave]

He got butthurt really quick too. I kind of felt a little bad about it because I was just attempting to rattle his cage a little. Then he got defensive so I pushed further. Hope the guy stays out of spam. Ryko would have him ready to kill in a day. Where is Yashin now anyways? The KHL?

[Bregor]

Keep it going for a few more hours, epic lulz at work make the day go faster.

Last I heard Yashin was in Russia, but honestly the only time I've heard his name in the last six months was on Sportscenter when they were talking about some massive transfer fee for a soccer player and recounting the biggest contracts in sports.

[Brill Weave]

God what a travesty that contract was. I don't need to keep him riled up. It looks like Maxx and Abandon have taken the reins. With how poorly he's reacting to just about everything there's going to be two endings I think. Ending A is that they have their fun with him for quite a while longer. Ending B is him freaking out, popping off, then getting banned.

[Bregor]

I remember when the Caps got Jagr and then traded him, eating most of his salary, for the next few seasons we weren't really in the mix for any free agents and we let some guys go I really liked (Richard Zednik, Brendan Witt and Jeff Halpern I still miss.) Plus it didn't help that our owner is an AOL executive and that was right around the time their stock went in the shitter.

That guy is unbelievable. The angel wings picture is just embarrassing at this point.

[Brill Weave]

I liked Halpern. I always hoped the Pens would make a run to try and get him. He's not flashy. He's not even that offensively talented. The guy just breaks his back doing whatever he can to help the team win.

And yeah, the angel wing picture was fucking awesome. That guy needs to calm down because all he's doing at this point is giving people more ammunition to shoot at him with. But God damn is it funny.

[Arnwulf]

Awards pretty much went as expected, no real surprises. I was happy to see Steve Mason win the Calder, and was surprised to read today that he actually finished 4th on the Hart Trophy voting, didn't think he's get that high.

[Brill Weave]

Moderately surprised at Chara winning the Norris. No shock with Mason or with Ovie. Masterson could have gone to any one of the guys up for it and it would have been ok. No huge shockers though.

[Ishido]

Masterton would be weird going to Cheli in my opinion because he's probably not going to retire this year, and him getting it is kind of a "length of career" award, more fitting to do as he retires.

Chara didn't surprise me because Lidstrom had a moderately "down year" by his standards, although he still might have been the best of the 3. I also think some are getting bored by him winning the Norris. Green I don't think deserved it just for putting up 30 goals, though if his defense improved he could make a good case.

Pavel still being the funniest guy in the NHL though.