2009-10 NHL Thread

[Brill Weave]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH!

[Rikus]

Title fails, at least acknowledge your 100 year anniversary of professional hockey in america. Oh, and the season opens in less than a month. Get to it, what a terrible way to open the thread.

Actually it's not... I suppose you could argue it's the 100th anniversary of the N H A but that league featured all Canadian teams.

The NHL didn't start untill 1917.(which for the record still didn't include American teams, that didn't happen till like 1925) Sooooo really.... you fail.

That bs aside... GO LEAFS GO!

[Absolutely Virtue]

3 games in and Ovechkin is on pace for 136 goals and 109 assists.

FUCK HIM. but it's sort of fun to be able to root for the guy =(

There are definitely some vocal OV critics on these forums, but it's understandable- it's nothing but idiot Pens and Flyers fans in here (we kid because we love!). Of course they hate him, just like we hate Cindy Crosby and Scott Hartnell and his faggoty fucking Kenny G hairdo.

But outside of those obvious haters and the strangely xenophobic Canadians who just can't stand the fact that OV > Cindy, there is really no reason to hate the guy.

He's a dumb, young kid. He sometimes say stupid things, and the stick on fire thing was just retarded and he realized it right away. But put yourself in the kid's shoes for a while. Whereas Cindy was brought up to worship at the old farts temple of hockey, OV was let lose to be a bad ass and do it his own way. Cindy will help old ladies cross the street; OV will bang your sister. It's like in the cartoons where the character is conflicted and Crosby is the angel on one shoulder, and OV is the devil on the other. Admit it, you'd usually do what the devil suggests.

You better believe that OV is fucking pissed that the Pens won last year, especially after they absolutely handed the Caps their ass in game 7. He's come out ready to kill someone this season, and it's going to be fun to watch. Assuming he stays healthy (and that's always nervous because he's a fucking lunatic), this season could be ridiculous.

[Richybear]

As for the comment on have Pronger play here to see how good he is:
We had him.
Then he wanted out.
So our fans set his house on fire and it was given to Marty "Joe Sakic ver. 2.0" Reasoner.

He's honestly not that special. Unless cheap shots are cool.
Maybe if they switched regulation net size to sayyyy soccer, he'd be able to hit it.
Every Oilers game he was here for, he was maybe 1/4 where his shot would be on target. Friends and I had it down to a science where as soon as the puck went to him, we'd all just yell out "Just missed the net!" as he was winding up.

[Bregor]

Scott Hartnell and his faggoty fucking Kenny G hairdo.

Even as a Caps fan, I have to love such a glorious case of hockey hair.

Anyway, thank God you're posting again AV. Ovie Apologists Anonymous is back!

[Oxyminus]

There are definitely some vocal OV critics on these forums, but it's understandable- it's nothing but idiot Pens and Flyers fans in here (we kid because we love!). Of course they hate him, just like we hate Cindy Crosby and Scott Hartnell and his faggoty fucking Kenny G hairdo.

But outside of those obvious haters and the strangely xenophobic Canadians who just can't stand the fact that OV > Cindy, there is really no reason to hate the guy.

He's a dumb, young kid. He sometimes say stupid things, and the stick on fire thing was just retarded and he realized it right away. But put yourself in the kid's shoes for a while. Whereas Cindy was brought up to worship at the old farts temple of hockey, OV was let lose to be a bad ass and do it his own way. Cindy will help old ladies cross the street; OV will bang your sister. It's like in the cartoons where the character is conflicted and Crosby is the angel on one shoulder, and OV is the devil on the other. Admit it, you'd usually do what the devil suggests.

You better believe that OV is fucking pissed that the Pens won last year, especially after they absolutely handed the Caps their ass in game 7. He's come out ready to kill someone this season, and it's going to be fun to watch. Assuming he stays healthy (and that's always nervous because he's a fucking lunatic), this season could be ridiculous.

I'm not a Flyers, or Pens fan. So the whole Crosby VS. Ovechkin thing has nothing to do with it. There's just as much that I dislike about Crosby as I do Ovechkin. It's not philosophical, or grudge-holding, it's simply a matter of what Ovechkin does as a player.

I have no problem with what Ovechkin says. If he's that good, which he clearly is, he should speak and play with as much bravado as he does, cause he can clearly back it up.

What I don't like about him is he is a borderline dirty player. I have no issue with him playing hard, but when he hits his skates leave the ice A LOT and definitely goes for headshots. kudos to him that he sticks up for himself and he he doesn't back down to anyone. But the fact remains there are parts of his game that if he weren't a perennial MVP/face of a somewhat re-emerging franchise/as much a poster-boy for the league as Crosby is, he'd be called for a LOT more.

All the skill in the world. If I'm building a team I'd take him first probably every day of the week, but he's still a dirty player. His stature just allows him to get away with it.

Ugghhh I still can't believe you lumped me in with Flyers and Pens fans...

[Brill Weave]

I would definitely have to agree that we have some very vocal fans here. The thing that kind of cracks me up the most is that most of the bandwagon fans argue Crosby > Ovechkin. While most people who didn't just start watching hockey last weekend realize that at this point Crosby is NOT the best player in the league. He's top five without a doubt. But right now I think the better argument to be made is Malkin > Ovechkin.

In my humble opinion I think that it's Malkin > Ovechkin > Crosby rounding out the top three. Just looking at what all three of these guys are capable of, I can't think of any other three players in the league that can just take over a game like they can. In the long run I believe Malkin gets the nod due to his defensive presence(leading the league in takeaways is a damn nice stat.) Not to take anything away from Crosby and Ovie, but their defensive game is not as far along as Geno's.

Here's the rundown

Offensive Ability: Malkin/Ovie > Crosby (Too hard to pick between Geno and Ovie. One of them is goal oriented while the other is more of a playmaker.)
Defensive Ability: Malkin > Crosby > Ovie
Leadership: Crosby > Ovie > Malkin
DOMINATION FACTOR!: Ovie/Malkin > Crosby

[Brill Weave]

And seriously, does Tyche even know what hockey is? Aside from the thread he locked last season?

[Oxyminus]

I would definitely have to agree that we have some very vocal fans here. The thing that kind of cracks me up the most is that most of the bandwagon fans argue Crosby > Ovechkin. While most people who didn't just start watching hockey last weekend realize that at this point Crosby is NOT the best player in the league. He's top five without a doubt. But right now I think the better argument to be made is Malkin > Ovechkin.

What cracks me up is the amount of bandwagon fans hoho!!

Oh -- to clarify my point from my earlier post.

A big reason why Ovechkin is such a dominant player is his style of play. There's no way he can play his game "softly". If he wasn't a tough SOB who loves to hit as much as he loves to score, he wouldn't be the talent he is.

What irks me is that the league lets him get away with it. We all know there are times when things are/are not called because of the name on the back of the jersey. It's just a simple fact of the NHL that Bettman has favorites, and agendas, and it runs all the way down to his officials (call me a conspiracy theorist, but it's still the truth. How do you market Ovechkin if he spends 6-8 minutes a night...roughly 1/3 of his playing time...in the penalty box?)

Crosby gets away with SO MUCH crap that it blows my mind, and he gets so many tick-tack calls going for him.

[Ishido]

I would definitely have to agree that we have some very vocal fans here. The thing that kind of cracks me up the most is that most of the bandwagon fans argue Crosby > Ovechkin. While most people who didn't just start watching hockey last weekend realize that at this point Crosby is NOT the best player in the league. He's top five without a doubt. But right now I think the better argument to be made is Malkin > Ovechkin.

In my humble opinion I think that it's Malkin > Ovechkin > Crosby rounding out the top three. Just looking at what all three of these guys are capable of, I can't think of any other three players in the league that can just take over a game like they can. In the long run I believe Malkin gets the nod due to his defensive presence(leading the league in takeaways is a damn nice stat.) Not to take anything away from Crosby and Ovie, but their defensive game is not as far along as Geno's.

Here's the rundown

Offensive Ability: Malkin/Ovie > Crosby (Too hard to pick between Geno and Ovie. One of them is goal oriented while the other is more of a playmaker.)
Defensive Ability: Malkin > Crosby > Ovie
Leadership: Crosby > Ovie > Malkin
DOMINATION FACTOR!: Ovie/Malkin > Crosby

Datsyuk.

[Oxyminus]

Datsyuk always gets left out of that conversation cause he's not nearly as flashy a player as Malkin/Ovechkin/Crosby

[Ishido]

Yeah despite having more points per ice time than any of them, a better takeaway/giveaway ratio than Malkin, a higher +/-, and less time on the PP/more time on the PK per game.

[Absolutely Virtue]

Well, I'm a bandwagon fan in a sense because I'm not a diehard hockey fan like some of the guys here. I love the game and I have loved the Caps since I was a kid, but I know a lot more about baseball and basketball than I do hockey. I appreciate that that probably means I know more about hockey than 99% of the general public (lol), but I think you know what I mean. I get on here and gush about my love for the Caps and hatred for old Patrick Division rivals, but really I'm just here to stir up shit and cause trouble. I defer to the experts here on just about everything.

The league needs the bandwagon fans though, now more than ever. The Crosby/OV hype will annoy purists, but it will also make people pay attention. Every sport does this. People hated Magic Johnson for being a showboat, and Bird for being an asshole, but nobody can deny that Lakers v Celtics was good for the game. Crosby v OV is the same thing, even if you think Semin and Malkin are the more interesting pieces of the rivalry (see Parish v Jabar, or Worth v McHale).

Personally, I fucking love it that OV is the bad guy and people hate him. The Caps have never had a player important enough for people to hate, and now we someone that just gets under everyone's skin. It rules.^^

[Abraxas]

Abraxas doesn't post with the frequency he did last year, I think hes still butthurt over us eliminating his Phailures last spring.

i'll banter with you when stuff you say actually makes sense and you sound like a hockey fan rather than a flyer hater.

[Abraxas]

I would definitely have to agree that we have some very vocal fans here. The thing that kind of cracks me up the most is that most of the bandwagon fans argue Crosby > Ovechkin. While most people who didn't just start watching hockey last weekend realize that at this point Crosby is NOT the best player in the league. He's top five without a doubt. But right now I think the better argument to be made is Malkin > Ovechkin.

In my humble opinion I think that it's Malkin > Ovechkin > Crosby rounding out the top three. Just looking at what all three of these guys are capable of, I can't think of any other three players in the league that can just take over a game like they can. In the long run I believe Malkin gets the nod due to his defensive presence(leading the league in takeaways is a damn nice stat.) Not to take anything away from Crosby and Ovie, but their defensive game is not as far along as Geno's.

Here's the rundown

Offensive Ability: Malkin/Ovie > Crosby (Too hard to pick between Geno and Ovie. One of them is goal oriented while the other is more of a playmaker.)
Defensive Ability: Malkin > Crosby > Ovie
Leadership: Crosby > Ovie > Malkin
DOMINATION FACTOR!: Ovie/Malkin > Crosby

i still think Crosby is the best

[BadKarma]

i still think Crosby is the best

Ovie is the better player. He hits, scores etc. Crosby is great with the puck but hes not as explosive as Ovechkin is. Also Jarome Iginla is my favorite player, he's the most complete player in the NHL imo.

[Thoronas]

Fuck that Rick Nash bitches! If he was with a team that people gave a shit about he'd be huge in the league.

[Abraxas]

just because Crosby doesnt line people up and make open ice hits doesnt mean he isnt physical. Crosby can grind the corners way better than Ovechkin.

to me, it seems Crosby has a better all around hockey sense whereas Ovechkin can score like no other. Crosby scores clutch goasl, passes way better and is defensively more sound than Ovechkin.

[Absolutely Virtue]

OV has nailed all the chicks in Abraxas' sig. Crosby has nailed all the dudes in Badkarma's sig.

[Abraxas]

now that, i cannot dispute