2009-10 NHL Thread

[Vaspinne]

Hoping Bertuzzi doesn't do any dumb shit.

Ever since he got back from his suspension he's played a much cleaner game then when he was with Vancouver. He lost the quality that made him the beast that he was back in the day, but honestly he still has great goal scoring hands. Albeit, he's not a very solid 2-way player anymore, so how good he does depends on what Detroit expects his role on the team to be.


I'm excited for the season to get started back up again. I'm happy that my team (The Flames) beefed up our defence a huge amount, but it is at the cost of a lot of scoring. Although with Brent Sutter behind the bench, things are looking great. He's more of an X's and O's type of coach with a strong focus on defence, and I think that will be a great change for the Flames as opposed to Mike Keenan's "If you play good, you get to play" mentality. Dion Phaneuf also had Brent as a coach when he played for the Red Deer Rebels, and during that time Brent helped Dion become a much better defenceman. So I'm expecting him to have a MUCH better season this year as compared to last.

Yeah our scoring has gone down a lot, but looking at last year, I think we only had a small handful of goals-for more than goals-against. So beefing up the D compensates for the loss in scoring as far as I'm concerned. As well we do have quite a bit of scoring talent left on the team, Iggy is Iggy, Bourque had a great year last year and can only get better as far as I'm concerned, Jokinen will hopefully step up and net a few too. Langkow had a great season last year too and hopefully Conroy can net around 10 this year, and our youngsters like Moss, Boyd and Backlund are definitely going to help contribute in the numbers column. I'm hoping Backlund makes the NHL team this year, he played great for Kelowna last year.

Theo Fleury is also attempting to make a 1 season comeback, and honestly from being a Flames fan from back in the day (and I mean like, my earliest memories of being a fan were when I was 8, and not 2003/04) I would LOVE to see him make the team and have a fairytale year. I honestly would be more then satisfied if we ended up signing him for 1 year and he nets 10 goals. Will that happen? Well, who knows. I kind of doubt it. But one can dream >_>

I'm not gonna bother with the entire league, but just focus on the Northwest I guess. Out of the 5 teams, I'm not really concerned about Colorado or Minnesota. I can't really think of anyone real threats picked up in the off season from them other than Minne picking up Havlat. But at the cost of Gaborik... but Gaborik never plays, so win for Minne as far as I can see. Edmonton got amazing in net with Khabibulin. Friggin Bulin Wall is the Flames killer (Stopped our cup run in 03/04, and took us out of the playoffs last season. Not to mention just generally kicking our ass whenever he plays us), which is just going to make the Battle of Alberta so much better. Yeah the Heatley trade sucked for them but I think they're better off. With Pat Quinn behind the bench, I can see them doing much better this season.

Vancouver on the other hand if the one team in the division I'm really worried about. I think they stacked up really nicely on Defence. Maybe not as good as Calgary (that could be due to my favouritism), but with the solid D-men they picked up in the last week here and Luongo in net, it'll be really tough to score on them.

In the Northwest, I'm seeing:

1.Calgary
2.Vancouver
3.Edmonton
4.Minnesota
5.Colorado

Again, I'm not really going to bother with the entire western conference, but I think Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton will all make the playoffs. I can't exactly say where in the standings they'll be in though. I think Calgary and V-city are going to be really neck-n-neck all year. But Calgary takes the top spot because I think they're better.... and not because of favouritism >_>

[Ratatapa]

I'm pumped my job gets free tickets to habs game like 10-15 time per year.

Hoping i get invited

time to lick the boss's ass :D

[Thoronas]

Spoiler: show

Ever since he got back from his suspension he's played a much cleaner game then when he was with Vancouver. He lost the quality that made him the beast that he was back in the day, but honestly he still has great goal scoring hands. Albeit, he's not a very solid 2-way player anymore, so how good he does depends on what Detroit expects his role on the team to be.


I'm excited for the season to get started back up again. I'm happy that my team (The Flames) beefed up our defence a huge amount, but it is at the cost of a lot of scoring. Although with Brent Sutter behind the bench, things are looking great. He's more of an X's and O's type of coach with a strong focus on defence, and I think that will be a great change for the Flames as opposed to Mike Keenan's "If you play good, you get to play" mentality. Dion Phaneuf also had Brent as a coach when he played for the Red Deer Rebels, and during that time Brent helped Dion become a much better defenceman. So I'm expecting him to have a MUCH better season this year as compared to last.

Yeah our scoring has gone down a lot, but looking at last year, I think we only had a small handful of goals-for more than goals-against. So beefing up the D compensates for the loss in scoring as far as I'm concerned. As well we do have quite a bit of scoring talent left on the team, Iggy is Iggy, Bourque had a great year last year and can only get better as far as I'm concerned, Jokinen will hopefully step up and net a few too. Langkow had a great season last year too and hopefully Conroy can net around 10 this year, and our youngsters like Moss, Boyd and Backlund are definitely going to help contribute in the numbers column. I'm hoping Backlund makes the NHL team this year, he played great for Kelowna last year.

Theo Fleury is also attempting to make a 1 season comeback, and honestly from being a Flames fan from back in the day (and I mean like, my earliest memories of being a fan were when I was 8, and not 2003/04) I would LOVE to see him make the team and have a fairytale year. I honestly would be more then satisfied if we ended up signing him for 1 year and he nets 10 goals. Will that happen? Well, who knows. I kind of doubt it. But one can dream >_>

I'm not gonna bother with the entire league, but just focus on the Northwest I guess. Out of the 5 teams, I'm not really concerned about Colorado or Minnesota. I can't really think of anyone real threats picked up in the off season from them other than Minne picking up Havlat. But at the cost of Gaborik... but Gaborik never plays, so win for Minne as far as I can see. Edmonton got amazing in net with Khabibulin. Friggin Bulin Wall is the Flames killer (Stopped our cup run in 03/04, and took us out of the playoffs last season. Not to mention just generally kicking our ass whenever he plays us), which is just going to make the Battle of Alberta so much better. Yeah the Heatley trade sucked for them but I think they're better off. With Pat Quinn behind the bench, I can see them doing much better this season.

Vancouver on the other hand if the one team in the division I'm really worried about. I think they stacked up really nicely on Defence. Maybe not as good as Calgary (that could be due to my favouritism), but with the solid D-men they picked up in the last week here and Luongo in net, it'll be really tough to score on them.

In the Northwest, I'm seeing:

1.Calgary
2.Vancouver
3.Edmonton
4.Minnesota
5.Colorado

Again, I'm not really going to bother with the entire western conference, but I think Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton will all make the playoffs. I can't exactly say where in the standings they'll be in though. I think Calgary and V-city are going to be really neck-n-neck all year. But Calgary takes the top spot because I think they're better.... and not because of favouritism >_>

Nice to see another Northwest Division fan.

As a Vancouver fan I don't have a lot of argument against your picks. I was thinking along the same lines and Calgary definitely has a shot of securing the top spot. But winning the top spot means fuck all if they don't win a series in the post season.

I think Vancouver and Calgary could easily be in the top 5 in the West this season barring any major injury sprees or team collapses. Edmonton I'm not so sure of, I think they might end up competing for a playoff spot along with LA, Dallas, and maybe St Louis.

Now that Luo is locked up till he's 80 I'm pumped for this season!! I'm looking forward to dogging Calgary fans for their team and expect the same when Vancouver tanks in January... again.

[Ivaden]

Ahh, another season of laughs from Sepukku. :D


Brill, Sepukku, you guys going to try getting tickets/have gotten tickets to the opener against the Rangers? I want to get tickets to at least the first and last games in the Mellon Arena, but I definitely want to be there the night the banner is raised as well.

FuckfuckfuckfuckFUCKFUCK CAN'T WAIT FOR THE SEASON TO START

Guess I gotta get a new avatar. Don't want to jinx anything.

[dougr]

Blue Jackets fan here...that is all.

[BadKarma]

Blue Jackets fan here...that is all.

I like the jackets always root for the underdogs

[Ishido]

Also I'll be attending a lot of Avs games this year wearing my Wings jersey. I hope I am alive at the end of the season.

Also another season of a delusional Pens fan posting in this thread, I suppose, since he's already posted once.

[Furionstormrage]

Canes fan here, born and bred in Raleigh NC. Although I'm hoping for another cup, I'll be realistic and plan to just have my playoff tickets lined up.

[Sepukku]

Ahh, another season of laughs from Sepukku. :D


Brill, Sepukku, you guys going to try getting tickets/have gotten tickets to the opener against the Rangers? I want to get tickets to at least the first and last games in the Mellon Arena, but I definitely want to be there the night the banner is raised as well.

Already ahead of you on the final regular season game!!! Picked up two on StubHub for about $500 for the finale as my birthday gift from my family!

Also another season of a delusional Pens fan posting in this thread, I suppose, since he's already posted once.

YOU HAVE NO IDEA. You have an estimated 90-150 pages of me telling you why Pittsburgh is the sporting capital of America and why the Penguins are the best franchise in the NHL; in any sport!

[Sepukku]

(just combining my two posts)

[Arnwulf]

I do think the Pens will still be good this year, but you can't underestimate the people that they lost. Yes they have some young players ready to step in, but I think they'll get eliminated in 1st or 2nd round this year in the playoffs.

My Jackets, on the other hand, will hopefully figure out what to do with the millions of wingers we have and we'll be a better team this year. At least we have a competent backup at Goalie now so we don't have to ride the hell out of Steve Mason, and the addition of Pahlsson will be huge.

[Brill Weave]

Unfortunately we don't have the money right now for me to be able to pick up a season ticket package. I'll end up buying tickets for a few games here and there along the way though. Hmm predictions huh?

East
1. Washington
2. Boston
3. Pittsburgh
4. Philadelphia
5. Montreal
6. Rangers
7. Carolina
8. Tampa Bay

West
1. San Jose
2. Chicago
3. Calgary
4. Detroit
5. Anaheim
6. Vancouver
7. Columbus
8. Los Angeles

I think that Tampa Bay is going to turn some heads this year. They made huge improvements over last year's roster. The only concern they have is cap room now with all the signings they made. Montreal I expect to perform much more consistently with all of the moves they made to shore up some of the instability they had last year. One dark horse to watch this year, at least in my eyes, is Atlanta. They made a move to get Kovalchuk a good secondary scorer in Antropov and Ilya is playing for a monster contract this year so I really think they are going to come out firing.

As to the rest, Detroit makes it just from sheer will alone as far as I'm concerned. Even with losing Hudler, Kopecky, and Hossa they will still be in the hunt. That's a testament to the franchise. Chicago I think will challenge for the cup, but their one weak spot is goaltending. Here's my outrageous trade forecast. Ryan Miller will be traded to Chicago for Cristobal Huet and Patrick Sharp before the deadline. And Phil Kessel will be traded to Atlanta for Colby Armstrong and draft picks.

And everyone, let's be a little sensitive to Rata right now. The sting of losing Tanguay to Tampa Bay is still a bit too fresh for him. So until Rata tells us to stop, we will refer to Tanguay as Baron Von Skittlesworth.

[Ratatapa]

By the way there is 1 team that no one in this thread named and i think that we need to watch out, and is Toronto, they made some good trades so they might have a chance to do playoff this year.

As for brill, go to hell

[Brill Weave]

What? I was trying to be sensitive! It's not my fault they lost Baron Von Skittlesworth! I do think that his signing is going to push Tampa Bay closer to the playoffs. I can't lie though, Tampa Bay is doing exactly what they did when they first came into the league. They overloaded with high price free agents and made the playoffs. Then when they had salary issues they jettisoned everyone they could and toiled in obscurity for how many years until they drafted Lecavalier.

[Ratatapa]

WEll theres that rumor again that Tampa bay might be sold AGAIN.

But meh

Fuck you still

[Brill Weave]

Despite the fact that Tampa Bay has won a cup I still don't feel that they should even be in existance. Pick one, either the Panthers or the Lightning and then let the other leave town. Florida for the most part, doesn't give a shit about hockey.

[Abraxas]

ohhh hoho.

round 2 sepukku.

LET THE BATTEL BEGIN!!!!!

[Arnwulf]

I think the Lightning's problems stem from the turmoil in the front office. The ownership group never has really agreed on anything, and now they're on the brink of bankruptcy. I do think you're right about getting rid of one of the teams in Florida, let Sillyballs have one of those teams and move it to Hamilton so he can shut up.

[Brill Weave]

ohhh hoho.

round 2 sepukku.

LET THE BATTEL BEGIN!!!!!

Welcome back gentlemen. Assume your firing positions.

[Abraxas]

i forgot to say Brill, in regards to your mentioning having 2 different threads since its olympic season... id say go for it, but there will probably be people like Tyche who are offended by two threads about hockey.

i mean, its not like people have talking in that NFL thread since FEBRUARY.