2009-10 NHL Thread

[Thoronas]

Hell you don't even need to go that far back (but the Zezel trade was a total dick move for sure). Burke actually said on leafs tv that he heard the canucks were willing to trade Bieksa, Burrows and their number 1 pick for the second overall pick which would be Victor Hedman. It was all bullshit but hey Burke needs to have something to say right? It's not like the players mind hearing that shit.

He's a fucking asshole and the only person in hockey I dislike more is his lapdog Nonis.

[Brill Weave]

Let's just leave it at this. Brian Burke is a fucking faggot.

[Ishido]

Atlantic division seems to be the only one that year in and year out is pretty competitive. The other two aren't usually nearly as close. And back to what we were talking about Ishido. I definitely understand your point when it comes to some of those guys being fourth line pluggers and agitators. But I personally think that by keeping someone along the lines of Maltby or Holmstrom playing as much as they do, the Wings are shooting themselves in the foot by not giving that playing time to the youngsters they have down in Grand Rapids a chance to play.

That's a bit of a double edged sword though. Do you take the 22 year old winger out of Grand Rapids where he's playing 15 - 20 minutes a night and then plunk him on the third line where he might get 10 minutes tops? I think it's worth the risk. Look at Abdelkader and Helm for example. Neither one of them were expected to jump in and contribute much when they played in the playoffs. I think that both of them proved they are ready to play regularly in the NHL and would be able to contribute.

I'm not knocking the older guys who still contribute quite a bit(Cleary, Lidstrom, etc) but I will say that the Maltby's and Holmstrom's are doing nothing more than taking up roster space. Yes they can pass on their wealth of experience to the younger guys, but when they are taking minutes away from them things need to change.

Long story short. Detroit has the experience, familiarity, and talent to make another deep run into the playoffs. But I think they are going to come up short if they match up against the Blackhawks or another similarly up tempo, speedy team now that they are also getting Stanley Cup playoff experience.

Personally I think Maltby and Holmstrom are still around only because their contracts are up soon, and at least in Holmstrom's case it was really only last season where his production took a nosedive. I wouldn't mind getting rid of them but it would be hard to trade them, and would also come off making the organization look like they didn't give a shit about the players who have been around to win 4 cups for them. Also buying them out leaves you with part of their salary cap still on the books, so you need to be able to get good value out of the remainder to have it work out well. I'm looking forward to the cap situation after this season because Holmstrom and Maltby will be gone, and Lidstrom will be most likely signing a cheaper short term contract. Also Cleary is only 30, how do you go and rope him in with all the old guys.

That said I do think this season has the potential to be a "down year" for the Wings. I would not be surprised if they are among the 5-8 seeds for the playoffs, and I am sure they will not be favored if they do make it to the later rounds. Their play in the first 5 games has looked sloppy and tired, which I could understand if they had won the cup, but I would expect some energy after having come so close and not winning.

Abdelkader was actually centering the 3rd line last night with Helm on the 4th, and Draper scratched, which seemed interesting to me. I would have loved it if Abby had someone better to work with than Holmstrom though.

And Burke has made it clear through his actions that the Leafs will never be a decent team until he is gone.

[Brill Weave]

Well when it comes to Cleary I lump him in there because he's been playing professional hockey for almost 16 years now. Whether it be in AHL, OHL, or the NHL, that's a huge amount of wear and tear on a body. So while he's still a younger guy, that amount of playing is bound to have a negative impact on his performance sooner rather than later.

Their play in the first 5 games has looked sloppy and tired, which I could understand if they had won the cup, but I would expect some energy after having come so close and not winning.

Same thing happened with the Penguins last year. I expect Detroit to shake it off as they go along. But this is also where the age plays a part. Detroit has been lucky enough to go deep into the playoffs the last three years straight. Their offseason has been disgustingly short those three years. So I honestly think it was bound to happen with how much "extra" hockey they have been playing the last few years.

I expect to see Detroit in the playoffs. They'll shake it off and start playing better soon.

[Thoronas]

Dallas is destroying Nashville early on. Glad I bet on Dallas, gooooo Stars!! :D

[Norelco]

Looks like the Vanek injury isn't as bad as previously reported. He may be playing by this weekend.

[Izzy]

Looks like the Vanek injury isn't as bad as previously reported. He may be playing by this weekend.

Yea, I'd assume if he can deal with it and score two goals while being hurt, it couldn't be that bad.

[Sepukku]

Pens win, ho hum :D

Going to Pens-Blues game Tuesday! Can't wait!

[Palin]

My fantasy team just went apeshit with that 6-0 win, considering I have 4/6 of Dallas' top forwards on my team. Too bad I also have Arnott and Weber and my +- evened out!

Great win for the Stars. Great to see a shutout for Turco who's been struggling. True test comes against Boston and Chicago this weekend. If we win even one of those, I'll be pretty happy with the state of our team atm.

[Thoronas]

Fucking penguins almost cost me my sports bets. But I ended up winning all of them, 30 bucks got me 230 in winnings. :D

Saw some highlights and Ward looked awesome in net just didn't get enough help in front.

[BadKarma]

Rangers STILL won, even though they were badly outplayed. I think it's safe to say they are a good team now :D

[Sepukku]

Ward wasn't that spectacular. His save on Guerin was pretty insane (and pretty lucky), and he had a sick glove save in OT, but other than that, it was pretty ho hum stuff. Both goals he gave up he got beat REALLY bad on. First one Mike Rupp deked him out of his skates and the second he went down on a short side shot and Malkin made him his bitch almost from the exact same spot he raped him from in the playoffs.

[Absolutely Virtue]

Caps season-opening hell schedule finally ends tonight with the Sharks. To recap:

Bruins
Leafs (lol)
Flyers
Rangers
Wings
Devils
Sharks (tonight)

But after tonight:

Predators
Thrashers
Islanders
Flyers
Thrashers
Islanders
Jackets

Maybe we will start winning again.

Also, one thousand people have sent this to me today, but I didn't see it in this thread yet (forgive me if olde):

The most talked-about goal in Boston - The Boston Globe Bruins Blog - Boston.com

PPS for Bregor- Agreed and fuck Angelos. But I still have my fond memories of the Orioles before he began his reign of terror.

[Thoronas]

Oh fuck you BC lotto Corp. Because pittsburgh won in a shoot out the point spread goes to Carolina. So all my bets lost because of that.

[Dolmen]

Also, one thousand people have sent this to me today, but I didn't see it in this thread yet (forgive me if olde):

The most talked-about goal in Boston - The Boston Globe Bruins Blog - Boston.com

This was being talked about on The Mike Wise Show today on WJFK. Pretty nice agility for a 9 year old.

[Brill Weave]

I remember seeing this(or at least something similar?) last year. Very impressive for a 9 year old. And sorry about that Thor.

[Thoronas]

This was being talked about on The Mike Wise Show today on WJFK. Pretty nice agility for a 9 year old.

Yeah that goal has been all the major sports networks up here as well. I feel bad for that little goalie, he looked confused as hell. Also the father of the kid who scored played in the swedish elite league for years.

[Brill Weave]

I swear to God I thought I watched this same exact goal like a year ago. Is it the same one and people are just finding out now? Or what? Answer me!! This will bother me for the rest of the day until I know for a fact.

[Absolutely Virtue]

It was on SportsCenter this morning, and it's making the rounds on the internets today. ESPN seemed to think it was new.

[Ishido]

If it looks familiar I believe someone (Patrick Kane?) tried to do the same move at last year's skills competition.