2009-10 NHL Thread

[Ishido]

Jason Williams now out with a broken fibula. So now the Wings have him, Franzen, Filppula, and Lilja all on LTIR. And this comes after a loss to the Leafs of all teams. Maybe this will give some of the guys from Grand Rapids some time in the NHL, which might be nice to see, but they need to win games first and foremost. Then again the Wings haven't beaten the Leafs since the 06-07 season.

[Sepukku]

Cam Ward is out indefinitely too now after having his leg sliced open by Rick Nash in the crease yesterday. Was bad enough that he stayed in the Columbus hospital rather than flying out with the team.

Everyone is falling apart ?_? (And I don't believe its the result of the compacted Olympics schedule)

[Ishido]

It really seems that way more than other years. I doubt it's because of the Olympics, more likely the impending Apocalypse caused by the Pens winning the Cup.

[Palin]

Wouldn't be surprised if the NHL opens up to some changes to make the game less dangerous to players next year, if this keeps up. The best suggestion I've heard is conforming to the European ice rink standards, as it allows more open ice and increased scoring like the NHL wants, but I doubt that'll ever happen.

[Sepukku]

Wouldn't be surprised if the NHL opens up to some changes to make the game less dangerous to players next year, if this keeps up. The best suggestion I've heard is conforming to the European ice rink standards, as it allows more open ice and increased scoring like the NHL wants, but I doubt that'll ever happen.

As that son of a bitch Vince McMahon would say, No chance in Hell!

Not cause the NHL couldn't benefit from it - but because good luck with the alterations that would require at the 30 arenas around the country. Additionally, even if you feasibly could change all the arenas, bigger rink = less seats = less revenue.

[Sepukku]

The majority of these injuries have nothing to do with the Olympic schedule:

--Cam Ward and Andrei Markov both having their legs sliced - that will get you regardless of a compacted schedule or not.

--Simon Gagne was bothered by his injury before the season even started.

--Jonathan Toews' injury happens regardless of schedule density, that hit was just brutal.

--Can't count Phil Kessel / Marian Hossa's injuries.

Only big name injury I've heard that sounded like "overworked" is Luongo's ribs cracking, but the Canucks overwork him every year.

[vagus]

lol. Well the good news is Luongo should be playing again this week. 6 injuries... brutal...

Considering the injuries, i am very happy with the results the past 3 weeks. Lol.

[Oxyminus]

Brandon Dubinsky broke his wrist, and Chris Drury has a concussion. Lovely

I don't think it's that far of a stretch to say our season is in fairly serious jeopardy depending on how long one, or both of them are out.

Figure Prospal gets shifted to 1st line center, Anisimov gets moved to 2nd line...then what? PAP played some center...he may get a shot.

And more importantly, the fact that nobody did ANYTHING after Glencross took down Drury...is fucking appalling

[Sepukku]

YouTube - DANY HEATLEY what he's really thinking.....

[Brill Weave]

as I frankly think hes a huge liability

You're kidding me right? While he's not the most responsible defenseman in the league, Letang is nowhere near a liability. He's occasionally caught out of position but nine times out of ten his speed is able to close the gap. Plus, in case you've forgotten, Letang is only 22 years old. Young players don't magically wake up one morning and become the second coming of Scott Stevens.

By having Letang out this does nothing to make him a better player. And there is no way in hell any coach in their right mind is going to bench a player like Letang for someone like Ben Lovejoy. While I enjoy the Eaton lunacy as much as anyone here, let's not forget that he is Mark Eaton. For someone who is as big a Penguins fan as you claim to be Sep, hoping for Mark Eaton to be on the powerplay is idiocy at best.

[BadKarma]

I don't think it's that far of a stretch to say our season is in fairly serious jeopardy depending on how long one, or both of them are out.

Figure Prospal gets shifted to 1st line center, Anisimov gets moved to 2nd line...then what? PAP played some center...he may get a shot.

And more importantly, the fact that nobody did ANYTHING after Glencross took down Drury...is fucking appalling

Forsberg wants to come back to the NHL. So, its either him or Evegeny Grachev

[Sepukku]

I'm sorry - I'll take Mark Eaton over Kris Letang any day of the week and I know I'm not the only one who shares that sentiment - Bylsma hates Letang. Letang is a sissy little piece of shit. He's fast, thats it. Hes got 2 years more experience than GoGo and GoGo is better than him both offensively and defensively already.

Letang has DIRECTLY accounted for at least a half dozen goals against us this season. Against the Kings he looked like a 1st baseman playing in center field on Kopitar's opening goal. Later in the game, in one Kings offensive posession TWICE Letang failed to carry/pass/flip the puck out of the zone after it came to him, I was about to pull my sexy maine of young adult chin hair out I was screaming at him so badly. Offensively, since Letang and GoGo have become the blueline pairing for the PP, I noticed during the Kings game that Letang was repeatedly passing it back to Crosby to his right, never looking to his left to make the backhand pass (or turn and make a forehand pass) to GoGo. He also refused to shoot too. He just kept taking it from Crosby and then giving it back to him for a 1-timer, never looking at the left half of the ice for GoGo or Guerin/Kunitz.

Hes a 6-7/10 on both the offensive and defensive side of the puck, but no one gives a shit for anyone who's average at everything - they want people who specialize in one thing, whether its in FFXI, hockey, or RL. My employer won't care for half of the things I'm capable of doing - just that I'm capable of doing well the thing he brought me in there to do. Its nice that he can play ok offensive D, but when we have Gonch and GoGo, "OK" doesn't get you much Power Play time. Its nice that he can play decent defense, but when a games on the line and we have the likes or Orpik, Gonch, Eaton, and Mckee, decent doesn't get you on with a minute left.

He's even good at the shootout, I'll give him that - but hes the jack of all trades and master of none. We have 2 better offensive D and 4-5 better defensive D, and you only need 2 defenseman on the ice at any given point.

[Vaspinne]

And more importantly, the fact that nobody did ANYTHING after Glencross took down Drury...is fucking appalling

As a Flames fan, I'm not condoning the hit to the head. It was a clear head shot, and if Glenny were to get a couple games suspension, I wouldn't be surprised. But I think the reason why there wasn't such an uprising from the Rangers were from a few reasons; 1) It happened early in the game and no one was really expecting it. 2) Glencross isn't at all a notorious hitter. Sure, he gets some bumps in here or there, but he's not at all known as a goon. And 3) no one on the ice or bench really saw it that clearly. John Tortorella even said this.

Still, this season there has been a lot of head shots and even injuries in general. Most injuries are just due to things that are bound to happen on the ice. I mean, how often does a guy get his leg cut from a skate? It sucks that it happened to Cam Ward, but Nash didn't do it on purpose. I do think that the GM's need to look into head shots though. There have been too many lately. Find some sort of penalty that wouldn't necessarily warn players to stop hitting, but to get in their heads not to aim for the head.

[Oxyminus]

Forsberg wants to come back to the NHL. So, its either him or Evegeny Grachev

Sather went on record last week saying that the Rangers had interest in Foopa, but it's far from a sure thing. 1) will his foot hold up? 2) he'll probably want to go to a SERIOUS contender. I'd say if we added Forsberg with both Dubinsky and Drury, we're close, but with him replacing one of them, we're two steps back, one forward. Basically, no guarantee he'd sign here. 3) if he signs, you're gonna have some cap trouble once dubi or drury come off LTIR. Of course I'd love to see him here, I'm just concerned.

Vasp -- I'm not saying Glencross is a dirty player. But you can't let that happen. Don't retaliate because it's early? Fuck that. Guy headshotted your captian. You do something and move on. Guy takes out your captain, he has to pay. It's that simple.

[Brill Weave]

I would love to know where you're getting your information from Sep. Letang is regularly at the top when it comes to minutes. And that was before Gonchar was injured. So for someone that Bylsma supposedly hates(once again, would love to see your source), he gets an extraordinary amount of ice time. The only player on the team that gets more ice time than Letang is Gonchar. There's a reason for that. Because he's an offensive weapon. In case you haven't noticed, when the Pens ran a defensive system with Therrien, they floundered. They couldn't string together wins. They couldn't get reliable scoring. They were treading water.

When they brought in Bylsma he immediately changed the system into an attack first mentality. You want shut down defense, go to New Jersey and play the trap. Pittsburgh is not a defensive team. At all. The Pens made timely stops and take advantage of turnovers in the transition game. While Mark Eaton has had a few extremely clutch goals, he is not an offensively gifted player. Period.

He's going to get a few goals. But if you're looking for him to jump on for regular ice time on the powerplay you're essentially handcuffing yourself. There's a reason why players like Paul Coffey played on the powerplay. It's because they are dangerous with the puck. Coffey was definitely not the most defensively responsible player in his time. He was a defensive liability. Yet teams lined up trying to get him. And why is that?

Because he was offensively gifted. He could skate. He could score. I'm going to say something to you that I say to every yinzer I meet that says we should trade Jordan Staal. Stop the soccer mom knee jerk reaction. Be patient. He's 22 years old and only in his third full year in the league. The kid's already won a Stanley Cup. And every single year he raises his point total. Remember what happened when the Penguins had another young offensively gifted defenseman named Andrew Ference? They saddled him with far too much responsibility and as a result his production never improved. Same with Michael Roszival. And now both have had very long, successful careers in the league.

The ship is not sinking. There's is no reason to panic because the Penguins have lost two in a row. It's a long season and you risk fucking yourself over by not expressing confidence in one of your extremely young offensive weapons. Defensive defenseman are a dime a dozen. Mark Eaton included. Look at how easily we lured Jay McKee here for all the proof. Young offensively talented defenseman are not as easy to come by.

[Sepukku]

You mean the Rozsival and Ference that aren't even in the top D pair's on their respective teams PP?

You spent several paragraphs talking down Mark Eaton. I will overlook that transgression, but the true point of my last post was not talking up Eaton, but talking down Letang. Bylsma scratched Letang a couple games last March after Letang shit his pants a few time, if you'll recall.

Additionally, comparing Letang to Paul Coffey is ridiculous. Coffey is one of the top 10 defensemen in NHL History. And can we stop calling Letang a weapon? When he has the puck, I do not get anxious. I do not get eager, suspecting an impending Penguins goal. This is not the result of 2 games' frustration. This is the result of watching this mediocre defenseman be overhyped for 3 years now. He should not be quarterbacking our PP, even with Gonchar hurt. If anything, it should be Goligoski at the right point ignoring Letang to HIS left. Also - the "He has a stanley cup, therefore he's good" argument is HILARIOUS. You do realize Hal Gill has a Stanley Cup too, right? :b

I'm by no means claiming (and have not at any point said) we should trade Letang - hes a young, cheap, 2nd line D-man, but by no means deserving of being on the main PP once Gonch is back and by no means a franchise asset. He needs to stop making mistakes. Its his 3rd full year, 4th overall in the bigs. Grow up. Blowing your coverage or turning it up coming out of your zone is okay if it happens once or twice a season, no one is ever mistake free, but Letang has already counted on both my hands how many times hes screwed up this year. Goligoski is in his second year and doesn't blow shit, except the puck by the goalie.

[Brill Weave]

I'm sorry Sep but I disagree with you there. Goligoski has yet to even play a full season in the NHL. My point in mentioning the Stanley Cup is that if he was not a capable player he wouldn't have a ring. He would have been down in the minors throughout the whole run. .

And I'm sorry but come on Sep. You don't say a single word about Letang's so called inefficiencies until they've lost two in a row and have looked awful on the ice. I'm not buying that. Now all of a sudden he's a liability and not worth putting out on the powerplay. I'm not entirely sure what games you're watching, but apart from the Kings game I think Letang has played fairly well this season.

He needs to stop making mistakes. Its his 3rd full year, 4th overall in the bigs. Grow up. Blowing your coverage or turning it up coming out of your zone is okay if it happens once or twice a season, no one is ever mistake free, but Letang has already counted on both my hands how many times hes screwed up this year. Goligoski is in his second year and doesn't blow shit, except the puck by the goalie.

Again, I will state this. Letang is 22 years old. Can you please show me what 22 year old defenseman in the NHL doesn't make mistakes? Can you show me what 22 year old defenseman get the amount of ice time that Letang does.

Goligoski is also two years older than Letang. Which certainly plays a factor in the way he handles situations in comparison. Moreover going by stats alone, if you look at Goligoski's stats from last year if you run that out over a full season, his offensive production is almost the same as Letang's.

Sorry buddy. Normally I agree with you but dropping Letang from the powerplay is an asinine reaction to an anemic powerplay. He's 22 years old. He has a ton of talent whether you think he's overhyped or not. He and Goligoski are the future of the Penguins blueline. Just because he's not setting the world on fire right now doesn't mean it's time to pull the plug.

Goligoski doesn't make mistakes? Well now I remember why debating things with you is so frustrating lol.

[Abraxas]

THANK YOU!!!!

[Ivaden]

Only thing I've agreed with Sepukku on in these past few posts has been keeping Goligoski and Letang on their one-timing side.

Sepukku, sorry bud, but you're just verbally fellating Goligoski as much as knucklehead Errey and Steigerwald do night to night. It seems like you're downing Letang in an attempt to put Goligoski in a higher light for whatever reason, but the people who actually still pay you any mind have been well aware of your mancrush for Alex since last year. They've both made quite a few mistakes, mostly on the powerplay. Goligoski has fumbled the puck and forced our players to retreat from an offsides quite a few times. They've both made D to D passes that did the same thing because they were off a bit.

[Sepukku]

And I'm sorry but come on Sep. (1) You don't say a single word about Letang's so called inefficiencies until they've lost two in a row and have looked awful on the ice. I'm not buying that. Now all of a sudden he's a liability and not worth putting out on the powerplay. I'm not entirely sure what games you're watching, (2) but apart from the Kings game I think Letang has played fairly well this season.

Goligoski is also two years older than Letang. Which certainly plays a factor in the way he handles situations in comparison. (3) Moreover going by stats alone, if you look at Goligoski's stats from last year if you run that out over a full season, his offensive production is almost the same as Letang's.

(4) Goligoski doesn't make mistakes? Well now I remember why debating things with you is so frustrating lol.

(1) I have plenty of unpleasent dispositions, but Letang has been the biggest flaw so far in this past 1-3-0 hiccup. I could start on Fleury if you want me to...

(2) You clearly didn't watch the Phoenix game...

(3) Goligoski's rookie year = Letang's 2nd full/3rd year? GJ Letang.

(4) #1 +/- in the NHL, even after the Kings game (not sure after the Sharks game).

Bottom line, 22 years old aside cause I think we view that differently me being under 22 and you being so old you might ascend Mount Sinai and bring back some scriptural tablets, hes a professional athlete. He gets payed big money, even if still on his initial contract, and has been in the league for 3-4 years now and has to be accountable for his errors. There are no free passes. These are not exhibition games.