At 4/21/10 01:05 AM, michelinman wrote: FUCK JOE PAVELSKI. That is all.

Any chance you can keep it down to a dull roar?

Please try and refrain from "Dream-of-Duke" posting - when you post updates of the game throughout and then get pissed off when your team loses. We can talk about it like civilised fans. As I'm sure you will agree, EternitySpent has so much more to bitch about than we do this season, yet he doesn't come on ranting that all Maple Leafs players should be sacked along with the management.

We go to HP Pavillion and try to capture a win there. We've done it before, but whether we win or lose, we've done our young team proud this year and we will be even better in time for the '10-'11 season.

Aha, it's different with the Leafs though - it's kind of like having a really dumb friend, despite the ineptitude, you still love them inexplicably. They could go like 12-70, Nets style, and I would probably still rock my Leafs shirt without shame. A rebuilding season is a rebuilding season and it was a long time coming in Toronto - and Colorado really.

I could see how that last game stings from an Av's perspective though. I was out most of the day and only caught the 3rd period and the overtime, but from what I saw it was the first time in the series Colorado looked as equals to the Sharks in effort and level of play. The one game they actually deserved to win is the one they lose, but that's hockey.

I'm interested to see the Kings-Canucks game tonight. It seems the most evenly matched series of the bunch and my prediction of the Kings as the darkhorse team in the west is looking pretty solid. I joined a fantasy playoff pool and I was the only one to take Kopitar and Quick, and one of like 3 that have Doughty, unfortunately I coupled all my Kings with Devils, which didn't pan out. Though my Sharks-Penguins team still has a shot to net me a small monetary gain.

At 4/21/10 04:03 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 4/21/10 01:05 AM, michelinman wrote: FUCK JOE PAVELSKI. That is all.

Please try and refrain from "Dream-of-Duke" posting - when you post updates of the game throughout and then get pissed off when your team loses. We can talk about it like civilised fans.

I was hyped up about that game all day, and it turned out to be one of the most exciting ones I've seen in a long time. During overtime, there was scoring chances on both sides every 2 minutes that took an act of god just to stop the puck from going in. Both teams fought their hearts out, and the game didn't disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat and going "OH MY GOD I CAN'T WATCH!" every ten seconds like a teenage girl watching an M Night Shamalamaninman movie for the first time. Cut me some slack on the reaction for that one. :p I don't think a Dream-of-Duke comparison is necessary. Haha.

As I'm sure you will agree, EternitySpent has so much more to bitch about than we do this season, yet he doesn't come on ranting that all Maple Leafs players should be sacked along with the management.

I wasn't personally attacking Joe Pavelski. I wasn't thinking that Joe Pavelski needed to die or fuck the sharks or anything like that. If I remember right, my line of thinking was more along the lines of "AWWWWWW!" Haha. I said fuck Joe Pavelski, but it didn't mean I don't respect the guy. He came through on a clutch play and won the game for his team. Nabakov did a hell of a job too behind net. There was a few scoring chances in the 2nd and 3rd that there's no way he should have been able to stop, and if he hadn't, the game wouldn't have gone into OT. It was just such a close goddamn game. Ugh. Haha.

Hopefully tonights game will be as exciting. I'm loving this series right now. And coop, you gotta remember, we were last years Maple Leafs. It makes being in the playoffs right now that much more emotional. I'm sure if the Leafs made the playoffs next year after being ranked dead last in the NHL for most of the year, EternitySpent would be bouncing up and down in an epic close game 4 that could give the Leafs a 3-1 lead in the series.

At 4/21/10 12:10 PM, EternitySpent wrote: Aha, it's different with the Leafs though - it's kind of like having a really dumb friend, despite the ineptitude, you still love them inexplicably. They could go like 12-70, Nets style, and I would probably still rock my Leafs shirt without shame.

I'm an Oakland Raiders fan, so I now exactly what you're talking about. Haha.

I could see how that last game stings from an Av's perspective though. I was out most of the day and only caught the 3rd period and the overtime, but from what I saw it was the first time in the series Colorado looked as equals to the Sharks in effort and level of play. The one game they actually deserved to win is the one they lose, but that's hockey.

Everything about that game was completely equal. So unpredictable. Anderson gave up the first goal of the game on his first shot, and of course "Are we about to get blown out?" came to mind, but he rebounded and it ended up being one of the best games I've seen in a long time.

At 4/22/10 03:21 PM, Gooch wrote: Lot of sweet hockey tonight. Of course, you know I'm going to intently eye the Avs/Sharks game. If San Jose loses this one tonight, I don't think they're coming back home for a game seven. I honestly don't.

I'm not making any predictions about this series after the last game. A win tonight would be amazing and put us in a spot where we just have to win 1 of the next 2 games to take the series, but I have no idea how it's gonna pan out. Just hoping and praying right now. Haha.

*sigh* It's over. We definitely had what it took to beat out San Jose, but can't even begin to make the slightest complaint about our season. And next years looks even more promising. The only real need on the team is someone better than Budaj to back up Anderson so he doesn't have to start 99.98 percent of our games for us to be competitive. Hopefully our young guys put in work over the offseason and everyone comes back better than they were at the end of this season. Stoked we made the playoffs though. It's really unbelievable when you look back on where we started. Rookie coach, 19 year old kids starting, ranked dead last in the league in the beginning, and we kicked some ass this year. Lots of respect for everyone on the team. Now lets improve on it for next year. :)

But this years not over yet, and I love the cinderalla story, so lets go Phoenix!

At 4/21/10 04:03 AM, Coop83 wrote: Please try and refrain from "Dream-of-Duke" posting

Where's the update? You are late!!! Waahh! :)

At 4/22/10 03:57 PM, Canas wrote: Gotta love them Flyers. Always been a Philly fan in hiding, I like the way they bruise. . .

Broad Street Bullies reborn?

At 4/26/10 02:50 AM, michelinman wrote: But this years not over yet, and I love the cinderalla story, so lets go Phoenix!

Ah yes, Game 7.
There is nothing like it in sports especially in hockey. I really do hope they pull out a win; who knows if they are going to stay in Phx for too long after the season.

I did not hit her, it's not true, it's bullshit, I did not hit her, I did nahhhhhhhhhhhht...

Oh haiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Club.

So, how about those Vancouver Canucks? I really loved the 7-2 blow out game, y'know, made up for the embarrassing lost to the Kings on April 1st. That was almost as good as the last game of the regular season where the Nucks bitchslapped the Flames around for 3 periods. Mostly for Rypien just destroying Clune.

But yeah, fun series, and thanks again Detroit for Samuelsson :D

At 4/21/10 12:10 PM, EternitySpent wrote: I could see how that last game stings from an Av's perspective though.

It stings from my point of view as a fan, but the prediction was bang on, with the Sharks outplaying us in 6. We have blooded most of our rookie skaters and they will be better prepared for a playoffs series next season.

At 4/22/10 03:21 PM, Gooch wrote: So if Nashville wins tonight, I'd consider the Blackhawks, who were preliminary favorites to win the Stanley Cup, done for.

A chance for the Hawks to advance tonight. We've got three games and all could decide the series, leaving Detroit and Phoenix to duke it out in game seven. I still can't call that series. Maybe the Avs will play like the Coyotes next year?

At 4/22/10 03:57 PM, Canas wrote: Sad night for hockey last night, really cheering against the Canucks.

Love them or hate tham, you've got to admit that Vancouver is playing a very entertaining style of hockey. Even as an Avs fan I can see this.

At 4/26/10 02:50 AM, michelinman wrote: *sigh* It's over. We definitely had what it took to beat out San Jose, but can't even begin to make the slightest complaint about our season.

We were beaten by a better team. We have given our players experience and Andy is proving to be the acquisition of the season, no doubt there.

And next years looks even more promising. The only real need on the team is someone better than Budaj to back up Anderson so he doesn't have to start 99.98 percent of our games for us to be competitive.

I agree - we need to get a decent backup goalie (farm system?) and perhaps trade away players like Svatos, who has fallen apart after his one mediocre season.

At 4/26/10 04:06 AM, reverend wrote:

At 4/21/10 04:03 AM, Coop83 wrote: Please try and refrain from "Dream-of-Duke" posting

Where's the update? You are late!!! Waahh! :)

Nah, he kept coming into the baseball thread and either going on about how good the Red Sox were, because they scored a run in the first inning, or as their star pitcher gave up a home run that Theo Epstein should be shot. Score updates after games are fine, as are talking about major incidents (Keith Ballard laying out Tomas Vokoun would be a good example from this year), but we don't need score updates, as we're not a chat room or watching a different game on FOX :P

At 4/26/10 04:32 AM, MattTheParanoidKat wrote: So, how about those Vancouver Canucks?

Lap it up, I'm counting on breakout seasons for Mueller and Duchene next year ;)

At 4/26/10 08:42 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 4/26/10 04:32 AM, MattTheParanoidKat wrote: So, how about those Vancouver Canucks?

Lap it up, I'm counting on breakout seasons for Mueller and Duchene next year ;)

Jesus, I am older than Duchene by 2 years... makes me wonder what I could have done with my life. Those Avs of yours did a fine job in the Regular season. Got a lot of young guys looking to be the next Joe Sakic. And you kept the flames out of the playoffs, so yeah good on the Avs. Did your best all things considered :P

Not going to lie I was cheering against the Canucks too. A really good team there in LA, too bad they couldn't get it clicking 5 on 5 and Quick started to falter as the series wore on. Given the strides he made, in a couple more years Doughty could be the best defenceman in the league and the core there is still pretty young, most teams need to get their feet wet with a first round exit before they really make a long run into May-June, San Jose liked it so much they went back for seconds actually.

All the series' that interested me are now over, save the game 7 back in Phoenix. Watching Buffalo-Boston is like watching paint dry and when I watch Montreal-Washington, I find myself cheering for the Canadiens, an awkward position for a Leaf fan.

Definitely wasn't rooting for the Canucks. They have annoyed the shit out of me this year, because it seemed like no matter how hot the Avs were going into games against them, Vancouver always seemed to get the better of them. I will say that between the Sedins and Luongo (the only goalie in the NHL who is also a team captain), I wouldn't count them out. They can stand up against any team in the NHL. The Kings played GREAT this year, and Vancouver pretty much walked over them. Gotta be a good faith builder for you Nucks fans.

Getting rid of Svatos wouldn't hurt. Maybe we could make some kind of deal with him and Budaj and get a decent goalie out of it this offseason. Duchene said he's idolized Sakic since he was a little kid, so I'm kind of hoping he fills those shoes one day as well. We've also got some good goal scorers in Stewart, Mueller, and O'Reilly coming back. Looking forward to next year. I read an article some time earlier this season and we've got a lot more young goal scorers coming on the team in the next year or two. Looking good.

And I want to root for Washington because I WANT to like Ovechkin. He's got some of the best raw talent that the NHL has ever seen. But shit like this makes it really hard to. He sprayed some little kid with ice during the pregame show because he was wearing a Habs jersey. Who the fuck does that? I haven't watched one of the games yet, but I'm sure I'd find myself rooting for the Canadiens too.

Game 7 between the Red Wings and the Coyotes though. Looking forward to that more than anything. I think Chicago will easily win one of the next 2 games against Nashville. Does anyone think that the Sabres are going to come back? I mean of course it's a possibility, but anyone think that it's going to? I think the Bruins have put themselves in a spot where it really is their series to lose. And I don't see them doing that.

So now Pittsburgh is in position to get either Boston or Montreal in the Eastern Conference semi-final, not a bad place to be I dare say, as both teams have definite weaknesses.

I honestly hope the Canadiens can do it. I dislike Ovechkin, Backstrom, Boudreau, Semin, pretty much everything Capitals and a Montreal win would set up a Boston-Philadelphia matchup, which would be rather awesome.

At 4/26/10 09:21 AM, MattTheParanoidKat wrote:

At 4/26/10 08:42 AM, Coop83 wrote:

At 4/26/10 04:32 AM, MattTheParanoidKat wrote: So, how about those Vancouver Canucks?

Lap it up, I'm counting on breakout seasons for Mueller and Duchene next year ;)

Jesus, I am older than Duchene by 2 years... makes me wonder what I could have done with my life.

I'll let you know what it's like when players the same age as me start to retire - it's going to be a few years yet, but I get the feeling that it's going to be weird.

Those Avs of yours did a fine job in the Regular season. Got a lot of young guys looking to be the next Joe Sakic.

Well, with Anderson trying to be the next Patrick Roy (or the original Craig Anderson), do we just need the next Peter Forsberg? No, because we need someone to anchor the defense, which is still the main issue. Expect to see some drafting work from there - we're either too inexperienced or too old. Liles is the only one in neither camp.

And you kept the flames out of the playoffs, so yeah good on the Avs. Did your best all things considered :P

Yeah, I'm still saying this has been a great year for Colorado. Next year, we're back in the saddle, when it comes to hockey time :D

At 4/27/10 02:46 AM, EternitySpent wrote: So now Pittsburgh is in position to get either Boston or Montreal in the Eastern Conference semi-final, not a bad place to be I dare say, as both teams have definite weaknesses.

The best result for Pittsburgh is for Washington to get through. If Montreal wins, they will ride such a wave of momentum and the crowd will certainly be up for it when Pittsburgh come to town in games 3 and 4.

Montreal just made it :)

I really hope they can beat Pittsburgh, but it's going to be really hard though.

Semi-Final Predictions.

EAST

4. Pittsburgh / 8. Montreal. Penguins in 5. Washington isn't really a team, Pittsburgh has all the individual skill of the Capitals, but employ an actual system - this will make all the difference in the world.

6. Boston / 7. Philadelphia. Flyers in 7. The Bruins are sort of like the poor man's Flyers. Rask and Savard are the X-factors, but even without Carter and Gagne I think the Flyers are the stronger team. Pronger can match Chara stride for stride and I just fail to see where the Bruins offense will come from.

1. San Jose / 5. Detroit. Sharks in 7. Detroit, though still a good team are not the Red Wings of old; and though they are capable of completely taking over a game as they did in game 7 against Phoenix, will eventually falter. Heatley and Thornton can't be kept off the score sheet forever. San Jose has yet to play their best hockey in the playoffs, but should find their stride around game 2 or 3, then cruise to victory.

2. Chicago / 3. Vancouver. The hardest series to call, but I have to go with Blackhawks in 6. The Canucks had no secondary scoring in the first round, and Chicago has one of the best shutdown tandems in the league in store for the Sedin's and Luongo has failed to prove he can steal one from Kane and Toews.

Also: Halak/Ovechkin: From "shaky hands" to shaking hands. Got to love it.

First Round Summary
One point for the correct team, a bonus point if the games number was predicted:
Washington - Montreal : 0pts
New Jersey - Philadelphia : 1 Pts
Buffalo - Boston : 0 Pts
Pittsburgh - Ottawa : 1 Pts

San Jose - Colorado : 2 Pts
Chicago - Nashville : 1 Pts
Vancouver - Los Angeles : 1 Pts
Phoenix - Detroit : 2 Pts

I seem to have had the knack out West, but the Eastern Conference is much more difficult... so far.

Right, so onward we march.

Second Round
Western Conference

San Jose (1) Vs. Detroit (5)
Possibly the only upset of the first round in the West, was seeing Detroit beating plucky Phoenix in seven games. Though there is much cause for joy in Phoenix, they have rebuilt magnificently and will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future and they pushed a resurgent Detroit team to the limit over the course of that thrilling series. Will that have taken it out of Detroit? Possibly, but on a team with such depth, does that really matter?

San Jose had an equally rocky trip to the Conference Semi-finals, narrowly squeezing out the plucky young guns in Colorado. Another team to watch for the 2010-'11 season, the scare was on when Craig Anderson turned aside 51 shots from the Sharks, so they felt it would be easier to score on Evgeni Nabokov, so duly obliged. That series ground down the Avalanche resolve, as they had dug deep down the stretch to beat out Calgary for the 8th and final playoff spot, meaning that there is work to be done for an ambitious squad to really take hold of the potential that they have shown. The Avalanche relied too heavily upon Anderson in the end and lost it without being able to produce too much offensive support. Injuries to key players such as Hejduk and Mueller certainly did not help, but it merely brought on the inevitable.

Detroit have a wealth of playoff experience and San Jose have a lot of expectations of "You'd better do well this time" from the fans. A potent combination. A more experienced squad, combined with a young, ambitious goalie means that Detroit will surely test San Jose's playoff credentials to the limit.

Without question, San Jose needs production from the first line of Heatley, Thornton and Marleau. Joe Pavelski provided the heroics against Colorado, but the big guns need to fire in order to keep Detroit from running riot.

Coop's Verdict : Detroit in 6. The toughest possible matchup for San Jose and I think that Colorado showed that there are some glaring chinks in the Shark's armour.

Chicago (2) Vs. Vancouver (3)
A top line that seems as comfortable as triplets and a gold medal winning goaltender. Could this be Vancouver's year to get on the cup? Every year that the Canucks do well, the questions are raised. Honours were even between the two sides in the regular season, with two wins apiece and no overtime to separate them. Anti Niemi does have the lone shutout amongst these games, but will the Blackhawks get the offensive support they need against a highly potent lineup?

Judging by the stats, Chicago skaters will need to up their scoring game, coming up against the defensive prowess of Luongo et all. Still, with Niemi firing well at present, leading the way with 2 shutouts in 4 wins so far, they could have some safe hands of their own in net.

Detroit must be cursing that they let Mikael Samuelsson get away, as he leads the goal scoring for the postseason so far, with seven tallies in six games, leaving him 2 points short of his career best for the postseason (13 points in 22 games) This rivalry can only get hotter and as a neutral, I will watch all of the games with interest!

Coop's Verdict: Canucks in 7. While Niemi is good, he was not tested against a particularly weak offense in Nashville. Now he needs to come up with the goods and big, in order to stake Chicago's claim to the cup. Vancouver has plenty of scoring experience and Luongo in goal, so big game goaltending is there to stay.

I'll do the East tomorrow, when I've had a chance to sleep on it - Posted the West tonight, before Detroit and San Jose go at it.

How about the Red Wings? Down 3-0 in the series, then beat the living piss out of San Jose 7-1. That's what hockey is all about. I wouldn't count them out of this one just yet. Boston appears to be running away from Philadelphia, and the Canadiens are sticking right with the Penguins. Very interesting Semifinals. I'd like to see Canadiens-Flyers (Flyers are hopeless right now it appears though), and Red Wings-Canucks. We'll see how it all plays out though. You guys still keeping an eye on this stuff?

- lol@Hamhuis. Nashville >> Philly >> Pittsburgh >> Vancouver.

- Bieksa for Filatov? ehh...

- Niitymaaki as the Sharks' starting netminder? iunno about over a full year...

- Blackhawks are having fun trying to dump salary for what one would assume is to pay Antti Niemi more money than he deserves. Byfuglien, Ladd, Sopel, Versteeg, Eager, Fraser and Akim Aliu all out...coming back in those trades: Viktor Stalberg, Marty Reasoner, Ivan Vishnevskiy, Jeremy Morin, Joey Crabb, two prospects, wo 2nd-round picks and a 1st-round and 6th-round pick.

- Jokinen back to Calgary? really? Tanguay is one thing, but Olli?

Peace to Tambellini, good luck trying to get shit together in Vancouver.

3 Million dollars for Colby-Fucking-Armstrong? Really? Really? The first move Burke has made that just doesn't make any sense to me, but whatever - everybody gets one.

Gonchar to Ottawa is the one that surprised me, I knew he was a UFA, but sort of assumed Pittsburgh would resign him before he was actually on the open market.

Defensemen really seemed to be the hot commodity this year. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing for the Leafs in terms of trying to move Kaberle, it shows that the market is there, but at the same time a lot of the teams that were serious potential suitors now have picked up alternatives elsewhere.

And I don't think even Columbus is foolish enough to give up a dynamic player with 30+ goal potential for a #3 d-man at best; and if they are, shit they can have Kaberle, lol. I don't see why they would want to move Filatov now anyways since Hitchcock is gone.

^Jokinen x2 lols

also, YEEEEEAH ZENON KENOPKA

hahah, I saw part of the Sutter press conference on sportsnet and he looked like a spaced out vagrant; like he was kept up all night by angry flames fans egging and toilet papering his house or something. I guess Matt Stajan didn't turn out to be the first line centre he was looking for, go figure.

I wonder who is going to bite the big dirty Souray bullet, and what's up with the Islanders going after Kovalchuck? Seems like a really bizarre move to want to make at this stage in their rebuilding process. Where would he play anyways, it would be ridiculous to have him play with Tavares, so I guess he would have to be with Bailey or something and I don't know enough about the Islanders to speculate on how that would play out.

At 7/3/10 09:06 AM, EternitySpent wrote: I wonder who is going to bite the big dirty Souray bullet, and what's up with the Islanders going after Kovalchuck? Seems like a really bizarre move to want to make at this stage in their rebuilding process. Where would he play anyways, it would be ridiculous to have him play with Tavares, so I guess he would have to be with Bailey or something and I don't know enough about the Islanders to speculate on how that would play out.

Wouldn't be too bad. If there's one thing Josh Bailey is very good at so far in his young career, it's passing. Dude is not much of a goalscorer, but he still managed close to 20 this year while being moved around a fair amount (center, wing, back to center, etc)

I don't think it would be at all ridiculous to put Tavares and Kovy on the same line. FFS, we had Tavares paired with Matt Moulson and John Tavs helped him to 30 goals. A line of Kovalchuk-Tavares-Okposo would definitely help us score some goals, which we've been terrible at for a few years now.

It makes as much sense as the Islanders as it doesn't, really...there are positives and negatives to both sides. We need to spend a good amount more on one or more players to meet the salary cap floor, so Kovalchuk for ... say 10yrs @ $10 million per would fill that issue. But by the same token, we could sign multiple vets for cheap to fill out the bottom lines (Aaron Ashem redux? Jeff Halpern?) and still meet the floor without further constricting us down the road.

We could use a big-name player to help us market NOW (in that I mean Okposo and/or Tavares aren't there yet)...but then again, Exhibit A: Yashin, Exhibit B: DiPietro....we don't need to pay for anymore albatross contracts.

There's some belief that Kovy's star power would help us get the green light on the Lighthouse Project (or perhaps help a move to KC), but I don't think you can effectively place someone like Kovalchuk in the same realm of marketability as an Ovechkin, a Crosby, perhaps not even a Toews at this point.

But you know that wacky Charles Wang...he loves his wacky moves. OHHH WE GON TRADE LUONGO AND DRAFT THIS GOALIE AT #1....LET'S TRADE OUR MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM FOR HALF A YEAR OF RYAN SMYTH; STANLEY CUP BITCHES!!!....OOH LAWD WE GON GIVE THAT GOALIE WITH A BAD HIP A 90-YEAR-DEAL...you know.

Ultimately I think Kovy's gonna re-up in Jersey, given now that the Kings are saying they're out of the race...Lamoriello has a massive hard-on for the guy and said he'd make moves to open up cap room for Ilya if he wanted to come back to the Devils, and they've been a frontrunner since the beginning...and Parise-Kovalchuk as your top two LW is pretty dangerous.

Nabokov migrating back to Russia, signed a contract with SKA St. Petersburg for 4yrs/$24 million. Now he gets to play with Yashin and Zubov and....wait, Darius Kasparitis is still playing? wtf?

in other news, Nikolai Zherdev is trying to get back into the NHL after bolting for the KHL.

At 7/5/10 12:05 AM, Buddhist wrote: I don't think it would be at all ridiculous to put Tavares and Kovy on the same line.

They'd be lethal on the PP if nothing else, but I'm not a fan of having 2 snipers on the same line. Tavares reminds me a lot of Heatley, and I remember back in Heater's Atlanta days; he and Kovy would seem to be battling each other for scoring chances whenever they played together. I think both would be far better complemented with a natural set-up man, rather than a like minded player. Plus Ilya is notoriously poor in the defensive zone, and Tavares has yet to establish himself as a two-way centre at the NHL level; so it would be a little bit of a glass canon line as well.

The longer this goes on, the more the KHL starts to creep into the equation. I just don't see it happening though, as the whole reason he left Atlanta was to actually win something; if it was entirely about the money, he would have accepted that ridiculous offer the Thrashers presented him with last year.

Then again, I didn't expect it of Nabokov either, but I think that was more a case of there not being a market for goaltenders at this time, particularly aging ones with massive contracts. There will always be a market for consistent 40 goal scorers though.

Also: "The Toronto Maple Leafs signed unrestricted free-agent defenseman Brett Lebda to a two-year contract Wednesday."

WHAT IN THE FUCK? 1.5 million is an irresponsible amount of money to pay for a guy who is a 6th d-man at best. 6 is even generously assuming Kaberle is traded, Burke hires goons to kill Jeff Finger -annexing his mockery of a contract, and Holzner/Aullie are not NHL ready.

I am less impressed with this signing than I was with the Armstrong one. Maybe Burke should stick to exclusively making trades and negotiating with GM's and NEVER EVER, sign UFA's ever again.

And it's a shame about Probert, definitely one of the best enforcers the NHL has ever seen. Some of my earliest memories of watching hockey were the many Probert-Clark tussles of the early 90's. That one Probert-McSorley fight was probably one of the most epic hockey fights of all time, truly a different era.

wb Moulson..

lol Kovy, lol Frolov.

ever since i began to really follow hockey, it's almost like a yearly ritual to see sami salo get injured. he started early this year.

At 7/28/10 02:33 AM, Buddhist wrote: lol Kovy,

Well, it was only a matter of time - the NHL has noticed that teams are taking the piss with the length of the contracts that are front loaded. Isn't it a much more simple practice to have the cap hit with whatever the player is earning for that year?

The NHL should have access to the accounts of the 30 franchises and be able to audit them, not necessarily forcing the GMs to trade players that earn too much money, but twisting their arms a little with how much bargaining space they have for free agents.

Basically, if the Devils want him for that long, they can pay him more for longer, because there's a big difference between $9.5m and $500,000 which they want to pay him across a discernible gap in the contract.

I'd love to see him take the KHL's offer. Let him go play for SKA Moscow or Ak Bars Kazan or whatever.

Isles picked up James Wisniewski from the Ducks for a conditional 3rd-rounder in 2011...definitely feelin' it, and gives us a much-needed upgrade on the blueline for basically nothing.

Wow, why did I never find this thread until now?

The hockey offseason is the most boring time in my life. Sure, the NHL network replays all sorts of fun stuff, and Youtube has hundreds of videos, but the excitement is just not there.
I can't wait until this season starts.

So, what do you guys think is going to happen to Mike Modano? The way I see it, he's going to either retire, or go to the Red Wings. I actually went to a steakhouse that has two huge hockey decals on the walls: Seteve Yzerman and Mike Modano. We have respect for him here, so I'd like to see him play.

Bought out the remainder of Brendan Witt's deal. Very nice.

One-year, two-way deal with Jon Sim....not so nice. Sim's a grinder no doubt, but he also sucks pretty goddamn hard. I fail to see why we really need an agitator in our lineup, but I guess just one can't hurt too much.

as a sidenote, I got a good laugh out of seeing Anaheim trade us Wisniewski for a 3rd-rounder, and then go ahead and sign Andy Sutton, former Islander POS, to a multi-year deal.

Lastly, lol@Niemi.

At 8/4/10 01:31 AM, Buddhist wrote:

as a sidenote, I got a good laugh out of seeing Anaheim trade us Wisniewski for a 3rd-rounder, and then go ahead and sign Andy Sutton, former Islander POS, to a multi-year deal.

Why on Earth would they do that? I don't see Anahiem winning another Cup anytime soon. Then again, Philly made it to the finals, so I guess anything is possible.

Lastly, lol@Niemi.

I don't like Niemi that much, he seems overrated.

In other news, I am almost certain that Modano is going to be playing for the Red Wings. This looks like it's going to be a very interesting season! I can't wait for October.

East: Pittsburgh Penguins

West: Minnesota Wild