Nhl:08-09

Tribec

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So the season opened last night, though some games were played in Europe last weekend. It's always nice to see the Flames take a battering!!!!

Apart from the usual suspects, this year's actually looking very open in terms of who'll win the Stanley. I don't think anyone really stands out as a clear cut favourite.

My own team in Edmonton start with a new owner, a new 3rd Jersey and a new GM, no news on a new arena to date though. However, if they perform to the level they did towards the end of last year they have a chance of the play-off's, and though half the team that took them to the finals have left now, I still see them as being a tough team to draw for anyone in the play-off's.
 
go Habs go!!!!!!!! :devil:

I just sold some microphones to the Oilers PPV production team.
 
sidsutton said:
lucky you

No Higgins, Bouillon or Laracque to start with...
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Big George isn't a great loss. For all the hard man hype he doesn't throw to much around. Interestingly enough when he became available this year hardly any Oiler fans I know wanted him back, despite the media rumours. Nothing against him, but I don't think he's going to be around in the NHL much longer.

I got to say, I am impressed by some of the special edition threads that the Habs will be wearing this season.
 
Pissed the Avs lost, not really the hockey season is long as feck
 
Haha I remember hockey night in Canada when I was younger, loved Don Cherry
 
Yeah the Leafs are pathetic, big fan of the ACC though great arena
 
Budaj gives away another game. Hopefully Raycroft is in net against Calgary, damn our goalies suck.
 
19 year old Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov died earlier tonight after he collapsed on the bench at the end of a Russian league game. No ambulance around so they couldn't save him. Apparently a accident elbow from teammate Jaromir Jagr caused the collapse. RIP.
 
Ryan Hollweg is a moron. Just got back from a 2 game suspension for hitting from behind. Goes out today and gets kicked out of the game for hitting from behind and will be suspended for a minimum of 3 games. The Blues then proceeded to score twice on the PP and ended up winning in a shootout after the Leafs had been up 3-0. :annoyed:
 
The Board of Governors is thinking about moving a team to Toronto maybe they can win a cup for Toronto now haha
 
RedCanadian said:
Well I know for a fact it isn't coming up the QEW to Toronto for the 41st year and counting....:annoyed:
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At least you have won it in the past

Ive often wondered what PL team to compare buffalo to because we have never won the stanley cup or the super bowl but we have come so close and every year we think its our year
 
The Oilers going for a 5-0 start, with no OT or SO wins!! Got to start to think perhaps we can go and do it. I'm so convinced of the players I say they will do this year...




Get back into the play-off's that is, what did you think I meant? To claim we were going to win the cup, we are bigger than Calgary/Toronto....

On a serious note, the Oilers have done well so far, they look like they have taken so many positives from the late run last year and have in Macintyre someone prepared to show up to dance with who ever. Not that we want that every night, he's going to have to contribute else where, but things are good in Oil country.
 
Bump

Playoffs are just around the corner now. Who do you guys think will win the Stanley Cup? San José and Detroit I guess would be the safe picks, but I think Boston and Vancouver have a good shot as well. Would be nice to see Sundin finally win the cup.
 
I honestly hope my Rangers get 7th or 8th in the East because I think we can handle the Devils or Bruins. It's a team like the Penguins (Gary Bettman's love child) or Capitals that scare me more. Watching the Rangers right now actually.

I'd say the Sharks have the most there to win the Cup, but they usually find a way to screw it up. Red Wings are probably the safest bet just because they're the Red Wings. Vancouver and Capitals could definitely make some noise as well.
 
Agreed about Washington. Their Ovechkin-Bäckström-Semin line is scary good. And then there's Mike Green whose having a career year as well. I've watched some Devils games lately and although Brodeur is a living legend I'm not sure they're up to it. Sure they have some great player like Parise, but their D seems pretty weak.

I always had a soft spot for the Rangers and I'm a fan of Lundqvist, he's arguably already the best Swedish goalie of all time. I really feel sorry for you Rangers fans who have to suffer from the mismanagement of that team though. Some of those contracts are you're stuck with for so long are ridiculous. Still you just beat NJ 3-0 and seem to be playing a lot better since Tortorella came in.

How's that though, being a Rangers fan living in Jersey?

I'm watching St Louis - Detroit now. 0-0 so far.
 
HABS !!!

Lookin sexy to end this season so far, need to make this run in count and maybe nick 5th spot
 
Iron Stove said:
Agreed about Washington. Their Ovechkin-Bäckström-Semin line is scary good. And then there's Mike Green whose having a career year as well. I've watched some Devils games lately and although Brodeur is a living legend I'm not sure they're up to it. Sure they have some great player like Parise, but their D seems pretty weak.

I always had a soft spot for the Rangers and I'm a fan of Lundqvist, he's arguably already the best Swedish goalie of all time. I really feel sorry for you Rangers fans who have to suffer from the mismanagement of that team though. Some of those contracts are you're stuck with for so long are ridiculous. Still you just beat NJ 3-0 and seem to be playing a lot better since Tortorella came in.

How's that though, being a Rangers fan living in Jersey?

I'm watching St Louis - Detroit now. 0-0 so far.
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Yea, the Caps do have quite a bit of talent. Mike Green is a phenomenal talent. His shot is just amazing. And it just goes without saying when it comes to Ovechkin. Did you see the "fight" between Semin and Marc Staal? It has to be the funniest thing I've seen this year. Semin was literally slapping Staal. :lol:

Oh, and it's easy to be a Rangers fans here. There are more Rangers fans than Devils fans in Jersey anyway.

Yea, I actually feel bad for Lundqvist stuck with such a bunch of incompetent players. And us fans as well. Sather has to be the worst GM in the league at this point. Drury, Gomez, and Redden just hinder us entirely too much. Lost 4-2 last night thanks to 2 turnovers by our 2 "star" centers. However, we did get screwed over as the Hurricanes second goal was so blatantly offside it was unbelievable.

Tortorella has got us playing with renewed energy, but I can't say that I like his style. I'll give him a pass because he hasn't gotten a full year with the team, but for example, in a shootout against the Thrashers that went to 6 rounds the other day he absolutely refused to use Nikolai Zherdev for some personal reason I can't fathom. Teach him a lesson sometime else if that's what you're trying to do - but we need the points right now. Zherdev is one of our best shootout guys and was passed over for the likes of Fredrik Sjostrom, Ryan Callahan, and Scott Gomez. He's also showed a bit of an inability to adjust to the teams talent at times.

It may sound callous, but the death of Cherepanov is going to hinder the Rangers franchise for years to come, it really will. The one thing I can give Sather is that he made those big contracts work until the time when Cherepanov would get his first big contract. He was going to be our franchise player. Really though, the NHL missed out - not just us. He would have been such a great talent in this league. More goals than Bure, Malkin, etc in his rookie year in the KHL. Such a tragedy how that went down - the ambulance having already left the building, not having a working defibrillator, and most importantly the loss of a young life. I can't imagine how he was allowed to play hockey - how that heart condition went uncaught.

What's your team mate?
 
The East is wide open...nobody looks dominant. Yes Boston have a great record but I`m still not convinced by them. If the Habs can ever get Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn going they could be dangerous. Hopefully Price can keep his head straight now.

In the West, Detroit will be good but it`s so hard to repeat. San Jose will choke...that leaves the CAnucks. Great goaltending and depth up front. Not sure they have Cup winning quality D-men but that`s who I`m on when the time comes to pick our pools.
 
sidsutton said:
The East is wide open...nobody looks dominant. Yes Boston have a great record but I`m still not convinced by them. If the Habs can ever get Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn going they could be dangerous. Hopefully Price can keep his head straight now.

In the West, Detroit will be good but it`s so hard to repeat. San Jose will choke...that leaves the CAnucks. Great goaltending and depth up front. Not sure they have Cup winning quality D-men but that`s who I`m on when the time comes to pick our pools.
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Do you rate Chicago's chances?
 
not really. Way too young, not enough D and questions in goal.
 
nyrfan818 said:
Yea, the Caps do have quite a bit of talent. Mike Green is a phenomenal talent. His shot is just amazing. And it just goes without saying when it comes to Ovechkin. Did you see the "fight" between Semin and Marc Staal? It has to be the funniest thing I've seen this year. Semin was literally slapping Staal. :lol:

Oh, and it's easy to be a Rangers fans here. There are more Rangers fans than Devils fans in Jersey anyway.

Yea, I actually feel bad for Lundqvist stuck with such a bunch of incompetent players. And us fans as well. Sather has to be the worst GM in the league at this point. Drury, Gomez, and Redden just hinder us entirely too much. Lost 4-2 last night thanks to 2 turnovers by our 2 "star" centers. However, we did get screwed over as the Hurricanes second goal was so blatantly offside it was unbelievable.

Tortorella has got us playing with renewed energy, but I can't say that I like his style. I'll give him a pass because he hasn't gotten a full year with the team, but for example, in a shootout against the Thrashers that went to 6 rounds the other day he absolutely refused to use Nikolai Zherdev for some personal reason I can't fathom. Teach him a lesson sometime else if that's what you're trying to do - but we need the points right now. Zherdev is one of our best shootout guys and was passed over for the likes of Fredrik Sjostrom, Ryan Callahan, and Scott Gomez. He's also showed a bit of an inability to adjust to the teams talent at times.

It may sound callous, but the death of Cherepanov is going to hinder the Rangers franchise for years to come, it really will. The one thing I can give Sather is that he made those big contracts work until the time when Cherepanov would get his first big contract. He was going to be our franchise player. Really though, the NHL missed out - not just us. He would have been such a great talent in this league. More goals than Bure, Malkin, etc in his rookie year in the KHL. Such a tragedy how that went down - the ambulance having already left the building, not having a working defibrillator, and most importantly the loss of a young life. I can't imagine how he was allowed to play hockey - how that heart condition went uncaught.

What's your team mate?
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The thing with a monumental contract feck up like that in a salary cap world is that it screws the team up for years to come. Why doesn't the Rangers owner fire Sather? Gomez is really frustrating to watch and Redden.. what happened to him? I feel sorry for you guys who are stuck with those contracts from what.. another five years? In football a bad transfer is nowhere near as damaging as players can always be sold at a cut price/let go. But who will take those players with their cap hit? I saw that Semin - Staal fight btw, it was hilarious.

Big tragedy about this young Russian guy Cherepanov, a real shame. :(

As a kid I used to support St Louis because Brett Hull was my favourite player back then. I still like them, they have a brilliant young team coming through but I can't really say that they are "my team" in the sense that my local team are or in the way I feel about United, where I would rather watch United - Charlton than Liverpool - Chelsea if they were on at the same time. As a fan of the Swedish national team I try to follow the Swedish players which means that other than St Louis, I obviously see quite a lot of Detroit and to a lesser extent Vancouver and Washington (also because Ovechkin is just amazing), but I'll watch any game really. It's pretty liberating as you can enjoy the game without hating certain teams. Well, maybe there's a bit of hate at times especially for certain players.

As for the play-offs.. In the west Detroit have star quality, amazing depth and play some great hockey, but their defense collapses at times and their goaltending has been attrocious lately. San José have it all really. Good goaltending, good depth, star players like Thornton and Marleau but they have this choker tag so we'll see. I think the Canucks have the best shot in a long time, with a lot of players that I didn't use to rate that highly playing the hockey of their lives like Burrows, Kesler, and the ginger twins (who are actually amazing to watch right now). And of course then there's Luongo.But there are some question marks. Their D is not all that great and Öhlund is not the player he once was. Seems to make a couple of feck ups everytime I see them play. And I still haven't seen the Sundin of old. He's shown glimpses of his former self, but I'm starting to think he'll never really be back, which was to be expected at his age but it still makes me sad as he was always one of my favourite players.
Boston, Washington and Pittsburgh (Especially now that Gonchar is back) I think are the teams with the best shot in the east.

Did you guys see Johan Franzéns mid-air slapshot goal yesterday?
 
bruins/rangers

bruins up 1-0 at the end of two. nyrfan818 you out there? important points at stake for both...especially for your rangers.


well...1-0. the Bs clinch 1st and home ice. not that that means anything. they did the same a few years ago and got bounced in the first round by the hated habs.


vvvvvvvv :lol: about the cnut avery. ultimate wum is right! vvvvvvvv
 
Sean Avery, ladies and gents :lol:



Doesn't seem to have affected Tim Thomas' performance this time (given the final score), but I gotta say that Avery's good at what he does. He's the ultimate WUM
 
The Avs are fecking awful this year, should have won at least two more cups when they had everyone in the late 90s and early 00s
 
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