NHL Lockout Season And Playoffs Thread 2013

i haven't posted in here in ages. well...the B's are up 3-0 on the pitt. they were sucking the last month of the season and went from the #1 seed to the 4th. looked hopeless. well look at 'em now. lovin' it.
 
Well for the first time, I have to say that the Oilers messed up big style with the sacking of Krueger, whilst it may seem the "right thing to do" as such for MacT, it was shoddy treatment of a coach who had no pre-season, half a season and a half a team not worth a sack of pucks. It may not have been what was expected considering how well the Baron's were doing with the likes of Shultz and RNH etc were doing in the AHL. It was an improvement from what we'd had previously. I hated MacT as a coach, he killed the club, no matter how close we were to winning the cup back in 2006. Now he's back as GM, in the past week he's thrown Hemsky and Horcroft under the bus by basically telling the world we want rid. Now he's fired a popular coach with the players..

If the rumours are true and we are going for Eakins, I really don't know what to think. Yet again we are going into a season with a rookie coach and rookie GM. It didn't exactly work out well last time, and all the talk of Eakins doing well with the Marlies doesn't cut it with me, not when over the past 3 years Todd Nelson has got the Baron's into the play-off's in the AHL. Why not promote from within your own system a coach doing equally well. I normally don't like calling for people to be sacked quickly into tenure nor am I going to now, however for me this is a decision that MacT lives or dies by. If it goes wrong it's his man, he's brought him in and he pays the price, and perhaps we'll be rid of him forever.
 
But what an amazing series overall. Some karma for Bruins how it ended though, they killed the dream final with that ridiculous 4-1 comeback.

Reckon my boy Patrick Cokane makes his epic return tonight.
 
Those last 2 mins were crazy. Congrats Blackhawks
 
So what are you guys thoughts about the draft?

Knew Colorado would go with McKinnon. Bit surprising to see the uber-hyped Jones fall all the way to Nashville at fourth, the team in the top 5 that needed him the least. Sure they're happy though. Been so impressed with him when I've seen him at the junior international level, but you never know with young d-men (though even moreso goalies). Players like Gudbransson, Adam Larsson and Hedman (to a lesser extent) among others haven't really lived up to their early promise yet although there is obviously still time.

Bit shocked to see how Nichushkin fell so far, but teams are always weary of Russians. Also, I guess it remains to be seen if that power-game will work as well in NA.

I've gotta say I think Elias Lindholm will be something special. Such a great overall game with playmaking ability skills, hands and also a nasty side. Peter the Great v. 2.0 ;)
 
Iron Stove said:
Bit shocked to see how Nichushkin fell so far, but teams are always weary of Russians. Also, I guess it remains to be seen if that power-game will work as well in NA.
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It's as you say, I think. The same thinking seemed to affect when Valentin Zykov was taken & he came from the CHL, with glowing character references to boot. I'd read beforehand that Nichushkin was expected to slide, mainly because of doubts over his willingness to spend anytime in the AHL, but also in part due to a really unimpressive combine showing - something which always seems like a completely unsurprising and understandable consequence of throwing a foreign kid into such a bizarre & alien environment, expecting them to impress physically after an incredibly demanding season & verbally, through a translator.

I'm in no position to speak on Nichushkin with any authority as I only saw a handful of Traktor's games last year before the finals, but he seemed some way off from using his size in the way a lot of reports are describing him. His main plus points seemed his incredible speed & stickhandling. He looked to me the best (definitely most exciting) player in that series before a series of sickening hits into the boards in game 3(?)

In other news, could well wake up tomorrow to news of the Phoenix Coyotes being no more. :(
 
Good post!

In other news, absolutely hilarious and disgraceful how Ovie got voted in as 1st team all-star at RW and 2nd team all-star at LW :lol:
 
:lol: Yeah he took the spot of Taylor Hall (and his bonus money apparently) on the 2nd team all-star but it just seems to be a mistake with many voting him as a LW instead of RW and should be corrected.
 
Huge trade! Tyler Seguin, Peverley, Button for Loui Eriksson, J. Morrow, Smith, Fraser
 
Anyone following the Free agent frenzy today? Horton to CBJ, Alfredsson to Detroit (shock), Clowe to the Devils among others.

Big one still one to go down is Clarkson who never really impressed me all that much tbh.
 
He was great in the playoffs last year. Think he'll be a good top 6 signing on the ice and he's a great leader who'll be good for their locker room. A lot of Sens fans are upset about it. Shamelessly stolen from hfboards:

7eid.jpg
 
Yeah, I kind of get that. Seems like everyone loved Holland until he let Hossa go and signed Franzén to that long term deal instead.. and it seems to have gone downhill since.

Seems like both Filppula and Brunner are gone, right? So they could probably do with another signing like Weiss if they could swing it.
 
Yeah rumors are of them chasing Weiss to replace Val. We shouldn't pay Filpulla the price he is asking so I'm fine with him being gone. But how do we not use a buyout on Franzen? And constantly re-signing Bertuzzi and Cleary and Sammuelsen with prospects waiting for a callup is infuriating.
 
Yeah, Samuelsson signing was ridiculous.

You do have some great young players coming through, I guess Holland should get some credit for that.

Haven't watched Detroit as much as I used to since Lidström retired, but is Franzén really that bad nowadays? When he's on his game he can be unstoppable, but he was always streaky and somewhat lazy. Think they could still use a compliance buyout next year if he doesn't improve next season.
 
Can't say I'm bouncing up and down with either the draft or the free agency as an Oiler, we've made a move in the right direction, but we still need plenty of work. Glad to see us rid ourselves of Horcs, as his contract was awful. Great servant he may have been, but one huge contract for one good season. Now it's time for the kids to stay healthy and shine.
 
Detroit look scary again, not to mention Boston:

Lucic-Krejci-Iginla
Marchand-Bergeron-Eriksson

Ridiculous top-6.

Really like what the Blue Jackets did, both at the draft and with FA. Jarmo Kekäläinen knows what he's doing. Laughing stock organization no more, it would seem.

Bobby Ryan to Ottawa was a huge one yesterday as well.

One thing I don't get generally though is that while the cap has come down, salaries seem to have gone up? 4.85 m / 5 years for Clowe? 5.25 m / 7 years for Clarkson???
 
Kovalchuk announces retirement! What the flying feck??? One of my favourite players.. This is surreal. 30 years old, signed for another 14 seasons or something. And on top of that the Devils need to give up their 1st rounder next year because of cap circumvention with the first contract they signed with him.
 
Selanne (my favourite player) has decided to stay on for another year, the Finnish flash is back :D
 
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