NHL Thread - 2009-10

[Mr. TM]

After another great game, the Canucks looked out of it, trailing San Jose into the third, until they scored two goals to go up 3-2 with only minutes remaining. San Jose fought back, and tied it to force it into overtime.

The Canucks again went to the line, with a team that was once, like them, shit teams, and now, look to compete for first in the west. Canucks with two of the most unique shootout goals I have ever seen took the win, and wen up 6-0. I cannot wait for the regular season to open if this is how we are going to play!

 

[People's Champ]

Well to tonight is the season opener for my Sharks. I'm cautious about getting my hopes up high. The last few years have been huge disappointments, leading to that horrible season that was last year. I mean to win the Presidents throphy and get bounced in the first round is unbelievable. Everyone here in San Jose was ready to blow this team up. But after letting time pass we realized we still have a great team. We got a new captain in Rob Blake and we added Heatley. We'll see how this Heatley deal works out. I still expect this team to make a serious run at the Cup and win but I still left room for the possibility that we get bounced again.

 

[simpsons_fanatic742]

Tonight is opening night in a brand new NHL Hockey Season!!!

I am too excited for hockey to start and what a great way to kick things off then with my Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the hated Montreal Canadiens. It should be a fast-paced and physical game. Both teams have a ton of new people so it will be very interesting to see how the chemistry is. 7:00pm EST cannot come fast enough!!!

 

[Mr. TM]

And right after that game, you will be ready for Calgary vs Canucks, right?

Because I am extremely excited. Most people have the top four western teams, with both the Flames and my boys in the tops. So it will be interesting to see how their first matchup turns out. After that incredible regular season, I expect Vancouver to do well. A little sad that Hodgson did not make the team, because I could see him doing well. Another year in the minors and he will be ready to go I guess.

 

[the troop]

I think that my Hawks will finally push through the great wall known as Detroit. Martin Havlat's loss was a severe one, but I believe that Marian Hossa can carry his weight and then some. Hopefully, he wont be a bust like what seems to happen to all good athletes when they come play for a Chicago team.
One thing that worries me is who is in the net, Cristobal Huet. As opposed to last year, he will be playing goalie full time, with the departure of Khabibulin. I really am hoping that he can maintain all of the goaltending, with the exception to a few games.
Now, here is the thing about Huet, when he's on his A game, he is very hard to beat. But when he's struggling, he's REALLY struggling. If he is just consistent and solid throughout the year, he will get those wins.

 

[NSL]

Rangers opened tonight with a 3-2 loss to the defending champs, but I'm not too upset over it. It is only the first game, and they were raising the banner tonight. I like that Drury scored, showing that he won't take forever to get started again, and I also like seeing that Gaborik contributed for us in his debut.

Lundqvist looks like he played well, facing 31 shots, and stopping 28. We still have some young players dotted through the roster, so it'll be interesting to see what happens...

 

[a7xoff]

Ugh I just got back from a disheartning Devils/Flyers game. The Devils played just horrible including Brodeur whom I'm starting to think needs to be benched for a game or two since well... I haven't seen him play good early in last year's playoff series. Several of the Flyer's goals should not have gone in by any means, yet they did. Devils got 2 in the 3rd though, but that obviously was nowhere near good enough as the Flyers finished with 5. Just terrible all around the Devils were. They failed at completing passes. Failed on TWO THREE ON FIVE OPPERTUNITIES. One of which lasted for a full 2 mins. The only positive thing I saw from the Devils was there PK which did a realitivly good job, but otherwise it's looking like we could be in for a long dismal season following the most painful playoff loss in Devils history... We lay the Rangers on Monday so we have a day to try to fix things...

 

[Mr. TM]

So...

WTF.


A point a game for the Canucks in the exhibition season.

And TWO straight losses since then. Luongo has been playing like shit. Follows the line of Canuck players who sign big contracts and fall flat. Pisses me off. We lost to two North West Division teams already. Perhaps we need a playmaker in the team, and we have the piece of the trade needed, and he is playing goal in Manitoba right now. Trade Schneider, as we have our starter for 10 years, and we have a great backup.

 

[X]

So, I've never been a diehard hockey fan. Always very casual, I watched a few Bruins seasons when I was younger and loved all sports, and I always watched the playoffs, but never really stuck around for the regular season, nor do I know anything about hockey statistics. I think this year I'll try to watch regularly though, I caught the Bruins-Hurricanes game earlier tonight and it was damn entertaining, a couple of punch-outs didn't hurt, though neither did the 7 goals the Bruins scored.

Let's see if hockey this season can enthrall me like football, baseball, and basketball do.

 

[CH David]

Alright X. Glad to hear hockey is being given a chance.

Anyway, the Blackhawks have looked pretty good in the first two games so far. They have gained 3 out of 4 points, and are headed back to the states. They looked good in both games, except Huet kind of gave away the first game. Niemi looked good, and grew more confident as the game went on. It is looking positive, and when Hossa gets back, the team will be that much better.

 

[People's Champ]

I was the Sharks game and night and a great game. Good fighting with the Sharks on top. Dany Heatly getting a hat trick and on a penalty shot no less. Joe Thorton with 5 assists. The intesity in the building was off the charts. Sharks games at the tank are THE BEST HOCKEY GAMES TO BE AT. HANDS DOWN. The fans here are hardcore. Goaltending needa improvement still. But a great game nonetheless.

 

[Mr. TM]

Well right now we are in the cellar in the West, but our last game was a huge shot in the arm for the team. not only did we get our first win, we did it with ease, scoring 7 times. We are on a bit of a break, which is unfortunate, as I had hoped that we would get to move on, after Luongo had his game of the year so far, only allowing the one goal. We get Dallas next, who have not won yet. And to make it worse for our team, the other team in our division that was rumoured to be one of the better teams, Calgary, is actually showing that, being the loan undefeated team in the NHL at 4-0.

Good performance last nice for the Sharks, and it looks like they have the same situation as Ottawa had a couple years ago with Heatley. I predict a lot of 5 goal games for them in the future.

 

[CH David]

So the Blackhawks last night made quite a historic comeback for the first time in their 83 year history. After falling behind the Calgary Flames 5-0 in the 1st period, the Blackhawks scored 1 goal in the 1st, and scored 4 more in the 2nd and 3rd periods. Cristobal Huet gave up three fairly soft (easy) goals, and was replaced by Antti Niemi midway through the 1st period. He came in and proceeded to give up two goals, one off a faceoff which should have been stopped, and the second went in on a horrible bounce from a shot not even on net. But after that, he settled in, and coach Joel Quenneville was able to get the Hawks in the right perspective for the 2nd and 3rd periods. 2nd period the Blackhawks scored three goals, all fueled by Patrick Kane, who recorded the 13th 3-point performance of his career. Patrick Sharp scored the tying goal on a redirected shot from Duncan Keith. Then about 20 seconds into overtime, Brent Seabrook sealed the comeback between Mikka Kiprusoff's legs for the win.

Great fucking game. The Blackhawks are now 3-1-1, with 7 points, and are currently 1st in the Western Conference Central Division. It isn't going to be an everyday occurrence that the Blackhawks can come back after being down by 4+ goals, but it can give them confidence that the comeback is possible. It is going to be a fun race in the Western Conference.

 

[CH David]

Damn you guys.. Let's keep this thread alive. It is hockey for fucks sake. Where are the Canadian posters to help out. Fuck where is M_F. I thought he liked the Canadiens.

The Blackhawks are on a two game streak, having just beat the Minnesota Wild, who are looking pretty bad this year. 3-8, with all their losses coming on the road. In the midst of things, it was a fairly big game for the sole reason that it was the return of Martin Havlat to Chicago after the team decided not to resign him in the offseason.

They have won two in a row without two top stars in Captain Jonathan Toews, and top defenseman Brent Seabrook, both out due to concussions suffered last Wednesday night. With the win, the Hawks are now 7-3-1, and currently in 3rd in the Western Conference standings, and 1st in the Central Division standings. All of this is without Marion Hossa, who is supposed to be back in either late November or early December. The Blackhawks are playing some good hockey and I see no reason why they won't play even better when Hossa makes his debut.

 

[Mr. TM]

Shit, we have an NHL thread?

Anyways, the Canucks are extremely hot right now, and tonight we get the Red Wings, who are as cold as a cold Detroit fall day. Luongo has gotten hot again, and we are above 500 at 6-5. No major challenges ahead for us, so that is good news. Avalanche have gotten off to a great start, but I see nothing great from them.,

 

[Mr. TM]

The H1N1 virus has become a pandemic that is frightening a lot of people right now in the world. Many believe that the vaccination should be given to those who are high at risk for the flu. People that travel might be at risk, and we all know as sports fans, that few people travel as much as athletes. So should hockey players get the vaccination before the general public? The medical staff of the Calgary Flames thought so, as they began to give shots to their players a month before the vaccination was given to the general public.

At least one member of Alberta Medical has been fired due to this scandal, but should the Flames, as well as other players have the shots early? The Edmonton Oilers have been hit hard by the flu, so maybe it is a good idea to vaccinate, before teams have to be cut apart by the flu.

 

[Mr. TM]

A bit of some disappointing news for the young franchise. After making the playoffs for the first time, and a good start to this season, the Columbus Blue Jackets, centered in a great potential market in Ohio has reported that they are losing money, up to $12 million dollars per annual.

$5 million goes straight to their arena, which is privately owned, costing the team money each season, just to play there. This is a huge disadvantage, and should be changed, preventing a taxation on the residences of Ohio. The team is a great part of the city, and needs to be financed better to bring in more money.

 

[Mr. TM]

If you follow the Canucks, or the AHL, this is a name you should know. One of the best NHL goalie prospects, and unfortunately, he is on the team that has one of the greatest goalies in the world on it. Roberto Luongo will be the Vancouver Canucks starting goalie until he in well into his late 30s, leaving no opening for Schnieder. What should they do with this young prospect? He is not playing backup for the season, as Andrew Raycroft was brought in for little money. So he is back in Manitoba playing for the Moose. I really think Vancouver should trade him for some defensive or forward prospects, players who will not eat up the limited cap space, but will become great players on their own some time down the line.

 

[Mr. TM]

One of the best Hall of Fame years ever for the NHL, as they put forth one of the greatest scorers, one of the greatest captains, one of the greatest defenders, one of the greatest if not greatest Left Wing, and one of the greatest coaches.

I have heard of stacking a team, but a Hall of Fame? Wow. Yzerman was an obvious choice, won three Stanley Cups, and worked with Detroit to win another. Was the captain of the team for almost two decades.

Then you have Luc Robitaille, who, bar few, is the greatest Left Wings ever in the sport. He positioned well, and scored a record I believe for points from the Left post.

Brett Hull, son of Bobby Hull, and even better player if you wanted 50-86 goals from a player. A Canadian by birth, but played for the Americans, always earning the wrath of Canadian fans.

Brian Leetch is the best American blue liner in hockey, who isn't Chris Chelios. He could get 100 points and finish 20+, what more can you ask for from a defender.

And Lamoriello. I won't say too much, hopefully IC can say something for the man who created an incredible team in Dirty Jersey.

 

[Shocky]

Columbus is a terrible sports town. oh don't get me wrong, the blow hards that live in the Capital are all about their precious Buckeyes, but if it's not Scarlet and Gray, they don't give a shit.

I could see the original idea, Columbus, slapped right in the middle of maybe the 5th or 6th most populated state in teh country. There is a pretty good youth hockey movement here, and National Semi-power in the Redhawks. It's slapped right in the middle of Pittsburgh and Detroit. Demographically, hockey shouldn't just live in Ohio, it should thrive in Ohio. So Columbus, slapped in the middle of two cities, Cleveland and cincinnati, and you would assume that they would draw from those bases as well.

The problem, the team was labeled Columbus', and not Ohio, therefore, me being in Cincinnati, i don't give a shit about a team in Columbus. Columbus is one of the most undeserving cities to have a professional team of any type. The Cleveland Lumberjacks did well in Cleveland, cincinnati had two minor league teams going at one time with the Ducks and the cyclones, and both did fairly well, and the Clones are still doing pretty well.

The problem, Columbus just plain out sucks as a pro sports town. It was a good idea which I'm sure research and marketing thought would work, but Cincinnat or Cleveland would have been better choices easily.

 

[CH David]

TM should we turn this into a CH David and TM talk hockey thread? That seems how it will be the rest of the year.

The Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was back on the ice last night for a game for the first time in almost three weeks, when he took a hard hit from Willie Mitchell and suffering a concussion as a result. It was good to see Tazer back on the ice, and the crowd was definitely ecstatic to see him out on the ice. He scored the second of three goals in the third period for the Blackhawks, who beat the LA Kings and moved into a tie for the Central Division lead with the Columbus Blue Jackets. The offense is looking to continue to light the lamp with the captain being back, and the offense should again step up again once Marian Hossa is 100%, which he should be within the next month.

 

[Mr. TM]

Well I know there are other hockey fans, so I will hope to drag them into here with us.

Tonight it is not going well. Luongo is back, and that is incredible, coming into the game going down 4-0 to have it at 5-1 right now. Raycroft went well, going 4-1 in the games he started, but looked bad tonight.

Sedin also looks ready to come back. Henrik got a goal today, and has taken on a big role without his brother, but with Daniel back, it is looking good again on the northern Pacific shore. And hopefully we face Chicago soon, so Toews can get crushed again.

 

[simpsons_fanatic742]

Alright, I'm going to make my presence in this thread hopefully for the rest of the season.

So my Leafs start the season pretty badly, but with points in 7 straight games, they seem to be coming out of their slump. They did take a hit tonight however, losing to the Wild. They seemed rather flat and couldn't get back in the game when being down. They have a tough couple of games coming up with Chicago on Friday and Calgary on Saturday. Hopefully they walk away with some points.

Kessel is back and really giving the offence a spark and with Gustavsson in net I believe we have a chance to win every night and that's something that Toskala didn't give us. Gustavsson is solid and hopefully will stay healthy for the rest of the season. I don't expect Jonas to start both games this weekend so Toskala has to play great to show that he can still play in this league.

The GM meetings are going on too and many issues are being discussed. Headshots are a hot topic once again, but I don't really think anything concrete will be decided. They also discussed removing the trapezoid behind the net, but decided to keep it.

There also seems to be alot of injuries early in the season and some slow starts. This especially hurts the players since it's an Olympic year and people are playing for roster spots. There are 2 players specifically that are hurting their chances to make Team Canada, Lecavalier and Eric Staal. They are experiencing slow starts and could very well play themselves off of Team Canada. We'll see if they can turn their game around and make a push for the team.

Overall, I always have something to say in regards to the NHL and hopefully I can post consistently.

 

[Big J]

I'm a kings fan and I haven't been following them as closely as I should be. I know they started out hot and I don't know how they are doing now.

Anyone here a Wild fan? My cousins 11 year old son and his hockey team from Crookston Minn. got to meet the team and skate with them on Saturday night in warmups. My cousins son entered the Wilds team essay contest about "What teamwork means to me" and won the grand prize. Crookston is building an ice hockey areana and his essay is going to be engraved in a plaque and displayed forever. The family and the whole area is very proud of him and he is a great, humble, hardworking kid who loves hockey. They sent me some pics and said they had a great time.

 

[a7xoff]

I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I am thoroughly impressed with the performance of the Devils this year. I mean if you look at our team outside of Elias, Parise, Langenbruner, and of course Brodeur, there are no real big names. The Devils had some pretty big changes during the offseason, and at the start it looked like it was going to be a rather grim season, yet here we are with a pretty damn good record and 11 of our last 13 I think are wins. Notch some good teams like the Penguins and Caps in that span as well. Devils are pretty beaten up on defense yet again with Martin and Odyua being out, but Any Greene has stepped it up tenfold and I think is earning a spot on the team. Lets not overlook the continuing improvement of Clarkson either. The Devils after tonight's 4-1 win over the Penguins, the Devils have won 10 of their last 11, won 9 straight on the road, taken the Atlantic Division lead, and have one of, if not the best defense in the league right now. So far the more the season goes on the better we look, and from the looks of it we'll be all right throughout the season. I still don't know how well we'll do in the long run, but I can know say pretty confidently that the Devils will make the playoffs as they usually do. Keep note everyone that the Devils have a mass of defensive injuries and even through them we're one of the best D in the league right now.

Out west I have no idea what is wrong with the Ducks. I FINALLY got to see them play live when they played the Devils yesterday. It was great to see them, and it was a good game, but the Devils won 3-1 and the majority of the Duck's shots didn't seem that great of quality. Ducks sit at the bottom of the West and I don't know or understand why.

By far the biggest surprises thus far are Colorado and Carolina. Seriously Colorado was like at the bottom of the barrel this time last year and here they are now fighting for first in the West. Where did that comes from and what a turnaround. Carolina only has 2 wins so far this season. I'm not complaining as I hate them, but still 2 wins and the team looks a lot like last years cardiac canes. What happened and why didn't it happen last year?