For the dozen who actually care.....

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

There's really nothing more to add.......

 

drop the puck already!

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Is the reg. season under way already? Or is it still preseason...

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Regular season begins tonight

 

Rangers at Carolina

Dallas at Colorado

Phoenix at LA

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Anybody know where to find preseason stats? I'm trying to finish my fantasy team and I kinda wanna know who did what. I know it doesn't necessarily matter but still....

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Woah, it's starting already? When's b-ball begin...

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Well,there were NBA games tonight.I guess they were probably preseason but I didn't care enough to check

[Guest gthureson]

Anybody know where to find preseason stats? I'm trying to finish my fantasy team and I kinda wanna know who did what. I know it doesn't necessarily matter but still....

If you don't mind doing a bit of legwork, you can check out NHL.com, then go to team's individual websites. Most of them have preseason stats. Have to spend a fair bit of time.

 

Do it soon though, 'cause as soon as teams get their first game in, they'll probably replace it with reg season stats.

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Yeah,the team has to be entered by 6 pm tonight so that is my project for the day. I did consider that but was hoping for some other site to have already compiled it all for me.Thanks.

[Guest treble charged]

Wake me up on Saturday. I don't even know who the Leafs are playing, but it doesn't matter.

 

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Guest Leena]

I know Toronto plays Pittsburgh first, I think on Thursday.

[Guest treble charged]

I'll be on a bus Thursday, heading home for Thanksgiving, and, when I get home, we're not in the 'Leafs' viewing region'. I have to wait for Saturday to watch them play.

[Guest Chuck Woolery]

Yes!

 

I'll probably watch Dallas v Colorado tonight. Just because hockey = greatest sport period.

[Guest Leena]

I'd watch, but regular season hockey bores me quite a bit.

[Guest gthureson]

Regular season rocks. Especially early in the season. Its a time of the year when guys actually seem willing to take chances. You know, pinch in that bit extra to try and tee up the shot. Risk giving up the two on one to join the rush.

 

Its not so far into the season that gambling is a hanging offence.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like playoff hockey. But there are some series where it can be like watching paint dry cause both teams are playing so conservatively.

 

I'm hoping the Gretzky and Coffey effect rubs off on Phoenix, and they start playing a real hell-bent-for-leather approach and just try and outscore the other team every game. They might become my favorite team if they do that.

 

Fuck defence. Put the fear of God into the other team. It worked in the 1980s for teams like Quebec and Edmonton because the opponent would enter the game *fearing* them. Not just respecting them, but having that thought in the back of their head, "Man, they're gonna blow us out." *

 

* - Note, I was a stay at home defenceman all throughout my amateur hockey career, and I played on some teams like that. Most fun I ever had. I didn't mind covering people's asses when I knew that short pass I made in my zone was gonna have something done with it, not just fired in from just inside the redline.

 

I want more games like Edmonton-Minnesota in 1983. 13-8, baby. Who the hell cares if you coughed up 8 when you scored 13? That should be the attitude of at least one team in the NHL. I'm tired of hearing coaches talk about how they need to improve defensive zone coverage when they win 2-1 in OT. Christ, if you tried to score a bit more, you might have won 4-1 in regulation.

 

End of my rant.

 

I know I'm merely being reactionary against this mantra of 'defensive coverage' that every team seems to chant before a game. Try and score every once in awhile. Its fun. You'll like it.

[Guest Leena]

I do agree that some playoff series are played way too defensively, but many times during the regular season, it seems they play with much less intensity.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

The 80's Oilers rocked.

 

On the NHL preview they where talking about players not being able to grab players which apparently is keeping scoring lower. Do you think this would make a difference or not?

[Guest Leena]

First off, it's a big IF that the officials will stick with calling the rules.

 

It will cause an increase in goals, but only because the defensemen will turn the puck over more due to forechecking.

[Guest Olympic Slam]

On the NHL preview they where talking about players not being able to grab players which apparently is keeping scoring lower. Do you think this would make a difference or not?

It sounds great and all but they've tried smaller degrees of this stuff many times before. They'll stop calling it by December like they always do.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

The day M. Lemieux retires (for good) will be when the refs start calling a more open game...

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

By the way.Toronto opens the home schedule with Ottawa on Saturday

[Guest Grenouille]

I've just noticed that all of the NHL channels on Digital Cable are on. Anyone know how long the preview is for?

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

about a week I was told

[Guest Slingshot Suplex]

Damn Hurricanes.....Brind'Amour cost me 5 points breaking Richter's shutout........

[Guest starvenger]

Well, having watched a couple of days worth of games, I can say that the "hurry up" rule is working pretty damn well.

 

The obstruction crackdown seems to be in full effect, and scoring seems to be higher right now, but I think that will change as:

- Defencemen get smarter about cutting off the angles. When it comes down to it, that's all that the rule is meant to do - less clutching and grabbing and more skating and checking to get the job done.

- Refs become more lax on calling the penalties. I don't think they'll just put the whistles in the pocket, but they're gonna be calling 80+ games a year and just like players you're gonna hit the point where you're just get lazy.

- Goalies get better. They were showing stats of when Grant Fuhr was the top goalie in the league. His GAA was under .900, which would've put him at the BOTTOM of the rankings for goalies last year. While some of this can be attributed to a watered down talent pool, it's still a pretty interesting stat. Anyways, the point is that goalies aren't your last line of defence for nothing. If they were shitty, then you'd have no chance in hell of winning in the NHL.

[Guest Rabbi_wilson13]

I just can't get into hockey until the playoffs.

 

Hired mercenaries + drawn-out season = Not that enjoyable

 

It's not that bad of a sport when it's the only thing on, but flipping between it and say, football or college basketball, is like two entirely different worlds.

 

Oh, and congrats on the Maple Leaf victory. If the Steelers and Penns continue on their losing ways, Pittsburgh could be the worst sports town, period.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Any news about expansion/relocation for next season?

[Guest gthureson]

No expansion for the NHL for a good long time.

 

Relocoation? The only team its a threat for is Buffalo, but I honestly think the league won't sell to anybody who wants to move the team, so they're safe.

 

Probably won't be any team movement until after the new CBA in 2004, when owners know what they are getting into.

[Guest treble charged]

The problem with re-location is, there's really nowhere to put a team. Maybe Portland or Seattle, but those are stretches.

[Guest Phr33k]

All I have to say is GO HABS GO. Whooped the Rangers good, they did. Same to Buffalo tomorrow.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

The problem with re-location is, there's really nowhere to put a team. Maybe Portland or Seattle, but those are stretches.

Winnipeg is a decent-sized market, and the Jets weren't disregarded at Los Angeles levels.

 

I say small markets with loyal fanbases are a better way to go. Last I checked, despite the Stanley Cup finals, Carolina was still pretty weak financially. Might as well send the 'canes back up the coast to the Northeast where hockey is actually popular.

 

Hell, let's go totally retro! Let's go back to Maple Leaf Gardens, the Mall, the Forum, and all those other neat historic venues. Yeah I know, we can't, but still, come on, at least Maple Leaf Gardens. When I go to Toronto I have to visit that place, unless they demolish it.