NHL Thread - November 2007

[CanadianChris 0]

Yeah, the calendar flipped a couple of days ago.

 

Jason Spezza was extended for 7 years, $49 million yesterday. That pretty much spells the end of the Wade Redden era in Ottawa.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Leafs/Habs with my grandfather + My grandmother's homemade wings = Happy CG.

 

Never have I been so confident over the traditional toonie/king can bet with my grandpa. I'm sure they'll have a little more zip, but I'm hoping the Leafs play like they did for the final 20 minutes yesterday.

[mike546 0]

He's baaaack. I sure missed Sean Avery

[the max 0]

Yeah, the calendar flipped a couple of days ago.

 

Jason Spezza was extended for 7 years, $49 million yesterday. That pretty much spells the end of the Wade Redden era in Ottawa.

 

He must have pulled his groin celebrating. He's apparently out for both games of the home and home against the Bruins.

[CanadianChris 0]

It happened Wednesday in practice. He was out for Thursday's game against the Thrashers too.

[the max 0]

Refs really gave the Sens that game tonight. The call on Axelsson for "hooking" when in reality, he turned around to find the puck and his stick got red rovered by Phillips was awful. Oh, and the call on Savard for the goal 3 powerplay was bullshit too.

 

And I expect Meszaros to be dealt with tomorrow. Sucker punching the star player in the back of the head isn't a good idea. Wideman certainly jumped in for Savard though.

[mike546 0]

Henrik Lundqvist is the best goalie in the NHL.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Yes, he is. I think we can chisel that title away from Luongo and Brodeur....for now. Good, but not great W-L, but .937 and a tiny 1.67 GAA going into tonight; I'm fine with that.

 

 

The Habs looked beyond terrible for the first fourteen minutes, and even worse with Huet pulled. Other than that, Stajan's goal was a beauty, and everything else was just what to expect from a Leafs-Habs game.

[CanadianChris 0]

I muss confess, I didn't watch a minute of the Sens/Bs game. Too much college football on.

 

Reading some of the accounts of the game, I'm expecting a Bruins win in the second half of the home-and-home. Thomas had a fantastic game, and the Sens probably won't get that many shots two nights in a row. It's nice for now still being the only team in the league with just a single loss so far, though.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

Habs lost on a garbage goal. There is no way that that shot should get through Huet. I wouldn't be surprised to see Price in net on Monday

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Didn't see 'em, but read it on tsn.ca right now:

 

2-1 Ottawa over Boston in a shootout, and Pascal Leclaire already has five fucking shutouts. 3-0 win over St. Louis.

[CanadianChris 0]

Wow, I totally forgot that was on.

 

Chuck Kobasew certainly had a good couple of games. He scored all three Boston goals last night and tonight.

[AntiLeaf33 0]

I haven't seen a Blue Jackets game this year, but is there any reason why Pascal Leclaire has so many shut outs? Are they playing a trap, or pro-defense game, or is he really just playing out of his mind?

[Guest]

The Jackets play the most defensively responsible system in the whole league. Not in a boring way, though.

[Guest Tsukuyomi]

A newer Columbus (and hockey in general) fan here. I'm getting interested in the Blue Jackets, but is this a temporary thing, or do they actually have a team built to support future success?

[Guest]

Stay interested. They have pieces in place to stay good.

[the max 0]

Especially if they keep Zherdev. Zherdev, Nash, Novotny, Brule and Fritsche make a very, very good combination for the top six. They have a young, talented defensive core and a very good young goalie. World, oyster, yada yada.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Everything Max said. They didn't catch on last year (with Federov and Foote) the way I thought they would, but they do have an awful lot of the pieces in place. Leclaire's is almost certainly going to cool off, but the BJ's traded away the same goalie they'd had since inception for him. I hate to use a Pierre Mcguire-ism, but Nash is kind of a Loch Ness Monster in Ohio. He's around the 0.75 per game for his career, but he's 10-6 in 13 games this year, and don't forget how good he looked at the Worlds. And above all that, Columbus is the only team in the league to never make the playoffs. I have to think that's at least somewhat of a motivator.

 

 

Two interesting tidbits:

 

Peter Forsberg is mulling over retirement due to an ankle injury suffered today.

And Mark Bell is looking to make his season debut tomorrow against Ottawa, and Kyle Wellwood may return in the nation's capital as well.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

There were like fives games today where there were shutouts. Bettman must be crying him to sleep and dreaming of bigger nets.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Inevitable Winnipeg discussion

 

My roomie and I spent about an hour discussing this yesterday. I just don't envision Winnipeg with a team again in our lifetimes. He cited the MTS Centre held 15,000, which I said might be feasible if they have an exclusive TV deal and enough corporate support. Might be.

 

And then there's Bettman.

[Guest Pizza Hut's Game Face]

I think Winnipeg, Hartford, and Q.C. could've sustained their respective teams to this day had they never lost them, but now that they're gone, you can't put teams back there. The league makeup has been changed too much (for the worse) to favor luxury boxes over actual attendance. Now Canadians have to move to Tampa Bay and Phoenix like 40 years earlier.

[CanadianChris 0]

[url="http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=222282&hubname="]Inevitable Winnipeg discussion[/url]

 

My roomie and I spent about an hour discussing this yesterday. I just don't envision Winnipeg with a team again in our lifetimes. He cited the MTS Centre held 15,000, which I said might be feasible if they have an exclusive TV deal and enough corporate support. Might be.

 

And then there's Bettman.

Agreed; the arena's just not big enough and there wouldn't be enough corporate support.

 

And then there's scumbag.

[treble 0]

I really don't think the new arena is too small from an attendance standpoint. The Jets never drew that well and after the initial excitement of getting a new team, I think around 15000 would be fine. Maybe they can add some standing-room areas in there.

 

I don't know what the luxury box situation is there, though.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Where'd you come from? I figured you'd have had something to say after Saturday's Hab embarrassing.

 

 

 

I certainly don't mean to compare hockey to golf in Canada, but the struggles the Canadian Open went through to find a title sponsor, that wouldn't bode well for hockey.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

On the other hand, who's to say what the dollar'll be like in five years, ten years? Will players still be paid in American? (I doubt it, surely someone's agent is gonna demand Canadian dollars if things stay as they are). Even that's getting pretty carried away. Yeah, it's a 50% difference from what it was in 1995, but it's only really been above par for what, two/three weeks? Even 95% is still 5% in the red to start with.

[CanadianChris 0]

I really don't think the new arena is too small from an attendance standpoint. The Jets never drew that well and after the initial excitement of getting a new team, I think around 15000 would be fine. Maybe they can add some standing-room areas in there.

 

I don't know what the luxury box situation is there, though.

They have 50 luxury suites. By comparison, Scotiabank Place and the Air Canada Centre each have 150.

[treble 0]

Where'd you come from? I figured you'd have had something to say after Saturday's Hab embarrassing.

I missed the game. And even then, I like to keep my mouth shut, since I know the next Leafs' embarrasment is likely just around the corner.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Kudos. My grandfather, dad, brother, co-workers...ok, every Leaf fan I know (even if they fully understand your last statement) was merciless Sunday morning.

 

Part of me wanted you to say something, so we could revert back to the Holiday Inn guy and I could respond with "What did you just say to me?"

 

[treble 0]

Last time I got really cocky was after last year's last game and we know how that ended. Even though I still do get bragging rights.

 

Also, I have less Leafs fans as back-up, living as close to Ottawa (and Montreal) as I do.

[treble 0]

Where'd you come from? I figured you'd have had something to say after Saturday's Hab embarrassing.

I missed the game. And even then, I like to keep my mouth shut, since I know the next Leafs' embarrasment is likely just around the corner.

See!

 

No more power-plays, please.