NHL Thread, March 2008

[CanadianChris 0]

It's looking a lot like Thursday's Sens/Habs game will be another battle for first. They both have 3-0 leads right now.

[the max 0]

I hope the rumors of Hossa being most interested in signing with Boston are true. They need an offensive player, badly.

 

Sobotka is the best Bruins forward tonight. He has a whopping 4 points on the season. Sturm, Murray, Kobasew, et all, are invisible as usual. The powerplay can't even set up in Ottawa's zone. It's just pathetic, this offense.

[CanadianChris 0]

I was looking forward to watching this one, until I found out it would cost me 11 bucks (plus tax). No thanks.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Eleven dollars? I thought 2.50 a month for Leafs TV was criminal;

 

Speaking of, what a third period. The Leafs pick away at 3-0 deficit, get a powerplay with 1:30, pull the goalie. Martin Biron made the best save I've ever seen during that kill.

 

This was off the heels of Bowen and Millen discussing the potential for inexperienced playoff goaltending (pretty well Brodeur no one else). If Philly does get in, they'll be just fine if Biron keeps it up.

[the pinjockey 0]

Terrific. Cote, Downie and Boulerice are all out of the lineup tonight. I guess John Stevens wants to set an example (of course that would mean Randy Jones should sit since it was his fault last night, but they're boys so you know). There is no excuse for Toronto not taking runs at players all night long. I don't care if they don't have the personnel for it, they should still run over the pussified version of the Flyers.

[garfieldsnose 0]

I don't know what's more embarassing...a 10 game losing streak or being swept in a home and home against the Leafs.

 

Hawhawhaw

[Red Baron 0]

C'mon now. They are getting the fences put up right now for the Stanley Cup parade. (In Toronto)

[Zetterberg is God 0]

Great win for Detroit tonight. Coming back from a 3-1 deficit against a team like Dallas is huge for their confidence. And not like it wasn't going to happen anyway but the Wings are the first team to clinch a playoff spot.

[CanadianChris 0]

Gerber shut out the Canadiens. I am duly impressed.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

What the- 10 in a row for the Sharks? When did this happen? I'm missing so much.

[the max 0]

Here comes the Bruins:

 

 

Oh no! No offense? Injured Chara? Tired Thomas and Overwhelmed Auld? Wait! Those wheels were firmly attached at the trade deadline!

 

Bruins have probably the biggest game of the season on saturday against the Flyers. Win, and distance themselves even further, protecting 7th. Lose, and they're in 8th, just a few Montreal wins of having to play the Habs in the first round of the playoffs.

 

I'm going to go drown myself in the shower.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

Great win for Detroit tonight. Coming back from a 3-1 deficit against a team like Dallas is huge for their confidence. And not like it wasn't going to happen anyway but the Wings are the first team to clinch a playoff spot.

 

First to hit 100 points as well, eight straight seasons now.

[Red Baron 0]

So Chris Simon gets 30 games for stomping on Ruutu, but Chris Pronger isn't getting anything for stomping on Ryan Kessler.

 

Nice going NHL.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Georges Laraque took some poor Sabre's head off the other night with an elbow, and he's getting a massive three game suspension. Makes you wonder why they bothered dishing out those 30-game suspensions earlier in the year to Downie etc.

[CanadianChris 0]

Damn, I was looking forward to another episode of "Brian Burke, Whiny Bitch."

 

This league is a complete joke. Don't suspend anyone anymore, just let them go in and kill each other.

[the pinjockey 0]

Bruins have probably the biggest game of the season on saturday against the Flyers. Win, and distance themselves even further, protecting 7th. Lose, and they're in 8th, just a few Montreal wins of having to play the Habs in the first round of the playoffs.

 

You better hope the Flyers don't make the playoffs. If they do, no matter how they play or what seed they end up, they will end up against NJ in the 1st round because god hates Flyers fans. So any scenario with the Flyers in leaves you with a better chance of drawing Montreal.

[Guest Beastalentier]

Damn, I was looking forward to another episode of "Brian Burke, Whiny Bitch."

 

This league is a complete joke. Don't suspend anyone anymore, just let them go in and kill each other.

I thought the rule was "only suspend people with flying Ps on their sweaters." They either need to start going after the goons on the Ducks or go completely laissez-faire with on-ice assault. Pick a lane, New NHL.

[treble 0]

I don't understand this. It's not like they've been afraid to suspend Pronger before and it was pretty blatant what he did. I didn't expect 30 games, but getting nothing is fucking ridiculous.

[KGB 0]

Pronger has been suspended repeatedly throughout, seven times to be exact, yet he seems to have get off lightly almost every time. Among them are a history of headshots, he once came off the bench to get in a fight, and even kicked a player, yet he has only a missed a combined 14 games due to suspensions. Now he gets zilch for using his skate as a weapon (again) even though Simon got 30 for doing the same thing in the same season. Simon is a goon but his history of dirtyness can't be much worse than Prongers. Below is a list of Pronger suspensions:

 

Chris Pronger suspension history

 

• 1995: The league suspended Pronger, then with the St. Louis Blues, for four games after he hit Capitals forward Pat Peake in the throat with a stick during a Oct. 29 game at the Kiel Center. Brian Burke, the NHL's director of hockey operations at the time, held a hearing with Pronger, Blues GM and coach Mike Keenan, Pronger's agent and a NHL Players' Association rep. Peake suffered a fractured thyroid cartilage and was expected to miss four weeks at the time of the hit.

 

• 1998: Pronger, still with the Blues, was suspended for four games for slashing Phoenix's Jeremy Roenick on Dec. 17, 1998. Pronger drew a match penalty when he took a swing at Roenick's helmet. Colin Campbell, the NHL senior vice president and director of hockey operations, ruled that Pronger was attempting to injure Roenick in an "extremely reckless and dangerous manner."

 

• 2001: Pronger was suspended without pay for one game after leaving the bench and instigating a fight with the Kings' Kelly Buchberger during an Oct. 11, 2000 game. Blues winger Pavol Demitra suffered a broken nose when Buchberger hit him with an elbow during the second period. That hit provoked Pronger to leave the bench.

 

• 2002: Pronger received a two-game suspension without pay for cross-checking Stars forward Brenden Morrow in an April 3 game. The suspension cost Pronger $231,707.32 in salary. The cross-check left Morrow bleeding near one of his eyes. St. Louis beat Dallas 2-1 in overtime.

 

• 2004: Pronger, still with St. Louis, was suspended one game without pay for kicking Calgary's Ville Nieminen during a March 14 game. Pronger kicked Nieminen with 9:23 gone in the first period, but there was no penalty on the play. The suspension came as St. Louis was making a late push for the playoffs. The Blues were later ousted in the first round.

 

• 2007: Pronger, in his first postseason with the Ducks, was suspended one game for his hit on Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on May 15. Pronger and Rob Niedermayer drove Holmstrom into the glass from behind midway through the second period. The hit knocked off Holmstrom's helmet and left him on the ice with a cut to his forehead. Holmstrom did return to the game. Niedermayer received a five-minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct. Pronger was not penalized. Replays apparently showed Pronger hitting Holmstrom in the head with his elbows, leading the NHL to review the incident.

 

• 2007: Pronger was suspended one game for his blow to the head of Ottawa's Dean McAmmond in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals. McAmmond was struck as he skated with the puck toward the Ducks net. He did a spin, fell backward, struck his head on the ice, and slid into the corner in the Anaheim zone at 2:01 of the third period. McAmmond was briefly knocked out and left the ice looking woozy after several minutes of on-ice attention.

[Red Baron 0]

I can't even think of a logic. Hell they've suspended Ilya Kovalchuk earlier this season.

 

I really wonder if Proger has some dirt on Bettman that he's holding back. This is the only logical choice left.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Pronger knocked up that weathergirl in Edmonton too. That's gotta count for something.

[Red Baron 0]

Is the weather girl releated to scum...I mean Bettman at all?

[mike546 0]

Bill McCreary needs to be investigated for his bias against the Rangers.

 

Fuck him.

[Red Baron 0]

So they are taking a look at the Pronger stomp after all.

 

No wonder lots of people consider the league a joke.

[Guest huss]

Eleven in a row for the Sharks. I'm looking forward to the eventual second round exit that has become almost expected under Ron Wilson.

[the max 0]

Eleven in a row for the Sharks. I'm looking forward to the eventual second round exit that has become almost expected under Ron Wilson.

 

It's what happens when Joe Thornton is on your team.

[the pinjockey 0]

So they are taking a look at the Pronger stomp after all.

 

No wonder lots of people consider the league a joke.

 

I am loving the fact they had to be shamed into looking at this play. And after seeing decent footage for the first time, I fail to see any difference between this and Simon's incident. Anything less that a Simon suspension just proves, IMO, that the name on the back of the sweater is the key deciding factor in these things.

[Red Baron 0]

So they are taking a look at the Pronger stomp after all.

 

No wonder lots of people consider the league a joke.

 

I am loving the fact they had to be shamed into looking at this play. And after seeing decent footage for the first time, I fail to see any difference between this and Simon's incident. Anything less that a Simon suspension just proves, IMO, that the name on the back of the sweater is the key deciding factor in these things.

 

 

He should get 16 games. Nine for the remainder of the season, and first (or second) round of the playoffs.

 

 

 

In other news, former Habs great, Ken Reardon passed away at 86.

[the pinjockey 0]

Definitely reasonable. Counting playoffs as basically as the same as 2-3 regular games is fair. I'll believe that when I see it though.

[CanadianChris 0]

Apparently, the league didn't have a good camera angle of the incident when they looked at it the night it happened. So, the league's still incompetent, just a different kind of incompetent.

 

EDIT: The verdict is in, and Pronger gets 8 games. Still a joke.