handyandy_101

Friday: NY Islanders @ Boston Washington @ Philadelphia Columbus @ Minnesota Phoenix @ Anaheim Tampa Bay @ Carolina Montreal @ Buffalo New Jersey @ Atlanta NY Rangers @ Florida Vancouver @ St Louis Toronto @ Dallas Saturday: Toronto @ Phoenix Calgary @ Colorado Buffalo @ Montreal Philadelphia @ Ottawa Boston @ NY Islanders Carolina @ Washington Detroit@ Columbus Atlanta @ Pittsburgh New Jersey @ Tampa Bay Minnesota @ Nashville Chicago @ Edmonton Los Angeles @ San Jose Sunday: Dallas @ NY Rangers Calgary @ St Louis Los Angeles @ Anaheim Chicago @ Vancouver

Friday: NY Islanders @ New Jersey Atlanta @ Carolina Montreal @ Buffalo Washington @ Tampa Bay Columbus @ St Louis Colorado @ Dallas Minnesota @ Vancouver Saturday: Phoenix @ Los Angeles Ottawa @ Toronto Boston @ Montreal New Jersey @ Philadelphia Florida @ Carolina Chicago @ Detroit NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh St Louis @ Nashville Calgary @ Edmonton Anaheim @ San Jose Sunday: Detroit @ Columbus Colorado @ Minnesota Calgary @ Vancouver

Friday: Toronto @ Buffalo Atlanta @ Florida Columbus @ Detroit St Louis @ Chicago Colorado @ Vancouver San Jose @ Anaheim Saturday: Montreal @ Ottawa Buffalo @ Boston NY Rangers @ Toronto New Jersey @ NY Islanders Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia Tampa Bay @ Washington Carolina @ Atlanta Columbus @ Nashville Edmonton @ Calgary Dallas @ Los Angeles Phoenix @ San Jose Sunday: Detroit @ Chicago Minnesota @ Colorado

Agreed. But you're kidding yourself if you don't think that his presence has a big impact on their offense as well. I consider him to be a lot like Lids in that respect. I truly believe that without Lids in the lineup, without that impecable puck moving D-Man starting the plays, we'd start to struggle putting points up on the board as well. I don't know about you guys, but Nieds' defensive prowess has never been the thing that has concerned me when playing against him. He's far mopre dangerous when gliding seemlessly down the ice and moving the puck. Clearly -- based on their early season struggles -- he is the driving force behind the Ducks, and his comeback will make them MUCH better. With all that said, I've lost a lot of respect for this guy through the early part of this season. This stupid secrecy "I might return, I might not, its just such a hard decision" s*** is for the birds. As far as I'm concerned he should have grabbed a pair and made up his mind in September like every player who has ever played in the NHL. Of course, I blame Brian Burke for inducing this significant lack of testicular fortitude in a bona fide hockey legend. I have a theory that he makes you hand over your balls to him when he signs you to a contract. It has yet to be unproven.

how can u honestly say it doesnt matter?? i realize that this is the wings and not a team like the leafs that, as we've seen, need to scrap for every point that they can get all season because there is a good chance that come season's end, one or two points might make the difference for the wings, however, its an absolute guarantee that they will already have there playoff place engraved by march, so no worries there but doesn't it really all come down to expectations?? personally, i expect nothing less from the wings (as far as the rgular season goes) than winning the central, the west, and the Presidents Trophy. if u look at it that way, than these early season points really do matter, because although at the end of the season a couple of scattered points here and there aren't going to be a life and death situation, they may very well matter in the race for the Presidents Trophy...

that is a good point, but realistically, ur talking about mlb. i mean, teams like boston and new york, LA, and Chicago being financially inferior in a league with no hard cap, have the ability to bring in big names like that so long as they can afford him (an they will be able to because they survive in such a huge market). in the nhl, where gms have to be far more careful about the moves they make, because of the cap, they are never going to rush into any rash decisions. on top of that, and note that I may just be speaking on a Rafalski high rite now, but Holland really knows what he's doing! ha

i agree with this little list, and I've got another one to add: the fact that we still have ample cap room to pick up one more solid scoring threat when the time comes (which we inevitably will). I look forward to seeing what magic Holland will produce come the trade deadline!

Friday: Toronto @ New Jersey Philadelphia @ Washington Florida @ Buffalo Phoenix @ Dallas Nashville @ Edmonton Los Angeles @ San Jose Saturday: Toronto @ Montreal Boston @ Ottawa Pittsburgh @ NY Islanders New Jersey @ NY Rangers Florida @ Carolina Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Calgary @ Minnesota Chicago @ St Louis Anaheim @ Phoenix Vancouver @ Colorado San Jose @ Los Angeles Sunday: St Louis @ Columbus Nashville @ Chicago Ottawa @ Boston

kubina is absolutely brutal and is incredibly overpayed and overrated....i hve no idea how many points he has or how he qualifies for any coversation about allstars, but that guy has defensive lapses and commits turnovers like they are going out of style

im gonna qualify this by saying that this is in NO WAY a knock on our management, because I feel we have the best front office in the league....that said, i think you may be giving them a bit to much credit in this situation. Grigorenko was considerably out of shape, it really wasn't that tough a call for them to make...having a single player who is the slightest bit out of shape can be a severe detriment to any nhl team, especially through the stretch run and into the playoffs

what gets under my skin??? i hate that elite power forwards like thornton in this case chose to take out his frustration the way he did.....by going around the ice throwin cheap ***** shots at every player he crossed paths with....mainly our stars who he knows will not retaliate. among being a great talent, thornton is a huge, strong, tough guy and if he has some steam he wants to blow off, i think he should do it in a good old fashioned fight with one of our scrappers (or should i say, our ONE scrapper). i no for a fact that this is a route that guys like iggy and levavalier have chosen on more than one occasion, and they are certainly not scrutinized for it....in fact they tend to be commended, and i cant see y thornton wouldnt act the same way with all that said, it was one bad nite and i have to stick behind the great canadian talents out there....so i still luv big joe

altho i still dont fully comprehend everything that is involved here, i think that the leauge should make sure that this does not pan out, and then close the door for anything like this to happen in the future. i hate how complex the game has gotten in recent years. we are talkin about the distinct possiblity of the leafs winning numerous cups somewhere in the future all because of some chinsy ass loophole. call me a purist, but i believe that the business side of the game should follow as basic, standardized, and fair a structure as possible, and then let the games get won and lost on the ice.

Friday: Vancouver @ Washington Montreal @ Carolina Buffalo @ Florida San Jose @ Detroit Colorado @ Calgary Saturday: Philadelphia @ Boston San Jose @ Columbus Ottawa @ New Jersey Carolina @ NY Islanders Toronto @ NY Rangers Montreal @ Pittsburgh Buffalo @ Tampa Bay Florida @ Nashville Atlanta @ Chicago Washington @ St Louis Dallas @ Phoenix Edmonton @ Los Angeles Sunday: Minnesota @ Colorado Edmonton @ Anaheim Detroit @ Vancouver

although i agree and i believe that in all likelihood sundin will retrire as a leaf (and thus, without a cup), i have been giving this issue a lot of thot, and i think that it would really be a smart move for everyone involved. it would be smart for toronto, cuz lets face it, they are going to have to start rebuilding at some point. this team, with the core of guys it has now (with $41 million ties up in contracts for next season) has only a small prayer for even being a playoff team let alone a cup contender. The smart thing for them to do now is to accept that they're f***ed, try and dump all their retarded contracts (easier said than done) like mccabe, kubina, probably raycroft, and yes, sundin (note that im not saying that sundin is overpayed, only the previously mentioned guys) and start building again from the ground up with some promising picks and prosepcts. there is no point for sundin to stick around and watch his career dissepate as the team dismantles before being rebuilt. (of course, ferguson has to go asap) it would be an uber-smart move for sundin. there is really no point in him to stcik around in toronto, because he has no hope there, by the time they become a cup contender again, hell be long retired im sure. thus, if he had any desire to win a stanley cup before he retires, he should be traded to a genuine cup contender. hmmm, lets see....hoos a pormising cup contender with ample cap room?? o ya, we are. to top that off, im sure hes buddy buddies with at least a couple of our swedish boys. as far as i'm concerned, its a match made in heaven and of course it would be smart for detroit, for obvious reasons. sundin is a great talent, and if u've been watching leafs hockey thus far this season, he is one of the most dominant centres in the game, straight up. sure, he would come at a price as far as picks and prospects go, but as i like to see it, most of our talent seems to come from later on in the draft anyways. I tend to not worry to much about the wings trading away hi picks,we've got a badass (thats a good thing) scouting crew. I used to hate Sundin like i hate the rest of the leafs, but ever since the rest of his team has started playing like my little brothers house league peewee team, he's really elevated his game to a new level, and I really like it. of course, i truly believe that none of this will happen, because for wutever reason, sundin has this ridiculous loyatly to the organization that has really hung him out to dry over the past few years. Most of the time I would applaud this loyalty, but not in this case. so it seems that in all likelihood, just as the leafs wither away, so will sundin, whcih seems entirely regrettable. but hey, if im wrong, ill be the happiest guy in the world, i believe that IF he is going to go anywhere , it will be detroit, and that would be perfect. man im glad to get that all off my chest.

its about damn time. i watched my first blackhawk game tonight (against the leafs), and those guys might just have a playoff team. st.louis made some good off season acquisitions and i think that they're paced to make a move. with ken hitchcock at the helm in columbus, they are also making vast improvements. and, as delapatated (is that a word?? idunno) as the preds lineup is, they can still make a few waves. is it safe to say that we have our selves a real division?? i think that if this can hold up, it can really help us out come post-season time. a little bit of regular season competition with get us into that playoff state of mind before the playoffs even start, which is something that we have lacked for seemingly forever. i welcome any comments or opinions

absolutely i agree with that, nasheville last year was certainly a better team than chicago this year that said, i am making more of a comment on the depth of the division...last year we played 24 games against three s***ty ass teams, that really did not serve to benefit our team at all in the long run....this year, on the other hand, were gonna have to work a bit more for those games, and i think that losing a few more games here and there is a small price to pay for something that could help us vastly in the long run

o...in that case i agree entirely...but for that matter, i'd also like the capital's ovechkin, and --wut the hell-- why not throw in the flames' iginla but i definitely see wut ur sayin

im sure that this has been said before, but this lang would never have shown up in detroit. lang has found himself a perfect situation in chicago, hes been given a huge role as star/mentor for a couple of stellar rookies. This guy has a fragile ego, im talking european soccer player fragile, and he just can't function some where like detroit where he's playing 4th or 5th fiddle on offense. so there is no use in saying "crap, i wish we still had him", because it wouldnt have worked that way. i think we just be (relatively) happy for him, cuz at the end of the day, i he won't be getting in the way of our run to the cup

i mean this 100% literally and seriously.....the leafs are a laughingstock and are an embarrasment to this league....they play in the city where hockey lives, they shouldnt be this bad. its been the same sad (albeit HILARIOUS) story for the past 2+ years - and as much as i HATE the leafs - something has to change

im not exactly sure (a) why i noticed this, (b) why i thot it noteworthy, or © why i decided to mention it, but if phoenix's pk is 18-20, then wouldnt it be 90%?? ....... other than that, awesome gdt!!! wings - 5 (z x 2, dats, homer, flips) dogs - 1 (gretzky)

thats rite..."the book" says that in a two on one situation the defenseman should cover the pass and let the goalie take the shooter. I, too, was surprised by what Lidstrom did on that play, I almost got the impression that he didn't realize that Pahllson was where he was (although I assume he did). With that said, however, who am I to doubt Lidstrom, because he practically wrote the book.

that's straight poetic....i like it

i believe that when all is said and done in nick lidstroms career, hell slide into the alltime top 10 ahead of ray bourque, i think he just belongs there.....as for yzerman, 4 or 5 behing gretz orr howe richard

u have a point there, cuz obviously it was never expected of maltby to be a big time scorer, so thagts ok. however, this off season i did start to notice that he really wasnt playing the pain-in-the-ass aggitator that i thot was his calling card. that leads to the question....is he really worth a s*** in the nhl anymore? seems to me like we mite just keep him around for reasons, that if anything, are purely sentimental....he is one the few wings we have left that were here in the cup repeat of '97-'98.....he's a wing for life kinda guy,hes not goin anywhere

wanna no y im pumped. im hearin all this s*** about how this offseason has been kickin us rite square in the nads, and if u look at the numbers of guys weve lost and gotten, i can see y ud think that....but...then i like to remember what we do have and not wut we dont. honestly, nick lidstrom fukin makes this team go, and unless were afraid of losing him, things really cant be that bad... datsyuk and zetterberg, those guys are just gonna be mosters this year, i can feel it. i truly believe that either of these two guys could walk away with the league points lead come the end of the season, they are both that talented...add to that my boys holmstrom, cleary and cheli, and than u start to realize.....hey, all of our most important players are still here. maybe we should leave an apologetic message on ken holla nds machine telling him not to drive his car because we cut his brakes in anger sometime last nite after 8 oclock. hes the best gm in the game...and unless its a debate about who would win in a 'tothedeath cage match', id choose him over burke's frumpy ass any day. wurd