GMRwings1983

In the minors, you mean? I don't know what to look forward to with this Versus/DirecTV thing, so I guess I'll be looking forward to choppy online streams and a possible Lilja return to action. Also, hopefully Bertuzzi will pull a "Todd Bertuzzi" on Sidney Crosby in our first meeting with them.

My vote goes to Luongo. egroen will be pleased. I'm a little surprised no one has mention Thornton, Chara or Lecavalier yet.

You're forgetting Corey Perry and Selanne. Also Niedermayer and Pronger. Getzlaf didn't really have to carry them offensively. He was their best offensive player, but there was other help there. Iginla is by far Calgary's best offensive player in my opinion. Cammaleri and Langkow scored points also, but they're not in his class as players.

Crosby was shut down in the Finals because our team's entire focus was on him and on no one else. That's why the other Pens players beat us. As an overall playoff performance, he was better than any of our forwards, especially Datsyuk. He and Datsyuk have a similar amount of career playoff points, however, Crosby has played half as many games to reach that mark, with much higher expectations than what Datsyuk has had. Do you really want to compare these 2 players in terms of playoff success? They both carried the team. One with timely goals and leadership, the other with goaltending. When has Getzlaf had to carry an entire team offensively without much help around him? I think Iginla is better now than Getzlaf. To reiterate, he's more physical, is a better goal scorer, a better leader, and has more of a load to carry with that team. That's why I ranked him higher.

Iginla has proven himself before in big games. He got his team to the Finals once and won a Gold Medal playing great hockey. Kovalchuk is unproven in big games, and isn't as good a leader as Iginla. Also, he's not as physical and doesn't have Iginla's net presence. He can score goals and has a rocket shot, but so does Iginla. Kovalchuk is a better skater than Iginla, but I don't see any other advantages. Iginla can score from anywhere on the ice, while Kovalchuk is more prone to stay away from the front of the net.

Right, because this means we won't have injuries in April. The hockey gods hate us, as they showed last year in April, May and June with the injuries.

Pathetic, isn't it? They should ask some of the fans to serve as cameramen from their seats, just so we can get some different angles.

Yes. An enforcer would have deterred this from happening. How many times do we have to explain this to you?

They've been in the playoffs a few times. The last time was 2 years ago, and he was nonexistent in the series.

Because this is the era of the goaltender. Good goalies are not hard to find nowadays. Seems like every team can call up some minor league goalie who winds up playing great (except us). I wish goalies would start sucking like they do when I watch vintage hockey games from time to time. Now it's too easy for these guys to dominate. I don't know when I'll eventually vote in this thread for a goalie, but it's just hard doing so, knowing how many great ones there are now. We might as well have a separate thread for them.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm blaming this one on Bettman.

Don't worry. We never have injuries in the playoffs.

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I have streamed games online before, but never from a Canadian proxy on CBC as far as I can remember. Hope the country won't mind.

The topic is about who the best players are now, and not who'll be better at the same age.

That guy is made out of paper. His injuries and lack of production in big games are what makes him an overrated player.

Mikael Samuelsson, baby!!! Can't wait to see him do his first spin move, although I doubt the Canucks will let him play on the PP. Those fans aren't like the JLA fans. They'll boo the hell out of Sammy after about a month of seeing his antics.

Sammy's puck control was way better. That guy would do the stupidest moves, especially that backhanded move, and would still hold on to the puck against all odds. The problem occured when he tried to pass it off or dump it into the boards, which is when we always lost possession. In Williams' case, he's more prone to turn it over right at that point, which will lead to breakaways.

I hope Newbury makes the team instead of Williams and Eaves. Dream on, GMR.

Good point. People are overrating Getzlaf. His offensive numbers aren't as good as Iginla's and although he does occasionally play the PK, Getzlaf is not that great a defensive forward yet, so he doesn't deserve much praise there. Finally, like I said earlier, Iginla has the leadership factor and has more weight on his shoulders, since he has to carry that team offensively. Anaheim's top forwards are way better than Calgary's. If Getzlaf had an average series against us, half the people that voted for him would have changed their votes. And don't even get me started on those who ranked Kovalchuk ahead of Iginla. The guy has never even played in a big game in his NHL career, and yet he's getting votes ahead of arguably the best forward of the decade and a guy who's still going strong.

It'd be cool to see, but at this point I'd be glad if I got to watch the game, period. Since I don't have Versus anymore, I don't know how that'll be possible.

Iginla is a perennial Hart candidate, is a better goal scorer than Getzlaf, and has more of a load to carry on that team. He's also more of a physical player in my opinion. People here are just picking Getzlaf because he dominated the Wings in the playoffs.

He's a turnover machine. And he doesn't provide as much entertainment on the point that Sammy had with those bizarre spin moves and odd shot choices.

And Kane looks like he's about 15.

Iginla

Two pieces of bad news. We lose our enforcer and our dignity on the PP. Sammy was better on the point than Williams.