Nev

The Jack Adams is something of a joke anyway. Its the "who gets an average team to play above average for a season" award. Pat Burns has more (3) than Scotty Bowman!!!! (2). Pat Quinn also has 2 :doh: Bill Barber and Bob Francis have won it the last decade and where are these great coaches now? Nowhere. Listen, if Babcock couldn't win it in 2008 when we were 1st in shots taken, 2nd in goals scored, 1st in shots against, 1st in goals against, 1st in points and won the Stanley Cup, he sure as hell ain't gunna do it this year.

As I pointed out earlier, Lehtinen has five 20 goal seasons and two 30 goal seasons. Makes him a 2-way player in my book.

Still his biggest problem IMO, he always looks to pass even when he should shoot - he's like an NHL10 player on a breakaway who stops and wait for the rest of his team-mates to catch up so he has someone to pass to :doh:

Thing is, since the break we've been on fire - but we've only had 1 line clicking every night. Either the 1st line rules and we win, or the 2nd line rules and we win As long as one of the lines is clicking they can provide enough offense to win us a game. As for Flip, I actually voted no despite being a card carrying Fillpulla slappy. He's such a streaky player. I guess his key now is having better streaks and shorter slumps.

"Nick Lidstrom - Was he perfect?" :D

Great point. We're normally awful in these games. Maybe the Pens was just what we needed to give us a spark. And say it quietly boys, but we're within touching distance of 7th!

We should also add that they only got Crosby because of the transfer problems with Malkin. He comes across from Russia the year he was drafted, I highly doubt they finish bottom 3 to get the Crosby lottery pick.

Interesting list, Datsuk should finish at least 6th all time, but he's going to need another 4-5 pointpergame seasons to catch Fedorov. And look at Kris "Empty Net" Draper in 23rd! 1080 games though, boy is that impressive.

You know, its possible to hate another team and other players without being jealous of them.

Fixed that for you

Or you could look at it that the best defensive player those seasons also happened to be offensively talented. I believe they're called "2-way players" You also forgot to mention that Francis, Yzerman and Federov (twice) won it pre-lockout. And that Lehtinen has five 20 goal and two 30 goal seasons.

This. Like the Norris, its a trophy that's won in the media during the season, and no journalist has been saying much of a good thing about him this year. That, plus whilst he leads all Wings forwards with a +13, that's only good for 27th in the NHL. The previous 3 years he's led all forwards in +/-. Face-off % is pretty impressive though.

Its definately one reason. Guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg have looked lethargic all season, like they were skating in treacle. Add to that free-agency losses, aging core and horrific injuries... I also wonder if they been too successful. In The Game, Dryden talks about how by the late 70s the team felt they had earned the right to lose. I've wondered a lot if that way of thinking has crept into some players minds.

Whoa, Rechi is 42????? He's always been one of my favourite non-wings, but I didn't realise he was that old

Its a good point - especially under the system Babcock employs where the centre has to do all the skating, particularly on the backcheck. Datsyuk has said in the past about playing with Zetterberg that he prefers wing to centre because he has to do less backchecking.

3rd line is horrific. Bertuzzi has been good for the money, but he needs a set-up man. I love Miller, but he isn't it. Williams is just Williams - meh in a 29 shirt.

Well, I'm laughing now, but only cos we held on. For all the cardiac arrests, we had a few good shifts in the last 5 mins, holding them in their zone, causing offsides etc. But Chicago have too much offensive firepower for them not to create chances when they're chasing a game. The last 2 games against the Hawks have been awesome, what chance a 1st round matchup?

What a beautiful 1st period. Turnovers, skating in treacle, and 2 minutes of a triple Crosby suckathon by Doc, Olzcyk & Pierre

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand there's the first Crosby reference. Did you know he scored the OT goal in the final?

As my Scandanavian colleague points out, Anderson worked for Holland - before he was GM he was assistant GM, and before that he was director of amateur scouting. I think before that he was Canadian juniors scout (so McCarty, LaPointe, Primeau etc). Its not like Anderson (or any of the other scouts) work in isolation. Anderson may have watched Lidstrom etc more than Holland, but Holland still saw most of them play before they were drafted. Hence why he has the story about being tipped off by a Swedish taxi driver about Lidstrom, and was able to say of the first time he watched Zetterberg, "this skinny little kid who no-one could get the puck off"

See, the problem with that argument (and I'm not accusing you of promoting it) is that he scouted most of the players he inherited on his way to becoming GM.

If this is anything like the last game on NBC, it should be an absolute corker!

The 08 finals, yes Riiiight. I think Flip playing on damaged knee ligaments throughout the 08 playoffs evens the injury excuses out.

I have no idea. The "in the blue paint" rule suddenly reappeared during the 08 playoff run when we repeatedly had good goals called back. Shows how good we were then, to win the Cup despite being repeatedly jobbed by the refs. Who can forget Datsyuk against Dallas chasing after the ref shouting "Bulls***!" after another phantom goalie interference call. But you're right. I keep thinking to myself, when did it become 1999 again?

Wait, you needed this article to tell you that Filpulla was outplayed by Malkin in the '09 finals? However, the article isn't above talking complete and utter bollocks Um, no. This is the same Filpulla and the same Malkin who faced off the year before in the finals. That time Filpulla totally dominated Malkin, and it was to me the most crucial (and most surprising) matchup of the '08 finals. I was totally confident Z/Dats/Lids would shut down Crosby, I was fearful of what Malkin would do to our 2nd line. In 08, those fears were unfounded. In 09 Malkin played like what he was - one of the top 3 players in the world. Its no disgrace that a 2nd/3rd line centre got outplayed by an all-star future HOFer.