Datsyerberger

1st star: Joey Mac 2nd star: Goalposts 3rd star: Crossbar

Time to watch us do nothing with a PP again, yay.

Time to watch us do nothing with a PP again, yay.

"Samuelsson sent one high!"

So uh, the Isles and Wings swapped jerseys as a prank tonight, right?

Well, SOMEBODY has to be hot tonight.. right..?

Giving up shorty to the Isles = epic fail.

Franzen - Hudler - Hossa? Woot.

If the Wings lose to the Islanders, everyone's posting privileges should be revoked for a day or two to prevent a server overload. Just saying. I'm feeling an Isles SHUTOUT! >_>

XD I might not actually eat my hat, but as per one suggestion, I might youtube myself chewing on one of my hats. Only problem is I tend not to wash them any more often than I wash my Wings jersey, so it might be a bit gross XD

I'm just hoping the Hawks tank so we end up with Chicago Quennville.

Dunno if he'll get the Pearson, but the goalie votes will probably be unanimous for Dats XD

Mason WILL get a Vezina finalist spot, and the Calder, or I'll eat my hat.

I'm really thinking Scott Gomez. Same height, lack of strength, handedness, two-way play, feistiness, speed, and instinctive playmaking. As for me, I was looking over Duncan Keith's general attributes and I thought he was a close match.. the skating, cerebral game, similar height and build, and so forth. What do you think?

The Flames, you say? Mason to Detroit (e5)

Thanks, Doggy, you're one of my highly respected posters as well. As for a response to this, read about two/three posts up.. it looks like I got something in that addresses most of this just a couple minutes before you tied your post off. As an aside, when I say defense in discussions like this, I usually mean team defense -- the overall ability of the players within their coaches system to limit SOG and scoring chances, which Columbus has done beautifully this year. I clarify that better in my above post. Yes, some of these teams have better players on the back end than C-bus.. but it's the overall team defense that matters more, not just the D-pairs. Edit: One thing I think is worth making an addendum for is something an above poster pointed out -- C-bus does play much more confidently in front of Mason. Then again, if my backup was Dubie, I probably would too. Another thing: That's not my order for expected Vezina winners. I expect Mason to be a finalist. He's got a lot of things going for him, aside from some satire earlier in the thread: Shutouts Age Low GAA Cinderella story All things which the media likes.

Good thing "you are" opinion doesn't count, either.. or any of us here, for that matter. It's just a discussion.

Minny and Boston both have really good defense, but.. Columbus's is better this year. Seriously, examining SA/G and shot quality, Columbus has really, really solid team defense this year, which is a usual for Hitchcock teams. I'm not discrediting Mason.. just pointing out that while he plays on the (albeit slightly, quite present) better defensive team, those two have better SV%s.. in Thomas's case, considerably so, and in Backstrom's case, with quite a few more GP. One thing you'll notice is that quite a few of those teams are at least above average defensive teams: Rinne's, Steve Mason's, Thomas's, Backstrom's, Luongo's. For those on average or worse: Miller, Chris Mason, Smith, and Vokoun -- Smith in particular gets props for being a bright spot on a defensively god-awful team, and Chris Mason for helping hold up such a crippled team. Also worth noting is that 3(!) of them are in the central. Finally, it is worth noting that Mason IS one of the main reasons (if not THE reason) that team is in playoff contention... then again, the same could be be said for Rinne in Nashville, Miller in Buffalo, Mason in St Louis, Vokoun in Florida, and Backstrom in Minnesota (Smith is just boned). If Mason gets credit for that, then all of those guys should get (at least) the same amount. Seriously guys, I'm putting a 20 year old rookie goalie in the top 10 goaltending performers of the year, AFTER taking excellent team defense and other goalie's SV% (relevant to SA/G and shot quality) into account. If that's not good enough for people, I guess Columbus might as well trade him now while he still has value.

Yep. The house's other occupant is leaving for a week, and he's the one that usually bothers to cook stuff. Time to load up on microwaveables. TPBM can pop their own neck and back quite easily.

Oh, you're right, I did completely forget Lundqvist. Yea, I'd stick him ahead of Fleury this year, and probably S. Mason and Luongo as well.

I tend to like the straightforwardness and honesty (or is it lack of political correctness?) of the Russian and other eastern european players in general.

Boredom pushes me to great motivation at times XD I have a few words for you to consider: Canadian East Columbus. Playoffs. Canadian East East Canadian Shutout. GAA. Team stat. Media. Hype. Canadian

But with Rinne? Miller? Backstrom? Lu? Thomas? Vokoun? Could none of these other goalies have landed them in the playoffs?

To be honest, I almost put Miller at 4th and Backstrom at 3rd, and if making the list again I possibly would. Both have been very impressive. Rinne could possibly be notched a bit lower, but I'd put him a touch above Mason, still.

List needs moar Belfour. Also, the only reason the Ozzie vs Roy got the nod over Vernon vs Roy is because they used that bats*** insane Colorado homer announcer. ANOTHER RIGHT BY WAAAGH, ANOTHER RIGHT BY WAAAAAGH