mjlegend

Pens are doing a great jog of celebrating the goals they don't get.

After seeing Poni play this series (and get healthy scratched) I'm kind of glad we didn't try to trade for him. EDIT: Errm... oops.

Keep it up, Habs...

I hope has a great game.

They have to go through Chicago before they get to Pittsburgh.

Call me crazy, but IMO Hudler and (random fourth line free agent winger) over Williams, Bert and Maltby is an improvement. I'm presuming this offseason Brian Burke is going to want to overpay Bertuzzi like he did in Anaheim. Kovalchuk would definitely have been a Wings target in the pre-cap era. In a way, I'm kind of glad we don't have the temptation to try to get into a bidding war for him.

Even for Facebook that seems like overreacting.

After the final buzzer (the puck's along the Habs half-boards where a bunch of guys were scrambling in the dying seconds), Plekanec goes to congratulate Halak. Crosby gives him a shot as he's going, starting a melee that involved a gloveless Gionta on top of Malkin. Malkin has a foot of height on Gionta and a history of starting fights when he loses playoff games, so I don't know why his gloves would be glued on now, but anyway... Of course, with CBC, we had to wait for the replay because they kept showing other unnecessary shots during the scrum but that's what I was able to ascertain.

Good luck, Pavel. I guess when you're used to playing 100+ games a year, the habit is really hard to break.

Tough call, but I say he goes into the Hall of Fame as a Sabre. Again with the balls, hey newfy?

I first saw McIllrath at MJ camp when he was 16 years old. Didn't make a mistake in scrimmages against his age group. He took out the man well and moved the puck quickly. Then, he did the same thing again the next day when they shuffled the scrimmage rosters. After a few nervous nights early, I'm told he stepped up and played well in the past two seasons. As it was as a 16-year-old at a major junior camp, he was the best defensive defenceman I'd seen in years. He's grown an inch or an inch and a half since then and really bulked up. I'm not totally surprised his stock has risen so much, and as team weight the risk/reward between now and the draft, I would doubt he's available in the 20s. Maybe 11-15? His is the stock that will rise while GMs and scouts think: "Do I want to draft a kid in the first round who may not physically or skill-wise grow and/or may not leave their home country?" I've only seen him play a couple of times since then, but my old friends back in the Jaw love watching him play D. He's a gamer. But we probably won't draft high enough to get him.

Is the 'summer cap' something teams can go over in the summer free agent period, but have to get down to the cap by Oct. 1?

Go troll a Blackhawks forum.

Yes, sports reporters are an ugly lot! Wait a sec... Anyway, he's been nice enough to leave his email address so people can send him fan mail: marace@dispatch.com

Ha! At the risk of sacrilege, I'd propose the following change to the first two lines: "Our goalie who art in Detroit. Howard be thy name..."

That would kinda suck, but at least with Hossa in the final we'd know how it turns out. Pittsburgh-Vancouver would be a freaking gong show of a million Super Bowls worth of hype.

Random collection of three other teams with spots essentially guaranteed, fighting for position: Kings: Jon Quick played in 17 of last 20 Kings games. Devils: Martin Brodeur played in 19 of last 21 NJ games. Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury played in 17 of final 20. Then: Red Wings: Howard in 20 of last 21. We're talking that maybe one or two games down the stretch is the reason he's had a sub-par couple of games now? Sixth to 120 minutes of hockey in two and a half months? It's a dangerous conclusion. By this logic, the next time the Red Wings are up 3-1 in a series, they should rest the starter and give the backup some time until the next round. FWIW, I also thought Howard should have gotten a rest against Edmonton late in the season but I'm not going to blame a possible second round loss on that one start.

Henrik needs to play a little bit better. <---- (understatement)

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=528107&navid=DL|PIT|home Pens announce he's out tonight, undisclosed, day to day. Pretty big hit for Sid to miss his winger for most of the last 100 games.

Just one more round, that's all I'm asking. For tonight, I want Camel Toe to overtake the goal scoring lead and Sid to go two games in a row without scoring.

I beleive there's a time and a place for dropping the gloves right away and laying waste --- and this was that time and place. Game's already decided and the goalie gets charged. Better to unleash hell right away because it's the ONLY time you can legitimately claim "heat of the moment" as a defence. Saskatoon had their goalie charged late in a game against Red Deer earlier in the WHL playoffs and they waited until after the Red Deer guy got a major penalty, and then the next faceoff to start a line brawl. The dub fined and suspended four Blades to one Rebel, including the Saskatoon coach. That's NOT the way to do it.

A Hawks loss in this round would have to be a major disappointment. Going one round less than you did the year before with a young, hot team doesn't say "progress" to me.

Trade him for a dog and then shoot the dog. Seriously, though, I think we all forget about the value of players with similar skill sets and experience on the open market. A three million cap hit for a versatile third line centre is a steal in today's NHL. At least half the teams in the league would kill to have a talent like Flipper. I don't know how anyone can have such a strongly negative opinion about him unless you expected 75-80 points/year out of a third line centre.

I suppose we'll never know.