FlashyG

We gave up 5 shorties, and scored 3 of our own.

Hopefully we're both right and Fasth takes over after a couple quick ones on Hiller.

I thought Hiller was getting the nod in goal for game #1?

The Caps are 8-1-1 in their last 10, I'd say they are the hottest right now.

Trolling doesn't have to be a "lie" to be considered trolling. What you're doing could possibly be considered contrarian trolling. Its like going to a board for Gun Rights and expressing nothing but your belief in Gun Control laws.

1 Point and we're in, A Columbus loss and we're in, a Minnesota loss in regulation and we are in. A win of any kind clinches us the #7 seed. Lets hope the team of the past 3 games shows up.

Inspired by one posted up thread, Here are a couple of Al swinging Ducks

Here's a quick one from me.

Nice defensive play by the ref, robbing Z of a scoring chance

Plus Ottawa still has 2 games left. so they control their own destiny as far as seeding goes. They could possibly even take 5th place from Toronto if they win both and Toronto loses to Montreal in regulation.

This GDT almost didn't exist. I had the one below made already but I've never seen the TV show and I was having trouble writing copy for the back. Thankfully inspiration struck during our last game when Cleary kept falling all over the place. Thanks to everyone for all the kind responses to it, It was one I put together pretty quickly compared to some of my other ones so I wasn't expecting everyone to like it this much.

Speaking of Centcougar where is he now? He loved to pop in to gloat when the Wings were down and the Wild we're in the 3 seed, now that they are on the bubble just like us he seems to be absent?

I wouldn't wish injury on anyone but if Bouwmeester had a season ending injury in the final couple games of the regular season it would be hard not to laugh.

Howe played 1 year there as a 17 year old because he wasn't old enough to play in the NHL. He didn't develop there, in fact I can't think of anyone who did and went on to an Elite NHL career. The CHL is still the best in the world, the only competition to it is the NCAA. The players being drafted out of the USHL are only being drafted because they are going to move on to the NCAA. If a player indicates he's going to stay in the USHL for his development years he will either plummet in the draft or will not be selected at all. You're not arguing based on fact as long as you continue to count players moving on to the NCAA as USHL players. If they could commit to university programs a year earlier they wouldn't even consider playing in the USHL, its a stop-over league not a developmental one. I think you might be the only person on the planet trying to make an argument that the USHL is anything close to the CHL as far as a developmental league.

It doesn't reduce their talent level, I was just pointing out that the only reason there is any reputable talent in the USHL is because they get guys looking to play NCAA hockey for the short period of time before they can play in a real league. Gordie Howe may love the USHL, but he wouldn't even begin to argue its on par with the CHL. And if those players going to the NCAA could play in the CHL before going to college, close to 100% of them would because the level of play in the CHL is light years ahead of the USHL. The CHL is the top development league in the world, followed closely by the NCAA, then you'd have a bunch of European junior leagues and then the USHL. Who is the best player in the NHL who played all his development years in the USHL?

This is either intentionally or unintentionally misleading. While its true that 27 of the top 200 from this upcoming draft are currently playing in the USHL only 3 of those 27 players haven't committed to an NCAA program already, Also of those 3 one is now playing in the CHL. So really there are only 2 USHL players in that list and they are underage and will likely commit to an NCAA program next year. The elite players in the USHL aren't in the league to develop, they are there only because they can't play in the CHL and keep their NCAA eligibility. Its also misleading because of those 27, only 13 are actually playing for a USHL team while the others are playing part time in the league as part of the National Development program. There is an argument to be made for the NCAA being a better development route than the CHL (although its probably a losing argument). The USHL on the other hand isn't even in the conversation.

The US under 18 team also plays a bunch of games against national squads and vs NCAA division I and II teams. They aren't undefeated vs the USHL, but they are clearly dominant vs them. They are also not playing for the US Under 18 team because they see the USHL as a development league that will fast track them to the NHL. The USHL isn't incapable of developing players into elite talents, but those that are already elite at young ages will go to the CHL or the US Development program, and generally avoid the USHL because its an inferior league.

The USHL is nowhere near as good as the CHL. There is a debate to be had between the CHL and the NCAA, but the not when it comes to the USHL, its not even close. Top American prospects generally avoid the league all together.

I think going the NCAA route will be far better for him. Right now he's a goon who would be a severe liability on an AHL or NHL team. Let him develop the other side of his game in a league without fighting and hopefully he can turn himself into an NHL player who can also fight.

The new system had nothing to do with Shero constructing his team in fact Ray Shero had little to do with constructing that team, being terrible for a long period of time constructed that team for him. He took over a team that had selected in the top 5, 5 years in a row, with 4 of them being in the top 2. The biggest adversity he's had to face was a problem of his own making when he had to trade Staal away because he couldn't fit all his top 5 picks under the salary cap. Let's see him rebuild the team when those players start retiring, and have him do so without the luxury of having any top 15 draft picks and without missing the playoffs. Maybe then he can start being compared to Holland. Also if Holland doesn't get any credit for the teams draft choices because he employs a scout who recommends which players to pick, then no team's GM should ever get credit for a draft choice. They all employ scouts. Below is a list of players drafted while Holland was in charge of amateur scouting. If I follow your logic Holland should get credit for the cups in 97, 98 and 2002 since he drafted the core of those teams. He also made several trades in those years that provided key parts to those cup winning teams. Yves Racine Sheldon Kennedy Mike Sillinger Nicklas Lidstrom Sergei Fedorov Dallas Drake Vladimir Konstantinov Keith Primeau Slava Kozlov Jason York Martin Lapointe Jamie Pushor Chris Osgood Mike Knuble Darren McCarty Dan McGillis Anders Eriksson Mathieu Dandenault Tomas Holmstrom Holland is the best GM in the history of the franchise, arguably the best in the history of the NHL, and a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Fame Inductee.