shoobiedoobin

Losing rivalries is a fan thing. But we need to realize that it's better for the team to travel less. That should make us happy if they're more rested and ready to play, since that's the focus when we complain about rivalries. We'll develop new ones. Chicago and Nashville were annoying anyway. Chicago's full of bandwagon dbag fans and Nashville are just annoying with their redneck chants and country music. Bring on TO and Montreal. At least their fans know hockey and have been fans for generations. Those will be better rivalries than Detroit shredding the boring Preds after they've gone back to sucking.

On one hand, a 4th won't usually get a player like Gagne. On the other hand a 4th got us Pulk and Gus. So you never know. Sometimes we treat players like they're all positive, just to different degrees. Sometimes the negatives outweigh the positives and from what I've heard for all his pluses his negatives were holding the Kings down more than the positives were helping them. He has a wicked shot but he was also lazy and floating a lot, he's not a defensive guy at all, and I've heard he was a locker room slacker. Not "a cancer" like people like anyone who isn't a super duper leader, but just a guy who could care less. And they figured it was time to get that out of the locker room. If he has the attitude people say he has, that can infect a locker room. As much as I think Dean Lombardi is an assbag, he wouldn't do this without a reason.

^Seattle can work.

lol RABBLE RABBLE!

This is a 2 game road trip. Chicago is the first of a 3 game home stand. Either way it won't be easy. As usual our success will be dictated by our effort level. As it always will be as long as we're as skilled as we are. That, and how we handle the forecheck in our own end. If our defensemen don't make mistakes, we'll win.

Maybe it's more about him than it is our lineup. Maybe the front office sees something you don't. This is totally new toy syndrome. Because how often do we ever get a player from the AHL and think he could've been better if he were called up sooner? I can't think of any examples. Either the player comes up and is what we thought he'd be, or he's a disappointment in the way that time in the AHL had nothing to do with it.

The beard.

Just because he can now? Screw the future let's shoehorn him in now! Typical short sighted fan demands-bring up our new toy now! Now now now!

Let them. Only a moron would think that.

No kidding. If I were the GM in PHO I couldn't accept that deal fast enough.

Those jerseys are nice but clearly everyone reporting on it has no idea how easily fake jerseys get put on eBay. Still nice though but I wouldn't be surprised to see even better ones. The Detroit one looks kinda fan-made. And one of them has to be light, too.

To me the league would be nuts to use a wildcard playoff format. Stick to 16 teams. Top 4 teams from each division make it in. Then there's no advantage or disadvantage to having one more team in your division since 4 make it in across the board from each. 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3 in each division. Winners play each other in round 2. 4 remaining division winners play each other with whatever seeding. Winners face off in the finals. The Cup is the toughest championship to win and a big reason is the fact you have to go through 4 rounds of 4-7 games. It's grueling and that's what makes it worth it. That's mostly what gives it it's credibility and status. To try and emulate an NFL style wildcard system would easily cheapen the title. There's nothing in sports like playoff hockey. DO NOT CHANGE THAT.

........ummm...no.

No sorry, not you. The guy above you.

^Yeah cause 19th overall defensemen who have good NHL experience usually get sent packing for nothing. Like I said before we undervalue him but our narrow mindedness keeps us from realizing we're just a few guys on forums, the hockey world doesn't agree.

Damn good deal.

I'll take 4 hours on a cushy private plane over 3 hours on a bus any day.

Or when someone gets hurt because well, let's just be honest...

I worry that as soon as we figure out puck movement in the zone, we'll have a tough time bringing it into the zone. That drop pass at the blue line that we used to use once in awhile has become a crutch I fear. We use it every single time we want to bring it over the line. It's getting predictable. Entering the zone on the PP requires effort. You need to skate your ass off to get around the wall the other team puts up. Pass well and be skating so that the other team isn't all over you when you receive a pass around the line. That or you take a pass at a stand-still, and try to gain momentum while the defender (who is skating harder) is in your face as soon as you try to start moving. Nothing positive ever happens to us when this situation arises and it's common for teams who don't want to skate. Solution? Skate f***in harder. You can't rely on the drop pass or Datsyuk being a superhero every PP. The second unit lately has carried it over the line much easier yet they're less skilled. You can probably guess why. Movement is quicker, we're using the outsides more and we're a lot less predictable when we're actually in the zone now though. Which is much better than the past two seasons where we phoned it in. Everyone in the building knew who was getting it, when and where the shot was coming from. Now we're different and it's helping.

^To be fair Feaster is a bit of an idiot. That said Mac is a very good goalie. But he wanted to be in the NHL permanently, was hurt a lot, and we found a similar guy with a higher upside for very little money. Contrary to our silly belief that one team has to suffer in a scenario like this, neither are right now. CGY got themselves a fine goalie, and we got a great backup and also have an insane AHL goalie who can come up anytime.

Good thing the rest of the hockey world doesn't think of Kindl this way. There's a world of difference between the two. Mursak was a 6th round pick. Kindl was 19th overall. Mursak really showed nothing in the NHL. Kindl minus our huge expectations has shown he can play in this league and do well from time to time. He's in a position that is tougher to come across, with a higher upside. And he's not going back to the AHL. If he's not playing for the Wings, he's playing for another NHL team. He's got trade value no matter how much we rag on him. There will be a GM or two out there willing to take a chance on a former first round pick on defense who looks like he just needs a change of scenary. Worse guys have gotten something in return.

Not that I agree or disagree with his future here but why bring up point totals? We're not talking about the whole season, we're talking lately and lately he has been pretty good.

You mean the same fanbase that takes dumps all over everyone but Lidstrom and Datsyuk? And wonders why the rest of the league's fans don't follow in our hatred? Hometown fans like us always underrate their own players. It's part of our desperate desire to not look homerish. Mursak being overvalued in more a rare occurrence.

He will. I'm sure since he's receiving a lot of hugs and feels that I'll be labeled some kind of hater or something but I've seen times where he could've but just lucked out and didn't. He can be polished in the AHL. You could use your reasoning against sending him down for any player, any position.