StaticWithABeat

Nominees/my picks Bill Masterton Trophy: Kurtis Foster, Jed Ortmeyer, Jose Theodore Calder Trophy: Matt Duchene, Jimmy Howard, Tyler Myers Frank J. Selke Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk, Ryan Kesler, Jordan Staal Hart Trophy: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Henrik Sedin Jack Adams Award: Joe Sacco, Dave Tippett, Barry Trotz James Norris Trophy: Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Duncan Keith Lady Byng Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis Ted Lindsay Award: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Henrik Sedin Vezina Trophy: Martin Brodeur, Ilya Bryzgalov, Ryan Miller

Not sure what Atlanta is thinking taking this deal. Props to Bowman for pulling it off though, definitely a victory for him considering the circumstances.

I hope no one here is so detached from reality that they seriously think a top-seeded team would intentionally try to fall in the standings to avoid a playoff matchup.

This is the correct answer. Although I do enjoy a good "what would you trade" thread to show just how out of touch with reality some people are.

I am not an overly pro-enforcer guy but I would definitely like to see the team get bigger & stronger in general....seems like every time I turned around in the Penguins series it was Hudler/Filppula/Zetterberg/Datsyuk getting bowled over by Gill or Orpik in the offensive zone or Rafalski/Lebda getting outmuscled by an aggressive forward on a dump-&-chase. I will be watching Boston this offseason because they are going to have a nightmare of a time signing all of their RFA's, and I would not mind poaching Byron Bitz off them.

After losing to Edmonton in 2006 I gave up looking at blown calls/non-calls, bad bounces, injuries, and everything else as causes for an inferior team unjustly beating a more deserving one. Life became much less stressful once I accepted these things as random, uncontrollable factors that must be defeated just like any other opponent. IMO, the better team always wins. If you can't play well enough to overcome adverse factors that every team faces to one extent or another then you probably aren't meant to be a champion.

I was on a downtempo electronica kick for the past few weeks but it has since given way to a new wave of hard rock listening

If not for bad breaks, the Wings could've won the Cup every year since 1920. Use whatever excuse you want, the bottom line is breaks are a natural, uncontrollable part of the game and the Penguins are simply not getting it done.

I probably wouldn't bet on the Pens against the Ducks...their two-man show might work in the eastern conference but a gritty, well-balanced, defensively strong team like Anaheim would probably do similar things to them that the Wings are now.

St. Louis has been a finalist but never won before. For comparison purposes: Datsyuk: 97 pts. -- 22 PIM Parise: 94 pts. -- 24 PIM St. Louis: 80 pts. -- 14 PIM

Fedorov was nothing short of heroic in the playoffs and was not relied on the be a go-to leader like Thornton & Marleau are. I see no relevant comparison.

I'm not a hardcore pro or anti-fighting advocate, but it is definitely refreshing to see someone who doesn't run for the hills when the going gets tough. I like Samuelsson/Franzen/Maltby/etc. as much as the next guy, but I can only witness their displays of "toughness" so many times before I get depressed.

My friend got P90x for Christmas and got his ass kicked pretty bad. I tried a couple of the workouts too and some of them are quite intense. I'm in pretty good shape and work out 4 days a week normally but I had a tough go of it through some of them, especially the chest/shoulders one. My hat is off to anyone who can stick to that program for the full 90 days.

Wow those are surprisingly pretty sweet...then again I am black t-shirt biased since they make up 90% of my wardrobe.

haha...Savard is a pretty sweet player, always seems to end up on my fantasy team for some reason but man, he can ***** and dive with the best of them.

Yeah it's looking pretty bleak for them right now, I'd be surprised if they made the playoffs but cap-wise they're actually not in too horrible of a position for the offseason...about $35 mil signed with a few small-name RFAs to take care of (Christensen, Festerling, Wisniewski) and lots of dead weight UFAs off the books. If they can sign Neidermayer for reasonable money, keep Beauchemin healthy and find some cost-effective names to fill holes they could be in ok shape, even better if they can get Giguere and his $6 mil out of town...from the looks of their prospect pool I'd say they're most likely screwed once Selanne/Niedermayer are gone, but if they play their cards right they might be able to salvage some success out of the next season or two.

I dislike Claude as much as the next guy, but Chelios has no business calling anyone out for their fighting. He was one of the most weasely, despicable pricks in the league until he got old. Loved to run his mouth, take liberties with star players, then leave Ciccone or Steve Smith to cover his ass when the enforcers came calling. Maybe not as slimy or conniving as Lemieux was, but just as dishonorable when it comes to fighting.

Olli Jokinen at $5.25 mil is a nice deal....Thomas in BOS at $1.1 mil.....Derek Roy at $4 mil for the next 5 seasons.....Clemmensen for 0.5 mil worked out pretty damn nice for NJ too

I would be beyond shocked if they messed with goalies at this point in the season. If anything, I wouldn't mind getting a reliable 2nd/3rd pairing defenseman like Havelid/Wallin/Malik but even that would take some fiscal maneuvering.

Considering Montreal's top scorer is a perennial 50-point defenseman I'm not sure benching top offensive players is a great idea. Kovalev is 35, I doubt he's suddenly going to start learning lessons about hard work from being sat out. Strange decision, I also wouldn't be surprised if there is more behind this.

and my fantasy team takes another flying roundhouse to the balls...mcdonald, briere, visnovsky, stastny, now richards...

His remaining usefulness died out with the old NHL.

I would agree...NJ getting lots of offense + ability to grind teams into submission + tons of playoff experience + great goaltending does not bode well for anyone. Boston has developed into a great all-around team this year but when it comes to long playoff grind-fests, NJ wins that battle more often than not, especially against a relatively young, skill-heavy team like BOS that doesn't typically play that style.

So the seizure was caused by the other guy punching him in the face until he went down, which I'm fairly sure is the whole goal of every fight ever fought since the beginning of time. You should probably learn how to prevent that if you're an aspiring goon like Klotz. Sensationalist BS.