C-TownWing

Well put...Datsyuk is the best all-around forward in the game, IMO. And wailing on Gary Roberts was what clinched my opinion. All due respect to Ovie and Malkin, they're also great. But a Selke winner AND a top 5 scorer with that skill set and work ethic? Game over.

I have it and love it...sort of a compromise with the girlfriend, since I'd be using the nice TV all the time if we had Center Ice. So I give up the nice TV, she doesn't give me crap about having my face buried in a laptop all evening watching hockey. My only complaint is that I can never get the full screen option to work, but that's probably more my connection than anything else. Even if you don't have fullscreen though, it's still cool to have the stats right in front of you while the game's going on. Blackouts: Anything on Versus or NBC. HNIC is also blacked out since they're available on NHL Network. Not sure about the TSN games they carry on NHL Network Wednesday night, but I have seen TSN games on there other nights. Also, they black out games in your local area. I'm in Cleveland and get Blue Jackets games on FSN (when there's no Cavs game anyway), so the BJs are blacked out for me.

The goal against Montreal last week, where he was on his knees and gesturing towards himself, I thought that was a definite "look at how sweet I am" move, and I don't really like that. That's where it crosses the line from genuine enthusiasm to showing off. In general, I have no problem with his usual--throwing himself against the glass, jumping around acting like the next contestant on The Price is Right, etc. I wouldn't want our guys to be like that though--one of the reasons we're so successful is because we stay on an even keel and don't get down on ourselves when things aren't going well. The flip side is that you don't get too up when things go right, but that's a necessary evil IMO.

Mason's been very human over the last month: 2.56 GAA, .893 SV%. Far and away the second best goalie in the NHL...named Mason. Yeah, I know he had mono for some of that, but he doesn't now, and he got shelled yesterday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's crashing back to earth a little. That said, I still don't want to face Columbus BECAUSE it'd be the first playoffs in franchise history. Think they won't be up for that series? Not to mention the fact that they consider us an archrival, and we could give a crap about them.

One of the worst parts of these telecasts is the non-live mic. Every single time they show it, it follows the exact same pattern: 1. Guy calls for pass. 2. Guy skates around while not saying anything. 3. Guy reacts to a goal, usually with "YEAH!" or "WOOOOO!" No reason why they can't show some of the more interesting stuff and just censor the swearing.

Just wanted to jump back in to issue a quick retraction on this gem, in light of Draper's goal tonight.

Exactly what I had in mind with that. Nice work

You're probably right, but still...wake me up when you're making an arrest. Even in the worst case, it's just a couple grossly underachieving players who don't strike me as the brightest guys ever (just ask Mikhail Grabovski) getting caught up in something stupid. Hardly anything that will "rock the Canadiens' foundation to its core" or whatever.

Yeah, he'd hit the net. The one above the glass. Well, ok, that's pretty extreme, but he'd be about halfway between the two for sure.

With all due respect to Linden, I think Richards will end up a few clicks above that. He'll never have the stats/awards/accolades of an Ovechkin like you say, but IMO he has just as much ability to elevate his team as AO does, and at the end of the day, that's what it's about. I'll admit that I openly questioned his contract and the captaincy. But I'll also admit that I was dead wrong on both. What a tremedous player.

Or they may call you "guy" in a stern tone if they're mad, as in "look, guy, this stuff ain't pure, eh."

That same thing actually crossed my mind last night...I was comparing/contrasting with the Columbus game last Friday where the d-zone lapses were so bad that they didn't even have to pass from the half boards into the slot, they just walked it right in. To his credit, Ozzie made great saves all three times I remember that happening. I think with our D, I don't know that they'd change their game based on how they feel about the goalie, and like SandMan pointed out, if they did play like they feel less confident in Ozzie, the result would be pretty much the opposite of what's happening.

With the (offensive) tear Green's been on, I'm surprised to see that many Ds that close to him in points, even if they do have a few more GP. My gut feeling is that Lids, Chara and Green will be the finalists. We'll see where it goes from there.

Who knows if we'll even have a cap tied to revenues at the end of the contract? Don't forget that the CBA's up first. I'm anxiously awaiting my prize for being the first to freak out about the 2011-12 season possibly being cancelled by a work stoppage.

Beat me to the Krupp mention. I'll settle for Jiri Slegr. Or you could do an all LGW-hate one with Lang, Samuelsson, Jason Williams and Curtis Joseph or something like that. Lilja's probably worked his way off of it with his cult following (myself included) and strong play this year. It's pretty cool how we can throw up a player Mount Rushmore with some of the best players ever AND a builder Mount Rushmore with some of the best builders ever. Montreal's probably the only other team that can throw up 4 and 4 on our level.

Exactly...nobody wins anything in the playoffs until they do. Lest we forget, we were saying the same things about Osgood back in the day. Backstrom's never really had a chance with a halfway decent team, and he's been spectacular in the regular season with that crapfest in Minnesota in front of him. It's not like he has some Thornton-esque resume of playoff sucktitude.

I agree with everyone, we need to appreciate what we have. * Four Cups in 11 years…that’s as many as the Rangers have ever. It’s more than the Blackhawks. It’s just one shy of the Bruins. We’re not exactly talking about expansion teams here. In fact, the Canadiens, Leafs, Bruins and Oilers are the only teams to beat our Cups over the last 11 seasons IN THEIR ENTIRE HISTORY. * We go into every single season basically assuming a division championship, and the season’s an unmitigated failure if we lose in the first two rounds. * We have the management in place that makes people want to stay for less money, and no matter how tough our personnel situation is, we’re confident that it’ll be worked out in the best way possible. * Our franchise is tremendously stable despite the tough times. Don’t underestimate that—fans of at least a few teams can legitimately be concerned whether their team will exist next year. * Even on a smaller scale…whenever I’m watching a game and we fall behind, I don’t really get worried about whether we can win, basically because of how freaking good we are. When we were down 2-0 yesterday, how many of you said “oh crap, we’re screwed?” Probably not that many. Think Rangers fans react the same way? I highly doubt it. There’s plenty more, but that’s enough to get the point across. We’re freaking spoiled, so enjoy it, because someday we’ll be one of the 11 teams fighting for the last four playoff sports in the West.

Bingo. I think there's more of a cultural thing going on there that's causing a lot of problems. Start with Hossa. They tried to re-sign him, he wasn't interested, citing a better chance to win the Cup in Detroit. At the time, that didn't seem to hold that much water, considering the Pens had just made the finals--for all intents and purposes, they were poised to be contenders for years. People even compared the series to the Islanders-Oilers series in 1983 and 1984, one dynasty passing the torch to the next. I'm now of the belief that there was something more that Hossa saw with that organization, that he knew the train wreck was coming. It might also explain why he seems so willing to take a discount to sign with us--he's seen the other side of organizational competence (in Atlanta and Ottawa too) and knows he has a good thing with the Wings. Keep going with Malone. I'm not going to claim to be all that familiar with his situation, but he's a Pittsburgher (since his dad played there) who was allowed to leave. He claims to have not gotten a "serious" offer from the Pens--could it be because of a rumored rift with Therrien? If so, shame on Shero for siding with his terrible and now fired coach over a heart-and-soul guy like Malone, who pre-dates the Pens being good, was a fan favorite and a top-six forward anywhere in the league. So basically, their two best wingers walk, and they replace them with...Miro Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko? Holy mediocrity Batman. Combine that with the Gonchar injury and you get the Eastern Conference champs possibly missing the playoffs. Long story short, something stinks with that organization, and it ain't Crosby.

Great post. I think the thing to keep in mind is that we're probably going to have to dump salary in light of the Hossa/Franzen/Hudler situation, Filppula and Kronwall are the two names that come up for this most frequently due to cap number and lack of NTC, and making a one-sided trade for a contract that comes off the books 7/1 is the most realistic way to make that happen. I'd love Lehtonen or Backstrom as a rental if it solidifies our goaltending and helps us clear cap space for next year. Only problem as far as I'm concerned is point #1, we'd almost have to carry 3 Gs in that case.

See, I was going to say sort of the opposite. Yeah, a lot of those guys were towards the end, but in a lot of cases, it's almost like they saved their last shot of greatness for that team. * Cheli was a first-team all star and led the league in +/-. * Yzerman probably should've won the Conn Smythe. He was actually a point-per-game player during the regular season when healthy too. * Hasek had six shutouts in the playoffs, I think that's a record. * Shanahan, Fedorov, Robitaille and Hull all scored 30 goals. Shanahan led the team in scoring.

I've noticed this too--some guys who dress about 50% of the time always seem to go against us. I'll give another vote for Ott. I think for me, it's a matter of contrast, because he's teammates with Brenden Morrow, a guy I really respect for going 100% all the time and playing a tough game the right way (when healthy obviously). It just makes Ott look even more cheap by comparison. The Ducks contingent scores highly for me (Pronger, Perry), except for Getzlaf, I don't have anything against him other than how he seems to have a four-point game every time we play them.

No worries, I guess that makes a little more sense, given that he's a scout. Point still stands: Yzerman played with both, MARK Howe didn't. Or you could use Howe for both, given that he was a pro scout during the careers of both. I just think it's dumb to use different grading scales. Or to expect Yzerman to say that Datsyuk sucks at something (he doesn't, but if he did).

My concern: Most of the mistakes they do make involve overvaluing big guys (Hatcher, Bertuzzi). I'm worried that this means Franzen over Hudler. My other concern: Are we really talking about going into next year with a G tandem of Ozzie and Howard? Yikes. I'm hoping we can find an extra million or so in this mess somewhere--where would we be without Conklin this year? It probably can't be him, he's due a raise, but a proven capable backup would be nice. Lots of tough decisions to make. I don't envy Kenny's position right now.

As a Penn State alumnus, I pretty much have to throw my hat in for Happy Valley. I'll never forget how when Primeau scored the winner to end that 5OT Pens-Flyers game, I opened my window and you could hear cheering wafting up from the State College bars. It's a good hockey area because most of the people there are originally from good hockey cities. Pittsburgh and Philly are huge rivals in every facet of life, and it collides at Penn State. Pros: * Attendance record. * PSU's done using it by mid-November, so it doesn't have the availability issues of NFL stadiums. * The Flyers have been one of the leagues flagship franchises for basically their entire life. They're probably the most consistently strong US team over the last 35 years, and deserve to be involved in one of these. Cons: * Getting PSU to agree to it might not be the easiest thing ever. * Pens have already been in one. All that said, I don't think it'll happen. I think the Rangers will be involved in one way or another, that's a given. Of the likely venues for that, I'd like to see Boston at Fenway.

Can't say I've seen a poster named after a cap number before. Welcome to the new NHL, I guess. I absolutely hate interviews during the game. I know they're done during stoppages, but it just seems kind of intrusive to me. This isn't baseball, where they interview yesterday's starting pitcher during the game today. To be fair to Vs., it's not like they're the only ones doing these interviews though.