jagr68

I am in the same boat as you, buddy. I called yesterday, and last week, week before that, and so forth. First few times the person who spoke poor english knew nothing about it, one woman asked what the NHL was and if it was a sport. But the last two times, they finally heard of the NHL and Center Ice but read that same generic message you got. I will be so upset if they don't carry it. I bought a house, a 52" TV, got Dish with the HD box, so I have been waiting all summer to watch hockey in HD this season! I ended up getting my HD Dish and TV one day after the Ducks won the Cup! So I never saw a HD hockey game yet! I did make a call last week complaining about something and they informed me I wasn't under contract. I thought I was, but they said no. So worse comes to worse, I'll cancel Dish and get Direct TV.

I had Comcast at my parents house. I bought my own home this summer and now have Dish Network. Finally got the house, 52" HDTV, and going to get NHL Center Ice, as well as NHL 08 for Xbox 360. What a winning combo. Only thing to top that off would be if Dish carried the NHL Network. With my luck, I doubt it. I called them and they don't have any clue. In fact, they don't have any clue about NHL Center Ice either. Yet, on their channels it clearly says to call and order. heh. Well, for those of us with Dish, or Direct, let's cross our fingers!

It is somewhat funny though. Lot of people bashed Tampa Bay for having really cheap tickets, around 10$ or so. Saying it's because of a poor fanbase and such. Well they sell out every game and it's no secret the Wings didn't exactly have many sell outs last season. Guess they realized someone paying 9$ along with food and possibly parking is better than a empty seat.

Hah, I'm just the opposite. I used to live in PA, now in MI. Would love to be there with all the hype around Sid. My gf and I travel to Pittsburgh every year, once or twice, to watch the Pens play Tampa Bay (her favorite team). Can't wait for the season to start. Finally got a 52" HD TV, so watching the Pens, Wings, Bolts in HD will be great!

Didn't see this posted, but I could have overllooked... http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=214589&hubname=nhl I guess a bachelor party got out of hand...

Yeah a curved stick just gives you a advantage in one way, but a disadvantage in another. It's not going to improve your game without a drawback. Sure, Jagr and Kovalchuk may cheat with their sticks, but look at their backhand. They give up a strong backhand for better curve which may give them a harder wrist shot and maybe better stickhandling (for me atleast). But look at a guy like Crosby. Probably the best player in the game. His stick is anything but curved, it's almost straight. It's just about personal preference. He has a decent shot but he has one heck of a backhand pass and shot.

Yeah that is true. Almost every kid drinks before they are 21. I was actually going to try to say, well, he's used to Canada where you can be 19. But Jordan doesn't even turn 19 until September! Even so, you figure it is Eric's party so majority of the people are around his age. I bet Jordan was one of the few that were not 21. I say so what, worse things happen. Like someone else said, after what the NFL is going through and what Vick may be charged for, these kids did nothing wrong. They are just ordinary kids having fun in the summer like they should be. It's common for kids to drink before the legal age, far more common then betting on sporting events you ref or running a dogfighting ring. Seriously though, what kind of neighbors call the cops and complain about their NHL neighbors being to rowdy. I'm sure if they asked to come over and party too, instead of call the cops on them, the Staal's would have been more than happy to invite them! I work at 5am, but I would of lost sleep to hang out!

Yeah, that is right. Before he retired, Mario had the highest Point per game average, higher than Wayne. In fact, Mario was the only player to ever average over 2 points per game. Reminds me of a reporter asking Mario when he decided to come back and play after he retired, that if he comes back and doesn't play at the same level as he did in his prime, he'd risk not averaging over 2pts a game and losing the record as the highest PPG ave.. Mario knew that, and said to that reporter that people already have their minds made up of where he is amoung the greats. And he is right. No matter what Mario did, how bad of a team he used to have around him, injuries he battled, and the ridiculous numbers he put up, most people will always look at Wayne as better. So what difference would it make if he came out of retirement and didn't average 2pts a game. If he would of averaged 2pts a game, people would still look at Wayne as the best, so who cares. Wayne played 572 more games then Mario but only has 204 goals then him. You can say Wayne is the most accomplished player, but the best and most talented, no. Gretzky's records could be challenged, but it would have to be a player who stays injury free their whole career. Todays game is much different. Sid already has two 100pt seasons under his belt, and if he only gets better, you can imagine he might hit the 140, 150, and maybe even 160pt mark a few times in his career. If so, and he plays 20 years and towards the end his numbers should drop, and they will, but all the years of collecting 120 or so more points a year, you just might see Sid with 2,000 career points. But he'll have to be on a decent team and most importantly, injury free. It's all in perspective. I think if Sid scores 2,000 points in his career, how the game has changed, to me, is more impressive than Wayne collecting 2800 or 2900 or whatever he has when you look at the NHL back then and the high scoring. Much like, Mario scoring 199 points in his best year on a horrible team, to me, is more impressive than Wayne scoring 215 on a Stanely Cup Champion team like Edmonton. It's not just stats, you have to look at the whole picture.

Everybody is going to have their own list, and most of the same guys will appear in the top 10, but in different orders of where Yzerman belongs...so I guess here's my list..with the exception of Howe and Orr, I didn't put any older players because I never saw them play, but Howe was a step above most of them, so even though I never saw him play, he deserves to be up there...but guys like Hull, Bossy, Richard, etc., just not old enough to have actually seem them play, and highlight reels don't show how they played every game, and what they do on the ice when they are not scoring goals. 1) Crosby.. Just kidding, not yet atleast.... 1) Lemieux (The skill he lost when he first retired is more than Wayne ever had...) 2) Orr Here, it's tough for me...to me these three all could make good arguements for 3... 3) Gretzky 4) Yzerman 5) Howe (that's tough because I never actually saw him play, just highlights) 6) Messier 7) Jagr 8) Lidstrom 9) Brett Hull And 10, I don't even know. So many great players have played in the last 30 years you can make a case for. Sakic, Bourque, Leetch, Bure, Selanne, Forsberg. You can go on and on. The thing about Yzerman, is he was shadowed in his career when he put up his best numbers. His best years, Lemieux and Gretzky were also having even better years. Finally when Wayne left Edmonton and his all-star cast of teammates, his numbers went down and were very comparable to Yzermans. Lemieux's were just unreal considering the team he had and when he finally had a team he got cancer. Yzerman gave up his dominant offensive game, to be more of a two way player. Which in turn, he led the team to three Cups. Makes you wonder what stats he could have had, if he chose to simply be a offensive player only.

Yeah I saw that the other day on the website. The game looks very impressive. Seems they added some neat features, such as creating your own plays, and goalie control, as well as having the new NHL uniforms by RBK, and the new styles like the Caps new jersey. Ships Sep. 11th, in stores Wednesday, the 12th!

Most probably saw or heard about that thing they are doing on ESPN about Who's Now. Basically they chose 32 athletes in about every sport to compete against each other in a panel vote and fan voting. (They actually do not compete in any sport against each other, it's just voting). They look at what they did on field (or ice) in their sport, records, or other noteable things the athlete has done in their career. They also look at popularity of them, endoresement deals and stuff like that. Crosby is the only NHL player in it. He is competing against Derek Jeter. I really have my doubts that Sid has much of a chance. If this was in Canada, he'd most likely easily win. Whether or not you like Sid or not, would be nice for the sport to get him a lot of votes to show ESPN that a lot of people in America really do love hockey. Here's the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...mp;lid=tab1pos3 Then just click 'Launch Who's Now' So far, here are some of the results... Dwyane Wade def. Shaun White (no surprise there) LaDainian Tomlinson def. David Beckham (only in America) Lebron James def. Kelly Slater Jeff Gordon def. Barry Bonds Kobe Bryant def. Ronaldinho Alex Rodriguez def. Terrell Owens (that probably could have went either way) Dale Earnhardt Jr. def. Chuck Liddell (I wanted Liddell...) Steve Nash def. Serena Williams Tiger Woods def. Matt Leinart So it is pretty interesting. Mostly it comes down to a popularity contest. They determine the winner by combining 70% fan voting and 30% of their selected panel. I think the panel is all retired NBA and NFL guys too, but I could be wrong. The winners then advance to the next round. I think Tiger will end up winning it all. Probably should have posted this the other day, because the winner is announced tonight on Sportscenter, 6pm edition I believe.

Right, exactly. When I posted it, I didn't think Sid would win. And I don't think any of us will make much of a difference. Just hope that Sid doesn't get blown out. I think it would be great that if somebody like Jeter wins in a close one, maybe ESPN will consider picking up the NHL again when Versus contract is over. That would be the at best situation I guess. To surprise people, that the NHL isn't as unpopular as they think.... A lot of people still do not have Versus, so their ratings will never match what ESPN had years ago. I have Dishnetwork and you have to get the most expensive package just to get Versus. It sucks, I would be satisfied with the $29.99/month package. But to get Versus you have to pay $52.99/month. So when hockey starts I'll have to upgrade. Being such a huge Pens fan, I am still going to get Center Ice but you'd expect the Pens to be on Versus probably once or twice a month. I guess when the Pens were on, Versus had their highest ratings (or so I heard). Now that I have a high def TV (finally) I can't wait for hockey to start and watch the NHL in high def! Well, anyway, hopefully Sid surprises people and doesn't get blown out to bad! I think Tiger won like 90%/10% or something crazy like that, hopefully it's not that bad for Sid!

Oh yeah, no question. The Pens wanted 10 years. I bet they would have went to 15. It was Sid and his agent that most likely offered up the 5 years. Part of me worries thats his way of leaving after 5 years for Montreal... Or, a smart move, to basicaly say, long as things are going well, they have a chance to resign him. If they signed him for 10 or 15 years, he's stuck there no matter how bad the Pens. Whether he's won 5 Cups or zero Cups. It isn't likely they will be a basement team in 5 years, but you never know. Just wants to keep his options open, so the GM is going to have to make good moves to keep him happy. But yeah, he's making some awesome money. Not as much as NBA or MLB players and their crazy contracts, but for a NHL player, his new contract plus his endorsements, makes you wonder if he's the highest paid NHLer in it's history when you combine them both?

He took a hometown discount. He could have signed for more than a million. He's my favorite player, and I am somewhat disappointed that he only signed for 5 years. But you only get one NHL career, so I assume he figures, why not leave his options open. Things change quick in sports. In 5 years, maybe a few bad GM moves put Pittsburgh down in the basement again, and he may not want to stay there anymore. In 5 years, they may have won a Cup or two, and maybe he'll resign. So I guess I can't blame him. Can't always predict correctly how things will be in five years. It's been said though, his childhood dream was to play for Montreal. So I wouldn't rule that out. Whether he's 25 or 30, I can see it happening. I wish he was like Mario and Yzerman, to stay with the team that drafted them. Only time will tell though. He's not the only one. Lecavalier is another who said his dream was to play for Montreal. So maybe we'll see a 25yr old Sid and a 32 or 33yr old Lecavalier dominating in Montreal? When you consider guys like Gomez, Drury, Briere, and Vanek's crazy offer match, Crosby is a huge steal. None of those guys even average over a point per game in there career. I believe Drury has never had a point per game and Briere, once or twice, same with Gomez. I think Ryan Smyth is over paid. Brad Richards had a great year the other year and earns close to 8 million, and had quite the disappointing year this past season. When you consider those guys and their offers, Crosby should be well worth over 10 million, easily. I'd say he took 2 million less than he is worth, on the market. The awards he has won. The records he has set. He dominates every game he plays, almost. He is easily taking more than a million dollar discount. If the core group of guys (Crosby, Staal, Malkin, Whitney, Fleury, and possibly Esposito) wish to stay together they can. Crosby has set the bar. He took atleast 15% less, realistically about 20% less then his market worth. If each of those guys takes 15% less also, there is no reason they can't stay together, while being paid faily high but still have enough cash to pay some decent role players around them for a solid team. Don't forget, in 5 years, Gonchar most likely won't be playing, and if he is, he surely won't be earning 5 million a year. And there is reason to believe the cap could go up a slight bit every year. Nothing to drastic, but every small increase will help. The biggest question though, is not if the Pens will stay together. But when will Sid move out from Mario's house and open his checkbook and buy a home of his own! Can't blame him though, to live in a mansion rent -free is a good deal, but it's even better to live with the greatest hockey player that ever played, Mario.

Yeah, I agree. If Sid wants to make a statement he sure could. I think he'll take a hometown discount, but it won't be in the 6 or 7 million range. It will most likely be 8 or 9. If he did take 6 million or even 7 million it would shake up the league tad. Mostly for superstars. If Sid is truely focused on winning Championships with the Pens, by taking less money would be huge. It would allow them to sign Fleury, Staal, Malkin, Whitney, and Esposito to long term deals also. Keep the core of the team together. Mario used to take less money than he probably deserved and I remember when living in PA hearing about how he'd get phonecalls from NHLPA reps saying he should take more money. Sure would be nice for the Pens and their fans if Sid took a significant amount less. In a way, it could help a few teams out. Tampa Bay, for example. When Lecavalier is a UFA after this season, Tampa may have a easier time trying to resign him if he took a little bit less also. Hopefully he won't demand the max amount when a guy like Sid is taking a lot less. So maybe Tampa can afford to keep him, because as most know, they tied up almost 30 million dollars to four players right now (Vinny, Richards, St. Louis, Boyle). It will just get worse for them if Vinny takes 6 or 7 million instead of 9.5 or 10 (or whatever the max is).

I don't know. Maybe I am missing something. All the talk latley about Briere, Drury, and Smyth getting offers and how much those offers may be, to me, is silly. I'll start with Briere. He is a good player, no doubt. But for a guy who's been in the NHL for about 10 years or so, he did not have a season where he averaged 1pt a game until the season after the lockout (58pts in 48 games). Last season he had his best year with 95pts in 81 games. No doubt that is a good season. I guess I don't see why all the hype is around him because he had a great year and a good year back to back. After so many seasons of putting up numbers below what many would expect (he had huge numbers in the QMJHL), all of a sudden he thinks he is worth 6.5 or more million per season? I don't know, to me that's to much for a guy who had one great season. Smyth, on the other hand, never had a season where he averaged a point a game. And I heard the Islanders are about to offer him a huge contract. Maybe they didn't learn anything from Yashin. "Hockey God" Chris Drury, the same thing. He's never had a point per game season. But he is one of the best at faceoffs. So does that mean he's worth the 5 or 6 million he's rumored to get? Like I said, maybe I'm missing something. Maybe it's their on ice presense, their leadership, their syle of play, I don't know. But to me, even 5 million a year in the NHL for a forward who doesn't average a point per game, or a guy who had one great season. If these guys are going to command this much money, I can only imagine the frenzy next year when Lecavalier is a free agent. Assuming he has a similar season to this past one, he will have back to back 50 goal seasons, 100pt seasons, and one for sure but possibly two Rocket Richard Trophys. So if these other three guys are going to command 6 million a more, surely a guy like Vinny can push for league max.

You are right about that. His numbers had little to do with Crosby. He did play with Sid for a couple games, and scored a few. But I would doubt they even played 5 games together all season. But like someone else said, he can compliment great players. When he played with Crosby, his job was to stand in front of the net and score garbage goals or have his stick on the ice and wait for a pass from Sid, which he managed to do. So if the Wings got him, he may be able to compliment a guy like Datsyk or Zetterberg, but I don't think he's worth the money that he probably would have got from the Pens if he won arbitration. Colby Armstrong. He's got a big heart and gives it his all. He doesn't have much skill, but he knows how to lay some heavy hits. He sent a few guys to the hospital this past season, and they were all clean hits. Why was he paired with Crosby so long? I couldn't tell you. I would watch the Pens play Sid's rookie year and I could not figure out why Sid was paired with him. He couldn't catch a pass, make a good pass, or score a goal. It took till this year to finally get him off 1st line and put him on 3rd where he belongs. So to me, Crosby winning the Art Ross is impressive, but what is more impressive, is he did it paired with Colby over half the season! And just under half the season with Ryan Malone and for a few games and shifts, here and there, Malkin. Also, the way people are talking about the way Esposito has looked in rookie camp the past two days, there is a good chance he'll be yet another 18yr old to play in the NHL. He's a center but his junior coach (Patrick Roy) had him play wing the end of the year. It's said he could be paired with Crosby if he makes the team. If he can adjust to playing wing, that's another reason they won't need Oullet. Esposito, a guy who was ranked #1 in February, and down to 8th at the draft, how the slipped to #20 is a real surprise. I think it will help the Pens, because he'll probably want to prove all 19 other teams wrong.

I hate to beat up Chicago, because everybody else is. I'm not even a Blackhawks fan. They probably are a poorly run organization. Probably made some bad moves here and there. But as far as their attendence being very low, 14,000 on average, in a 20,000 plus arena. That isn't good. But come on, when a team is doing poorly, their attendence suffers. When the Wings were the 'Dead Wings' in the 80s, it was pretty easy to get tickets for Wings game, even though they were a Original Six team. Back in the early 90s, most people would have said Chicago had the loudest arena. I remember the Pens said that back in 1992 in the playoffs against them. Sure, it was playoffs, but when a team is doing well, people show up. When a team is doing well and people don't show, that is a problem. Nashville is the main example. But that's another story. So are Hawks making bad decisions, probably. Getting Havlat is a good start. Great young player. But when the Hawks start to improve, so will their attendence. It really isn't much of a big deal.

It's easy to say get rid of a team because of poor attendence. But you have to figure, why the low attendence. The Hawks, for example, had one of the worst attendences in the NHL. Nobody talks about getting rid of them, probably because they are a original six. That is true, but the reason for their low attendence is the team was having a terrible year. Most fans don't want to pay high prices to watch their team lose. So the Hawks having low attendence, and the Pens a few years ago, is not really a surprise. People complained saying the Pens should be moved because of low attendence, but come on, they were one of the worst teams in the NHL. In reality, it's a surprise they had decent attendence during those bad years when Pittsburgh is really a football city. The real problem is Nashville. When your team has one of the best records in the NHL (anywhere from 1st to 5th best throughout the year or so) and you have bad attendence, that is a real problem. You'd have to wonder how bad they would be if they were one of the worst teams. And like somebody else mentioned, Tampa has a huge fanbase and had pretty good fanbase before their Cup too. Not as good as now, but certainly was a pretty good following. They have sell outs all the time now. My girlfriend and I wanted to take a trip to Tampa during the season but couldn't find tickets for the game or two we wanted to attend (Pittsburgh). I'd like to see the NHL get rid of a few teams too. But it's hard to get rid of a team because they have low attendence. Any team that has been horrible the last few years you have to expect that. If a team is winning and has bad attendence (Nashville) I'd say it's worth mentioning, atleast, to fold or relocate.

Yeah, I totally agree with someone saying Sid is a lot like Zetterberg. I think Sid is one of the toughest players in the league, no doubt. Not a fighter, but man does he take a beating every game. And he is seldom knocked down. They showed that clip in the Ottawa playoff round where he took hits from 3 different guys, on the same shift, knocking one of them down, but he wouldn't do down. He has incredible balance and very strong shoulders. They said his legs are like tree trunks. He works out a lot on his upper body, but most of his conditioning is his lower body. He does a lot of squats so that's where his leg power comes from. He didn't do it alone though, he's had a personal trainer since 13. Zetterberg is the same way, that guy gets hit and hit and keeps on coming. I think Zetterberg and Crosby are probably the two toughest players in the league. Both play through injury. You can't always go by that though, many players play injured, but since those two are superstars you happen to hear about it more often. Far as Sid being a whiner. I knew that would stick with him. You are right, his first year, he did whine. Seemed like he whined almost every game. But so what. He was 18, and he has matured. People said the same thing about Wayne, Mario, and Yzerman. Today, nodoby calls Yzerman a whiner and realistically, they stopped calling him that pretty quick into his career. Nodoby really calls Mario a whiner. Although they called him a whiner when he complained about the clutching and grabbing, yet when Joe Thornton complained about it the year before the lockout, nobody said anything bad about him. Mario is a whiner, but here is big tough Joe complaining about the same thing Mario complained about 10 years sooner when he said scoring will decrease because of that. He sure called that. And Wayne, hah, people still call him a whiner. I always thought he was, but I'm not going to lie, I am bias because I don't like him. So me calling Wayne a whiner doesn't really mean much. Sid learned this year the less he complains the more calls go his way. His first year he whined a lot and didn't get many calls. He shut his mouth this year, played his game, and more calls went his way. By the way. Anybody who gets CBC, they are going to have Vinny and Sid on before the game, probably to talk about Vinny's Rocket Richard and Sid's Art Ross.

Yeah, when I compared Sids players to that of Vinny or Mario, I wasn't really talking about this season. You think I don't realize how wonderful Malkin, Staal, and Gonchar (offensively) are? Not to mention Fleury as a great goalie. Vinny didn't have a great team around him, no doubt. Wendall Clark, Darcy Tucker, Stephane Richer, are not all stars, but they are respectable. He had a young Nylander also. So Vinny's first season, he put up some pretty low numbers (28pts in 82 games). I wasn't able to find out how much his average ice time was. As a rookie you could guess maybe he didn't play a lot, but on the other hand, he was hyped a decent amount, and was supposed to be the next Mario so maybe he played first line and had over 20 minutes a game, I don't know. Nothing against Vinny, he's my 2nd favorite player in the NHL, but Sid's first year was truely amazing. When you look at the Pens team this year. They are much better than last year. His first year there wasn't Staal or Malkin. He had Recchi who still is far past his prime, and LeClair who had a pretty horrible year. Mario played 22 games, but was in so much pain anyway, he couldn't do much. They say the last time he played hockey pain free was 1989. Palffy played half the year and played decent with Sid, but for some reason he wasn't the same Palffy that was tearing it up in LA. The Pens this past year is a better team. Roberts as leadership and grit and Staal is a a wonderful two way player and we all know Malkin had a great year, but didn't show up much towards the end of the year and it appeared as if he didn't even play a playoff game. Crosby played off and on with Malkin, mostly on the PP and for some games actually played on the same line. They play so much better together, but you gotta spread the talent around. Staal hardly got PP time as it was and very seldom did he EVER play with Sid. So when you look at the Pens team and say how much help Sid had, you can't really throw in Staal's name. You can throw in Malkin part of the time, a washed up Recchi, and come on, Malone and Armstrong? Not exactly Wayne's all star cast in Edmonton. Maybe you don't take Peter the Great and Hitchcock's word for it that Sid's a diver. Perhaps you saw it yourself. That's all in your perspective. I don't feel he's a diver, most people don't either, but some do. That's fine. What does matter, is that Sid has yet to get a penalty or a fine for diving. So doesn't really matter if the fans think he is the biggest diver or a guy who has never taken a dive, he hasn't been issued a penalty, and that means more than our opinions. I'm not sure why you feel the Pens have tanked the last few years. It's a huge gamble to think the leauge will have a lockout in a few years (from 2002 or so) and to know that Sid would have been drafted #1 when he was 15 or 16 and there would have been a draft lottery and you were that confident you would get the #1 pick. That's a lot to risk. When you look at the Pens team after Jagr was traded, and after Mario retired, who did they have? They didn't have Lang (not for lon anyway) or Kovalev, they had one guy and he wasn't even consistant. Morozov. You think they tanked? Maybe you thought that team was capable of better, I didn't. When your leading point getter is Dick Tarnstrom, somehow I don't think they were capable of much. Did they tank the year before Mario? Hah, they probably did. It's also been said New Jersey did the same thing. But as someone said, they never saw so many minor league players get the call up than the Pens team the year before Mario. Did they have a lot of faith in their minor leaguers to win games or did they feel the minor leaguers would cost them a few wins? We'll never know. Basically, the whole thing is supposed to be about Sid getting the C. I like Vinny a lot, but you can't really compare him to Sid, they are two different players, but with some things in common. Vinny is a natural goal scorer, Sid is a set up man. Both had very little help their first year, and both were hyped to be the future of the game, and now both set records for being the youngest captain. People say they'd rather take Ovechkin, over Sid. I say, depends on your team. If you have a goal scorer you don't want Alex, you want a set up guy. If you don't have a goal scorer, take Sid, he'll score and make guys around him better. Nothing against Alex, he can pass, but not as well as Sid. Sid can score, but not as well as Alex.

I think so. If you look at Vinny's situation compared to Crosby. Vinny was looked at as the future of the team and there wasn't exactly a lot of talent on the team in 2000. Wasn't so much press with him either. There was a good amount, obviously, but not near the amount Sid gets. Crosby has been dealing with the media long before the NHL. He lives with Mario and Mario said it was Sid's team last year. After every game he is surrounded by the media, so except for the C stitched on his jersey, nothing really will change. He had a A so he was able to talk to the refs already. Not everybody likes him, but I think it's fair to respect him. He scored 200pts faster then Mario or Wayne. Wayne had a all star team around him, so that is amazing he did it before Wayne, and Mario probably had worse talent around him his first two years than Sid did.

Yeah, he truely deserves it. The best player in the world today, no doubt, but also a good leader who plays with a lot of passion, and has a desire to win, and hates to lose. Some fault him for his emotion, but I think most coaches or fans would want a player who has that kind in intensity. He'll always have his critics, some people still think he is a diver because Ken Hitchcock and Peter Forsberg say so. He's had to deal with those people since he was a young boy and has been dealing with the media for a few years now. He is ready for it. And like someone else already said, he turned it down last year and it was his team since the day Mario retired. So now it's official, but it probably won't change much. Youngest captain ever. He barely beat Lecavalier who was 19 years 11 months. Sid will be 20 in August, so he didn't beat him by much. I read that Vinny had it taken away from him. Anybody know why? I thought he actually gave it up, but the TSN article said it as taken away. Either way, hopefully Vinny is captain again this season. He leads on the ice and I hear he leads off the ice too. Tim Taylor doesn't do much on the ice, but I guess he must be one hell of a locker room guy. Sid getting 150pts? I hope so. The people he played with this year, I can't believe he had 120. Malkn and him played less than half the season together, and most of the time he was paired with guys like Ekman, Armstrong, Recchi, Christenson, and Malone. If they could sign a scoring winger for Crosby, or sign a great 2nd line player so Malkin can play first line with Sid on a regular shift, instead of PP, you just might see Captain Crosby hit the 150pt mark. But with Recchi way past his prime, Roberts as a gritty player, not so much a goal scorer, Malone who shows up to play once every 7 games, and Armstrong finally proved he was never meant to be a first line player, Ekman was a total flop, Christenson seems to be only able to score on a shootout, it will be harder for him to hit 120pts again. Who knows. Latest word is Kariya put his house up for sale in Nashville. Pens interested? Maybe. But personally, I could see him going back to Anaheim to play with Selanne again. But if the Ducks win, you know many teams, are going to be throwing out offers at Giggy, can the Ducks sign him and Kariya? Should be a interesting off season. I hope the Wings get Giggy, Tampa gets Hasek or Belfour, and Pittsburgh gets a stay at home D man with a scoring winger!

That is pretty funny. Someone else already mentioned the Chelious part that was funny, here is another I thought was funny... Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle, asked how Teemu Selanne has changed since they were teammates in Winnipeg: "He's got a hell of a lot more money. That's one thing that's a difference. He only had one car. I think he has 25 now. He's got a big home in the hills at Coda de Casa on the golf course in California that I wouldn't know what it's worth, but I know it's lots. He didn't have that when he came to Winnipeg." Hah, yeah, I'd imagine he didn't have that when he first came to Winnipeg in the early 90s.

I do agree. This is a rule that should be enforced. I would take it a step further and enforce it starting next season, instead of waiting until they win the Cup. It may be another few years before the Pens win the Cup.