jagr68

That must be a old photo anyway. I'm a Tampa Bay fan, not as much as my girlfriend though. She reminded me that they changed it. It no longer says HockeyBay, but instead, they went back to the Tampa Bay Lightning logo.... They have had one of the best attendences in the NHL this year. What really hurt them is the year they won the Cup their was the lockout. So the idea they were the defending champs wasn't as strong. Obviously, they were because they won the Cup last, but since the cap was added, guys retireing over that whole year, free agent signings, etc every team looked a lot different than a typical off season. So the momentum was pretty much gone. But the fans still came and should be for a very long time. Hopefully they don't trade Lecavalier. His name comes up every off season and especially every year before the trade deadline. He's the face of the team. Stranger things have happened though.

Surprised to see so many people bothered with Tampa Bay calling themsevles HockeyBay. I suppose as far as their fan base goes, it's a matter of opinion. Someone posted that their dad or uncle said those fans would desert that team soon as they were not a good team. Few guys I know in the Tampa area say the fan base is great and they are behind the team 100%. Guess it's who you talk to. What is nice about Tampa Bay is their tickets are not very costly at all. Some would say that's the only reason they have sellouts is because they are affordable. I can't fault them for that. The Wings use to have a payroll of 70 million, and now their payroll dropped by about 30 million or so dollars, yet their ticket prices have hardly dropped, in some instances went up. If anything I have total respect for Tampa Bay, that they would charge very little for their tickets. They understand the lower the price, more people come, more beer and food is bought, and more merchandise is sold. And from people I know that have been to Wings games, their are a lot of empty seats. And I could be wrong about this, but I heard the Wings have yet to sell out a playoff game? I'm not bashing the Wings. They are my 2nd favorite team (next to the Pens), but it's hard for me agree with people bashing Tampa over Hockeybay. Tampa did have a lot of sell outs this year, and they struggled to make the playoffs. So it's hard to say they only have fans because they were a dominant team. Lecavalier is their franchise player, probably the best or second best (between him and Crosby) offensive player in the league. He is a dominant player and probably him and St. Louis are best duo in the league. I am a WIngs fan also, but it's hard for me to rag on their team for giving their name that when the Wings started calling themselves HockeyTown. I like the Wings did that and the name is fitting, but it's hard to say Detroit was the only deserving team have that name. You have passionate fans from every team, especially the Canadian teams. You could make a case for Hockeytown in Montreal, and especially Toronto. Guess all I'm saying is, Tampa is a good team with a good hockey market with fans that love their team. So what if they call themselves HockeyBay.

Boy, did that bring back memories.... It's been said many times. But gees, it's not like he could only hit. He could actually play the game and was a physical force out there.......

Yeah I saw that on HNIC also. I think I agree too. Seems the only time ESPN or other sports channels show hockey highlights it's usually of a guy taken off in a stretcher, a dirty hit (which probably will lead to a stretcher), or a bench brawl.... Like Grapes said, back in the day, even when they did go to the hospital they wouldn't put the guy on a stretcher until he was back in the lockerroom area. Maybe they figure, if their is a chance of a neck injury, why risk it. Get his head and neck secure on a stretcher before he tries to get up and skate.. Other than spelling Vinny's name wrong, I don't know why people are so upset by the topic. Just a inside joke between you and whoever. But either way, I'd say Vinny is the second best forward in the world today. I'm gonna have to go with Sid the Kid as the only one to top him currently (all time of course, is Mario). So in my opinion, he's great, but not the greatest.

BringhometheCup is right, Cherry was not talking about head injuries in general. But senseless injuries. He basically explained that with everybody wearing helmets, players would play a little dirtier leading to more head injuries. Which stems to a lack of respect. So having helmets prevents likely injuries from a random puck, or a clean body check to the boards, but also lead to more dirty play, elbows, and cheap shops to the head. But BringhometheCup is wrong, in that Mario actually did block shots in his career. He didn't do it much, I'll give you that, but he did. Mostly during the playoffs of those two Cups they won back to back. It wasn't much, but it's nice to know the NHL's greatest player did block shots, and even fought guys early in his career. Yzerman blocked shots, Sidney even blocked some shots while on the PK (that's how he got his ankle injury this year). Far as I know, Wayne never did. Speaking of Wayne. Joe Thornton may be on the verge of breaking one of his records. From what I understand, Thornton lead the league in empty net goals this year. By the end of his career, he may just pass up Wayne for that record. What a race that will be.....

Such a big debate over visors. I can see why some people would want them mandatory, to protect the players. Makes sense. Like someone else already said, it is the players responsibility and choice to choose to wear one or not. Parents want the best for their children because most of the time, children may not make the best decisions, but these are NHL players, grown men, they should be able to choose if they want to wear a visor or not. They understand the risk of not wearing one, and also, wearing one. Injuries can be prevented by wearing them, no doubt. But wearing one can also cause injury. Many players get cut by their own visors. More times than not, visors reduce injuries. Logicially, it's fine the way it is. Their is a risk of wearing and not wearing one, so it should the NHL player's choice. I don't really see the debate in it. If their was no chance at all of injury by wearing one, then sure, I can see the arguement that they should be enforced. But that's just not the case. I can see the concern of a GM, a team, or the fans for them to lose a player to a injury that could have been prevented by a visor. But that's the way it is. And should stay. You can't enforce safety in every situation. I'm one of the biggest Crosby fans around, but if he was a guy that chose not to wear a visor, and he ended up with a injury that could have been prevented by wearing one, the last thing I'd do is blame the team, the GM, the league, or the NHLPA. I would blame Sid. It's his choice. Players have a comfort level. Some players do not feel right with them, and some do not feel right without them. I feel a player should do what he feels he can do to play the best to his ability. Now, as far as Gretzky goes. Come on, everybody knows you were not allowed to hit Gretzky. He had protection from his bullies and he was able to play at a high level a good part of his career (Odd, his points per game averaged dropped to just above Yzerman's once he left Edmonton). People have said Gretzky never played the same once he got hit for the very first time. Can't remember who it was, think it was a Toronto guy, could be wrong, but sometime around 1991 or so, he got hammered and after that it's said he wasn't the same. Who knows. I say he never played the same again once he left his all-star team in Edmonton, who was so good they won a Cup without him.....anyways... Don Cherry knows the instigator rule is pretty foolish. You used to be able to protect the superstars. Like he said, if Lemieux wasn't allowed to get hit and had the same guys protecting him as Wayne, he would have scored 1,000 goals. He brought up another interesting point. They started to enforce helmets years ago. Cherry said that guys never got hit in the head or elbowed back when they didn't wear helmets, but after he and other started wearing them, injuries went up. In fact, he said the first time he ever had a head injury was when he wore a helmet. The way Cherry explains it, with nobody wearing helmets players were more careful and more respectful of other players in the league. That is something hard to prove because you can't put players respect on paper or show it in stats, but the idea makes sense. The league would never go for that today. But I think the problem isn't visors or lack of visors, but respect between the players. I would guess if their was more respect for each other, from superstar to fourth line grinder, head injuries would decrease whether everybody had visors, or nobody had visors.

Yeah I'm also disappointed the Bolts didn't win. Like someone said, if they had a better goalie, they probably would have won that series. I felt for a while that Crosby was hands down the MVP of the league. But after watching this series, it seems the only reason NJ won was because of Brodeur. Tampa dominated almost the entire game and he was making save after save, and last game was the same story. The big three had their chances and Marty stood up and got the win. Now, saying that, I feel NJ has very little chance against Ottawa. NJ beat TB because of solid goaltending. Tampa lacks a great goalie so NJ scored on the very few chances they had. And they even had a couple breaks go their way. Ottawa is a pretty sound team. They beat Pittsburgh who lacked great defense, except for a good goalie like Fleury. Ottawa has offensive firepower, not as good as Tampa's big three, but as a overall team, they have better offense. So Brodeur will have to be just as good as he was against TB. But NJ will have less scoring opportunies against Ottawa than against TB. And NJ's offense isn't that great. They are one of boring teams that pounce on a mistake. Ottawa is going to make less mistakes than TB. I hope Ottawa smokes them every game. Hah, I'm a bit bitter. My Pens lost, and now the Bolts lost. I don't really like Ottawa or NJ. The only guys I like on Ottawa are Heatley and Spezza, and somewhat Alfreddson, so for those 3 guys only, I'd rather have Ottawa win. Should be a somewhat good series, but I just can't see NJ beating Ottawa. Maybe this is Ottawa's year to go to the finals. We'll see.

Yeah I've become a big fan of Torts over the years too. I think he's a great coach. Like a few have already said, he isn't afraid to come down on a star player, or a player that should be a star....Vinny being the best example. Those two didn't get along for a while and he was always giving it to Vinny, because he knew how good Vinny could be and he wanted him to be that player. Finally, he is. Another reason I like him is because he gives his star players lots of ice time. Vinny and St Louis sometimes get over 25 minutes a game. Being a huge Pens fans, I always tell my gf (she's a huge Bolts fan), that I hope if they fire Torts the Pens sign him. Crosby doesn't even average 20 minutes a game. With Torts there, he would be playing Crosby A LOT. Which would most likely lead to more points. But yeah, he dropped the F-Bomb, but he's a coach, he's got hockey in his blood, and realistically, like most of us who play hockey, who can go before, during, or after a game without saying that. But being in front of the media and cameras, one could argue he should know better and held back. But sometimes the emotions get the best of us. Maybe he will be fined, so what though. Like someone else said, it's just a word. Lots of people still take offence to it today, but many others realize it's just a word, and it's only offensive if you want it to be. CBC and Canada in general seems more laid back and to them it's not really as much of a big deal. Sometimes on CBC late at night you'll see some weird movie with nudity in it. They are farther ahead than the US, I think, in their thinking and not letting trivial things upset or offend them. I'm really hoping Tampa can win that series. I wasn't able to watch the game last night because I had a hockey game myself, but from what I heard, Tampa seemed to dominate most the play. I believe NJ scored 2 goals (plus 1 empty netter) in 13 or 14 shots, meanwhile Marty stopped 31 for a shutout. So I would think Tampa did everything right, but score. And let's face it, when Marty is on, he's the best guy in the world. Go Bolts!

I checked back a few pages and did a search for Osgood, didn't see this. But if it was already posted, I apoligize. Anyways, thought this short video was kinda funny...

Speaking of Brodeur, obviously they will suffer if he gets hurt. More importantly, actually was talking about this with my girlfriend the other night, what happens when he retires? I have not heard anything about a good prospect in their farm system to take over once Marty retires. That is still a couple years away, but being that he's 35, it's unlikely he'll stick around to much longer. Goalie like Dom still playing at his age is very rare. Goalies usually don't stick around till their 40. So maybe they have a prospect I have not heard of? Or maybe they will get lucky in the draft or try to make a trade eventually.

Yeah, it worse when your buddies do that and you're not wearing a cup.......

Yeah I'd like to try it out too. From what Dats says it improves your shot. I don't have much of a shot, I'm mostly a stickhandler. So maybe I don't need it. I mostly score on backhand dekes. Then again, if it improves your shot, then I guess I could use it since I have a terrible shot. Hah... My buddy is a manager at Play it Again and he says he'll get them in and they will run close to $300 maybe even more. This was over two months ago, so maybe RBK changed the pricing since then. I think he said there will be two versions of it. One cheaper than the other. Not sure what the difference is though. Hopefully these sticks will drive the prices down on the other 1 piece sticks (Like the Stealth, bought one for the first time two months ago, I love it). When the refridgerators came out with built in TV's, I noticed some of the other real nice ones prices dropped a bit. Hah, but I'm sure appliances and hockey sticks are two different markets.

Yeah, totally forgot about Mess.... It's hard to have a top 10, once you get past Mario, Wayne, and Steve, the rest is pretty much a debate. Even Jagr wouldn't be a lock on some people's lists. I also forgot Brett Hull. Lemieux, Gretzky, Yzerman, Sakic, Hull, Jagr, Messier, Selanne, Fedorov, Fetisov, Bure, LaFontaine, Neely, Robitaille, Lidstrom, Bourque, Coffey, Modano, Forsberg, and Ron Francis are all guys who could be on anybody's realistic top 10 list. Goalies, little easier, basically you can place Roy, Brodeur, Belfour, and Hasek in the top 4, in any order you choose.

Guess I may as well put mine in particular order... 1) Lemieux 2) Gretzky 3) Yzerman 4) Jagr 5) Lidstrom 6) Coffey 7) Sakic 8) Fedorov 9) Forsberg 10) Bure and Selanne. Clearly Selanne has had the better (well longer, atleast) career. But in the short time Bure played compared to Selanne, Bure was a scoring machine in his time also. Basically I figured, Mario has been consistant pretty much his whole career until he turned 37 or so. Had he never came back from retirement he would of been the only player in NHL history to have a points per game average above 2. Wayne stopped putting up awesome numbers when he left Edmonton. Yzerman has always been in the shadow of those two, but has had one heck of a career. Jagr's been in Mario's shadow for most of his early years, but finally showed how dominant he was shortly before Mario retired, and especially after. This year it appears he finally slowed down a bit. But he has been playing almost the whole season with a injury, just to help his team make the playoffs. Lidstrom won't ever be looked at as good as Orr (He doesn't skate coast to coast and score like Orr could) , but they play two different styles. Lidstrom obviously can scores goals and make great passes. But his defensive work is next to none. He doesn't have to hit or take bad penalties. Also, although Crosby has only played two games against the Wings, he did say Lidstrom was the toughest player to play against. Coffey is one of the best skaters the league has ever seen. He has played on many Cup teams and played with some of the games best, from Gretzky to Lemieux, to Yzerman. He has put up over 1,500pts as a defenseman. That is prett impressive. One could argue and probably throw Bourque in here also, but I feel Coffey was better. Sakic is another guy who suffered from playing in the same era as Mario and Gretzky. Great career, but was in the shadow of 66 and 99. Fedorov may be the best overall player the NHL has ever seen. He can play wing just as good as center if he wants. He can step back and play defence and not be a liability. He's helped the Wings win Cups and scored some big goals. Wings fans probably will resent him for the rest of his career, but while he was a Wing he was always one of the best players in the NHL. Much like Jagr, you didn't know which guy you'd get. The Fedorov that wants to win and play hard, or the one who'd rather be doing something else. Forsberg was shadowed by Sakic early in his career but didn't take long for him to prove how good he was. Most of us don't like him, but he was and still is very tough on his skates and hard to knock down (although once the whistle blows he has been known to fall rather easily). Has had a lot of success at the International level too. Didn't really throw any goalies in, but we all know Brodeur and Roy are #1 and #2, or #2 and #1. From there you could debate a lot. Belfour may be #3. I'd like to have thrown Crosby in, but most would say he hasn't played long enough. And that's probably true. Any player that came to the league in the last 5 or 6 years, would be tough to say is one of the 'top ten players since 1980.'

Yeah Toby is right on a couple things here. Someone said that it's not good that they have resorted to a shootout because they cannot get it done in regulation. Toby is right because you can also say it means teams cannot beat them in regulation. Very good point. Also, Toby is right the Pens are guilty of giving up a 2 or 3 goal lead only to have it go into OT. Few nights back they were up 1 goal on Buffalo. After Recchi hit the post for the empty netter, Buffalo scored with like 5 or 6 seconds left. The Pens won in a shootout, I think. Last night, they were up on Ottawa the whole game but kept letting them get back in. They again, won in a shootout. But I agree, the Pens are not that easy to beat in regulation. Here is a good stat. Regulation losses Anaheim 18 Detroit 18 Buffalo 19 Nashville 20 New Jersey 21 Pittsburgh 21 So yes they have won a decent amount of games in OT/Shootout, but just proves teams can't beat them in regulation. Only 3 regulation losses seperate them from the least amount in the NHL.

I don't know it's hard to say. They are playing some great hockey lately. And it's not like they are only beating bad teams. They have beat Ottawa twice. New Jersey three out of six. Nashville one out of one, and Buffalo two out of three, and Dallas one out of one. They are the best team in the NHL since Jan. 1st. Their defence is suspect, that is true. They do have a good powerplay, but you know they don't call as many PP in the playoffs. I actually think that hurts San Jose more than any other team. Unless something changed recently, they said that San Jose was a minus team when it came to 5 on 5 hockey. Detroit and San Jose doesn't scare me because you know they won't get 9 powerplays like the last time the Wings played them. So that's why I don't really mind if Detroit places 4th instead of 1st. They would most likely face San Jose. They struggle against 8th place teams in the playoffs as we all know lately. Back to Pittsburgh, seems that last few years their has been a sleep team that most didn't suspect. The Pens will always be the sleeper team this year because no matter where they finish, best in the league, or 7th in the conference, people will look at their defense and write them off. Anaheim, Calgary, Tampa Bay, proved if you have a hot goaltender you can get far. Fleury has the potential to be that hot goalie. He has stole some games for the Pens this year. He has lost them a game or two also. But many times the Pens just played bad, but he stood on his head and got them 1 or 2 points they didn't deserve. I think the Pens can beat any team in the East in the 1st round except for Tampa Bay. For some reason they cannot play well against them. I think they Pens have lost 12 straight games against them. Although 3 of the 4 losses this year came in OT, they just can't beat them. My opinion, they will advance to the 2nd round and most likely lose in 6 games to whoever. I wish it was the Pens year, this has been a dream come true for a die hard Pens fan. After years as the leagues worst team, bottom feeder, just a joke of a team, they finally are playing great hockey. And their 92pts puts them 8pts away from the best team in the NHL. Look for the Pens to improve next year. If Recchi retires (which he should) they may go out and sign a free agent a little younger and can score goals. Crosby needs a linemate who can score. Malone is bad and Recchi isn't much better.

Yeah it's a interesting debate, no doubt. In hockey seems that you can make a case for a number of players being the best ever. Howe, Bossy, Orr, Gretzky, and Lemieux. It's all opinion. One can make stats up to back up any arguement. Someone said Orr was Howe's choice as best player, but when I saw a documentary on Mario, Howe said that Lemieux was 'by far the greatest hockey player the sport has seen.' Hah, maybe he flip flopped. Also in it, Bourque and Orr said Mario was the best ever. But those are just opinions also. I think a lot of it has to do with what style you prefer. Many say Orr and Howe because their were tough and could fight. So having those qualities, would make them a better player over guys like Mario and Wayne who didn't fight. Well Mario did fight his first year a few times, but not much after that. Gretzky does have the best stats. He is the most accomplished player ever. He was lucky to play on a team where he wasn't allowed to get hit. And when he finally did he wasn't the same player. If other guys, mostly Mario, could have played and never got hit, his would have done more. People do not like the what if, and coulda been arguements. But if you consider those arguements, you can imagine what a player like Mario could have done. Like Don Cherry said, if Mario played with McSorely, he would have scored 900 goals. Gretzky himself said if Mario wasn't injury plagued he would have broken every one of his records. The fact is, he was injury plagued and didn't break his records. So many would dismiss it. But for the short time Mario played healthy, he was the most dominant player in the game. Even when he wasn't healthy. His last 'pain free' year was the season he notched 199pts, 1988-89 I believe. After that it was downhill for his health but he still put up huge numbers. Orr was the reason his team was a very dominant team. Gretzky was part of the reason Edmonton was dominant. But he wasn't the main reason. The easiest way to settle that is to realize that Edmonton won another cup AFTER they traded away Wayne. He was a big part of the team, but the team was so good they could win without him. Wayne never won a Cup without Edmonton, but they won a Cup without him. Gretzky played in a highest scoring era. In fact one Wayne left Edmonton his numbers were not all that impressive. His points on a decent LA team were just slightly better than Yzerman on a not so good Wings team. People say Wayne is the best forward because he has the most points. Going by that, why would those people pick Orr as the best defeseman ever when he doesn't have the most points? They say he dominated the sport while he was in it but had to retire early because of his injuries. You could throw a lot of what if's with Orr also, if he never got injured he would have put up even better numbers. But the arguement would have to be the same for Mario as it is Orr. Both would have put up superior numbers to probably any player in their era, had they stayed injury free. Mario is always looked at as behind Wayne, but Orr seems to be above all defenceman even though he lacks the most points by one also. Ray Bourque had 1,579pts. Paul Coffey had 1,531pts. Bobby Orr had 915pts I'm not knocking Bobby Orr. I think the guy is awesome, and wished I was alive back when he dominated the game to actually see him. But just saying, Orr is considered the best even though he doesn't have the most points, mainly because people assume he would have had the best numbers had he played longer injury free. I usually make the same arguement with Mario, but most do not. I don't really understand the difference. Orr and Mario are the same in that, if either one played as long or injury free as a Wayne, or a Bourque or a Coffey, the record books would be different. But like most have said. It's all opinion based. I think Mario dominated the most because I saw him and Wayne play. Wayne was the best set up man, and even though he has the most goals, most were just goals as the result of smart positioning and great teammates. Mario simply domianted. You can make a hour long video (and I have one) of some amazing goals where he would go coast to coast, great stickhandling, beating 2, 3, 4 guys. Just taking over any game single handedly. Wayne had very few goals where he did that. Orr was the same for a defeseman, the guy took over the game like Mario. He would go coast to coast, around 2 or 3 guys, great hands, and could deke a goalie out pretty bad too. Usually when my team plays, and one of us scores like a easy one time shot, or a garbage goal, I rib the guy and call it a 'Gretzky goal'. I started it now most of the other guys do it too. Just that, he was in the right place at the right time. In fact, I have to admit I had a couple 'Gretzky goals' at drop in last night. Seems every few months a topic like this comes up. And they are fun, and most opinions don't change no matter what type of arguement someone presents. I always rank my picks of the top players like this, and it most likely won't change like most people's will not change on here...I don't think it's cause we are close minded, maybe we are all just stubborn, hah. Lemieux Orr Gretzky Howe Bossy I think though, since the game has changed so much over the years that there are a lot of things to consider. One could argue a player in todays game, with todays coaching, conditioning, training, equipment and technology, you might say a above average player, someone like a Gaborik, could be a 60 or 70 goal scorer back in the high scoring 80s. If you could picture that, imagine what a guy like Ovechkin, how dominant he'd be 20 years ago. You could also say, if you took a guy like Mario, Wayne, Orr and gave them todays standards of training and conditioning and all the things that are normal in todays game, they would have even put up bigger numbers back then. I think the best way to look at it, is the best player per era. You could say Howe was the best player in the world in the 50s and most of the 60s. Bobby was was the best player most of the 70s. Right around 80 or 81, Gretzky was the best player in the world till about 1987. Mario took over as the best player in the world from 1987 till about 1997. From there most would say Jagr was the best player in the world from about 1997-2001. From about 2001 to about 2005 most may say Forsberg. And some, like me, would say from about 2005 till right now, Crosby is the most dominant player in the game.

Well, Hudler is doing pretty good lately. But him having 20pts in 65 games this year doesn't look so good as rookie of the year. But like you said, had he been given more playing time perhaps he would have better stats. It's one of those things we'll never know. Which is basically why Malkin will win. You can take any rookie's stats and figure what they may have done given a bigger role. I don't feel Staal should win the Calder, but I feel he'd have numbers just as good if not better than Malkin had he been given the role. Also, I am probably wrong, but I thought a player who played atleast 10 games prior to a season, he couldn't quality for rookie of the year. Hudler played 12 games in 03-04 and 4 games in 05-06. So he had 16 NHL games played before this season. Like I said, I'm probably wrong about that, but I just thought it was around 10 games or so. If somebody knows the real amount, then that would help. Malkin, Stastny, and Kopitar are probably the top runners. Malkin, most likely to win. Kopitar is real fun to watch. I think in a few years that team will be very good offensively. All they need is a future goalie that has potential. This is getting way off topic. But as far as Lecavalier goes, I hope he continues producing. Beginning of the year a buddy of mine and my girlfriend bet $20 on who'd have more points: Vinny or Joe. She picked Vinny and he picked Thornton. Two months ago looked like the $20 was easily hers, but Thornton has really put up some numbers last few weeks. He caught up quick and is only 2 points behind. I doubt either one will catch Sidney though!

Yeah, good job to Vinny tonight. Another two goal game. My girlfriend was pretty pissed though, to see them lose. I don't know, I personally think Crosby deserves the Hart over any of the four players. But realistically, each of the four players have legit reasons to have earned the trophy. The four of them deserve it more than any other player so it's hard to say any of them would have got snubbed if another one of them wins it. All four are having great seasons. I think Lidstrom will win the Norris so I doubt they will hand him the Hart. It's possible, but I think unlikely. So your back to Sid, Brodeur, and Lecavalier. I love Vinny, but his case as being the most valuable to his team when St. Louis is 2pts behind him may hinder him. So I feel it will between Sid and Brodeur. Both are good choices. Yeah, Don Cherry was off on some of his stats. But he is right on some of them. I think the point he was pretty much making though, is yes he doesn't have the stats like Malkin, especially the assists. But he will most likely finish with 30 goals as a rookie which is impressive for a 18yr old. He won't finish with a lot of points. But what Cherry is basically saying is, had Staal been givin the opportunity that Malkin is, far as playing on a 2nd or 1st line ALL season, not just lately, and that he only averages 7 seconds a game on the PP. Staal was used almost the whole season as a 4th liner, then a 3rd liner, and about 15 games ago a 2nd line player. He got most of his playing time on the PK. Some games he doesn't even get PP time. So most of his points are even strength or shorthanded. Cherry knows Malkin will win. And Malkin will win, but it's interesting to see what that kid could have done with the same opportunity. I do agree, Cherry always will root for a Canadian player over a European player. But he always has a interesting point of view.

I didn't see much of the Toronto/Washington game. Mostly watched the Tampa/Buffalo game then the Pens/Montreal game... It's not that Montreal blows, they actually didn't play that bad. It's just that Pittsburgh was awesome tonight. As they have been lately. 6-0-1 in their last 7. They outskates, outshot, outcycled, and simply outworked Montreal. The Pens have 4 lines that play hockey, they don't rely on Crosby and Malikin. Of the last 26 goals the Pens have scored, those two only combine for 7 of them. I have seen Montreal play worse, they gave good effort, just the Pens outlplayed them in every way. But this loss and Toronto's loss really does hurt each team. Montreal and Toronto will have uphill battle. They are only a few points behind, but for them to catch up, the other teams will have to start losing. I would have liked to see every Canadian team make the playoffs this year. Doesn't look like it will happen though.

Ahh, I took Don Cherry's word for it. He had a sheet of paper and reading off these facts about Staal, Malkin, and the Pens. His reasoning why Staal should be rookie of the year. But I never checked, but if you did, then he was wrong. Staal was a minus atleast once this year. Thanks Aussie Wing, seems most of my posts on this Red Wings board have to do with the Pens, Crosby, Jagr, Lemieux, or Tampa Bay. I may as well post on a Pens board, hah. But I love the Wings, they are my 2nd favorite team. Born in PA, now live in Michigan, so the Pens will always be my favorite team!

Well Vinny signed a pretty hefty contract so he won't be a UFA or FA in next couple years. I think he will be 29 or 30 when his contract is over. I heard the rumor too. Just sounds silly to me. If Edmonton had any chance of getting back into the playoffs, it was with Smyth, and to trade him away because of hope to trade for Vinny in the off-season doesn't add up. Edmonton has nothing Tampa would want. Vinny makes over 6 million a year. Edmonton didn't want to pay Smyth 5.5.

I think it will be interesting to see who will win the Hart Trophy. I am a fan of all three of the most likely players to win. Crosby, Lecavalier and Brodeur. Brodeur is having another great year. I don't think he will get the Hart Trophy. Although their defense isn't as powerful as it used to be, they still play the trap better than any other team. Only 7 teams face less shots a game than New Jersey. So it's hard to say New Jersey wouldn't be in the playoffs without him. Lecavalier is having his best season ever. After all the rumors he had to listen to his whole career. From getting traded to Montreal and just yesterday they announced that a trade back in 2001 was done to send him to Toronto. But at the last second, their GM changed his mind. He said he "didn't want to be known as the GM that traded away Lecavalier." Jim Feaster I believe his name is. He will probably be the only player to score 50 goals this year. I think what hurts him the most is the same thing that helps him the most. Marty St. Louis. Like someone else said, their stats are so similar. They feed off each other and probably have the best chemisty in the NHL. I have Center Ice and watch Tampa games a lot because my girlfriend loves Tampa and especially Vinny, and I'd say they play together better than Dats and Zetts. And that's tough to say because those two are also phenominal. Two of my favorite players also. One thing that helps VInny though, is he has more even strength points then Sidney. Crosby leads the league in power player points. I could be wrong but Vinny may even lead the league in even strength points. He also has a good amount of short handed points. Crosby I think, will win the Hart. All this talk about him whining is not even a factor. All that means is some fans of hockey don't like him. Crosby doesn't run his mouth this year like he did last year. People still hold that against him. I don't think Crosby can do much about that now. Years from now people will still say that about him even if he does continue like he is this year, keeping his mouth shut and playing hockey. Yzerman is not known as a whiner. But in his eary years he was, just like Mario and Wayne. But some people won't let go of the past. The Pens have a decent team this year, but it's hard to say the Pens would be where they are without him. The Pens record in his two seaons when he DOESN"T score a point is somewhere around 5-31-2. So it's hard to say that he is not the most valuable to his team. Crosby doesn't exactly play on a great line. He plays with Recchi and Malone. Recchi has seen his best games years ago but isn't bad, just not very good. And Malone, he plays a great game about every 5 games or so. Last night against Buffalo was one of his better games. Crosby rarely plays with Malkin. They do on the power play though. Every team has a player that is the most valuable to their team, but it's hard to say that any team would be doing worse with their best player, than Pittsburgh would without Sidney. As far as rookie of the year, I liked when Don Cherry said. Malkin will win it, but Staal deserves it. I love Malkin, but he is right. Staal gets less playing time, less power play time, yet is only a few goals behind. He leads the league in short handed goals. He just turned 18 in September. Staal is the only player on the Penguins to NEVER have a minus game all year. He is always even or a plus. His average on the year in powerplay time is 7 seconds. Mostly because he hardly gets to play on the powerplay. Most of the year he was stuck on 3rd or 4th line until recently moved to 2nd line with Malkin. Malkin has been a awesome player, but you gotta wonder what Staal could have done if he was allowed to play the same role as Malkin.

I have the Center Ice too and watch every Pens game also. When Malkin first came to the Pens, he missed some games because of his injury, he was paired with Sid when he had that 6 or 7 game goal scoring streak to begin his career. Not to long after that, they were split up to create depth. I remember most of the season bothered by this, because my gf being a Tampa Bay fan gets to see her two favorite players, Lecavalier and St. Louis play together on the same line, where my Pens split up Malkin and Crosby most of the season. And yes it is no secret. The two never practice together. And they tend to only get paired when they are down a goal. The coach said many times he split them up to give more balance to the lines. When they were paired together they played very well, but I'll agree, the other lines seemed lacking. And the Pens have 23 games left or so and you can bet you won't find them on the same line again, unless it's for a quick goal late in the game because Malkin and Staal now have such great chemistry together and are playing very well. In the meantime, Crosby is stuck with a old Recchi, who isnt' playing all that bad, and a Ryan Malone who should not be a first line player on ANY NHL team. They finally learned Colby wasn't a first line player too. So yeah, Crosby and Malkin will appear on the boxsheets together, especially in October and early November. And they went a while not being on the same line, then they were put on the same line for a game or two in December, but after that, that was pretty much it. None of us are pro's, and can't speak for any pro's, but if I were Sid, I'd take either of Ovechkin's linemates over Malone.

Well, he may or may not have a bad team, but the game's best players, with the exception of Gretzky, put up huge numbers on bad teams while making their teammates better. Yzerman did it early in his career. Lemieux did it regularly until the 90s. Sakic had great numbers before they became a powerhouse. Crosby is doing it now. Some will say he has a better team. Maybe, maybe not. Malkin is a great player, but they don't play together but on the PP or late in the game if they need a quick goal. Staal never plays with Sid, rarely even on the power play. Sid has Ryan Malone and Recchi. If those two could catch a pass, or convert on a pass they actually did catch, Crosby would have 100 assists right now. Well, that's exagerating, but if really did have a goal scoring winger (in his prime, not Recchi) they would be a very tough line to match against. Far as Ovechkin goes, being that he is more of a goal scorer than playmaker, he will struggle a bit if teams are really playing good against him. If anything, I'd say his team is better this year than last year. Semin is one heck of a player. And they switch it up to, like the Pens. You can see the two of them together or on separate lines, and obviously the power play. Crosby is more of a play maker so when he slumps it's usually a goal scoring slump. Like someone said, 13pts in 10 games is one of his worst streaks. That's still over a point a game. I wouldn't worry, I like Alex and he is a great player and he'll break out of it. Next year the Caps should be better. They will bring that kid they drafted this last draft who is from Swedin, Finland, or wherever it was. From what I heard he is the real deal too. So with him, Alex, and Semin, the Caps will look better. Also, there is a good chance the Caps will have a first, second, or third pick overall. What they need is a goalie. Kolzig won't be around when the Caps finally have a dominant team. The Pens fired Craig Patrick, but he found the right guys for the future. Crosby, Malkin, Staal for the forward core, Whitney and Letang for the future of their D and Fleury as their goalie. It's starting to pay off.