alienanxiety

For all of Bettman's desire to have NHL teams playing at parity in the post-cap world, and for all the 3 point games this year that helped inflate point totals around the league, the NHL is still very imbalanced. All we have to do is look at these playoffs. In the West the top 2 seeds have made it where they are suppose to have, the semi finals, while in the east you have two teams left in Philly ad Montreal that are so awful they would have been 12 and 13 seeds in the West. While some might say that having them make it this far shows parity (personally I think it shows PARODY), but all it proves to me is that the East is terrible. There is a awful imbalance between the two conferences. In fact, 4 of the 8 eastern playoff teams would have finished behind Colorado for the 8th seed. how crazy is that? It only further pushes the idea that playoffs should be seeded 1-16, regardless of conference. Would have been a very different playoffs this year: Washington/Calgary San Jose/St. Louis Chicago/Boston Phoenix/Ottawa Vancouver/Colorado New Jersey/Buffalo Detroit/Nashville Pittsburgh/Los Angeles notice that the two eastern conference finalists are not even in the playoffs! no wonder this league isn't taken seriously sometimes.

right I am saying there is NOT parity. It's way too imbalanced. I'd be pissed if I was a fan of one of the 3 western teams that finished with higher point totals than the stanley cup semi-finalists.

Guys, I think we all KNOW what will happen come July 1st. NOTHING! As we watch key free agent after key free agent being signed up we'll begin making topics asking where ken holland is, what he's doing, why nothing is happening. After a week or so Holland will give a blurb in the freep saying he is looking for "the right fit" or players that "make sense" for them. Then by the third week of July, with all the top tier free agents gone, Holland will reassure us by stating, again the in the freep, that our free agent signing is Jiri Hudler, and that his return is just as good as any of the players that were available. Finally, Holland will finish his summer duties by signing one decrepit old 4th line vet like Ian Laperierre and a former Red Wing along the lines of Mike Knuble. Before the regular season begins Holland will state, this time on Fox Sports Detroit, that the Wings are up against the cap and will have to go into the season with the team they have, and that maybe (never happen) they'll try to make a splash at the trade deadline.

So ... if Phoenix somehow goes on to win the Cup, am I finally allowed to cry conspiracy? I mean we've had expansion franchise Cups (Tampa, Anaheim, Carolina), then Pittsburgh went bankrupt and on the verge of a move until they went to the finals, and now Phoenix went bankrupt and magically now turn competitive. Pittsburgh/Phoenix final would be Bettman's wet dream and would make me swear off hockey for life. It's be like WWE.

Remember when a 3pm start time actually meant 3:05pm? when the eff are they going to start?

thanks! i would love to hear the ken kal radio call of the zetterberg goal, if anyone has access to that.

I was just about to suggest Filpulla and Meech for Walker and Corvo, but I see Walker is off to Washington now.

I think he would trade anyone on the roster, except Lidstrom, for the RIGHT price. But it is unlikely that any other team would pay the price he'd want.

actually should be about 7-3 preds. how many breakaways has howard saved?

For some reason I was under the impression Jack Johnson was a good young player. He is a terrible, team-worst -18 !

No, it should be 2 pts for regulation or OT win, 1 pt for shootout win, no points to the loser, period.

mlive reporting cleary out for 4 weeks. unbelievable.

CBC's website is saying Toronto/Washington is coast to coast in Canada except for in Montreal (Wings/Habs) and Ottawa (Sens/Sabres). So CBC Windsor will sadly be carrying the Toronto Make Me Laughs game.

I wouldn't say Quincey is off to a great start. he's a minus-7. having said that, I have no idea why LA would trade him away, just one season after stealing him from the Wings.

Just read about this today in The Windsor Star. completely ridiculous. no way this would pass in modern sports. but why do I get the feeling that even is this team swap would have gone down, that the Leafs still would have found away to fritter away all the Cups that the Oilers went on to win.

I didn't realize Leopold was a UFA. I thought he was a RFA. my bad. then I guess asking for Quincy back is a bit much.

I don't know ... Calgary certainly payed a steep price for the rights to Bouwmeester. Hossa is certainly more valuable than he.

I don't think Hudler is going anywhere (unless some team offers him a ridiculous offer sheet, in which case we get draft picks) but Sammy is gone for certain, as is Chelios. I also wouldn't be surprised if Drapes or Malby hung it up. I've heard some rumours that Homer may be ready to hang them up too, but I see him being back for another year.

Not going to be able to be buy a TV tonight anyone know if there's a way to watch this on the internet?

I too was thinking that this injury is just a way not to embarass draper. i think babs wants to go with his best players, and sadly, draper is not very good anymore. but he is such a great character guy that they would not want to make him look bad by sitting in the pressbox.

there isn't even a playoff mode that you can set up in NHL 09, so I have no idea how they properly seeded the teams in the brackets.

SJS/ANA 4-3 DET/CLB 4-1 VAN/STL 4-2 CHI/CAL 4-3 BOS/MTL 4-1 WSH/NYR 4-2 NJD/CAR 4-1 PHI/PIT 4-2 West: Detroit East: Washington Stanley Cup: Detroit

gonna be a boring game. wings win 2-0

Dats - Hank - Homer Franzen - Fil - Hossa Cleary - Drapes - Leino Hudler - Helm - Sammy Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Ericcson Lilja-Stuart Conklin Osbad

i certainly wouldn't mind Biron. i was one of the ones advocating we get him a couple years back. also, given his recent play, wouldn't getting rid of stuart automatically improve our golatending?