akustyk

the truth is that Crawford together with Hawks defense are very solid. how much of that can be attributed just to Crawford's talent and how much is him and d-men working good together is difficult to say. but it is this combination the other team has to play against and it is working for the Hawks. period.

 

there are definitely known cases of goalies who thrived in one particular team but a trade later in their career proved fatal to their reputation, i.e. Giguere + Ducks, Vokoun + Preds, Sanford + Blues, Kiprusoff + Flames... Crawford might just be one of them, but as of now it's moot point to discuss. Wings need to get through him and his defense and make no mistake - this is a capable combination...

I feel bad for Habs who built a decent team and really looked like a contender this season.

 

having said that... watching Therrien whine and blame everyone for his team's lack of effort and free whistles. oh, the memories of 2008

 

and Paul MacLean is poor gold in the interviews. he owns Therrien out there..

The last call was pretty weak but do people really think that the Canucks somehow got screwed by the officials this series because of the Sharks diving?  Both teams have done more than their fair share of diving this playoffs (and in their previous matchups).

 

Canucks complaining about the other team diving?

 

hell froze over... 

tough call to make, I'd say Tatar > Andersson and Emerton, but that's just my $0.02

I don't  necessary agree with him being the best forward, but the kid has pure offensive talent, something this team badly needs

Olczyk is a Hawks-homer, and known for being a poor commentator. not to mention his, more than blatant, anti-Wings bias, but that doesn't matter in case of Yakupov here...

 

as for Yakupov ducking out... good for him. suck it up Carcillo, that's the risk you take when taking runs at the boards.

Why would you think that?

 

talk about a drop in contract cap...

 

good for him, and great god - what a steal for Sharks. even if it's one year the guy should be poised to prove everybody wrong. unless he pulls a.... mmmm... Scott Gomez... and scores 2 goals the entire season

I always liked the teams that Burke put together.  Vancouver was a solid mix of size and skill, as was Anaheim, as was the 2010 Olympic team.  Obviously that didn't happen in Toronto but I have to wonder how much control Burke really had relative to other GMs.  I mean, Toronto has a long history of internal power struggles, and resultant s***ty teams.  I wouldn't blame too much of that on Burke.

 

you mean like Ducks where he inherited very well drafted core (courtesy of Bryan Murray, mastermind behind current good youth at Ottawa) and was gifted Pronger deal? and then dumped all the assets to build a team with one shot which luckily worked out, because his old buddy Colin Campbell put a blind eye on Pronger's "specific physics"?

 

or Nucks where he had Bobby Lou and Swedish Twins. and still the team sucked a** ?

 

 

Burke is overrated but what I most hate about him is how he's media who*e who loves to bath in flashlights. the guy is perfect example of how talking a lot and having buddies builds a reputation of actually being knowledgeable, despite all the evidence to contrary.

 

Nonis is a good choice for Maple Laughs, unfortunately. he may build something decent in this mess. though, with new draft lottery system building team by pulling Penguins/Hawks (dwell at the #30 for a number of seasons) is no longer warranty of success so he might need a couple of years to really develop some decent core...

 

 

frankly, few things make me laugh as much as seeing Burke fail. can't stand this guy. hope he doesn't replace Bettman. the later might not "know the finer aspects of hockey" but is at least decent at diplomacy and knows not to stick with the same circle of old buddies... Burke and his hard nosed pals could be a disaster for the league...

lockout over, Burke gone.

 

what an epic week... thank you, hockey gods!

Wings have too much cap space to just leave it unused. and the "get better through own system" didn't work for last couple of season.

I'd gladly see Holland shop some of our well rounded prospects for prime talent. Nash comes to mind, but also some solid defenseman in early 30s or late 20s to develop the core around...

Wasn't Roy the one who was in that photo with Chelios?  Where Cheli is ripped and Roy looks more out of shape than most hockey fans, let alone pro athletes.

dis?
http://hockeyshtuffs...bot-max-talbots


I'd love to have Wings grab Ott instead of Tootoo (not along, absolutely) and it sure looks like Wings had assets of Roy value to trade. good for Buffalo, though! Ruff has his doghouse back, I can't wait for Sabres clashing with Flyers and Sens next season... things might really get hairy in the East now...

Bye bye Jiri. I won't be screaming at my TV anymore ! Thanks to Kenny and Flames for making that happen.

you sure will once Sammy starts hitting everything around the goal, but not the goal itself.


$4M/yr is not a bad money for Huds. I'm glad Kenny didn't pay it.

Filppula is NOT table scraps. 60 points and awesome defense. In my mind its almost an even trade between Fil and Ryan... but some people call me CRAAAAAAZAAAAY.

no, that not. mind you, I live in Netherlands, I can think of different reason to say stuff like that not being crazy at all...


I mean... I love Flip and his work ethics but him and Ryan is no match... really... peace, bro!

Better than a skill-free goon like Konopka but I'd rather have Ott. Interesting signing nonetheless.

ditto.

I kinda like this signing. he's cheap and he adds Babs flexibility to use a player of this type once in a while.

as for opinions about his play... can't say that I've watched a lot of him recently, but I remember him from
the Preds-Wings 2008 playoff series as being the hardest working guy on their team. not just dishing
questionable hits etc. but simply fighting for all the pucks. is he like this AD 2012-13? dunno.
but I certainly would love an inspired gritty player on this team. for $0.6M a year it's a low risk, high reward
scenario. what's not to like?


EDIT: it's $1.9M per year not for all 3. not cheap for a 4th liner (even with the new cap) but I hope
he earns his money...

I like this signing. can't wait for him to get a start in Winter Classic and stone wall Maple Laughs.