Official™ NHL Season 2006-2007 Games Discussion

Post by **Minstrel** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:13 am

Wow, the injuries really are piling up for some teams... Pronger being out for two months+ is really a blow to Anaheim. Luckily Niedermayer can go back to playing 38 minutes a game.

Though the gruesome Morrow injury is a really tough break for Dallas, any team that continues to pay and count on famously fragile players like Lindros and Peter "They Call Me Mr. Glass" Forsberg get no sympathy from me really.

Post by **CatchUp** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:59 am

Not sure if this is the place for this but - how about that trade for Comrie today? Comments? Analysis?

Good deal for both teams IMO. Comrie isn't playing to potential in PHX so maybe the more talented roster in OTT will perk him up. Kaigorodov is an awesome prospect for PHX, he'll be a killer sniper in 2-3 years.

Cheers.

Post by **Minstrel** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:11 am

Yeah, this is a good place for any NHL related discussions

I think is a perfect example of the cost of doing business going up when your team has a clear need that needs to be filled. If it wasn't enough to have the pressures of the terrible start in Ottawa they then get hit with serious long term injuries. They had to do something, and everyone knew it. So that's the price of dealing when you go from "who is offering the best deal for the current and/or future of the team" to "who will give us the best center for this year at anything cost below completely opening a vein/chopping off a limb?"

Comrie however is an odd case; he should be a clear positive in the so-caled "New NHL" since people never doubted his skills but had questions about his being 5'9" in terms of durability etc. However he has proven to be anything but a "team player" so it's actually his attitude that has held him down I think and that hasn't changed so this is at best a "marriage of convenience" so to speak and I think they are just aiming to keep their heads above water and hopefully get lucky and find that he's brought a different attitude and maybe find someone he clicks with.

As for Kaigorodov he is completely unproven at the NHL level; and when he was supposed to be slotted into the first line in the preseason he quickly became the first in a long string of dissapointments that have been the Ottawa 2006-07 season. So like most trades the tale of who won on this on won't be clear for some time...

I however love the move that Anaheim made to pick up Ric "Tim" Jackman from Florida to hlep cover for the loss of Pronger for only a conditional pick. That's a solid addition at a reasonable price.

Post by **batdad** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:36 pm

I however love the move that Anaheim made to pick up Tim Jackman from Florida to hlep cover for the loss of Pronger for only a conditional pick. That's a solid addition at a reasonable price.

Who is Tim Jackman? Ric I have heard of...kind of like that goalie from Tampa Bay. Lundqvist???

But yeah, a good stop-gap move for Anaheim for sure.

Post by **inSTAALed** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:53 pm

Speaking of man games lost to injury: Carolina is on pace for 330+ man games lost.

Put in perspective, Philadelphia is on pace for about 335+

The fact that we are anywhere near the playoffs with so many injuries is impressive.

Post by **Minstrel** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 8:56 pm

batdad wrote:Who is Tim Jackman? Ric I have heard of...kind of like that goalie from Tampa Bay. Lundqvist???

But yeah, a good stop-gap move for Anaheim for sure.

Ummm his friends call him... Tim?

inSTAALed wrote:Speaking of man games lost to injury: Carolina is on pace for 330+ man games lost.

Put in perspective, Philadelphia is on pace for about 335+

The fact that we are anywhere near the playoffs with so many injuries is impressive.

It's not the same though really, they knew that they'd be without Stillman and Kaberle from the beginning of the season so while it had an ongoing effect it didn't have the impact of Minnesota losing Gaborik for example. CAR knew going in that they wouldn't be back for some time and they had time to plan and make moves to cover for that as well as they could.

Losing players like Spezza for Ottawa is much harder for teams, especially from an attitude/team spirit kind of way. You could argue that the two long term injuries haven't been much of a negative for Carolina really since everyone has played harder knowing from the get-go that they had to cover for those two losses and it's a positive now that the teamis playing so well and can still look to almost having two big trades made with Stillman and Kaberle returning but they aren't giving up anyone.

Post by **inSTAALed** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 11:51 pm

Minstrel wrote:
batdad wrote:Who is Tim Jackman? Ric I have heard of...kind of like that goalie from Tampa Bay. Lundqvist???

But yeah, a good stop-gap move for Anaheim for sure.
Ummm his friends call him... Tim?

inSTAALed wrote:Speaking of man games lost to injury: Carolina is on pace for 330+ man games lost.

Put in perspective, Philadelphia is on pace for about 335+

The fact that we are anywhere near the playoffs with so many injuries is impressive.
It's not the same though really, they knew that they'd be without Stillman and Kaberle from the beginning of the season so while it had an ongoing effect it didn't have the impact of Minnesota losing Gaborik for example. CAR knew going in that they wouldn't be back for some time and they had time to plan and make moves to cover for that as well as they could.

Losing players like Spezza for Ottawa is much harder for teams, especially from an attitude/team spirit kind of way. You could argue that the two long term injuries haven't been much of a negative for Carolina really since everyone has played harder knowing from the get-go that they had to cover for those two losses and it's a positive now that the teamis playing so well and can still look to almost having two big trades made with Stillman and Kaberle returning but they aren't giving up anyone.

It's not so much the specific players injured on some nights, it's more the number of players we are missing.

We've only had one night where we've had a full team of players (not including Kaberle or Stillman) since the first game of the season, and that was the game before Ladd had to have emergency surgery on his appendix.

Plus, Brind'amour was injured for 4 games and we went 0-4. I like him.... alot...

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 3:44 am

Ok...Toronto scores 10 freaking goals, and Sundin picks up 1 measly assist?? ?That is like the Canucks scoring more than 2 goals and Naslund not getting any.

Oh wait, they have both happened. And 1 of them alot lately.

So are all the Bruins fans still alive?? Tough night, but I am sure it was the referees fault!

God Alex Steen looked like Darryl Sittler. For that matter Bates Battaglia looked like Lanny McDonald, and Matt Stajan like Tiger.

Oh I guess that means McCabe is Ian Turnbull, and Kaberle is my all time favorite leaf::: INGE HAMMARSTROM!!!

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:00 am

Fortunately, I didn't watch the Bruins - Leafs game tonight. I just caught the score when I was checking Yahoo later in the night. 10 goals allowed? That's just embarassing! Time for Chia to start looking to make some trades. I know the team was somewhat rebuilding after last season's mess but it looks like there's more work to do!

Post by **Minstrel** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:03 am

I didn't see this one but I heard the officiating was horrible

Funny how when they were winning the Bruins fans were posting about how great they were playing every game and now? Not so much...

I am watching (on a 20 minute or so Tivo delay from my making dinner) the Detroit San Jose game and I have to say that I continue to be impressed by "Little Joe" Pavelski. The guy just has a great vision for/sense of the game and he really gives it his all every shift.

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:23 am

Nice goal from Patrick Stefan....Oops, I missed. HEMSKY SCORES.

For those who missed it, Stefan lost control of the puck in the Oilers crease, with the Edmonton net empty with 6 seconds left in the game. Puck behind net, Stefan tries to wrap it into net. Misses, and picked off by the Oilers. Sykora-Smyth-Hemsky breakaway from centre with 4 seconds left. He scores with 2 left. Christ.

2 seconds from Oiler end to Centre, and 2 more seconds and the puck is in Dallas net, tying the game sending to OT. Dallas wins in shootout.

Now is it just me, or with a 4-1 lead, should the Oilers have had to do this?

darn reffing!

Jussi is amazing in shootouts. Same thing he did to Luongo last nite, he does to Roloson, and makes em both look like absolute morons.

Post by **Minstrel** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:25 am

Whoa... the Sharks are absolutely ALL OVER the Dead Things now!!! After starting out flat and down 3-0 they've come back to 5-3!! The last goal was another all-effort beauty by Little Joe who is quickly becoming a favorite player of mine (go Badgers!!!!), 9 goals now in only 19 games!

By the way I'd also like to add ha ha ha ha Hasek!!

YOU SUCK!!

----

Update: First time ever Dom has allowed a team to throw a snowman up on the board against him; 8 big uns in a row by San Jose before he got pulled. San Jose came back from 0-3 to win 9-4 on nine unanswered goals including 6 on the power play!

Congrats to Patty Marleau who takes over the all-time Sharks scoring lead with his points tonight. What a wild game.

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:31 pm

Dale Arnold, the home play-by-play announcer for the Bruins said during the second intermission when they do highlights from the previous period, "If you have young hockey players at home, you may want to avert their eyes."

This collapse has been a few games in the making, starting with giving up a point to Columbus, almost losing it to Chicago in the third, and then the pounding by Nashville and Toronto on the road. The B's start the game well, and then just collapse. They run around in their own zone, which leads to bad line change cycles where once they get possession they have to change lines and therefore turn over possession to the other team, run around in their own zone, dump the puck, wash rinse repeat. Also, their positioning in the defensive zone has been awful. Last nights game started well, I think the Bruins played a good first period, and then just collapsed. It's like they started playing basketball instead of hockey or something.

I honestly can't say what the problem is. Coaching? Conditioning? Personnel? I think most of these things are fine. I don't think a "shake-up" will make this team better. Maybe a thorough a**-whooping embarrassment was in order to get these guys to realize that they need to play hard for 60 minutes, not 40 or 20. There were stretches when this team was playing well and looked like a playoff contender, if they can get back to that, they have a chance.

They may have to trade Glen Murray anyways for cap reasons, but I think doing so won't make this a better team or get them to play better. It's not just one person not playing well, it's the whole team not playing like a team, and aside from maybe football, there's no other sport where playing as a team is more important.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 2:19 pm

I'm not sold on Dave Lewis. He seems to have a different philosophy than Chia. Lewis wants to play guys like Primeau and Donovan a lot. Chia goes out and gets guys like Chistov. Lewis seems stuck in the old NHL and I think Chia is trying to make a team geared towards the new NHL. I really don't think Lewis is a good fit. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue as to who they could bring in that would be better.

Post by **inSTAALed** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:13 pm

Lewis needs to go.

If that cannot be arranged, please remove his hideous mustache... It's giving me nightmares...

Post by **batdad** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 10:51 pm

There is a reason the Canucks did not hire Lewis over Vigneault. Lewis himself said the other day when Boston played Vancouver that it was to do with the style of play he prefers. Hmmmmm.....

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 3:30 pm

I can't say I've been really happy with Lewis, he was pretty much forced into putting the Sturm-Bergeron-Boyes line back together by fan and media pressure. But was he not picked by Chiarelli? You'd think he would pick a coach who would coach to the style of team he was building. Good thing we let Peter Laviollette go, he hasn't amounted to anything as a coach <sarcasm off>

Woo, 200th post

Post by **Minstrel** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:19 am

I wanted to mention that the Buffalo play-by-play guy drives me nucking futz... he has these really wierd pronunciations for players. The one that really got all over my last nerve during what was a very entertaining Pitt-Buff game was that he called Spacek Spot-chuck and hits the "spot" part real hard and takes a little pause before saying the 'chuck' part. Every other human I've heard say his name has said "Spa-shuck". So darn annoying. He's the same guy that makes Chris Drury's last name like four syllables instead of one by calling him Drew-rer-reeeeeeeee. It's too bad because he's really quite good it's just like nails on a chalkboard though when either of those guys are out there.

Post by **batdad** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 6:44 am

Ah come on Minty. Rick Generat (sp?) is a freaking legend. His calls are hysterical. You should hear him say BRIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE (pass the cheese) AIIIIRRR. And he has actually said "Brie (pass the cheese) Air SCORES!!!!"

Post by **Minstrel** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:44 am

batdad wrote:Ah come on Minty. Rick Generat (sp?) is a freaking legend. His calls are hysterical. You should hear him say BRIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE (pass the cheese) AIIIIRRR. And he has actually said "Brie (pass the cheese) Air SCORES!!!!"

Well, that I could handle/respect... because it's when he scores. The SPOTchuck thing was every goddamn time he touches the puck, sometimes three of four times in a row as they worked the puck around and it's that a joke is funny the first time you hear it but the 15th time? Not so much

--------

I have to say it now... IT'S ALL HITCH'S FAULT!!!! I think we have enough info now to confirm that the injury demon is riding Hitchcock's shoulder. Hitch in Philly? The entire team gets injured including Primeau having to retire... and then in the last two days Hitch's new team loses Nash and Federov in back to back nights! No details yet but it seems like broken ribs maybe shoulder for Nash and wrist/shoulder for Federov in a tangle with the end-boards that looked just nasty. So I think it's safe to say that the evidence seems to point to Hitch being the Black Angel here.

Forsberg · Post by **Forsberg** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:41 pm

Minstrel wrote: Though the gruesome Morrow injury is a really tough break for Dallas, any team that continues to pay and count on famously fragile players like Lindros and Peter "They Call Me Mr. Glass" Forsberg get no sympathy from me really.

As long as you dont pay more then 3 million or so, players like Forsberg will always be a good pick up. He hasnt missed the playoffs due to injurys yet in his career, excluding the last 2 rounds in 2001 but he was still vital for the avs that year.

Big T · Post by **Big T** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:35 am

batdad wrote:Ah come on Minty. Rick Generat (sp?) is a freaking legend. His calls are hysterical. You should hear him say BRIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE (pass the cheese) AIIIIRRR. And he has actually said "Brie (pass the cheese) Air SCORES!!!!"

At least he knows what rink he is at, who's playing and who the players are unlike Bob Cole of CBC and Hockey Night in Canada.

Post by **batdad** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:52 am

Ah don't be so hard on Bobby. He knows who most of the Leafs over the age of 35 are, and I even heard him mention a Sabre by name last night, and it was not Teppo Nummi-400-years old nen. WOW!

noctambulist · Post by **noctambulist** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:14 pm

OK I'm going to jump on the band-wagon, or if there isn't one, start the engine on it and call for the head of Dave Lewis. Losing a game you were winning in the third period by giving up 5 goals (1 EN) is bad enough, but this is becoming consistent and he can't seem to be able to turn it around, in fact I think he's causing it. This team did a good job to get a 2 goal lead and keep Ottawa from scoring at all in the first and second periods. They looked like a good team again. They were skating hard, playing the puck well, moving it well, and getting good scoring chances. They were shutting down Ottawa's top line, all without our top two defensemen Chara and Brad Stuart (over 40 minutes of ice-time there combined).

Then in the third, Lewis decides to start short-shifting. Why? To save energy? For what? Thursday's game? At least one goal was the direct result of a bad line change, and I think we've heard that line before somewhere. And I've complained before about Lewis's line changes. Why are the Bruins losing games in the third period? I believe they have the worst goal differential in the third period in the NHL. It certainly isn't talent or goaltending. I think Thomas has been solid most games and on paper this team has talent. If it's conditioning and you need to start short-shifting to save energy, then that points to the coach. If it's not line changes, it's tactics or motivation, also coaching issues. Maybe having three former defensemen as coaches is the issue?

Sure, we didn't have Chara or Brad Stuart in the line-up, but for the first two periods the defense was playing well and the offense did a good job of keeping the puck out of the defensive zone. I'd like to just give credit to the Sens for an amazing come-back, but I've seen this melt-down too many times this season by the Bruins to just chalk it up to the big hearts of the Sens.

The Bruins could have won that game, but for some reason they didn't and I need to point my finger at someone, so I blame Lewis.

Stillblind · Post by **Stillblind** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 3:05 am

Finally ATL breaks there 5 game losing streak. You can really tell the diff. in there play PP since Mellanby has returned.