Official 11-12 NHL Regular Season Thread

[Manimal]

Rangers are listing Scott as a Forward on their site. He is playing 4th line. I bet they have no intention of playing him on D, but who knows?

That team in NYR is scary good. They could knock off Boston. And beating up Boston? Yeah....sounds good to me.

Too bad Nucks don't play Boston again this year...would love to see Marchand get his head knocked off by Kassian. And it would happen.

Yeah, Scott is a versatile player. Position-wise, that is. I wish he could as easily change into a scorer

[philou21]

Hodgson and Sulzer for Kassian and Gragniani. Hodgson stuck behind Kesler and Sedin...and with Malhotra Lapierre and Pahlsson...he was not going to be playing C for the rest of the year, and not in top 6 as C for ever and a day. He is not strong enough on wing..one day he may be. Sulzer could not get in lineup even with injury to Ballard (who never plays). ZACK KASSIAN? This kid could be Milan Lucic. He is TOUGH as nails, big and strrong, not a bad skater, and has a good shot. He hits like a mack truck. Sound like anything the Canucks were missing last season?

That was my favorite trade of the day ad the most balanced too IMO. Good deal for both team.


Another part I enjoyed was looking the circus that is MTL again. Gauthier in interview said that the team doesn't need any reconstruction and that in the new NHL, reconstruction doesn't exist anymore. Great then, who's gonna be the next big salary that worth nothing to be trade to MTL after Gomez?

[batdad]

Wade Redden or Cristobal Huet or Mike Komisarek....or....gasp Michael Ryder.

[philou21]

Redden is plausible with his huge salary.

[Círyatan]

The Hodgson trade really caught me unawares, but I'm cautiously optimistic about it. Kassian reminds me a little bit of Bertuzzi, though there's still a long way to go, obviously. Hodgson would have been stuck behind Hank and Kesler for a number of years, and he'll be better off in Buffalo. So yeah, it would seem to be a really good deal for both teams, something not that common recently, especially considering the highly-touted players/prospects involved.

On another note, but man do I pity Columbus. I mean, what's happening down there? That press conference by Howson was an abomination. What was the point of dragging it all out? It doesn't increase Nash's trade value, it can't win over the fans... The only reason I can think of is diverting the attention from Howson to somebody else, and that is a pathetic thing to do, and a proof for everybody that the GM is not anymore acting in the team's best interest. What was Howson's response to the question: why reveal it all? "Because it's the truth." The recent trades were nothing to be proud of as well... I hope it ends well for them, but I don't really see it with that kind of attitude from the management.

[philou21]

Have you seen that video of the last Nucks game with the guys having a poster wrote on it : "Thanks I bought that Hodgson shirt 3 weeks ago!" That made me smile.

[batdad]

Yeah.. that was funny. Wonder if he will be there Saturday.


Also...funny as funny gets.

Anyone seen the Vern Fiddler (Dallas) impersonation of a Mad Kevin Bieksa? Completely cracked up Vigneault...and at the time Bieksa. It ended up on You tube...so search there for Fiddler impersonates Bieksa.
That is freaking hilarious.

[philou21]

Just checked it on Youtube. Holy rubbish Alain Vigneault just can't stop laughing that's so funny. At least even Bieska is smiling but why Fiddler come with that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHwGR5l_uMU

[batdad]

BIeksa was laughing then...but his widdled off look showed up later when he spoke about it to the media.

[Círyatan]

If you haven't heard it, you might want to listen to this, Philou. Another instance of Vigneault not able to stop laughing.

[philou21]

That's nice to see that he got a sense of humor.

[philou21]

And Ron Wilson is out. Quite a surprise to me. I knew alot of Leafs fans were claiming his head but he wasn't doing a bad job with the team he had, they are in the race for the 8 spot.

[batdad]

Randy Carlyle 1 Stanley Cup for Burke, Ron Wilson 0, Marc Crawford 0. SO guess who he hired. Simple decision and the right one.

[Loosie]

And Ron Wilson is out. Quite a surprise to me. I knew alot of Leafs fans were claiming his head but he wasn't doing a bad job with the team he had, they are in the race for the 8 spot.

1 win in 11 games + throwing Reimer under the bus, just before the GM went on to say he believed in him will do that to a coach.

[Danny]

wow Rags looking good (still can't stand them), beating teams even when they're being badly outplayed, sign of a true champion. ewww hate it

Mildly entertaining stuff in the Caps vs Flyers game, Caps down a goal pull their goalie and spend almost the entire final minute in their own zone while the Flyers keep missing the open net, even Ovi had to make a save

[Jypfan92]

Timonen's streak of consecutive games ended last night. He played totally 248 consecutive games before getting injured.

[archibalduk]

wow Rags looking good (still can't stand them), beating teams even when they're being badly outplayed, sign of a true champion. ewww hate it

Yep, it was a cracking game last night (and great it was another Sunday lunchtime faceoff which meant I could watch it live in the UK - usually I have to watch the games the following evening). The Bruins were good and dominated for long periods but the Rangers were equally as impressive for much of the game too. They can't half clear their defensive zone and break up ice quickly.

Lundqvist is most definitely MVP material IMO (assuming he keeps it up of course). What a season he is having.

Prust sure was brave taking on Looch! To be far, he gave him a few good digs before Lucic unleashed the fury (I still don't agree with fighting in hockey - but I won't go there with that).

[Jypfan92]

Toronto resigned Grabovski for 5-year-contract.

[Loosie]

Lupul is out for 3-4 weeks, Leafs have recalled Carter Ashton on an emergency recall. That certain makes the hole that much deeper. Always being the optomist that I am I still they have a chance, this will be the toughest week though. Last night loss was a heartbreaker as the poor defence let the team down. At least it wasn't a blowout like all the other Bruins games this year.

[philou21]

Who would've guessed that St-Louis will be first in the NHL at the beginning of the season? Honestly.


Oh wait.....mgsport!

[philou21]

Nice game between MTL and VCR. Surprisinly physical IMO and Kesler and probably H. Sedin doesn't really like Subban at all. I wonder if the return of Markov boosted them a little bit. And I just watched a little bit of Pens/Bruins game and let me said that in the final of the first period the Bruins just looked plain stupid with all those penalties and there as been one stupid interference call (again) on Boychuk at the end of the third.

[archibalduk]

This is hilarious:

[philou21]

I laughed quite alot when I saw those yesterday! Thanks for posting the full screen because on RDS I only saw the one on the left. Those two guys are just so awesome.

[Manimal]

When was the last time the Canucks won a cup? What was the result of that game? Just saying...

[Danny]

When was the last time the Canucks won a cup? What was the result of that game? Just saying...

Suckerpunch

there as been one stupid interference call (again) on Boychuk at the end of the third.

He fell into the goalie when trying to control a bouncing puck, he's not exactly Datysuk when it comes to puck handling, dime a dozen call. Most stupid call of the game goes to Malkin, no contest. And to Thornton for not jumping him. Bruins are terribad in 2012. Ottawa might catch them in the standings. But it looks like an early exit in the playoffs anyway.

So anyway, GM meeting next week, interesting topics of debate, return of the two line offsides and 3 on 3 OT following the 4 on 4 instead (?) of the shootout, Holland is supposedly pushing strongly for that one.