Can someone explain, if there is a need to streamline goalie sweaters why they need to look different then all the other jerseys?

Marketing, I suppose?
Only have to have one, instead of a road, home, and third.

I know why the one shown in the photo has white under the arms, though. It is so players will think they are seeing ice/boards through there when they really aren't.

I admit it seems like a pointless change, though.

So they want to purposely distract the skaters?

Goalies would. Look at the design on a lot of pads. They have white on the inside so it looks like there is a five-hole opening that may not really be there as you are coming down the ice.

But why would the league? The point of all the changes was to increase scoring...

No idea. Maybe it is only on the practice version. When I stopped by Thrashers' camp, there were skaters wearing some with white underarms like that.

Well, I'm off to the rink to watch Shattuck play, I'll give a report on your Georgia guy later tonight Tekneek.

WOOT! preaseson bruins hockey on NESN!! niiice

For fans in Detroit - the Wings have just release some tickets for the home opener. Good luck.

No worries here. I have the Center Ice Package and will be watching the Wings/Blues game from the comfort of my living room. I may just happen to catch every other team in action that night as well.

I think I may even watch the Wings/Blues game on Thursday, not to mention that I may peek in and see if anything interesting is brewing during the Phoenix/LA game thanks to the Gauthier hit on Roenick and Avery's subsequent yapping.

Ah, so good to have hockey back.

season starts tommorow....how about some predictions.......

btw, am i the only one who thinks Calgary wont finish 1st in the west....I dont see where all their goals are gonna come from....offensivly, their a 1 line team.......I also think having a young blueline like they do could hurt at times, no matter how much potential they have.....and their goalie is being called the best in the league, after 40 games as a starter.....to me, this doesnt add up to stanley cup favourites, like ive been reading in all the previews, but what do i know :confused:

Flyers win the Stanley Cup!

I'm also not seeing the Calgary dominance that everyone else seems to. As you say they're a one-line team, and their goalie is unproven -- he could be the next Hasek, but he could also be the next Jim Carey. More than likely he's the next JS Guigere, meaning he's upper-tier but not a guy who wins Cups on his own. And even when he was on fire in 2004, the Flames weren't a great team until the playoff run.

I think they look like a real good team, but #1 overall (as per Sports Illustrated)? I don't see it. And that goes for Nashville too. I think some of the experts are far too eager to predict a complete league-wide shakeup in the standings, and are too eager to write off teams like Detroit, Colorado and Toronto and to boost up unproven teams.

It will be really interesting to see what Detroit does this year. I haven't watched any games (Center Ice Package doesn't kick in until the regular season starts), so I base this short preview off what I read and my gut feeling.

Forwards:
While preparing for my fantasy draft this year, I sat down with the Hockey News preview magazine and jotted down potential picks, going team by team. I was surprised how few teams had more than 2 or 3 decent possibilities. The Wings, however, had a few: Lang, Zetterberg, Datsuyk, Shanahan, Draper, Lidstrom, and Schneider. That list doesn't include Yzerman, so they still have some talent. They also appear to have a good amount of role players up front with Mikael Samuelsson signing, Maltby, Holmstrom, and Frazen (a big Swedish checker just signed this year). Dan Cleary beat out Rem Murray and Blake Sloane for the final spot. I hear that Cleary is great in the regular season and then disappears. Also hear he had motivational and lack of maturity problems early in his career. If he has those behind him, could be a decent depth guy.

Defense:
They lost Niklas Kronvall for 6 months. A bad injury. A big blow for the team. He is their best prospect and won the Norris equivalent in the AHL last year. A smaller guy, but a big hitter, good skater, smooth passer, and a decent shot. Easily top 4 quality d-man. A tough blow to take and eerily similar to what happened happened with Hatcher 2 years ago. After Lidstrom and Schneider, things get shaky along the blueline. Chelios is 87. Fischer is up and down. Then you have a bunch of fringe players like Jamie Rivers, Andy Delmore, Brett Lebda (I have no clue who this is), and Andreas Lilja (all I know about this guy is that he his big, Swedish, and was accused of raping some girl along with Renberg and some other Swedish dude). Not a ton of depth along the blueline.

Goalies:
Legace and Osgood will scare no one. There are not likely to be many games where the Wings will feel that they are going in with the better goalie. Given that Osgood has a groin injury (these things have a way of persisting) a weak spot is even weaker. The next guy in line is Jimmy Howard. A 20 year old goalie out of Maine. He's a top prospect and should be the goalie of the future. The future being 2 or 3 years from now, not next week.

Summary:
The Wings should still be a play-off team even with the questions in goal. I could see them winning their division. It's not the strongest. Nashville should be "ok". Vokoun is tough and they added Kariya, but that's still not terrifying. Chicago is certainly improved with Khabibhulin and Aucoin, but is still not a solid team and will be counting on quite a few younger players, especially at forward. St. Louis has Weight, Keith Tkachuk (aka Fats Domino), Brewer (question marks still hovering around him), Lalime, and not a whole lot else. Even if they don't win it, I see them hovering around 4-6 in the West.

I think what you meant to say was:

(And in case you're wondering: yes, pre-season games only count when the Leafs win. They are completely meaningless when we tie or lose.)

Didn't realise that HDNet was going to show a game on opening night, so I get to see 2 games tomorrow. Rangers/Flyers on OLN and Coyotes/Canucks on HDNet.

HDNet also announced their broadcast crew and it is Dan Kelly doing pbp with Grant Fuhr and Larry Murphy doing color commentating. HDNet will be showing games on Thurdays and Saturdays.

Honolulu_Blue: "Leafs suck!"
Maple Leafs: "No they don't."
Honolulu_Blue: "They totally suck!"
Maple Leafs: "They kicked the Red Wings' asses in a home-and-home at the end of the pre-season. (And in case you're wondering: yes, pre-season games only count when the Leafs win. They are completely meaningless when we tie or lose.)"
Honolulu_Blue: "HA! Why don't you go plan the parade route! Boo-yah!"
(Wildly looks around for another fan to high-five.)

*waves hand for HB...in pity*

Very well played. We can be friends again.

(Mainly because the Leafs and Wings don't play this season.)

so, am I ultra cool or an uber dork for taking tomorrow night off?
the wife and I are going to chow down on yummy nachos, and spend the evening channel surfing - probably focusing on the B's/Canadiens and Sens / Leafs (mostly because I assume this is the HNIC broadcast, before switching to the Avs. I love Center Ice, and I REALLY love having all the teams play on opening night.

Honolulu_Blue says: ULTRA COOL.

Sounds like a perfect evening to me. In fact, I plan on going home early (yes, going home at 7:00 p.m. is early for me, sad, but true...) and Lady H_B is going to fix me up some tuna noodle casserole in honor of the start of the NHL season. I like tuna noodle casserole and I don't get that kind of food since Lady H_B prefers to make a lot of delicious Indian foods and homemade pastas and the like (I suffer, I know ;) ).

I actually printed out the Center Ice Package schedule for October and highlighted all "games of interest" in yellow. I gave the schedule and a green highligher to Lady H_B and told her she could highlight her "games of interest" in green. She rolled her eyes at me and left the room. :D

Between the time in Europe (I caught a few games here and there and listened to a lot on internet radio) and the strike, this will be the first, serious NHL action I will have been able to watch in 4 years.

That was very progressive of you. No one can blame you for trying to be sexist when it comes to your hockey

SI

My Predictions:

The Flames may or may not live up to their expectations.

Some average or young goalie nobody counted on will play over his head and lead his team into/through the playoffs, but fall tragically short, never to be heard of again.

Rain will fall.

Don Cherry will say something funny/stupid that will offend french canadians/foreigners/everybody.

A sports writer somewhere will write an article about how better his team is because they don't have the money/don't have the crowd/don't have the players that all the other teams can get so easily, thus making me so angry I could write a very nasty but polite email reminding the writer that he should put down the pen and search for a brain.

Said writer will write back how he is vastly superior to me cause he has a degree in journalism from some 3rd rate crappy/run down/government funded school and I don't, so I couldn't possibly know anything about hockey.

The sun will shine.

The Edmonton Oilers will play brutal/shitty/ugly hockey until late November when they realise that won't get them into the playoffs. They will then play fantastic/great/wonderful/80's like hockey for the rest of the year, only to fall 1 to 5 points short of a playoff spot. If only they had played hard those first few games in October...hmm...

Coaches will be fired. Ted Nolan will not replace them.

GM's will be fired, and in desperation they will say "But look how crappy Glen Sather is doing, and he still has a job." Unless of course, it's Glen Sather, who will then say, if only I had Gretzky, Messier, Kurri, Coffey, Fuhr. Then I'd be the greatest GM ever again.

Sometime in winter, snow will fall. This will come as a shock to many people who drive and don't seem to remember that snow is slippery.

The Leafs will suck. (but that happens every year)

Not sure about B's/Habs, but the Leafs/Sens game is TSN...HNIC doesn't kick off until Saturday, and that's assuming CBC gets their labour deal squared away (all signs point toward them doing so).

Well, to be fair, Lady H_B is a hockey to some degree. She was a Devils fan before I met her and keeps pressuring me for Caps tickets. Hockey is good. Football tolerable. Anything else... not so much. A perfect fit for me, really.

you make it sound like Capitals tickets are hard to find???

Not at all. I just refuse to pay for them (other than perhaps when the Wings visit in December 8). The firm I work for has some very good seats (about 3 rows up from the visitor's bench.) I will most likely snag them a few times this season,

Well, as the resident Flames' fan, I have to agree with most of what has been said. #1 overall is ridiculous. But they are much deeper this year than last, one of the few teams that can make that claim.

The second line projects to be Simon-Reinprecht-Kobasew which played really well in the pre-season. Reinprecht's health is a constant question mark and Kobasew needs to demonstrate why he's a first round pick.

I have no worries about Kiprusoff. He was outstanding in the pre-season and actually looks quicker; his lateral movement is phenomenal. He carried on his play last season into the World Cup and in Sweden. There are no worries in goal unless he gets injured.

My expectations are to clinch a playoff spot before Game #80. After that, anything else is bonus. This team is built to grind out teams in the playoffs, not secure 100 points in the regular season.

Hockey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The NHL Center Ice main channel is working today and the digital cable schedule is up!!!!

me = psyched!!!!

~rpi-fan

Hm.. I should start working on my wife with hockey. But without an NHL team here, I'm not sure that's possible. After all, she loves going to baseball games now and even follows the Royals despite not liking it at all before knowing me.

I now have a new mission :D

SI

Dale Purinton suspended for 10 games for trying to gouge out the eye of Colton Orr
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=138722

sounds like a really winner

I love the fact that my wife is a hockey fan. I don't think it would be half as much fun to watch hockey if she wasn't into it.

:( . Can someone tell me why he was blackballed?

Pens and Devils tomorrow night! Yippie! I've been a Devils fan for over 15 years now, but I live near Pittsburgh, so I'm trying to like the Penguins. I had always disliked them before, but I'll grow out of it. Anyway, I hope the Devils win, but I'm just looking forward to a good game. I wonder how the Devils will be on defense without my favorite player, Scott Niedermayer. The Pens may skate circles around the arena tomorrow night. :(

Something about getting a GM fired, hence no GM will hire him. At least, that's what it was. When he interviewed for the open Flames position years ago, rumors were that he was completely out of touch with the players and the game at that time, and his demands (read:money) were completely out in left field.

However, the odds of Ron McLean bringing up his name as soon as a job opening comes up remain pretty good, I think.

Actually, the rumours in Buffalo at the time indicated that it had something to do with Nolan romancing Dominik Hasek's wife behind the Dominator's back.

Nolan lost his job immediately after winning the Jack Adams Trophy for coach of the year as well; another contributing factor was the rocky relationship with GM John Muckler.

Buffalo decided to wash their hands of both the coach and GM and started fresh. Darcy Regier and Lindy Ruff were hired and both remain in Buffalo over eight years later.

which has held us back...

just ordered my center ice package. its on!!!!! go devs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those with DirecTV and HD, channel 95 will have Hurricanes/Lightning in HD tonight at 7 PM Eastern. AT 10 PM, Coyotes/Canucks will be on HDNet.

Since I have to be up at 3 AM, I will only be watching a 7 PM game (most likely Islanders/Sabres) and off to bed. I have to rely on the trusty TiVo to get Senators/Leafs and Avalanche/Oilers for me.

I'm gonna watch 3 games at the same time. How? No clue. But I'll do it.

Well, duh. 3 TVs :p :D

SI

so, I take it no one working for OLN has seen a hockey telecast in the last 20 years?

well, other than the pitiful, pitiful production from OLN, and having a couple of Center Ice games blacked out that shouldn't have been, I liked what I saw last night.

Mostly watched the Bruins/Canadiens and Avs/Oilers and both games featured fast-pace back and forth action. There were a LOT of great transitional plays - frequently you'd see a play in a team's offensive zone turnover with a long pass out to center creating a quick chance the other way. If the rules get enforced all year, speed is going to become extremely important.

I really liked that there was significantly less clutching, grabbing, interfering and obstructing. There also was less hitting though, which I hope is just temporary. I thought that the officiating was uneven, and seemed to be vastly different between the games that I watched.

I think I'm going to like this new, more wide-open style. I think it's going to bring back into emphasis the offensive-minded defenseman - the guy who can sneak in and join a rush, or make that breakout pass from his own zone. They've been a liability in many systems lately, but now they should become highly coveted. And I think you are going to see a bit more separation in the skill levels of the goalies - the difference between a "good" goalie and a "great" goalie wasn't that big before, but with the increased offense, this gap should widen a bit. The decent goalies on good teams (the Dan Cloutiers and the David Aebischers) are going to need to step it up.

If you get a chance, watch the hilights of the Kings-Stars game.

actually I did get to see a lot of that. Sergei Zubov is one of the guys that I'm thinking is going to have a nice, nice season under the new rules.

GO DEVILS! Nice show by the boys from Jersey.

Anyway, I couldn't catch much hockey last night, what was so horrible about OLN's production?

ever catch games from the 70s on ESPN Classic? where the game is filmed with one camera and there are some very cheesy on-screen graphics added on to show the score?

well, if you take that game, add a camera for goalie close-ups with a fogged up lens, and you shoot the rest of the up top action zoomed in so far that you can't see anything besides the puck carrier, and you have OLN.

thank god for Center Ice, because I don't think the OLN broadcasts are even watchable for me.

i saw some discussion in the other hockey thread on shootouts, but sense this is the official hockey thread, and we saw our 1st shootout last night, im bring my it here......what are your opinions on the NHL shootout....

I personally hate it, and thats not because the Leafs lost.... :p

I dislike deciding the game in a different fashion that it's played....i think ot's are exciting, and i have no problem with ties....i am a hockey purist though, and id rather ot's are played 5-5 as well.....The NBA equiviliant would be ending games with a 3-point comp, or a dunk comp...makes no sense in my opinion

Well, it didn't take long.

hockeysfuture.com is running a special on the newest phenom, 16 year old Angelo Esposito of Quebec in the Q.

He has more points then Cros did at this point in his Q career, and like Cros was a standout at Shattacks.

I've heard of him for a while, and he's in EHM so I saw him develope in there.

Regardless, anyone get a chance to see this kid yet?

Personally, my biggest problem with shootouts is that you're only including two areas out of three in the game. Each team has 6 defensemen who battle for 65 minutes trying to stop teams from scoring through blocked shots, battles in front of the net, etc (well okay, some teams may only have 4 or 5 D filling that roll while the others are there to play the PP), then the shootout starts and they're forced to the sideline pretty much. I'd rather see a 2 on 1 format with both forwards having to maintain forward momentum at all times. I like that they are trying to get rid of ties, but I agree with the idea of having 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for an OT win and 1 for a shootout win with no points for any sort of loss. It would force the teams with a weak group of shootout players to really try to force the issue, and later in the year when points are getting tight, to make that even moreso.

Yeah, obvious that I've always played defense isn't it ;)

yeah, I don't like the shootouts either. exciting to watch, but I don't think they fit within the flavor of the game.

if it were up to me, they'd play a 5 on 5 sudden death OT. none of this 5 minute period crap. play up to 20 minutes. if no one scores, it's a tie.

and none of this 3, 2, 1 point crap. it's beyond silly.
a win is 2 points, a tie is 1 point, a loss is no points. easy.

I've always played defense, but I still am in favor of shootouts. They provide excitement and provide a clear winner for games when playing until someone scores is not feasible. I have no problem with a game being decided by the team with the most skilled players.

Keep in mind this is regular season games I'm talking about. Playoffs or *shudder* gold medal Olympic games should be played until someone scores.

I look forward to tonight's games.

-Can Jagr be the man out there, again?
-How will St. Louis look after that DREADFUL performance last night?
-Can LA (and Roenick) skate for 3 periods like they did in the 1st last night?

Oh, also been wanting to mention it.

One thing that I haven't forgotten about Center Ice: Homer Announcers. (I know they're using local feeds, and I'm not complaining or saying I like it -- it is what it is.)

The Avs guys last night were tough to deal with (and they weren't all that good as it is, though they put in a good effort), and I think they're some of the tamer ones. The B's are one that I can think of that I know are huge homers -- any other ones to watch out for?

I caught some of the Avs guys last night. Now, I am pre-disposed to hate everything associated with that team (except Joe Sakic, lifetime exemption), but they annoyed me to no end. Though they don't hold a candle to the radio cronies the Avs have working for them. They are horrible. Absolutely horrible. In fact, back in the day if the Wings beat Colorado, I would sometimes listen to the Avs radio webcast at work just to hear them pout.

I think Florida is pretty good. They have Dave Strader doing play-by-play. He used to do games on ESPN2 and he did Wings games before that.

I am kind of excited at the prospect of listening to other team's "home team" announcers and getting their take on the Wings. Though I assume each game will be pretty similar: Lost a lot because of the cap, hit hard by it, still have some talent, still a bit old, questions in goal, blah, blah, blah....

I thought the New Jersey guys were pretty good.

This is a good thing to keep an eye on. I will let you know my thoughts as the season progresses.

I'm happy with the shootouts. I'm sorry, but games are played to win or lose. They aren't played to tie. That's never washed with me.

I watch far too many Panthers games because of my wife, and I agree, the Florida announcers are good.

Those were actually the Pens guys.

New Jersey is alright (Emerick is Ok), but I don't like the Color guy at all (Chico Rush, or something like that).

Gotcha. You're right, Emerick is ok.

coming from a guy who watches most of the Avs games and many B's games, you are 100% correct. As an Avs fan, I have more tolerance for the homerism than most, but as a rule I'd rather have a more impartial coverage. I do like Peter McNabb (Avs color guy). He is a homer, but I like his insight. The PBP guy (some McLeod guy) is new this year, and I didn't like him too much (he used "bushwacked" twice in the first 10 minutes of the game, and kept referring to Edmonton as "the Oil"). I don't remember the name of the previous pbp guy, but I liked him more. btw, they talked briefly about how McNabb will be covering the Olympics, but for which station I don't know.

The Bruins commentators are just hard to watch - Dale Arnold and Andy Brickley are both homers to the nth degree. And Gord Kluzak and Nifty Middleton in the studio aren't much better (and provide NO insight to the game).

Haha, "the Oil".

Also, I love how Edmonton got a "lucky break" when Smyth made an incredible play to knock it out the air (the same EXACT play Avs announcers were raving over 3 years ago when Sakic made it), but Laaksonen's carnival bank-shot was a "great play".

yeah, that lucky break was a great play by The Nose. at least they didn't go crazy about the review of that goal. if that goal was against Boston, Andy Brickley would still be talking about it.

Ah, hockey's back in the Garden!!!

I really missed John Amirante and his toupee.

Someone tell the Flames the regular season has started. :(

I loathe the Avalanche commentators. They are battling for the absolute worst in the entire league. I wish we had been able to watch a Canadian feed of the game instead.

The previous guy was just as bad, if not worse, IMO. I absolutely hate how he ALWAYS referred to Joe Sakic as "Super Joe."

Chico Rush? You disappoint me.

I don't like the Devils, but Glenn "Chico" Resch is someone you should know. He was an NHL goalie from 1973 - 1987.

fixed

Thank you. I should have done that myself. I thought the length of time in the league would speak for itself.

Question for those with NHL Centre Ice... how many games are usually blacked out, and which games get blacked out.

I'd like to get it for the Leafs games that aren't brodcast nationally, the rest of the Sens games that SportsNet East doesn't brodcast... and the occasional Wings, Rangers, and Pens game. Oh, and the Habs home games it picks up... are they normaly in french?

Try and ask someone that lives near you.

I know for me, I only have Sabres games blacked out.

So far, only Caps games have been blacked out for me.

It'll be an interesting competition all year to see whose announcers can be the worst over the course of the season. Obviously, there's a long way to go, but the Avs guys are out to the early lead for me.

I expect competition from San Jose, Dallas, and Minnesota (don't have anything specific about them, just strike me as teams that could have shitty homer announcers), but we'll have to see. I'm watching SJ @ Chicago & Pitts @ Carolina tonight.

It looks like Sundin will consider a visor.

Also, did anyone catch the Kings/Coyotes game last night? Greztky filled out the line-up card wrong. He listed Sojostrom as a scratch and Nedved in the line-up. Well, Sojostrom was dressed and Nedved is out hurt.

About mid-way through the first period, someone in the L.A. stat department notices this and alerts the refs. They check the line-up card and Sojostrom is sent into the locker-room for the night.

While, that wasn't too terribly interesting, I found Andy Murray's reaction to be a bit sycophantic towards the Great One (though what else is new):

Murray downplayed Gretzky's rookie mistake, saying, ``It happens all the time. I'm sure it's happened to me before.''

It happens all the time? I don't recall it happening "all the time." I don't I've ever seen it happen and I've watched/been to a fair share of games.

Oh well...

Coaches have filled out the lineup card wrong every season. Pat Quinn even did it during the playoffs.

Contrary to how the story is being presented, Rick Tocchet filled out the lineup card, not Gretzky.

The media is trying to build Gretzky up to fail... they keep saying how this is going to be one loooooooong season for Gretzky because the Yotes have started out 0-2. Seriously, did anyone really believe that Gretzky was going to swoop it and change a horrible team into a Cup contender?

Finally!

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ign/index.html

it's usually only your local games, but there is some funkiness this year.

I'm in Boston, so Bruins games get blacked out on Center Ice...but I get NESN anyway, so I get them anyway. so technically I shouldn't get any blackouts.

but Wednesday I couldn't get the Pens/Devils or the Isles/Sabres. and it looked like the Avs were getting blacked out too, which had me going apeshit. in the end, the Avs did show up, but talking to the DirecTV rep, I learned there was a lot of confusion. She had heard some reports that whomever has the local Sabres rights (MSN?) was prohibiting their games from being shown anywhere else, which totally goes against all the advertising for Center Ice that specifies local blackouts only. There were some Avs fans bitching about a similar issue with the Altitude broadcasts in some markets. I think this might just be some technical kinks that will be corrected, but I'm a bit concerned - the package is of no use to me if there's any sort of reduction in the games I get.

About damn time.

SI

MSG has the rights to Sabre game but if they are only showing them and not allowing center ice to show them then that's hella gay. hopefully it's just a foulup.

While that may be true, Gretzky is the head coach and Tocchet is the assistant. While you should be able to rely on your assistants for that sort of thing, ultimate responsibility falls on the man in charge behind the bench.

Sabres play GREAT and win 4-1. Miller played outstanding, Max gets his 3rd goal. Vanek with a pretty assist and a couple of near goals, played solid. Very good game IMO.

If you don't like homer announcers, you will not like Dan Terhar(Minnesota), his radio broadcasts when he was a Gopher PBP guy were classic. :D

Colorado has Doug McLoed? Man, I wish the Wild would have hired him, he's a good hockey guy and has done hockey for a long time, starting back with the North Stars in the 80's.

Do you remember the discussion we had about Vanek a year ago?!

The big question I have is what "region" I'm in... going by Sportsnet & TSN. I'm not in the Leafs region since I don't get their regional broadcasts on TSN... but I do get Sens regional broadcasts from Sportsnet East. So according to that... the only games blacked out would be Sens games...

I think I'll have to call Rogers on Monday to figure this out, and get the pricing details. It'll be a good excuse to get a Digital Cable box, and make that leap at the same time.

Now if only I could get a ginormous raise at my crappy student job so I could get a HD television!!

This has been bugging me all night and I can't find a good NHL stat site to look it up.

Who was the goalie that the Hawks had who got into a disagreement with Eddie the (Insane) Eagle and so, rather than get rid of him, they trade the Vezina winner?

SI

Jeff Hackett?

Yep, I believe it's Hackett.

It was a little more than a "disagreement." As I recall, Jeff Hackett was outplaying Eddie, and so Jeff was getting the starts and all the love from the fans. Eddie throws Jeff around in the locker room telling him that he is a backup and will never be a starter in this league. So, you already think you won't be able/willing to give Eddie the pay raise he will be looking for and now he is trying to be a cancer in the locker room. So you trade him.

Oh, no doubt. You can bet Gretzky will be checking Rick's work from now on. Still, this is really not a big deal. It happens every season throughout the year, and some even goof it up during the playoffs. It's really nothing for people to get excited about.

Big fun in the Toronto/Rochester AHL game last night...

3 - TOR Newbury, 12:45 - Roughing , 2.00min
3 - TOR Newbury, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - TOR Engelhardt, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - TOR Engelhardt, 12:45 - Game misconduct - Secondary altercation (56(f)), 10.00min
3 - TOR Bell, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - TOR Bell, 12:45 - Game misconduct - Secondary altercation (56(f)), 10.00min
3 - TOR Ondrus, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - TOR Ondrus, 12:45 - Game misconduct - Secondary altercation (56(f)), 10.00min
3 - ROC Paetsch, 12:45 - Roughing , 2.00min
3 - ROC Paetsch, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - ROC Jacina, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - ROC Jacina, 12:45 - Game misconduct - Secondary altercation (56(f)), 10.00min
3 - ROC Cambell, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - ROC Cambell, 12:45 - Game misconduct - Secondary altercation (56(f)), 10.00min
3 - ROC Janik, 12:45 - Fighting , 5.00min
3 - ROC Janik, 12:45 - Game misconduct - Secondary altercation (56(f)), 10.00min

I love any brawl where there are miscellaneous minor penalties thrown in.

According to TSN, the Wings signed Jason Wooley and have sent Lebda down to
Grand Rapids. Huh. I thought Lebda was playing pretty well. Had a point
in each game. He looked solid enough and showed some speed.

Never been a huge Wooley fan, but, it is what it is. I guess Wooley does
bring a little more offensive punch than Lebda and he skates well. Could do
well with the new rules. Anyway, no need to get all bent out of shape about
switching around sixth defensemen.

Wooley might enjoy some benefit from the new rules. I liked him back in his Florida Panther days.

Loving Center Ice.

Watching Boston/Pittsburgh. 3-2 in the first. Crosby just made a phenominal dish to Ric Jackman.

This kid is unreal

back to the blackout issue, since opening night, I haven't had any of the unexpected blackouts. chalking it up to technical snafus

Bergeron is playing out of his mind for Boston.

Crosby vs Bergeron is fun to watch.

Add the fact I am watching Washington/Atlanta during lulls to see Ovechkin and its a good day.

Unreal. Crosby undresses Gill then makes a beautiful feed to Orpik for the goal.

Crosby looks amazing tonight.

Crosby is having a great game. His third point of the game, I think.

Oilers off to another great start. Horcoff is off to an INCREDIBLE start.