With the score 6-1, Eric Boulton took a run at Lindros' head......cheap shot, penalty was coming, and Domi went after him....started a big fight.....after all that...20 seconds of game time later, Andy Sutton rammed Darcy Tuckers Head into the glass, (Tucker did not have the puck)....Sutton ran straight to the penalty box so he wouldnt have to fight...Tucker was cut very badly, and Jason Allison fought someone else after.........Then, Patrick Stefan levelled Nik Antropov, with a blind hit, Antropov wasnt looking, and didnt have the puck....it was clearly a cheap shot, and Antropov suffered a cut under his eye......

All 3 incidents occured in a 5 minute period of game time, and all three were cheap shots......im still pissed

That is pretty bush league.

I am by no means a Tucker fan, but he would've destroyed Sutton.

Domi took out Exelby it looks like.

That's garbage hockey.

Sucks too, considering Ilya/Hossa/Bondra have the ability to be one of the more fun lines to watch in the NHL.

Dear Atlanta,

I don't appreciate your cheap shots. I think Mike Peca would agree with me.

Signed,
Darcy Tucker



Darcy Tucker is a mofo.

curious, whats your point here?

That Tucker is the biggest piece of crap in the league and him and his team deserve whatever comes their way.

I'd comment but I had left the TV & gone back to the computer by the time all this happened. When you're reduced to playing an average minor leaguer in goal, it's tough to be interesting.

On the Stefan thing though, I tend to doubt he had serious evil intent ... if only because he's done so fucking little in a Thrashers uni to date that I don't see him being motivated enough to take out anybody.

i guess we disagree then...I have players i hate, but dont wish for them to be attacked

When do these two play again?

This is why I love hockey. You just don't see this level of pure hatred for the opponent in any other sport.

I remember that play, too - it was a bad cheap shot by Tucker.

not sure, but i think they said sometime in november....a saturday night in toronto

This is true. My hatred for Claude Lemeuix still runs deep within me to this day.

Sat. Nov 19 @ Toronto 7:00 PM Air Canada Centre

Thanks Jon.

Definetly a game I'll have to tune in for.

Tonight's incidents weren't unprovoked like many of Tucker & Domi's hits were. Also, the hits tonight were just that most of the time -- hits. Domi for one goes after guys assault-style.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. It's one thing to say Tucker has it coming to him, or Domi for that matter (although I don't think anyone deserves it)... but the whole team? That's just dumb.

I'm not a fan of Tucker, and wish he wasn't on my Leafs... but what the hell does that have to do with O'Neil, Allison, Stajan, Steen, Wellwood, Poni, Antropov, etc.?

u have totally lost me, cuz i have no idea what your talking about....unprovoked?....what did Lindros, Tucker and Antropov do to provoke the Thrashers

Well apparenlty Lindros & Antropov deserve it simply because they are on Tucker's team... :rolleyes:

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet... but I hope some French Canadian black guy kicks the shit out of Avery!!!

If you have a goon on your team, your whole team is responsible for the damage and problems he may cause.

If you don't want to deal with it, don't put him in the lineup.

Last time I checked Tucker's teammates didn't decide to trade for him, or put him in the line-up... so why should they have their careers and lives put at risk because of moronic things Tucker does? Sorry but even with the crap Atlanta pulled tonight... I'm not going to say Bondra & Kovalchuk should be head hunted for because of what their coach & teammates did.

I suppose by this logic Naslund & the Sedin's are on the Avs hit list...

The only provoking the Leafs did was scoring 6 goals on a rookie goalie when the rest of the Thrashers couldn't stay out of the penalty box long enough to help the poor goalie out.

Darcy Tucker is not really a goon. He is a cheapshot artist who can actually play real hockey during the times that he is able to put aside his "sideshow" antics. I *hate* Tucker, but that doesn't justify what Andy Sutton did. I want to see Tucker taken out cleanly, despite what he does to other players. If Sutton had dropped the gloves, challenged Tucker, and then pummeled him with his fists I would be singing his praises right now. Instead, he chose to do it a dirty way which only reinforces the type of play that Tucker chooses to go with.

Sutton is a guy who has really overachieved since he came to Atlanta from Minnesota. The only thing holding him back now is his head. When the heat gets turned up in a game, you can count on him to freak out and do something stupid.

Boulton provoked Domi by going after Eric's head. Boulton took care of that. Exelby was upset that, after holding Domi from behind so Boulton could unload on him, Lindros sat on him. Seeing an opportunity to try and hurt a guy that has had very well known problems with concussions, Exelby went after him. Unfortunately for him, Lindros was strong enough to pretty much hold his arms and Garnet accomplished nothing except being tossed from the game.

Seeing the game heat up, Andy Sutton went into cementhead mode and put Darcy's head into the glass. Then Greg de Vries decides to beat on the other concussion-plagued forward of the Leafs by jumping Allison when all hell was breaking loose again.

After all that, Atlanta had three defensemen. What happens next? One of the three gets sent to the box leaving TWO defensemen to kill off the penalty (which they failed to do). That part of the game explains a whole lot about that team. Faced with a short bench and only three blueliners to finish the game, they STILL can't stay out of the damn penalty box.

Hartley needs to work on discipline instead of worrying about all of this other nonsense. They may not have been down 6-1 and felt the need to try and injure Leafs if they actually kept their sticks down and moved their feet during the previous 50 minutes or so of hockey. Atlanta put up 15 goals in two games against Washington but has only managed 1 goal in their other three games. They've got some problems and it starts at the top.

I just saw the highlight of the Caron save, and I watched it 10 times in a row and still cannot believe he made that save.

For those of you who haven't seen it, go to http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/ and its a little bit down the page with a link to the video.

Although Tekneek's take is decent, there's a couple of points I disagree with.
1) Sutton has overacheived, but what I've seen of him this year, that's over with. He's looked more lost than anything else, always late to the spot, late to a hit, late to everything. I don't think that's "head" in the sense of bad decision making, that's either head in terms of not understanding where he's supposed to be or else it's legs & he just can't get there anymore.
2) While the defense is still the weak link on the team, I'm not sure how specifically critical I can be of the late defense penalty (when they're down to 3 D's) simply because nobody seems able to stay out of the box (I assume it's Havelid's hooking call you're referring to here).
3) I'm a long way from being ready to blame Hartley for things that are wrong with the Thrashers right now. The one thing I tend to put on him at the moment is the decision to insert Ilya in the lineup after virtually no practice. Clearly, the team has been worse with him than it was without him (although facing Washington certainly played a part in that). There's no chemistry whatsoever at the moment, a far cry from what they looked like just a week ago. Truth is though, I don't know whether working out the chemistry issues on the ice isn't the best way to go (and just suffer through it) since I'm not sure how much of that can be done through in-season practices.

Do you actually have any idea what you are talking about?

One Darcy Tucker is nowhere near a goon. A decent two way forward who happens to be a shit disturber at the same time. There are guys like Tucker on a lot of NHL teams.

And two, if you are talking about Domi then Atlanta actually dressed MORE goons (Boulton and Exelby). Even Domi has been less of a goon and more of a role player/defensive forward in the last couple of years.

I didn't see the game but everything I have heard has suggested that Atlanta were pissed that they were getting blown out and deliberately provoked the Leafs - including a cheap shot at a guys head who is one concussion away from potentially being in a wheelchair. Real classy.

Either way I don't care. I love the fact that old time NHL hockey came back, even for one game only. Call me a knucklehead but a few more of these and I might start watching again :cool:

as I was reading this page, I was starting to formulate my thoughts on Tucker, but you summed them up perfectly.

that Caron save was simply stunning. I'm speechless.

saw the Hawks/Avs last night - great goalie matchup between Khabibulin and Peter Budaj of the Avs. Both were excellent. Budaj made 38 saves, including some great stops during a Chicago OT PP. Although he got pretty soundly on all 3 shootout shots. Aebischer has been shaky so far this year - Budaj already has made 2 starts, both solid, and might see more time.

Last night was the first shootout I saw, and I still don't like them. I'd rather just extend the OT. A couple things: 1) I don't think I like just 3 shots per team. I assumed it was 5. 3 just seems to quick and 2) Bringing out the Zamboni seems like a huge waste of time. Just get the fucking thing over with.

Barring more bad weather, we're going to the Monarchs (AHL) opener tonight. Taking the kids, which should be a lot of fun.

My quick thoughts on the game:

- The Sutton hit was dirty, but it wasn't that bad. It looked like he was trying to finish the hit (play to the final whistle) and got carried away. My guess is he gets suspended, based more on the game situation than the hit itself, but it wasn't something at the Claude Lemieux level.

- The Stefan hit looked accidental.

- Exelby is a punk. Lindros had him pinned down and could have unloaded on him. Then he and Lindros were standing shoulder to shoulder, but Domi and Belak were still around so he just stared at the ice. Then suddenly Domi and Belak are escorted off and Exelby turns into Bob Probert. It was actually pretty laughable watching him try to "fight" Lindros, who seemed like he could have probably held him off with one hand.

P.S. Just to really stir the debate: Darcy Tucker's hit on Mike Peca was squeaky clean, while Gary Roberts hit on Kenny Jonsson in that same game was dirty but gets completely ignored by Islander fans -- discuss.

also: Darcy Tucker is gay.

Squeaky clean? I don't buy it. Within the rules at the time? Apparently so. My understanding is that it would not be a clean play anymore, so that has been cleaned up a bit. I must be just like everybody else, because I watched that entire game and don't even remember the hit on Jonsson. I do consider Roberts a dirty player though, starting with his time as a Leaf (He may have been dirty before, but I managed to not notice it).

Has anybody told his wife?

Peca's trademark has always been making a pass, acting like he doesn't see a hit coming, then jumping into the hit at the last minute. He's used that move to lay guys out several times. Tucker knew it was coming, so he went low. If Peca stays on his feet, it's a clean hip check (even by today's rules). But Peca jumps, so he takes it in the knees. Tough break (I love Peca, one of my favorite non-Leafs) but you can't leave your feet to take a hit then complain it was low.

Roberts ran Jonsson from behind and drove his head into the glass -- the hit was actually similar to the Sutton thing last night. He got five minutes, but not the game misconduct which was a very odd call.

Ah. The penalty call reminds me. I seem to remember the discussion on TV being about whether you really could have the 5 minute major without the game misconduct.

Right. And you can, if there's no "evidence of injury" -- which basically means a cut. And Jonsson wasn't cut. He had a concussion, and his helmet actually broke, but according the refs that wasn't evidence of injury.

And now you have completely retrieved the memory of that hit. I now recall it being pretty brutal. I was so hoping the Leafs would be eliminated. Of course, I want them eliminated from every series they are in, but I *really* wanted them to lose that one. :)

Until reading the ESPN piece, I didn't realize that this wasn't a standard hard check into the glass, but rather that his head hit the partition that holds up the glass. That seems to have contributed to the cut & leans me toward the same assessment you've got.


Stefan hitting anybody is almost guaranteed to be an accident AFAIC. Not saying he's squeaky clean, just saying he so rarely hits anybody (even when he should) that the odds of it being on purpose are pretty low.
(Can you tell I'm not a Stefan fan?)

is she hot? I'll tell her.

:eek:

Yeah, he looked like he didn't know what to do after the hit. Almost as if he'd never been in that situation before.

That Caron highlight is something. Sure, it was a "look what I found" catch but he still made it and that's what counts :)

SI

Just saw the save... and all I can say is... WOW!

TSN is reporting that Sutton will be the only suspension out of last night's game, likely four games or less.

Sounds about right to me.

Whoa...

Brett Hull to retire, apparently. Like, now.

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.ph.../hull_retires/

It was announced as 4 games by the league. 4 games seems like a bit much to me, but whatever.

Should be a damn fun one on Open Ice.

Pittsburgh vs Tampa Bay

I don't think he liked playing for his buddy Wayne as much as he thought he was going to

My god, Martin Havlat did it again. He kicked Hal Gill in the groin during Saturday's game. If you remember, Havlat was suspened last season for doing the same thing to Eric Cairns. I'm pretty sure this must make him the first player in the history of North American sports to be a repeat offender at kicking someone else in the cherries.

Not surprisingly, the pom-pom waving Ottawa media is defending him, even trying to spin it as a case of a player sticking up for himself against a bigger opponent. But you'd have to assume a suspension is coming, and hopefully a big one. Havlat was also suspended last season for that vicious stick swing at Recchi's head (leading to Hitchcock's classic "someone's going to make him eat his lunch" soundbite), so this will be his third within a calendar year if you factor in the lockout.

Of course, none of this will damage the Sens reputation as a team full of choirboys -- apparently they can hack, spear and kick as many guys as they want and they won't ever shake that label.

Edit: TSN reporting that Havlat will get five games.

Here's that joke of a column by an Ottawa writer (which is pretty much par for the course for sports media up here):
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL...66169-sun.html

Oilers need a game with Atlanta.

Lots of stick work, hits from behind and other assorted shanagance

that is simply unbelievable

Buffalo is retiring the numbers of Danny Gare and Pat LaFontaine.

ok, I can see Gare, who is 4th on the Sabres all-time goal scoring list. He's behind Perrault, Rick Martin - who have their numbers retired - and Andreychuk, who I assume someday will as well. seems borderlineish, but he played 500 games for Buffalo and averaged a point a game.

but at the risk of looking silly - especially coming from a fan of the team that retired Ray Bourqe's number after 94 regular season games - Lafontaine? Yes, a heck of a player, and he had 3 GREAT seasons in Buffalo. But are you really going to retire the number of a player for 3 seasons? 268 games? He's not any of the Sabres major all-time scoring leader lists. His teams never got out of the first round of the playoffs (not a knock...but he certainly doesn't win any bonus points for playoff victories).

I like Lafontaine, so I'm happy to see why I'm wrong, but I just don't get it.

I think I've figured out a cure for the problems of 29 of the 30 teams in the NHL:

play the Blue Jackets

this team absolutely is pathetic this year, i can't believe i'm going to 20 games to watch them play for a paycheck and show no effort or desire (except for a couple of guys). If this team wins another game this year, it'll be because the other team didn't get on the plane, or that the NHL decided to let the Jackets play the entire game a man up on the opposition.

I hate to say this, but the Rangers actually look ok this year. So far.

Tell me about it. The ratio between talent versus hard work has gone upsidedown in this team over the lockout. I just hope they can keep this up :)

I'm optimistic that the Dolans will screw this team up again.

Best description on what if feels like to be a Rangers fan at the moment:



As posted on the HFboards tonight :)

I want to kick this guy in the balls!

It's only ok if he is bigger than you though.

King Henrik is awesome.

LOL at the Mark Messier constellation

How is the 'crackdown' going in your neck of the woods? The last two games the Flames have played has seen a worrying trend. Several blatant obstruction/hooking/holding penalties that would have been called last week were let go (both ways). I'm hoping it's an anomaly.

Couldn't really say. Last two Thrasher games, there hasn't been much to crackdown on as far as I can tell. About the only thing we've done defensively is hope for a flag to be thrown for "moving unimpeded toward the goalie" or something.

really from day one, I've felt it's been inconsistent.

they definitely are calling plays that they wouldn't have called last year..er, 2 years ago. that's good.
but then they also will miss some blatant stuff, while at the same time calling stuff that's borderline (at best). I don't feel the refs really have gotten the feel for this crackdown at all - I think they are too used to letting stuff like that go, and are having a tough time adjusting.

and this is a critical time - if they don't get it fixed quick, they risk going right back to the old ways...just like we've seen in the past.

I think only certain refs know how to handle things... the old vets like Fraser, Koharski, etc. seem to be doing very well and I think they are doing a great job.

But when I went to Saturday's Flyers/Isles game, the officiating was TERRIBLE. Streaks of 5, 7 and then about 4 penalties were called on one team, and VERY borderline calls were made while more obvious penalties had to be let go. At one point they called four tickey-tack penalties on the Isles in a less than 2 minute span (there were 4 non-coincidental minors in the box for the Isles).

The guys reffing the game I had never heard of before... seems like when I watch a game with real refs, they do a pretty good job.

I watched Mon-Bos and Phx-Edm tonight, and the officiating seemed ok. Inconsistent officiating has always been a problem in the NHL. It's still better than the NBA, though.

Anyone watch the Isles-Rags game tonight?

Great early season game, good hockey all the way, great goaltending, and best of all, the good guys got the shoot-out win! :D

Y'know, I kinda like this "SuperStats" scoresheet thing.
http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreport...6/ES020100.HTM

A quick scan of it & I can tell why the Thrashers are getting blown out without having to suffer through watching it.

26-8 shots? ;)

Penalties don't seem to be helping either.

And let's not overlook the Giveaways (which probably relates well to the SOG disparity).

The Shift Chart thing is kinda cool to look at too, can't say that I remember seeing those on nhl.com in the past (but then again, don't know that I really looked for one either).

Leafs extend streak to four games... Lindros gets another goal... Joe Canadian is happy.

Isles with another win... Satan & Yashin really starting to click.

Satan looks like our best player out there, and has actually (*gasp*) even started passing the puck when necessary. The 1st goal of the game was outstanding... Yashin to Asham to Satan on a bang-bang-bang goal.

Atlanta continues their dirty ways vs Tampa.

Boulton, not surprising gets kicked out for a vicious elbow.

Only had 4 minutes of ice time the whole game, yet is out there in the third when they're obviously not playing for a tie.

Tortella went off.

His best line was saying Bolton should be in the ECHL, ha.

If Hartley begins to hurt the franchise more than he helps, it might be time to kick him out the door as well. Both him and Don Waddell should share the blame for this abomination they put on the ice. This team that is struggling (outside of the two Washington games) is also about $2 million under the cap, so it isn't like they are sucking because they are cheap.

I still can't help but feel like there's more than coincidence between Atl's struggles & Ilya's return. Maybe there's animosity towards him that hasn't peeked out in the media yet or something, but to go from a well-oiled machine one weekend to the abysmal performance of the 4 games since is bewildering to see.

We've got tickets for tomorrow night (vs NJ), hopefully the switch is turned on between now & then, else it could be a very long night indeed.

That certainly could be part of it, but it seems that their poor play has coencided pretty closely to lose Dunham. While Dunham isn't the greatest goalie in the league, he's a NHL quality netminder. The guys Atlanta has playing right now Garnett and Berkhoel don't seem to be there quite yet. While bad netminding can't explain all of Atlanta's struggles, it plays a big role in how a team plays. If you can't trust your goalie, your entire mindset on the ice is different. It effects a lot of things on the ice. I can't see how the Thrashers have any sort of confidence of anyone they have between the pipes right now.

Until last night I was leaning heavily toward that explanation myself but they're suddenly clueless in every phase of the game. Only 8 shots in the first 40 minutes (just 15 for the game), 12 giveaways, 10 minor penalties leading to nearly 1/3rd of the game shorthanded, it's like they've never seen ice before.

And they seem incredibly slow, even the guys that I know are actually fast skaters. If the problem is the lack of NHL experience in goal, you must blame Don Waddell for that. There are NHL-experienced goalies on the sidelines still, but he intentionally went into the season with only 4 goalies under contract for this season (Dunham, Lehtonen, Garnett, and Berkhoel). Prior to this season, Lehtonen had only 4 NHL games. Garnett had not even been a #1 AHL goalie, and Berkhoel missed a lot of time the previous season (and when he played it was primarily in the ECHL).

Dunham and Lehtonen are known to have lots of injuries. Failing to address that area of concern has to fall squarely on Waddell's shoulders.

Ugh. That's a horrible line of "SuperStats."

I'm not sure who they're supposed to have under contract though, not that they haven't already talked to. Potvin was discussed at the same time as Dunham, I doubt he's interested in playing in the AHL at this stage of his career but that's what he would have been looking at if he was signed, and his interest (and prospects) for playing is limited enough that he hasn't even bothered to order the new pads. Steve Shields is in Chicago on a tryout contract but there's questions about whether he's in playing shape & you'd still have a playing time issue as well I imagine -- I wouldn't recommend taking developmental ice time away from Garnett or Berkhoel in the AHL just to keep Shields as an emergency backup.

It was pretty obvious from comments earlier this week that Waddell talked to Buffalo & they aren't interested in making a deal (at least not with an Eastern Conf. team) & they're the only team with a real surplus in the net right now.

So, while I agree that it'd be great not to be in this situation, I'm not sure there's many teams who could go 4 deep in goal right now, nor really even three deep & be in much better straits than Atlanta.

Dola -- just saw a brief clip of the Boulton elbow from last night. Granted, it wasn't pretty but from the clip, it wasn't nearly as bad as the writeups led me to expect. The camera angle was bad, so was the video quality & it was a brief clip so I'm not exactly in a position to give it a ringing endorsement either, just saying it wasn't as odd looking as I expected it to be.

On the same subject, I think Barry Melrose was off the mark when trying to interpret Boulton's five minutes of ice time as some sort of "he was only out there for one thing" situation. Boulton is pretty clearly the bottom of the bench right now, but looking around the league, his ice time was more than the last guy that a lot of teams skated last night. Thrashers dressed him because that's what they've got left for a 3rd line LW after Anaheim reclaimed Chris Kunitz on waivers earlier this week. Again, that's not to say that Boulton is up for Humanitarian of the Year, just that I don't think you can read playing time = intent quite as simply as Melrose tried to do.

All I will say then, is that if Don doesn't, or can't, get an experienced goalie to back up Dunham and Lehtonen, the team best not trot that out as en excuse when this season blows up on them.

Ugh...do you have a link to these comments???

The rumours I've heard are that Regier is looking for Popovic and a draft pick in return while the Thrashers are only prepared to give a second rounder for Noronen.

The real problem is the fact that Darcy Regier will never allow himself to make a 'bad' trade and ends up holding on to assets for too long (ie: Satan, Peca), lowering their value or in some cases, getting nothing for them.

Noronen and Biron are both former #1 picks so Regier is likely looking for a top prospect at the very least in return. I like Noronen, but I don't think he's worth any more than the second rounder right now. Darcy likely doesn't want a 'Kiprusoff' situation happening, where his third string goalie turns into a stud for another team without him getting proper compensation.

As a Buffalo fan, I just hope they move one of these two guys (Biron or Noronen). Ryan Miller has been tremendous thus far in the Sabres cage, leading them to their best start in over 20 years. He's played every second in net so far. Noronen is running out of suits to wear in the press box and the situation could become a distraction for a team that's started the season on fire.

http://www.ajc.com/thrashers/content...thrashers.html

Waddell said the Thrashers also spoke to Felix Potvin, who did not want to go to Chicago under those circumstances. Potvin also had not been in a training camp and did not possess the new pads.

Several teams also have had injuries to goalies, so a trade is unlikely. Buffalo, with Mika Noronen and Martin Biron backing up Ryan Miller, is the only team with a surplus.

"Nobody's got goaltending," Waddell said.

"Only one team does, and they're not making a deal right now."

It could be more likely that the Sabres deal a goalie to a Western Conference team instead of helping a team from the East.

That Boulton elbow was awful......is this all that goon does, try to hurt people when the game gets out of reach...twice in a week now.....I really hope the NHL sends a message to Boulton and Hartley.....trying to hurt people like that really pisses me off

Ah yes, the whining contingent from Toronto is heard from.
:rolleyes:

If you can classify this as whining, fine, i was whining....i thought i was making a comment about an incident last night....one player trying to hurt another......maybe you dont read so well

Maybe Toronto fans only see what players wearing other jerseys do.
It was whining last week, it's whining now.
Maybe you don't see so well.

Maybe you enjoy seeing Boulton take shots at players just playing the game after his team is out of it....I dont....i made a comment about an incident last week, and i did again this week.....im allowed to do that, thanks.....I think i see well enough to recognize a team that can't do a thing on the ice, and a coach who seems to be encouraging thuggery...enjoy the game tommorow....7-0 NJ probably

That's a tough indictment. Jon's right, Buffalo really is the only team with a surplus of goalies. They are probably the only team that could lose their #1 and #2 goalies and still have a quality goalie between the pipes. If the Wings lost Legace and Osgood, they would be relying on 20 year old Jimmy Howard. Howard has a great future ahead of him, but now is not the time.

Who do the Oil have after Markanen and Conklin?

Maybe I'm just being a homer, but I really don't recall Hartley being a dirty coach in Colorado. In fact, I think he really cleaned up a lot of the crap from the Crawford era.

I'm sure some Detroit fan will be along shortly to refresh my memory though.

He was a dirty coach. :D

I guess so. I watched really, really closely, and I just didn't see a single Leaf player do anything wrong during the Atlanta/Tampa Bay game we're discussing.

Nothing. They also only have 4 goalies under contract and 2 of them have no NHL experience.

It is about having a third guy who has at least played a few games in the NHL or is on the verge of making it. Quite a few of those goalies that would've been great third options went to Europe instead this past summer, presumably because NHL teams were lowballing them.

I knew about Potvin. Maybe Don could have signed him in September, or at least tried to invite him to camp. He only had the 4 contracted goalies in training camp. He wasn't even trying to lure another one in until the injuries, from what I recall.

I agree. It took me by suprise that Hartley apparently has such a ban rep around the league...

Dear Kevin Lowe;

Thanks for not getting a number one center. You were obviously right, we didn't need it. Thankfully you didn't waste time getting a number one goalie either, despite some fans (ok, me!) saying we really needed one. Our recent 5 game winless streak only enforces your brilliance. And thanks for sticking with Craig MacTavish for another season. I'll enjoy playing golf with him while the other teams in the NHL are playing for the Cup.

Love always,
klayman

While just over half of the league will be playing for the Cup. You make it sound like 29 teams will be challenging for the Cup and only Edmonton would be out of it. ;)

Dear klayman,
Don't despair about your Oilers. They get to play an Avs team tonight who think the new rules have changed games to just 30 minutes in duration. Meanwhile, their defense is giving up more backdoor chances than Little Richard at a men's prison. And, of course, right after tonight's game they will be headed to Vancouver where they should feel about as welcome as a foot fungus. So not to worry, that winless streak is going to be a thing of the past in no time!

Love always,
Draft Dodger

Redwings are 7-1.

Just give them the cup please. ;)


(We all know that when the Wings do well in the regular season, they automatically win the Cup)

poetic license :)

Off to a fantastic start. :(

Peca's contract makes him the de facto #1 center. Unfortunately, as much as he brings to the game, he just doesn't have the offence.

I'd make a serious run at Noronen. Scoring by committee can work but not if the team has no confidence in the man inbetween the pipes.

1995-96 Detroit Red Wings 62-13-7 Did not win the Stanley Cup. :D