well, scott stevens hit them from the front. carter was behind salmela

he didnt mean to hurt him, and salmela had his head down, but there was no way he could see it coming.

just an unfortunate play, really.

Kari Lehtonen to Dallas for defenceman Ivan Vishnevsky and a fourth-round draft choice.

Stars fans, please enjoy your turn with the glass-groined Sta-Puft Marshmellow Goalie

So, you're saying the Thrashers got the better end of that deal, then? :)

Back in Raleigh after a four-game road trip, the Canes dump Florida, 4-1. Carolina's now won 7 of 9. Great, fellas. Nice you could figure it all out after eviscerating your season before Thanksgiving.

Still, given how crappy the East is this year, I'm harboring delusions that they can somehow get back into the playoff chase. Hell, had they won both games in Alberta instead of lost both, they'd have tied the franchise win streak record with nine in a row and would only be six out of the playoffs. Then again, it probably doesn't matter since it's looking very likely that Cam Ward is on the shelf for the year with back issues and I just don't see how a Manny Legace/Justin Peters combo can backstop the team for such an improbable finish (at least 17-6 to even get a sniff of the playoffs).

Nah, this is da Thrash after all. Just means the rookie will be a dud & Letonein will still be Letonein.

Before Monday the Flyers had not come back from a goal goal deficit to win a game this year but did it twice in two games against the Devils. Pretty crazy because I thought Jersey should've won both games. Especially last night they totally controlled the 3rd period out shooting the Flyers 7-1.

Flyers have won 4 of 5 against the Devils this year and it's the first time they have beat the Devils 4 times in the regular season in 20 years.

It's interesting to look at matchups and how certain teams have problems with another...

Pens have taken 4 of 5 from the Flyers
Flyers have taken 4 of 5 from the Devils
Devils have taken 4 of 4 from the Pens

the devils have problems right now, yes.

thank god the olympics are happening.

Rangers waived Brashear. Good use of dollars.

Fixed...2 of those games shouldn't even count as games played for NJ. Pens were that bad.



Are the Olympics really a good thing for NJ? Do they really need Brodeur playing another 10 games, then coming back to a condensed schedule playing probably 18 of 20 games in a 5 week period?

hey now, the devils had as many as 5 or 6 regulars out for the pitt games, too.

as for the olympics, any break helps when youve wont like 4 of 14 or so.

Thank you for letting Blair Betts walk and signing Brashear. Flyers just signed Betts to a 2 yr extension worth 700k each year.

I have a friend whose father hasn't attended a game all year because they signed Brashear after what he did to Betts. I couldn't believe Sather made that move.

Sucky time for the Florida Panther Fan

A Letter From The Owners - Florida Panthers - News

Dola

The Ottawa Senators have added forward Matt Cullen from the Carolina Hurricanes for defenceman Alexandre Picard and a second round draft pick.

All four of them must be very upset.

Hence why I used the singular version of fan :)

I kind of always liked the Panthers. Their playoff run in '96 was pretty fun, though the whole "rat trick" thing became a bit obnoxious towards the end. I was a huge fan of Paul Laus back in the day.

Apparently, the Wings are going to waive Brad May and put someone (likely Kronwall) on LTI to make cap space for the return of Adreas Lilja, who hasn't played in a year.

While it's good to see Lilja finally healthy, his return to the line-up really doesn't thrill me. So far this year, Ericsson has sort of filled the "bad give away" role Lilja held for so many years, so it will be a little scary to have two of them back there, especially if it means Kronwall sits for longer.

Maybe if you're lucky, they'll pair them together and you'll only get the bad giveaways on one shift. ;)

Cheechoo is on waivers. What a spectacular fall from the top.

Wow what happened to him!

And then they turn around and fill that "toughness" void by trading a draft pick to the Sharks for Jody Shelley.

Also, the Blackhawks begin their cap purge by sending Cam Barker to Minnesota for Kim Johnsson and prospect Nick Leddy.

Not a bad move by the Blackhawks. Johnsson is a decent enough replacement for Barker this year and he's an UFA at the end of the year and Leddy was a first round pick and, likely, still a viable prospect.

He wasn't a fast skater to begin with, and then had knee, groin and hernia injuries.

Sabres need to get their head out of their asses and get it together. Miller was rather blunt/pissed after the last game.

Pretty nasty late hit by Cam Janssen of the Blues today on Matt Bradley. One of the latest hits I've seen since... well since Janssen did this last time on Kaberle. Should be at least 5 games this time, couldn't argue with 10 or 15 to be honest.

Janssen took another run at Kaberle on Friday night. That guy is the worst thing about hockey. He has hurt people before, and he will continue to hurt people when they are defenseless. 2 goals in 200 games. Horrible even for a 1 dimensional fighter. That was a terrible hit on Bradley. He had no chance to defend himself. That's trying to put someone out. The dirtiest player in hockey today.

So I guess Getzlaf really wants to play in the Olympics. Apparently he was told unless he played and played well tonight against the Oilers he wouldn't make the team and responded with a 2 goal, 2 assist night. Hopefully the ankle doesn't flare up again afterwards and he'll be there.

No disrespect to Carter who is a very good player but I think Getzlaf is going to open some eyes at the Olympics. He's a pretty rare combination of size, stickhandling and passing and really doesn't get the respect from the rest of the league he deserves IMO.

Couldn't agree more.

After last year's playoffs, there is nobody in Detroit who doesn't appropriately respect Getzlaf, trust me. And that most certainly goes for Babcock. If Getzlaf's ankle is up to it, I would look for Babcock to give Getzlaf a lot of ice time.

Seriously? The team thought this was a good idea? I mean, I was guessing from the headline that maybe it was 2 friends who wanted some internet fake fame. But the team?

SI

Apparently they're taking "follow what the NBA does" to another level.

Interesting comments by Gonchar today. He was asked by a local reporter if every thing was okay between him and Ovechkin after the knee on knee in last year's playoffs.

Gonchar's only response was a shrug of the shoulders.

Better answer would have been "if he dies, he dies" with a thick Russian accent.

Great news for the future of a new Wings arena today as Tom Wilson, former president of the Palace Entertainment (within the Pistons) is being hired to work directly under Mike Illitch.

Fantastic.

That made my day thank you.

Got a pretty good story from a kid I work with.

He played at Robert Morris locally, interned with us 2 years ago, hired out of school this past June.

His brother is a few years younger, a junior at Duquense.

I guess his brother and a few friends have a place off campus (for the locals reading, South Side). The area is known for having tons of bars, but back in the day was where a good majority of the families of steelworkers live. So now, it's mostly older people, and then the younger crowd, like these college kids.

A few weeks back when Pittsburgh got about 2 feet of snow, his brother and friends decided they'd get a little drunk, go out get some sleds, and go sledridding on the hilly streets of the South Side.

Turns out, they meet a guy, not too much older than them, who lived in the same general area. He joined them sledridding, then bought them a keg.

That man--

Was the sledding going really poorly for them until he turned it all around by getting the shit beat out of him?

OK, Olympics are done...and about 66 hours until the trade deadline.

Who are definitely sellers? Using the limit of within 6 points of a playoff spot right now:

Panthers, Isles, Canes and Leafs in the East. Jackets and Oilers in the West.

Pens in a perfect world grab a 2nd line winger to play with Malkin and a physical dman.

I don't see them getting Ray Whitney, unless he specifically says he'll only waive his NTC to go to Pittsburgh. Otherwise, they'll get outbid. Next in queue is probably Ponikarovsky. If he can be had for a mid-level prospect and a middle round pick, he makes sense. Another option might be Raffi Torres from Columbus. Not the goal scorer Ponikarovsky is, but might be able to create room for Malkin (think Ryan Malone 2 seasons ago).

Defenseman, if they look for a big crease clearing guy, Andy Sutton from the Isles, Andrew Alberts from the Canes or one of the 8 guys who fit that role in Toronto. Skating D, one of the guys in Florida, Seidenberg or Leopold. Or, as a package deal with Torres, Milan Jurcina...although I'd love to see Jan Hejda here.

So it begins...

Florida sends Jordan Leopold (D) to Pittsburgh for a second round pick in 2010.

Blues have traded Hannu Toivonen and Danny Richmond to Chicago in exchange for Joe Fallon and Darryl Boyle

I love how the Sabres have been using a college goalie ( Andrew Loewen) for its practices since they started last Thursday with Miller gone.

Penguins call your college kid and raise you one...


Penguins Video Coordinator Fills in at Goalie - Pittsburgh Penguins - Features

Apparently (re: unconfirmed at this point) Denis Grebeshkov has been traded from the Oilers to the Predators for a 2010 2nd rounder.

Now that only leaves Moreau, Pisani, Comrie, Nilsson, O'Sullivan, Staios and Visnovsky to be moved prior to the deadline. I'd say Horcoff too, but that's a few stages past a pipe dream even unfortunately.

Hopefully some contender will take a flyer on Slava Kozlov, who asked Atlanta for a trade last week.

He's been nothing but a solid citizen for the Thrashers & I'd like to see him go somewhere and have a nice finish.

I am pretty good at this...I am wasting my talents here.


Seeing this as confirmed now. And must mean this Hamhuis to Philly stuff has some legs.

Not sure I fully understand it though, as Nashvilles is a team that is pretty deep at D with guys in the minors ready to be recalled.

Thrashers signed Chris Chelios.

There goes the end of a streak that saw Chelios only playing for original 6 teams

Good to see Cheli back in the NHL.