What a tough way to go into what may be the longest offseason ever.

GO BLUES! Were coming for you San Jose!


Todd

The hockey gods hate me.

Come on. If they really hated you, they would make sure your team didn't win a Stanley Cup in your lifetime. :p

LOL.

I really hope Iggy pots 2 today. A guy with -35 rating shouldn't win the Rocket Richard Trophy.

It will be interesting to see if Nash gets named to the World Cup team.

Isn't that -35 more indicative of the team he plays for? Only one player for Columbus played more games for them than Nash (Vyborny), and he ended up at -26.

As it is, it is going to be a tie between Nash and Kovalchuk who will have to share the award.

I believe the hockey gods are giving us first round matchups of Boston/Montreal, Toronto/Ottawa, and Philadelphia/NJ. 3 really compelling series, IMO. I'm especially looking forward to the Leafs & Sens.

I hope Calgary can slip ahead of Dallas today. while I respect the Flames a great deal, I don't want my Avs to have to face Turco in the first round (er, in any round).

I'd rather the Avs and Stars meet, so at least one of them would have to depart early.

Actually, the Rocket Richard Trophy will be a three way tie because Iginla scored today.

Wow....Leafs spanked the Sens last night...i dunno if that bodes well for them in the play off series,or if it will fire up the Sens.

I second that!

Heck, throw the Pukewings in there as well.


Todd

Without the Oil, it won't seem like the playoffs. :(

...

I agree. I would have rather seen them in. Even if Nashville was a better team, it doesn't seem right when classic teams don't make it. Same with teams like the Pens. Though, the Pens shot themselves in the foot...edmonton was in the hunt.

Predictions

Tampa over Ny in 5
It wouldn't surprise me if NY wins, but I think there to inconsistent, and Tampa looks so good right now

Montreal over Boston in 6
I think Theodore will do the same thing he did to Boston 2 years ago

Nj over Philly in 6
Goaltending....enough said

Toronto/Ottawa
To biased to give a prediction......but the LEAFS ARE GOING ALL THE WAY

Detroit over Nashville in 4
No repeat of last year....Detroit is'nt going to take Nashville lightly

St. Louis over San Jose in 7
St. Louis fought so hard to make it, San Jose, I dont know, just something about them that doesn't scare me...

Calgary over Vancouver in 7
Goaltending again will play a factor......and I think Iginla will shine...

Colorado over Dallas in 6
Dallas will fight hard, and I suspect a few ot games here, but Colorado has too much talent....a low scoring series

Woo-hoo!!!

Fantasy Hockey League Champions!!!

A very close series. Just too much offensive punch from the Belgos.

Yeah, my offense just couldn't muster enough to take down your team. Having Turco suspended for 4 games actually didn't hurt as Voukun picked up the slack. But it didn't help that you had an insane 7 game winning goals the last two weeks and I had quite the sinking feeling as soon as Belfour got the shutout a couple of nights ago to put you ahead in that category. I was scoreboard watching today, hoping to pick up the tie with assists, but your guys had outscored me 6 to 1 by about 3pm and, while I made it close, it wasn't to be. Congrats on the win- it was a great series that went down to the last day. And while a pair of Red Wings helped beat me, I take comfort in the fact that it took an Av to win you the title with his 19 PIMs ;)

SI

I was doing a little of same, some box score washing. I agree, after Belfour's shutouts I started feeling pretty good about my chances. I had given up on the rest of the goaltending stats and it basically came down to assists and potentially PIMs. The guys were clutch with the GWGs and Aucoin was a revelation with 7 goals in the last two weeks. No idea where that all came from. I think my team ended up with a lot more goals than assists, which is odd. Barnaby was also a nice addition at the end. Plenty of PIMs and even chipped in a few points. Very, very close and it really did come down to the last day of games.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=1774540

ESPN.com news services
Linesman Ray Scapinello worked his 2,500th and final regular-season NHL game tonight in Buffalo, in the same city where he began his career on Oct. 1, 1971.


Scapinello's 33-year career also includes 406 Stanley Cup Playoff games, 19 Stanley Cup Finals, three NHL All-Star Games and the 1998 Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano.


Scapinello worked the Maple Leafs' 2-0 shutout over the Sabres with referee Terry Gregson and linesman Randy Mitton, both also retiring. Together, they have worked 6,754 games, including playoffs.

----------------------------------------

How sad to see Ray go. I always liked Ray Scapinello. I liked Mike Civik too, simply because he was like 6'8" tall and it looked funny when he towered over all the players when breaking up a scrum. I liked Pierre Shampoo too, but only because he had a funny name.

So long, Ray, and thanks for the memories!

Wasn't Civik the linesman that crushed that guy that jumped over the boards with skates on in Minnesota years ago?

For anyone interested...

I'm running (trying to run if I get enough interest) an NHL playoff pool over at the OOTP boards.

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...threadid=58770

Someone start a playoff thread!!

Tampa Bay in 4.
Boston in 6.
NJ in 5.
Ottawa in 7.
Detroit in 5.
San Jose in 6.
Calgary in 7.
Colorado in 5.

Looks like what we have here is a Doubting Sachmo!

Tampa Bay in 5.
Boston in 6.
NJ in 6.
Toronto in 6
Detroit in 5
Vancouver in 6
St Louis in 7
Colorado in 6

I would pay good money to watch a Vancouver/Colorado 2nd round matchup. oh wait, I already do pay good money for that...

Not so much doubting as realistic. The Stars are a totally different team on the road. They are 0-40something on the powerplay on the road. They average about 1 goal per game on the road. Colorado is at home. All of that equals a loss, probably.

If anyone cares.....Terry Gregson is retiring too.

Oh ya,and Adam Oates announced his retirement the other day too.

Sachmo the prophet
 

Looks like you might know something Sach, gotta a Las Vegas ticket on it too?!

Cards,

Lucky guess. :)

Florida today fires Rick Dudley. Jacques Martin is rumored to be the new coach, and in a total WTF move, Mike "Franchise Dismantler" Keenan is being brought in as GM...presumably to trade away any remaining talent the team may have left.

Keenan would work as a GM. However unpopular his moves may be, they often have worked out eventually. Everyone laughed when he brought Pronger over to St. Louis, and he really developed. It was a big joke when he handed the job to Fuhr, and that worked out. He hasn't been able to call the personnel shots since being ran out of St. Louis.

Sach is not only wise, but modest too!

Florida needs a plan and it needs to stick to it, if Keenan and ownership is willing to do that, it will work out, right now they appear to be a franchise in dissaray. They do have a goalie to build upon and we've all seen how that can work out for teams in the past few years.

For whatever it's worth, Martin and Keenan are good friends from way back to their playing days.

so, is Keenan still getting paid to not coach the Panthers? if so, will the Panthers be paying him twice?

He is still being paid not to coach and I doubt he will be paid twice. Teams are thankful when their former coaches/GMs get hired by other teams (except maybe San Jose ;)) because the contract is off the books...

From what I've heard, the owner in Florida is the guy who can't make up his mind. Any bets on how long Keenan lasts this time around?

More like: how long before Keenan fires his "best friend" Martin and goes behind the bench himself?

I HATE Mike Keenan.

I would really love to see Keenan, Mike Milbury and Bobby Clarke go to one team (the Rangers?) so that I could HATE the entire team whole-heartedly. Clarke could be the President, Milbury the GM, and Keenan the coach (if there was room somewhere for Marc Crawford there, all the better). The could take turns running their star players out of town, and blaming someone else (usually the goalie) for their failures.

Eric Lindros would need to be on that team (should be entertaining with Clarke). Darcy Tucker as well. I wouldn't mind seeing Alexei Yashin and Brian Marchment there also, but they would just be icing on the cake.

couldn't we just put them all on the Avs, DD? Then everybody would be happy :D