That was pathetic CR. They already shat one game away like that vs Colorado but this one was a million times worse. Even the usually solid guys seem to have given up on the season. Getzlaf at fault for the first goal, Perry for the second (kid needs to grow up fast) and then Hiller breaks the golden rule of goaltending and throws the puck into the net on the Canadiens last penalty shot. I was thinking of going to the game but my Sunday soccer team would have been short - God I would have been fuming if I had driven out there and paid for that shit.

This team should have been sellers at the deadline. You don't go and add veteran salary for a 30-70 shot at an 8 seed. Some of the personnel decisions are bizarre. Why the hell isn't Sbisa getting some NHL experience? Why are Festerling and Mikkelson bounced back and forth between the AHL and the NHL and never allowed to settle in either place? If you are going to throw marginal NHL defenseman out there every night, might as well be getting guys experience.

Yeah, good thing you stayed where you were. That would have been an ugly ride home.

I don't mind the Ducks taking a chance on this year as, IMO, outside of the top 3-4 teams in the West, I don't think any other team in the conference has yet proven they're better or more talented. This team still has a ton of talent, and between the Toronto deal and the deadline deals, I do think there's more talent there now, too.

But the maddening inconsistency is just galling. I think we lost too much on the checking line and we gave away too much in our own end to start the season, and that made us a defensively unsound team, even with better goaltending. That, combined with the injuries and turnover issues (all of the defensmen this year have been awful with turnovers) that remind me of two seasons ago (the post-Cup year), have really put us on our heels. Last year, the team nutted up and got back in it. This year, that attitude doesn't seem to be there, for some reason.

I think they determined that Sbisa wasn't ready at that time, and NHL rules required the juniors move, so there wasn't much to be done about that. I do think the team would have been better just keeping Mikk and Fest up here the whole time, rather than marching out Eminger and Boynton. What a waste those two have been.

I have been thinking of next year, trying to figure out what this team will look like. I don't really have any idea. I am assuming Ryan gets resigned (even if it comes as a matching deal), and I put Wiz coming back at 50-50. Nieds, Teemu and Koivu will be gone. Probably Ward, too. That puts us at...

Perry-Getzlaf-Ryan
Lupul-Who knows-Blake
Carter-Marchant-Brown
Sexton-????-????

With Parros in reserve, as usual.

Wisniewski-Visnovsky
Brookbank-Mikkelsson
Festerling-Sbisa

Hiller-McElhinney

There are a ton of holes in this lineup and yet the money allocated to big guys (Getzlaf-Perry-Blake-Lupul-Visnovsky-Hiller and presumeably Ryan and Wiz), I don't know much there is left to go out there to fill holes.

A roster based around the above looks to be a shooin for a high first rounder in 2011. Older first rounders who might have helped (Mitera, MacMillan) have either not shown much since signing their pro contracts, or have had off the ice issues. Kids like Gardner at Wisky, who knows when they'll be ready. Tangredi, who would have been a nice talent to slip in at the #2 C spot, is now in Pittsburgh because of that stupid Whitney deal. Maybe the BC kid (Bonino? I forget), he'll probably be with the team, that might help.

But what is there really to look forward to at this point for next year? Ugh.

Yeah I can't disagree on anything you said there. I'm not ready to give up on Mitera yet but the prospect situation as a whole is very weak. Any team with that defense is going to have a top 5 pick for sure.

Team used to be built around toughness, defense and dependability and it won a Stanley Cup. And it just seems to have morphed into a team built around inconsistent, talented guys who either have worn out their welcome elsewhere or just don't have the heart or stomach for a fight. Very frustrating. You can definitely point to letting Moen and Pahlsson walk as the start of the downfall, every move since then has just been a downgrade. Thank God we lucked into Hiller. I really feel sorry for Getzlaf who is by far my favorite hockey player ever and is going to be stuck on a crappy team for the next few years, working his ass off.

That defense you have there could be the worst in the league. I guess we get down on our knees and pray Sbisa is the second coming, Wiz gets back to his early Chicago form and either Mikkelson or Festerling steps up... otherwise it's going to be a hell of a long year.

I thought this was a cool blog post...

The playoff push: Records that reward a playoff berth - From The Rink

From the article:
San Jose Sharks Much like the Caps they can go 0-17-0, but they'll probably save that winless streak for the playoffs

SI

Yeah that part cracked me up too.

My turn to play the role of northern MBBF: The Coyotes are coming to Winnipeg.

I should add that I have absolutely no clue how credible this Peter Tessier is, nor am I standing behind what he's written... but between this and the recent Thrashers-to-Winnipeg talk I am starting to get minorly hopeful that something is indeed going on behind the scenes to get a team here.

I was walking downtown a couple of days ago when the Winnipeg Sun's headline was something about the Thrashers not coming here after all. And I said to a co-worker "We're not getting a team, they'll fail. We can't support an NHL team."

And a couple in front of me just turned around and gave me this horrible look. Oops.

I hope that wasn't Mark Chipman and his wife! :p

Haha no definitely not!

I should add that I'll be a little annoyed if they don't call them the Jets. I could understand it if we were getting the Thrashers or something, because its a different franchise, but the Coyotes ARE the Jets! The history is there, lets not hide from it. I want to be able to look back and compare current players to the Hawerchuck's and Steen's. I want to wear my retro Jets jerseys to games. I want the awesome colour scheme. And I definitely do not want some crappy new-wave name and colours, like the Winnipeg WolfDawgs all decked out in shiny silver with fur on their shoulders or something.

I hope Winnipeg gets a team soon. I think it is time for Gary to admit his mistakes with some of the southern teams and move them back to Canada.

It's hockeybuzz. Zero credibility.

Yeah, on a similar note... why did they call them the Minnesota Wild when they came back? North Stars was great.

Hockey died for me as a kid when Selanne was traded, so I'm still bitter at the NHL a bit and pessimistic about the whole Jets thing.

Boooooo.

Couldn't be North Stars because they became the Dallas Stars, and owned the name.

Oh ok, completely forgot about that. So if it is the Thrashers, no Jets because of stupid money stuff. But if it's the Coyotes, then yay.

It would get me to follow hockey closer again, that's for sure. I hate Gary Bettman.

And it would make me follow it far less, so it all evens out i guess.

And it would not at all affect how closely I follow hockey, so we have all our bases covered.

Thrashers or Coyotes fan?

Thrashers, Kings, and ducks if were just talking "non-traditional market" teams. Born in Atlanta, live in california but have been going to hockey games ever since atlanta got an IHL team.

Ok, well, I'd prefer the Coyotes for the Jets thing so here's hoping to Atlanta keeping their team and the Coyotes moving to Winnipeg. :)

I dont LIKE the idea of any city losing their team but if Phoenix keeps losing insane amounts of money it makes a decent amount of sense.

Winnipeg, Hartford, and Quebec all lost their teams too. :(

THN Future Watch came in the mail yesterday.

As in past years, make a request, I'll do my best to list your team's grade/prospects.

Wings please.

Curious to see if Smith took over the #1 spot.

Bruins, please.

devils please

NYR please.

If SR doesn't get you guys them tonight, I can do it for you tomorrow. I left my THN Future's Report at work.

Ducks pelase.

Nice to see another Ducks fan on the board. You might have noticed me and bhlloy bitching about our team a few posts up.

The Bruins season ended tonight. It had been on life support for months now but tonight's OT to a bad Toronto squad sealed the deal for me.

WolfDawgs... er, Coyotes please :D

Really? Have you seen how the group chasing you is doing lately? Atlanta and Tampa Bay both lost tonight. That leaves the Rangers in 9th by three points and Boston has a game in hand. Hell, the only team that's playing any good (Carolina) is nine points back and it would take a finish of epic proportions to get them in (I hope... :D ).

Nonetheless, I think the Bruins are probably going to make it at this point. Nobody behind them is doing anything to take it from them.

Win by the Leafs tonight vs the Bees must feel like a double whammy to Bruin fans.

BTW...Wideman is terrible....He got caught pinching numerous times including the game winner tonight.

Off-topic, but I found this story in the local paper rather amusing:

Sidney Crosby fan with gun robs mall pretzel shop : Latest Local News : The Buffalo News

Springfield Oilers, please and thank you.

Detroit team ranking 28th

Overall rankings are in parentheses:

1. Brendan Smith D, (39)
2. Tomas Tatar LW (55)
3. Jakub Kindl D (63)
4. Thomas McCollum G
5. Gustav Nyquist LW
6. Landon Ferraro C
7. Jan Mursak RW
8. Cory Emmerton C
9. Joakim Andersson C
10. Mattias Ritola RW

Boston team ranking 19th

Overall rankings are in parentheses:

1. Joe Colborne C (23)
2. Jordan Caron RW (62)
3. Brad Marchand RW (73)
4. Zach Hamill C
5. Carl Soderberg C
6. Adam Mcquaid D
7. Jamie Arniel C
8. Maxime Sauve C
9. Ryan Button D
10. Tommy Cross D

sabres please

Caps, please.

Devils team ranking 25th

Overall rankings are in parentheses:

1. Jacob Josefson C (37)
2. Mattias Tedenby LW (40)
3. Matt Corrente D
4. Adam Henrique C
5. Tyler Eckford D
6. Mike Hoeffel LW
7. Matt Halischuk RW
8. Alexander Urbom D
9. Alexander Vasyunov LW
10. Jeff Frazee G

Chicago, please

SI

Yes, Wideman has probably been the biggest disappointment this season with an unaggressive Lucic right behind. How Wideman played at such an incredible level last season (and the whole team, for that matter) amazes me now that he's regressed to this point. He has been horrible all year, especially when he eats all that extra ice time when Chara is out.

Overall rankings are in parentheses:

NYR Team Ranking 5th

1. Derek Stepan C (16)
2. Evgeny Grachev LW (21)
3. Chris Kreider C (22)
4. Ryan McDonagh D (67)
5. Bobby Sanguinetti D
6. Chad Johnson G
7. Ethan Werek C
8. Scott Stajcer G
9. Mike Sauer D
10. Ryan Bourque C

Ducks overall Ranking is 18th

Overall rankings are in parentheses:

1. Luca Sbisa D (9)
2. Kyle Palmieri RW (70)
3. Peter Holland C
4. Jake Gardiner D
5. Nic Deschamps LW
6. Nick Bonino C
7. Brandon McMillan C
8. Igor Bobkov G
9. Justin Schultz D
10. Sami Vatanen D