It's Here! The 2006-2007 NHL Season Thread

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

A for idea, C- for execution. waaaaay too big, and they were using it far too often - missed a couple of goals because of it.

lots and lots of rumors that Forsberg is on his way to either San Jose or back to Colorado. I can definitely see the former, because the Sharks have Nabokov and a very strong shot at the Cup. that team becomes SICK with even a moderately healthy Foppa...

So San Jose's centers would be Thornton, Forsberg, and Marleau? Talk about being deep down the middle. . .

[Maple Leafs]

Anyone see those pink jerseys they're selling on NHL.com, in the women's section?

Question: what percentage of those will actually be purchased by male fans for their male friends who cheer for other teams? 96%? 98%?

[TazFTW]

Hen-rik! Hen-rik! Hen-rik!

First shutout of a defending Stanley Cup champion since 1982.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by TazFTW

Hen-rik! Hen-rik! Hen-rik!

First shutout of a defending Stanley Cup champion since 1982.

really? I find that to be a really surprising stat

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

really? I find that to be a really surprising stat

He must mean by the Rangers because Carolina has been shut out a couple other times this year already I think.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm generally surprised when the Rangers shut anybody out except themselves.

(Go Devils!)

[TurnerONU22]

Nine days after firing former coach Gerard Gallant, the Columbus Blue Jackets have reportedly decided on his replacement.

According to a report on TSN of Canada's Web site, Ken Hitchcock has agreed to a three-year deal to coach the Blue Jackets. The sides reportedly agreed to terms Wednesday. Hitchcock is expected to run the team's practice Thursday and will make his debut Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers, the team that fired him last month.

The news comes three days after the Blue Jackets interviewed Hitchcock and a day after they met with former Los Angeles Kings coach Andy Murray.

"I was impressed with everything," Hitchcock told the Columbus Dispatch on Tuesday. "From the interview to the facility -- everything, every aspect impressed me. That's the best way to describe it."

Well, it only took 6 years, but we actually have a legit, proven NHL coach. Let's see if he can get this team to play well together. I love the fact that his first game is at Philly, and that I will be at his first home game Saturday night..

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by TurnerONU22

Well, it only took 6 years, but we actually have a legit, proven NHL coach. Let's see if he can get this team to play well together. I love the fact that his first game is at Philly, and that I will be at his first home game Saturday night..

You do realize you are talking about the 'Cock right?

[TurnerONU22]

Originally Posted by Chubby

You do realize you are talking about the 'Cock right?

Hey, he might have some flaws, but this is the first time we have ever had a decent coach behind the bench that knows what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. At this point, I'd be estatic if he just takes us to the playoffs someyear.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Now this is hockey !! (even if I didn't get to see it)

3rd Period:
Scoring: ATL, Kovalchuk (unassisted) 13:53.
Penalties: WAS, Bradley (Hooking), 8:20; WAS, Erskine (Roughing), 8:20; ATL, Mellanby (Slashing), 8:20; WAS, Morrisonn (Hooking), 17:21; ATL, Rucchin (Hooking), 17:48; WAS, Ovechkin (Slashing), 18:26; WAS, Clymer (Roughing), 18:38; ATL, Sutton (High-sticking), 18:38; ATL, Sutton (Roughing), 18:38; WAS, Bradley (Fighting), 18:58; WAS, Bradley (Game Misconduct), 18:58; WAS, Brashear (Fighting), 18:58; WAS, Brashear (Game Misconduct), 18:58; WAS, Brashear (Instigator), 18:58; WAS, Erskine (Fighting), 18:58; WAS, Erskine (Game Misconduct), 18:58; WAS, Kolzig (Leaving the Crease), 18:58; ATL, Hedberg (Leaving the Crease), 18:58; ATL, Hossa (Fighting), 18:58; ATL, Hossa (Game Misconduct), 18:58; ATL, Vishnevski (Fighting), 18:58; ATL, de Vries (Fighting), 18:58; ATL, de Vries (Game Misconduct), 18:58; WAS, Sutherby (Fighting), 19:02; WAS, Sutherby (Game Misconduct), 19:02; WAS, Sutherby (Instigator), 19:02; ATL, Larsen (Fighting), 19:02; ATL, Larsen (Game Misconduct), 19:02; WAS, Heward (Fighting), 19:17; ATL, Mellanby (Fighting), 19:17; ATL, Mellanby (Game Misconduct), 19:17; ATL, Mellanby (Instigator), 19:17; ATL, Vigier (Tripping), 19:57.

Oh yeah, Trashers snap their losing streak with a 4-2 win

[bbor]

Kolzig vs hedberg.....heh

[dervack]

So, it looks like the Hawks have tossed Trent Yawney aside in favor of Denis Savard. It's funny, because I think the fans in Chicago wanted Savard instead of Yawney when he was hired last year.

[Maple Leafs]

Footage of Tucker flattening Chara (!), knocking down Savard, and then fighting Mara.

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jvj1M4bT1g

That one body check disproves three centuries of physics research.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Footage of Tucker flattening Chara (!), knocking down Savard, and then fighting Mara.

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jvj1M4bT1g

That one body check disproves three centuries of physics research.

I'm disappointed - I'm just assuming they must have cut it off to soon. it's not a Tucker highlight unless he's whining like a fucking bitch about taking a penalty.

[Fidatelo]

I'm not sure it was a charge or not, but he certainly left his feet on the hit. Of course, if he hadn't they might have accused him of trying to take out Chara's knees

[Draft Dodger]

speaking of Tucker...

the Leafs have traded Tellqvist to the Coyotes for Tyson Nash and a 4th. Not quite the 2nd round pick they were reported to be asking for. I'm kind of intrigued to see both Nash and Tucker play together on some sort of uberpest line (the Whine Line?).

[bbor]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

speaking of Tucker...

the Leafs have traded Tellqvist to the Coyotes for Tyson Nash and a 4th. Not quite the 2nd round pick they were reported to be asking for. I'm kind of intrigued to see both Nash and Tucker play together on some sort of uberpest line (the Whine Line?).

It could happen as Tucker and Nash played together in JR.But more than likely Nash will sit on the farm.If he can't play for the Yotes.....could he really play anywhere else??I don't mind this trade as Telqvist was going nowhere in Toronto and with Pogge taking most of the starts on the farm it makes sense.It also gives the Leafs some cap space.

[Honolulu_Blue]

The Wings finally broke their 5 game slump last night. The team is performing as I thought they would for the most part, save for the lack of production from Datsyuk and Zetterberg. I guess Datsyuk's slide isn't too surprising. He really thrives when playing with a sniper like Hull or Shanahan. The Wings don't have such a player. I think they are beginning to realize, as I noted before the season began, that the likes of Williams and Samuelsson had career years last year and cannot be expected to score 20-25 goals a season.

The Wings have played over a quarter of their games and only have five more power-play goals (12) than they do shorthanded goals (7).

[Draft Dodger]

do the Wings have a fighting major yet?

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

do the Wings have a fighting major yet?

The had a few (four) in the early part of the season during the Brad Norton Era. Unfortunately, the Brad Norton Era ended quite quickly. I think it was during the Wings' 6th game of the season against Anaheim. Norton got into a fight and hurt his shoulder when he fell. He was replaced by Flipula and never got back into the line-up. He's down in Grand Rapids now biding his time. Norton was responsible for all four majors.

Babcock is reluctant to call Norton up, because he wants to be able to rolll 4 lines. That said, the Wings could use some (any) toughness. They get run roughshod over. The Torres hit on Williams, the Mitchell hit on Franzen, etc. There's no one to fear on the Wings and their power-play is the worst in the NHL. It's pretty much open season.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

The had a few (four) in the early part of the season during the Brad Norton Era. Unfortunately, the Brad Norton Era ended quite quickly. I think it was during the Wings' 6th game of the season against Anaheim. Norton got into a fight and hurt his shoulder when he fell. He was replaced by Flipula and never got back into the line-up. He's down in Grand Rapids now biding his time. Norton was responsible for all four majors.

Babcock is reluctant to call Norton up, because he wants to be able to rolll 4 lines. That said, the Wings could use some (any) toughness. They get run roughshod over. The Torres hit on Williams, the Mitchell hit on Franzen, etc. There's no one to fear on the Wings and their power-play is the worst in the NHL. It's pretty much open season.

Avs have pretty much been in the same boat. I think they also have 4, and all 4 were Ian Laperriere (ironically, 3 were in consecutive games). The also have McCormick who will protect people, but that's about it (and he's a scratch more often than not). Neither one of those guys strikes any fear into opponents - they're just smallish scrappers.

What amazes me, though, is that the teams they play don't take advantage of that. If I were playing the Avs, I'd be harrassing their players all night, but no one seems to do that. They let them play their game. For god sakes, our biggest forward is Andrew Brunette. Push us around, already.

[MikeVic]

So... does Chad Kilger really have the hardest shot in the history of the NHL (at least since they started keeping track).......??????? That seems weird.

[bhlloy]

Well, I just got back from the worst Ducks performance this year, giving up 41shots and losing 3-2 to the Kings, who were predictably nothing special. And Bryzgalov got injured again. Two unbelievably bad, picky refs who seemed to spot every ticky tack call but missed at least 3 boarding calls (2 for the Ducks including Ivanans absolutely nailing Corey Perry into the boards in front of the Ducks bench... still can't believe Parros or O'Brien didn't go after him for the rest of the game) and a blatant trip/hold on Selanne in the last 30 seconds. The Ducks didn't deserve to win however, very poor.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to post was to ask if anyone saw chickenshit Ovechkin try to give Daniel Briere a concussion the other night when Briere had his back turned and was trying to make a line change? One of the most pussy plays I have seen in a long time. Of course he is a poster boy for the league so he won't get suspended. It's a shame the refs got there at the same time Gaustad did or Ovechkin would have ended up with a broken face.

[bhlloy]

DOLA - can that actually be true? Chad Kilger has a harder shot than Al MacInnis? That is a crazy statistic if it's true. You would have thought he'd have been a better player.

[klayman]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

You would have thought he'd have been a better player.

Chad Kilger

Drafted by Anaheim 1st round #4 overall 1995

Traded to Winnipeg with Oleg Tverdovsky and a 3rd round pick (1996) for Temmu Selanne, Marc Chouinard and a 4th round pick (1996)

Apparently a few other people thought he would have been a better player as well

Edit: ACK! Bhlloy! You almost made me waste my 2000th post on Chad Kilger!!

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

So... does Chad Kilger really have the hardest shot in the history of the NHL (at least since they started keeping track).......??????? That seems weird.

No.

(What's that claim based on?)

[klayman]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

No.

(What's that claim based on?)

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/artic...03_163548_5160

[klayman]

Aw crap! I got tricked into doing it anyway.

[Maple Leafs]

Well, that certainly offers strong evidence that the Maple Leafs know how to doctor a radar gun.

[Draft Dodger]

maybe it was in kilometers

[Pyser]

wow, how did we let this slide almost a month?

anyway, nhl is talking re-alignment:

* A reduction in the number of divisions from six to four. There would still be an Eastern Conference and a Western Conference, but there would one eight-team division and one seven-team division in each conference.
* The top two teams in each division would be guaranteed the top four playoff seeds within the conference with four wild card playoff berths going to the teams with the next highest point totals.
* The four new divisions would be configured primarily along the lines of time zones. The theory is not only would this benefit teams in terms of travel, but could also boost TV ratings because game times in the same time zone would be more favorable.
* The current Northeast Division (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo and Boston) would remain intact and add two other teams to form a seven-team division. Sources say Pittsburgh is one of those teams that would join the Northeast teams.
* The current Atlantic Division (the three New York area teams plus Philadelphia) would be melded together with four teams from the current Southeast Division (all but one of Washington, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida).
* The eight-team division in the Western Conference would feature all teams in Pacific or Mountain time zones (Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Colorado and Phoenix).
* The seven-team division in the Western Conference would feature teams that are in either the Central or Eastern time zones.
* As for the schedule, it is said to be a little more complicated than it currently is, because of the uneven number of teams in the divisions, but each team will apparently play its division rivals six times each and its conference rivals either three or four times each and non-conference teams once each.
* The discussion paper teams received today includes Columbus flipping conferences with the Atlanta Thrashers.
* Columbus would join the Penguins in the Northeast with Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Boston and Buffalo.
* Atlanta would leap over to West and take the Blue Jackets place among those in the Central.

it mostly makes sense, except for atlanta moving to the west, which seems to cause the same problems this is trying to solve.

also, i dont know how they can do this without knowing where the penguins will end up.

really, moving detroit to the east makes the most sense, but they are a sacred cow, thatll never happen...

[JonInMiddleGA]

re: this realignment stuff.

Lemme see here ... move Atlanta into a division with a bunch of teams west of the Mississippi River and out of a division that includes teams in Florida.

Ummm ... that makes sense. Sure. {insert giant ass roll eyes emoticon here}

[Oilers9911]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

re: this realignment stuff.

Lemme see here ... move Atlanta into a division with a bunch of teams west of the Mississippi River and out of a division that includes teams in Florida.

Ummm ... that makes sense. Sure. {insert giant ass roll eyes emoticon here}

Would anyone in Atlanta really notice anyway?

[Maple Leafs]

Why not move Detroit to the East and have 16 teams in one conference, 14 in the other like MLB?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Oilers9911

Would anyone in Atlanta really notice anyway?

Actually, their TV ratings on FSN (which is what would take the biggest hit) are pretty much the same as the Hurricanes get in Carolina & the Preds get in Nashville.

edit to add: They're also outdrawing 11 teams including Boston, Chicago, Washington, New Jersey, and the Islanders (noted individually because of the market sizes)

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by Pyser

it mostly makes sense, except for atlanta moving to the west, which seems to cause the same problems this is trying to solve.

also, i dont know how they can do this without knowing where the penguins will end up.

really, moving detroit to the east makes the most sense, but they are a sacred cow, thatll never happen...

just wanted to quote myself so i could remember i said all this first!



also, since the thread slid for so long, how could anyone not love the write in votes for Rory Fitzpatrick? thats awesome that he's up to 2nd for D-men in the west.


finally, the devils sold their new stadiums name to Prudential...who's theme is The Rock.

i cant wait to start calling their home the rock. cue sean connery screaming "welcome to the rock!" every game!!!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Why not move Detroit to the East and have 16 teams in one conference, 14 in the other like MLB?

I would not be opposed to such a move.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Why not move Detroit to the East and have 16 teams in one conference, 14 in the other like MLB?

that would solve the Atlanta issue and the uneven schedule issue.

I'd also LOVE to see them go back to the classic division names (they can keep East and West Conference). AND the divisional playoff matchups (no stupid 1-8 seeding...and certainly no 1st and 2nd in each division get top 4).

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

I'd also LOVE to see them go back to the classic division names (they can keep East and West Conference). AND the divisional playoff matchups (no stupid 1-8 seeding...and certainly no 1st and 2nd in each division get top 4).

Don't be a dumbass, doing the playoffs by division would result in rivalries.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Don't be a dumbass, doing the playoffs by division would result in rivalries.

crazy, eh?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Why not move Detroit to the East and have 16 teams in one conference, 14 in the other like MLB?

It'd be sad to see the original six Detroit-Chicago rivalry go but there's not much to that these days due to Chicago's suckitude

SI

[Wolfpack]

Hurricanes win fourth in a row after a nasty west coast swing where they went 1-3. Still trail JiMGA's Trash...er...Thrashers () by six in the Southeast, but at least they're winning now. Win streak may come to a halt by next weekend, though. After a game against Florida just after Christmas, they get Buffalo and the Ducks on back-to-back nights (Fightin' Toupees at Buffalo and Anaheim at home). Yikes.

[bhlloy]

Did anyone catch Nicol's cheap shot on Spacek the other night? Beautiful suckerpunch, the best since Tie Domi put Ulfie to sleep IMO.

Anyway, time to put my NHL rant hat on. The only difference between that and Bertuzzi is that Nicol got lucky and Spacek didn't crack his neck on the way down. If anything, a gloves off punch to the side of the head is way more dangerous than a gloved punch to the back of the head. Nice to see that suspensions in the NHL still aren't what you do, it's who you are and whether the media reports it. Guys the NHL don't like have got 7-8 games for being third man in and leaving the bench, and Nicol gets 9 games for deliberately trying to end someone's career? Typical NHL bullshit.

[Wolfpack]

Canes down the Panthers to pick up five in a row, but the Thrashers also keep winning and thus Carolina still remains six down heading into the grueling back-to-back with Buffalo and Anaheim at the end of this week.

I continue to manage to have bad luck in trying to make a game for them when I'm in North Carolina for the holidays. Can only do it if I'm in Raleigh visiting my wife's family, but the majority of the time I'm usually in Charlotte with mine. I'd love to go to the Anaheim game, but that's the day we're scheduled to come back to Charlotte after a few days in Raleigh starting tomorrow before tracking back to Michigan this weekend. *sigh*

[Bad-example]

Jebus, that was another good Sharks-Ducks game tonight. One hell of a defensive showing from the Ducks after Giguere got hurt. They don't meet again until early Feb but I wish I could watch these two teams play every night.

[bhlloy]

Agreed, great game.

Definitely looking forward to the next 3-4 games minimum without an NHL goaltender (Ducks backups aren't anything other than career AHL'ers either) Starting 2 netminders with groin injuries is pretty much a nightmare scenario actually, because those aren't easy injuries to shake. Hopefully the Ducks can either do well enough with scrubs in goal or sign a journeyman so the big two get enough rest. Not fun to have a pulled groin re-aggravated around playoff time.

[Draft Dodger]

NW division is CRAZY. Just a 1-point difference from first to last...

[Maple Leafs]

I think I may need to revise my statement about John Pohl.

[klayman]

What the hell is wrong with you people!?! Rory might not make the All-Star game. Get to it!

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Agreed, great game.

Definitely looking forward to the next 3-4 games minimum without an NHL goaltender (Ducks backups aren't anything other than career AHL'ers either) Starting 2 netminders with groin injuries is pretty much a nightmare scenario actually, because those aren't easy injuries to shake. Hopefully the Ducks can either do well enough with scrubs in goal or sign a journeyman so the big two get enough rest. Not fun to have a pulled groin re-aggravated around playoff time.

Hey, Marsters hasn't ever gotten a shot at the NHL level! I'm not saying he'll be a star, but he's not that far removed from college and has had reasonable degrees of success as a pro in various situations.