2007/2008 Hockey Thread

[Clawson]

Jay Feaster? You mean the same guy who gives max money to three players and chicken shit to the other 19 positions?

No thanks.

[Gabriel]

Jay Feaster? You mean the same guy who gives max money to three players and chicken shit to the other 19 positions?

No thanks.

That's definately not the way to go. Feaster took a Cup winning team, gave more than half the payroll to three guys, and watched as they plummeted straight into the fucking toilet. The Leafs already have issues with what players have been given for salaries, the last bloody thing they need is Jay Feaster signing the most expensive free agent to double what he's worth for god knows how many years.

Dave Nonis wouldn't be a bad idea. He's good enough, but I'd be afraid to bring him in because he hasn't shown that he has the cahognes to make big moves.

Torterella is a good coach, but I'd much prefer to have Paul Maurice any day.

You know what... bring in Glenn Healy. Worst case scenario, the team still sucks, but it's an entertaining trainwreck. Who knows, he might even surprise people.

[Toe]

The Maple Leafs don't need big moves right now, they need patience moving forward. They need to dump some salary, get a young player or two back if they can, and hope for some of their draft picks to develop.

That is what Nonis was doing in Vancouver, and he lost his job because he wanted to keep developing his talent instead of giving it away. Isn't that what the Leafs want right now?

And if Feaster did come here, I would hope he has learned from the mistake of giving contracts to Richards, St. Louis and Lecavalier for so much money. I thought he did a great job with the Richards deal with Dallas.

[Clawson]

Pittsburgh over Philadelphia

Dallas over Detroit

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

Dallas over Pittsburgh

Let's hope I'm not shutout again.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

The top story on the local all-news radio station this morning was that DeBoer might take the Toronto job. This was followed by a preview of tonight's Game 5, the latest on Burma/Myanmar, and a guy dying on the job in town.

Apparently we know where our priorities are.

[Gabriel]

Canada got lucky today with a win over Norway. They outplayed the Norweigians, but couldn't finish off their chances.

Norway has an extremely good team though. No superstars really, aside from goaltender Pal Grotnes, who could easily be a starting goaltender in the NHL. Even without star players though, they're a force to be reckoned with, as they play a very smart team game, block a lot of shots, and just generally make it a frustrating 60 minutes for their opposition.

[Plubby]

Detroit's drawing the ire of the refs again. And by ire, I mean WUUUUUB WUB WUB WUBWUBWUB

[sahyder1]

For the Americans here....Don Cherry will join Barry Melrose on SportsCenter tonight and for the rest of the Eastern Conference Finals. He will be around for the Stanley Cup Finals too.

[Evil Chase K]

Ugh. Why?

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Complaint time.

When Ron Maclean's contract with CBC was up a few years ago, there was a big public uproar over it. For whatever reason, people kept bringing up the last host of HNIC, Dave Hodge - who, after learning that CBC would cut away from a game going into overtime, flipped his pen in disgust as the show went off the air.

In his first broadcast after getting the new contract, Cherry went on one of his normal rants, going over the allotted time, while Ron grabbed a pen, played with it for a moment, and winked to the camera. Fine. It was kind of funny.

But I noticed him doing the same thing after tonight's game, as well as one other time during the playoffs. Considering how little I'm actually paying attention to him during Coach's Corner, it wouldn't surprise me if it happened often. Has playing with his pen become Ron Maclean's new trademark?

[Toe]

I don't see how having Don Cherry on American TV can be a bad thing.

Also, I am tired of this whole GM thing with Toronto already. I bet in most other markets the search for a general manager wouldn't be talked about daily on TV, radio and in the papers. It's annoying.

Also, Jason Blake is open to the idea of being traded. He doesn't have a no trade clause, but he said he wouldn't be mad or angry if moved. For some reason, I think that if we trade him he is going to go and get 35 goals and we are going to wish we hadn't moved him. He was 5th in the league in shots, and on his career has roughly a 10% shooting percentage. That suggests to me that last season was a down year more then anything.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Toe

[Gabriel]

I think it would be best to move Blake if only because of his price tag. If he was making a million or two less per year, then I'd keep him because of his potential to break out offensively and his willingness to work hard. That said, you can probably pick up two or three guys who did what he did last year for the same price as one Jason Blake.

Canada laid a thumping on Germany today, 10-1. They played a very good game, but let up a little bit towards the end. I understand the idea of sportsmanship, but I don't think a team should ever stop trying to put pucks in the back of the net. There's a difference between trying to embarrass someone, and trying to play your best. It could easily have been 15-1, but I feel that Canada let up on the gas a bit too much, which could cost them against Finland on Monday because when you let up at the end of a game, it can carry over to the beginning of your next one. The last thing you want to do is give Finland a chance to get ahead by two or three goals, so I hope Hitchcock can make sure his guys are ready and aware on Monday.

Pittsburgh completely outclassed Philadelphia last night. That is all.

[Evil Chase K]

I don't see how having Don Cherry on American TV can be a bad thing.

He looks like a gay oompa loompa and everything he does annoys me. Maybe it's an American thing but he just irritates the hell out of me.

EDIT: Said "annoys" too much.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Evil Chase K

[Clawson]

Compared to Don Cherry every person in America can be seen as a gay oompa loompa.

And what the fuck was Riberio thinking.

[Toe]

He was thinking of a way to get out of playing game three.

[sahyder1]

I don't understand how having Cherry on ESPN is bad for hockey. Living in the US who can you really identify as a hockey game on TV? I thought ESPN gave him a great lead in. I wish there more passionate voices like his about hockey on US TV. There is a lot of talk of ESPN2 possibly airing NHL games next year......now that is what the NHL needs.

[Gabriel]

Penguins are up 2-0 now in the Eastern Conference Final. They came out of the gate hard, but seemed to lose their killer instinct with the disallowed goal.

For the record, it should have been allowed. Biron clearly pulls the puck out from behind the red line. Most angles didn't show it well, but one of the two in-net camera angles they showed had the puck entirely over the line.

Philly played a good game though. It was close and exciting. Jason Smith needs to watch himself though, because he'll only get away with headhunting for so long. There were five or six instances tonight where he got his hand or his forearm up to the head of his opponent while delivering a hit. I'm not talking about having his hand brush the guy's face either. I'm talking full on punch to the face, straight arms and stiff forearm shots.

Also, Gary Roberts is boss.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Now Coburn out, unless the Philly fans are ready to lace them up and literally become the 7th man, I don't know what Philly can do to stop the Pens from putting four pucks in the net each game. MORE minutes for Hatcher? Maybe having a call up named "Parent" in the lineup will spark some kind of retro Broad Street rally, I don't know. The games have been close, the Pens just have more finish, compared to Philly being mostly Swedish thanks to Fleury playing out of his jock strap.

Seriously, Philly needs Biron to play bananas and hope they can outscore their way to victory. Being the physically dominant team doesn't help unless you can keep the series alive. And yeah, Fleury is playing stone cold right now. In the good way. So easier said than done.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Enter Blue Guy

[Guest Dr. Potato Head]

Got tickets to Belleville/Spokane on Saturday

[Clawson]

Is Kitchener playing as Champs or Host?