2008/2009 Hockey Thread v2.0

[The Sultan of Swank]

I know they lost Bergeron for all of last season, but I just never saw Thomas as a great goalie... mostly because the only times I saw him play last season he was getting slaughtered by the Habs.

Amazing game last night, what a spectacular performance by both Price and Clemmenson. Obviously I'm unhappy that Montreal lost, but even the guys on CBC thought it was bullshit that the refs missed 3 or 4 calls in the last 10 minutes. The Devils were playing really sloppy in that span, but the whistles went away till the last 45 seconds when they called Kovy on a real weak sauce penalty... then again, I don't think that Montreal being on the powerplay would have accomplished much.

In any case I Was happy with the effort the Habs put forth. D'Agostini has 4 points (3G, 1A) in 3 games since being called up. I really like the way he drives really hard to the net and just parks himself there. He's really going to make it hard to send him back down.

[Plubby]

Fun fact: All the players on IR for the Colorado/Vancouver game are those soft Canadians.

[Lowerdeck]

http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...l_gam_mostemail

The Coyotes are losing about 30M a year, and may potentially be taken over by the NHL if a new owner doesn't come up.

A couple of people in Hartford (and I'd assume Kansas City also) are probably foaming at the mouth, hoping to land the team.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

And, um, Jim Balsille.

[Gabriel]

And, um, Jim Balsille.

Haha, yeah... just give that man a team already. I don't think I've ever seen an owner who loves the game as much as him, except maybe Mario Lemieux.

Seriously though, if the Coyotes do end up having to relocate, there will be all kinds of hell to pay if the team is moved somewhere within the United States. The US dollar is doing well right now, but what they did to fix it isn't going to last long term, and it's going to drop heavily again in the future. Canadian teams tend to do alright financially even when our dollar is low, and it's not like it's going to stay this low forever.

Here's how I see it... Phoenix, if they have to, should file for bankruptcy, which gets them out of their ridiculous 30 year lease. Then, sell the team to Balsille and allow him to move the franchise on the condition that he can have two things: 1, an NHL sized arena, and 2, more season ticket holders than in Phoenix, at the same price or higher than the Coyotes charged for this year.

If he can't get both of those things set up by the end of this season, make the team stay in Phoenix at least one more year while he keeps trying.

It amazes me that they've kept this guy out of the league so long, all the while allowing owners who are far more than just questionable. He has a real passion for the sport, a shit load of money, and he's a marketable guy. Bring him in, because the Coyotes (or any other struggling team) can't do any worse under a Balsille ownership than they're doing now. In fact, with his resources, it would be incredibly stupid to bet against the guy succeeding.

[Toe]

I was just curious to see how Colaiacovo and Steen were doing in St. Louis, so I checked. Steen is -2 with no points in 6 games, while Carlo is doing well with 4 assists in 6 games played.

Stempniak has a goal and 2 assists in his seven games with the Leafs, by the way.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Lovely.

I'd really like to see Phoenix come back to Canada.... not Southern Ontario.... I'd prefer it either out west, then out east.... then potentially Quebec, I just don't like the idea of the majority of the Canadian teams being located a hours flight from one another.

Now of course I was just talking about what my heart wants. Logically, stick a team in Toronto, in or around Hamilton and there's enough people there who either can't get tickets to a Leafs game, might *gasp* not be Leafs fans or don't want to brave the horrible horrible traffic into Toronto, so it'd make a lot of sense to have it in that area.

Montreal and Calgary tonight.... Habs are going to get.... yeah killed.

Edited December 9, 2008 by The Sultan of Swank

[Lowerdeck]

Question for the sake of making a question: Could Winnipeg take back the Coyotes? Would there be enough support to keep it around?

[Gabriel]

Question for the sake of making a question: Could Winnipeg take back the Coyotes? Would there be enough support to keep it around?

I'd like to say that it's a resounding yes... but with Hamilton receiving so much attention, I haven't heard much about Winnipeg's situation. Someone would have to take a long hard look at the city, decide whether the fans are still wanting the team and if it's viable.

Also, I'm pretty sure the Manitoba Moose play in Winnipeg, and having an NHL franchise there would damage their franchise. I'd be surprised if they decided to move an NHL team back to Winnipeg for that reason alone.

Good and very even game between the Flames and the Habs tonight. If Halak hadn't stood on his head, the Habs would have been out of it early. As it was, he and Kipper were both great, and it was neck and neck until we got two Powerplays back to back, and got lazy. The Canadiens took advantage, and we just couldn't get back in it. Kudos to them on a great game.

Andrei Markov needs to take Man Lessons from Tom Kostopoulos. He fucking turtled when Curtis Glencross came in to give him what-for. Seriously man...I love that you score lots and are on my team in the EWB Pool... but man up.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Oh quit your boo-hooing. The hit on Phaneuf was questionable but I think it had more to do with Markov having Phaneuf lined up and then Phaneuf making a quick move to the outside and surprising the hell out of Markov, because if you watch the hit Markov has already started to commit to a hit on him. I think that the tripping penalty was justified, but anyone saying that Markov tried to knee Phaneuf is an idiot. And when another player literally jumps on your head, what do you want him to do. I was proud that when Glencross jumped our best defenseman that Lapierre and Begin dove on him.

In the first 5 or so minutes of the game, Calgary was playing great, but Montreal more or less took over the game after the first goal. There was really good flow to the game, but to say that Montreal only won because Halak stood on his head is a bit wrong. I felt that while both teams got great chances and it was a really exciting game, the difference was that Montreal was capable of putting away most of the chances they had. I think that had Kipper not made a few huge saves including some highway robbery on Tanguay it could have been 6 or 7 to 1.

Giordano? I think thats how you spell his name. Yeah, when it's a close game like that and he clearly intentionally puts the net off its moorings um I'm pretty sure the refs need to call that.

D'Agostini... Wow. 4 games in the NHL, 4 Goals, 1 Assist. Last night's goal was beautiful.

Robert Lang, was shutting down the Flames in our Zone and put 2 in for his efforts.

I know that Kipper is one of the best goalies in the world, but I found that he flopped around all over the ice. In the play where a Flames player deliberately knocked the net off, he was just slip-sliding all over the place. I find that when the play picked up in the Calgary zone he got caught out of position a few times because he was moving around so much.

Dandenault... what a trooper, he breaks his arm on a play, Calgary is still in the Habs zone, so he stays in the ice trying to keep with his man until the play leaves the zone. That's heart.

And Halak. Early on he was awesome, when we were up 2-0 he was awesome and when we were holding a 3-1 and then 4-1 lead, he was fantastic. Because despite the score, Calgary was battling all night.

All in all, a very fun game to watch.

Edited December 10, 2008 by The Sultan of Swank

[Toe]

Oh, just something interesting I found out.

The night I posted about Colaiacovo and Steen in St. Louis, Steen went and scored a goal and an assist.

Also, Jaroslav Halak is going to bring Montreal some good assets when they trade him in the future. Price is the #1 for the present and future, but Halak also has the potential to be a #1 goaltender. He is proven at the AHL level and has not looked out of place in the NHL.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Question for Basha (or anyone else who would know).

Is the "c'est le but!" call something specific to Pierre Houde, or do other French announcers use it too?

[The Sultan of Swank]

See, now I really like Halak a lot. I think he's always been thought of the other goalie in Montreal and that's really not fair. When he first came up 2 years ago when Huet went down with injury and it became apparent that Aebischer was a terrible goalie he went 10-3-3 with 3 shutouts was 7-0 at the Bell Center and when he was called up he was running a .951 save percentage in the AHL. To this day I still feel that if he had gotten the call in the Habs/Leafs game that Montreal lost 6-5 in Huet's first game after returning to injury, Montreal would have won. He's a great goaltender.

He's got to be one of the better back-up goaltenders in the league and in a way, while I love the security of having both Price and Halak. I really want Halak to get traded to a team where he gets the chance to be the #1 goalie because he really deserves it.

[Toe]

See, now I really like Halak a lot. I think he's always been thought of the other goalie in Montreal and that's really not fair. When he first came up 2 years ago when Huet went down with injury and it became apparent that Aebischer was a terrible goalie he went 10-3-3 with 3 shutouts was 7-0 at the Bell Center and when he was called up he was running a .951 save percentage in the AHL. To this day I still feel that if he had gotten the call in the Habs/Leafs game that Montreal lost 6-5 in Huet's first game after returning to injury, Montreal would have won. He's a great goaltender.

He's got to be one of the better back-up goaltenders in the league and in a way, while I love the security of having both Price and Halak. I really want Halak to get traded to a team where he gets the chance to be the #1 goalie because he really deserves it.

Of course, your team picking up some good players, picks and/or prospects doesn't hurt either.

[The Sultan of Swank]

Haha, well... y'know....

And Yeah it's the equivalent of like he shoots he scores!... which is actually lance et compte but yeah, it doesn't really translate into English because directly it means It's a Goal!

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

I know what it means, I just wondered if it was Houde's creation or something that went farther back

[The Sultan of Swank]

It goes back... waaaaaay back. And I'm sorry, I just assumed that you didn't know french, my bad. Je m'excuse.

[Plubby]

*kicks basha out of the way*

You want to talk about 6-1, well here I am!

...erm, I just wanted to say that it's awesome to see our AHL guys tearing it up with all the injuries we've had (especially considering Sakic is out another three months )

[RoyWill Rumble]

See, now I really like Halak a lot. I think he's always been thought of the other goalie in Montreal and that's really not fair. When he first came up 2 years ago when Huet went down with injury and it became apparent that Aebischer was a terrible goalie he went 10-3-3 with 3 shutouts was 7-0 at the Bell Center and when he was called up he was running a .951 save percentage in the AHL. To this day I still feel that if he had gotten the call in the Habs/Leafs game that Montreal lost 6-5 in Huet's first game after returning to injury, Montreal would have won. He's a great goaltender.

He's got to be one of the better back-up goaltenders in the league and in a way, while I love the security of having both Price and Halak. I really want Halak to get traded to a team where he gets the chance to be the #1 goalie because he really deserves it.

Didn't you want Halak's head like... five games into the fucking season?

[Cactus Drags]

Avs on TV twice in a week = wonderful.

Avs winning twice = even better.

Chris Stewart's first NHL goal was pretty nice, can't believe the amount of lucky bounces in that game though. Cody McLeod got TWO goals, that's how lucky the bounces were. The guy's a fucking douchebag by the looks of it, but eh, as long as it's not detrimental the team. Lappy's a beast too.