Branko's ACL sealed his fate this year. We won't see him back.
I think the jury is still out on DR where the majority owner is concerned.
They will have to find a common ground for Gabby and Lemaire to work on if they want to have any kind of success.
I agree with Narrow, the deals this year were rather counter intuitive.
That is funny who Bruno was let guy because he wasn't "part of the plan" and the guy has become one of the unsungs on the Colorado team. Playing consistently on a line with Joe Sakic helps too.
They need a shake-up BAD. They need guys that won't turtle in the playoffs.
They need Inginla and Datsyuk!
riddleywalker:They need Inginla and Datsyuk!
Ha! Backstrom and Gabby for Datsyuk. Signed, sealed, delivered.
oink
In lieu of both of their performances in the last 6 games.
You got yourself a deal mister!
daryllh: riddleywalker:They need Inginla and Datsyuk! Ha! Backstrom and Gabby for Datsyuk. Signed, sealed, delivered.
You know, I am 100% comfortable with Harding as our starter and Shaefer as our backup!
From Russo at the Strib:
Like I said, you’ll get a lot of stuff tonight, but I will tell you Jacques said this decision to or not to return is no different than any season. He’s up there in age (62) and wants to make sure he still has the fire and has certain questions answered by Doug Risebrough.
He did say he’s never had a harder time getting a team to play like a team in the regular season. He felt the team played exactly the way he finally wanted it to in the playoffs, and that’s why it’s a shame they’re out.
So do you think this is Jacques throwing DR under the bus, or not wanting to return unless DR returns?
Bruins/Habs:
Ok. I've always thought Chara was a monster of a D man. 6'9" without skates. Pretty large frame as well.
But when a guy his size gets burned in his zone (as much as he did) he looks like a real shitty hockey player. Replays showed him out of position and struggling to play tight to the net. Quite embarrassing actually.
daryllh:Eastern Conf:MTL/BOS: Canadiens in 5 (despite Hab's injuries) Sorta right. Who would have thought Koivu was coming back, right? lolPIT/OTT: PIT in 6 (This year was/is the start of the Ottawa downfall) I gave Ottawa 2006 cred in 2008. Shame on me. They're done for several years. WAS/PHI: Caps in 4. (Peaking at the right time) I was fooled. I admit. I also denied the fact that Phil. was a good shooting team. Richards came back and that seemed to be just enough to jostle the lines to their proper order. Can hate the Caps though. That's gonna be a cool team to watch next year. NJD/NYR: Rangers in 6 As Eddie Murphy once said 'I'm so glad the bitch is gone'. Seriously, I don't think the Rangers are going that far this year but New Jersey getting ousted by ANYBODY is always a good thing. Never liked em, will always hate em. Western Conf:Wings/Preds: Wings in 5 (Wings D is so healthy right now, it's scary) Note to Jason Arnott. Dude, you score a goal and get concussed in the celebration. Way lame. You missed 2 games because of it. Now I know, you aren't that great in the playoffs (Stars fans told me) but I would think that if you didn't pile up on each other after your goal in game 4, you would have been healthy enough to play...possibly bringing it to a game 7. Just a thought. San Jose/Cal: Sharks in 5 (Stop Iginla, stop flames. San Jose has the power) Like I said, Sharks in 7. LOL. At least they beat each other up. Let's see what San Jose has left. Wild/Col: Wild in 6 (Despite 2 games of brainfarts (it IS Lemaire) Wild will out muscle the Avs)For the sake of my 'friends' on this board, I won't rehash. Ducks/Stars: Ducks in 5 (Ducks are in a great position this year. Beat Dallas, then you have a phsych. advantage against the Wings)This one had me shocked. Talk about cup hangover. I guarantee that if Selanne and Niedermeyer came back on time, they would have made it out of the first round. 2nd round picks coming at 10:12
Eastern Conf:
MTL/BOS: Canadiens in 5 (despite Hab's injuries) Sorta right. Who would have thought Koivu was coming back, right? lol
PIT/OTT: PIT in 6 (This year was/is the start of the Ottawa downfall) I gave Ottawa 2006 cred in 2008. Shame on me. They're done for several years.
WAS/PHI: Caps in 4. (Peaking at the right time) I was fooled. I admit. I also denied the fact that Phil. was a good shooting team. Richards came back and that seemed to be just enough to jostle the lines to their proper order. Can hate the Caps though. That's gonna be a cool team to watch next year.
NJD/NYR: Rangers in 6 As Eddie Murphy once said 'I'm so glad the bitch is gone'. Seriously, I don't think the Rangers are going that far this year but New Jersey getting ousted by ANYBODY is always a good thing. Never liked em, will always hate em.
Western Conf:
Wings/Preds: Wings in 5 (Wings D is so healthy right now, it's scary) Note to Jason Arnott. Dude, you score a goal and get concussed in the celebration. Way lame. You missed 2 games because of it. Now I know, you aren't that great in the playoffs (Stars fans told me) but I would think that if you didn't pile up on each other after your goal in game 4, you would have been healthy enough to play...possibly bringing it to a game 7. Just a thought.
San Jose/Cal: Sharks in 5 (Stop Iginla, stop flames. San Jose has the power) Like I said, Sharks in 7. LOL. At least they beat each other up. Let's see what San Jose has left.
Wild/Col: Wild in 6 (Despite 2 games of brainfarts (it IS Lemaire) Wild will out muscle the Avs)For the sake of my 'friends' on this board, I won't rehash.
Ducks/Stars: Ducks in 5 (Ducks are in a great position this year. Beat Dallas, then you have a phsych. advantage against the Wings)This one had me shocked. Talk about cup hangover. I guarantee that if Selanne and Niedermeyer came back on time, they would have made it out of the first round.
2nd round picks coming at 10:12
riddleywalker:Eastern Conf:MTL/BOS: Canadiens in 7 (this series will be a good old fashion knife fight) <-- correct. PIT/OTT: PIT in 6 (the Pens are the team that I think has the best shot at the cup from the east) <---If the Pens goaltending to stays viable and it's hello E.C.F WAS/PHI: Phi in 5 (Ovechkin is a factor but I don't think the Caps as a team are quite there yet. Build some in the offseason they'll be a bigger factor next year) <--Great series, got the pick right but not the games. I completely agree with Daryll assesment on the Caps. NJD/NYR: Devils in 6 (Marty Brodeur.) <---WTF? I just didn't give the Rangers enough credit versus an aging M.Brodeur. Western Conf:Wings/Preds: Wings in 4 (This should be a nice warm up for the Wings) <----Kudos to the Preds for attempting to make this interesting. Detroit however, plays some of the best team hockey I've seen in recent memory. San Jose/Cal: Sharks in 7 (Kippy and the D keep the Flames in this thing for a few game, San Jose's talent ultimately wins the day <----You know Cal. was going to scrap and fight in this one. Wild/Col: Wild in 7 (I honestly think The Avs could steal this one. They owe the local club from a few years back. Colorado is in perfect position to let the Wild think they're the better team and show them unless they skate their asses off, they aren't ) <----Should have gone with my gut on this one. Ana/Dal: Ducks in 5 (Marty Turco.) <---- , I couldn't believe this collapse. Dallas might be a bit of a sleeper if Turco can stay consistent.
MTL/BOS: Canadiens in 7 (this series will be a good old fashion knife fight) <-- correct.
PIT/OTT: PIT in 6 (the Pens are the team that I think has the best shot at the cup from the east) <---If the Pens goaltending to stays viable and it's hello E.C.F
WAS/PHI: Phi in 5 (Ovechkin is a factor but I don't think the Caps as a team are quite there yet. Build some in the offseason they'll be a bigger factor next year) <--Great series, got the pick right but not the games. I completely agree with Daryll assesment on the Caps.
NJD/NYR: Devils in 6 (Marty Brodeur.) <---WTF? I just didn't give the Rangers enough credit versus an aging M.Brodeur.
Wings/Preds: Wings in 4 (This should be a nice warm up for the Wings) <----Kudos to the Preds for attempting to make this interesting. Detroit however, plays some of the best team hockey I've seen in recent memory.
San Jose/Cal: Sharks in 7 (Kippy and the D keep the Flames in this thing for a few game, San Jose's talent ultimately wins the day <----You know Cal. was going to scrap and fight in this one.
Wild/Col: Wild in 7 (I honestly think The Avs could steal this one. They owe the local club from a few years back. Colorado is in perfect position to let the Wild think they're the better team and show them unless they skate their asses off, they aren't ) <----Should have gone with my gut on this one.
Picking games is hard. I'm still gonna do it though. Who knows, I might get lucky and have some prognosticating bragging rights for the month. lol
MTL/PHI: Flyers: They's tuff. They can score. They's clicking at the right time too. It just seems like they are going to push MTL around. I'd love to see MTL go a step further though. Flyers in 5
PIT/NYR: The thing that gets me about the east is that they have some of the coolest matchups in regards to players. This will be another fun series to watch. Rangers are sure to pull some defensive brainfarts off in this one. One things for sure, it's gonna be a series that has scoring in bunches. (expect 1 team to score like 3 goals in the last period of a game. hell, 3 goals in the last 5 mins). Pens in 6
DET/COL: 8 years ago, this would have been a bitchin' series. Today, not so much. Yeah, Theodore scares me a bit but Detroit owned the series this year. Forsberg will be a factor early but I think he'll get smothered. Sakic will be one to watch. Kronwall is coming up huge in the playoffs for Detroit. I think Detroits D will keep the lanes open for Osgood who will prove he's got something left. Wings in 5
SJ/DAL: Things that make you go hmmmmm. Roenick scores 2. Let the Sharks ride his back into the finals. That's fine. Turco won't flake out til the next series. I expect this to be a bunch of tight games. Stars in 6
J_Taffe: I'm gonna refrain from picking games, and just pick winners: West Wings/Preds: Wings RIGHT Sharks/Flames: Sharks (best team going right now.....though I can see Calgary stealing one or 2, including one in the Tank) WORD Wild/Avs: Wild in a long and dramatic series....continuing the short history between these two clubs. DAMN Ducks/Stars: Ducks (about the most uneducated I am on any of the matchups) Hey yo, my disclaimer saves me East Habs/Bruins: Habs....Kessel will score a goal at some point, though, and I'll chant "We had Kessel, clap clap clapclapclap" and my buddy Chris (a Mankato fan) will respond with "Holy Cross, clap clap clapclapclap"....then we'll continue drinking. My winner AND Kessel predictions correctly forecasted. Phil's goals in game 6 were ridiculous. Pens/Sens: This will be fun hockey to watch. Pens Yup. Caps/Flyers: Caps. Alex's post-season coming out party Nope Devils/Rangers: Rangers. Devils won't score enough goals, but will probably win 2 games by a total of 3-1. Winner correct....Devils scored more goals than I figured, though.
I'm gonna refrain from picking games, and just pick winners:
West
Wings/Preds: Wings RIGHT
Sharks/Flames: Sharks (best team going right now.....though I can see Calgary stealing one or 2, including one in the Tank) WORD
Wild/Avs: Wild in a long and dramatic series....continuing the short history between these two clubs. DAMN
Ducks/Stars: Ducks (about the most uneducated I am on any of the matchups) Hey yo, my disclaimer saves me
East
Habs/Bruins: Habs....Kessel will score a goal at some point, though, and I'll chant "We had Kessel, clap clap clapclapclap" and my buddy Chris (a Mankato fan) will respond with "Holy Cross, clap clap clapclapclap"....then we'll continue drinking. My winner AND Kessel predictions correctly forecasted. Phil's goals in game 6 were ridiculous.
Pens/Sens: This will be fun hockey to watch. Pens Yup.
Caps/Flyers: Caps. Alex's post-season coming out party Nope
Devils/Rangers: Rangers. Devils won't score enough goals, but will probably win 2 games by a total of 3-1. Winner correct....Devils scored more goals than I figured, though.
I done pretty good, and if I would've picked with my head rather than heart, I might've picked the Avs.....
Alex DID have a playoff coming out party, for the record.....he was very anti-Gaborik in his series.
I'm just going to pick winners this time and not worry to much on games.
MTL/PHI: Habs. As much fun as it would be to see Phi/Pit. Things don't feel the same in the league without the NHL royalty (Toronto,Montreal) in the proverbial mix
PIT/NYR: Pens. As much as they are the sexy pic. I've been digging the Pens. They're my team out of the east for the cup.
DET/COL: Col. I think there are few teams that can match up against Darryl's Wings and the Avs are one of them. Espescially if Jose keeps playing the way he's playing. I think it was evident in the last series that Colorado will let teams buy into their own hype and then proceed to systematicaly dismentle said opponent.
SJ/DAL: SJ. The Sharks eek out of this one after last rounds series. I think they collapse in the Finals but Turco I still think is the deciding factor in the Stars playoff future.
Dougie,
How's it goin?
Just wondering if you saw last night's game? I'm sending you video tomorrow. Take a look at the offensive tactics needed to get Jose out of his game.Talk to Jack and see if he would be willing to change his coaching style for the 08/09 season.
We'll talk after the first week of June.
-Ken Holland
P.S. The 'sick' excuse for Theodore was pretty lame. I hope he's well enough to play Saturday.
riddleywalker:Things don't feel the same in the league without the NHL royalty (Toronto,Montreal) in the proverbial mix
I mean, like yeah. If your talkin' Russian Czar-type royalty. Leafs have 1 more cup win than the Wings(I have the same amount of cups as the Wild/North Stars and I've never played organized hockey). Last time they won, Hendrix, Moon and Bonham were still alive.
I'm drunk. So be it.Go Wings.
daryllh: riddleywalker:Things don't feel the same in the league without the NHL royalty (Toronto,Montreal) in the proverbial mix Leafs have 1 more cup win than the Wings(I have the same amount of cups as the Wild/North Stars and I've never played organized hockey). I'm drunk. So be it.Go Wings.
Leafs have 1 more cup win than the Wings(I have the same amount of cups as the Wild/North Stars and I've never played organized hockey).
We all have been known to say outlandish/antagonizing things after a couple of bowls of loud mouth soup Daryll ,but yea, we get it; Red Wings > 98% of the rest of the NHL .
I don't think there's a Minnesota hockey fan on here that isn't at least relatively aware of the state of their given franchises past and present and the long storied history of yours.
riddleywalker: daryllh: riddleywalker:Things don't feel the same in the league without the NHL royalty (Toronto,Montreal) in the proverbial mix Leafs have 1 more cup win than the Wings(I have the same amount of cups as the Wild/North Stars and I've never played organized hockey). I'm drunk. So be it.Go Wings. We all have been known to say outlandish/antagonizing things after a couple of bowls of loud mouth soup Daryll ,but yea, we get it; Red Wings > 98% of the rest of the NHL . I don't think there's a Minnesota hockey fan on here that isn't at least relatively aware of the state of their given franchises past and present and the long storied history of yours.
It was vodka night at the Fort Hurst. Sorry your history lesson got singled out. lol
pulse around here gets towards flatline once the home team exits. Just trying to keep it alive.
It was Vodka night at the Fort Hurst. Sorry your history lesson got singled out. lol
All I was saying is that no matter how much a place like Detroit can consider themselves "Hockey Town U.S.A." I think it benefits the game to have one of the 2 self-proclaimed "center of the hockey universe" clubs in the mix too. The Rangers and Red Wings are the U.S. equivalent of that.
riddleywalker:All I was saying is that no matter how much a place like Detroit can consider themselves "Hockey Town U.S.A." I think it benefits the game to have one of the 2 self-proclaimed "center of the hockey universe" clubs in the mix too. The Rangers and Red Wings are the U.S. equivalent of that.
That makes more sense. You write a lot better when I'm not drunk.