Wow... what about Boston eh? From basement dwelling in October, to dominating in November... and still so into December.... Looking like Defending Champs alright...

I'm not as surprised about Boston as I am about Minnesota. What the hell? Leading the NHL after the first quarter? I don't think they'll win the Presidents' Trophy or their division, but they should make the playoffs.

Agreed.... even Florida blows me away... and Toronto... still up there? The only not so much surprise is the rise and fall at Edmonton.

REALIGNMENT YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAHThoughts? I was expecting some more extreme changes, most notably with Detroit, Columbus, Nashville: none of those teams got lumped in with "Eastern" teams as all the talk was supposing, and not only that, but they got stuck with the Jets. (Though I guess Winnipeg is in the Central Time Zone? So I guess it worked out.) It looks like the Governors preferred to keep any existing rivalries in tact. That said, it'll be interesting to see how any future relocations (Phoenix, Islanders, Carolina) work out, and how the conferences may change further.

This realignment plan is pretty non-offensive, so there shouldn't be too much issue with it. Moving one of Detroit/Columbus/Nashville to the east but not the others would've created some commotion, but this sidesteps that problem and tries to push aside the imbalanced east/west issue as well (though there are still imbalanced conferences).

I'm looking forward to some more intense division rivalries with some teams, and seeing every opponent at least twice a year again. The only real downside will be lack of variety in playoffs, but again that could feed into stronger rivalries all around.

Eager to see what they name these conferences too.

Yeah the naming is what's going to fascinate me; the conferences are basically set up to not follow a direct geographical convention, and fans have been crying for a return to named divisions/conferences. I'm assuming that if they do go with naming the conferences after people, it won't be the old guys like Adams, Patrick, Norris and Smythe, and it probably won't be any contemporary owners, either. I'm not 100% sure about the names I suggested either. Considering the teams in their divisions, I'm thinking Gretzky, Lemieux and Howe are pretty much locks, but Boston and Montreal could argue it out forever about the Orr/Richard Conference.

Additional Spam:
Just had a silly idea: the team that wins their conference every year votes to name the division for the next year.

Reason number infinite to love Lucic.

3 assists, 8 pims. Cam Neely reborn.

If he starts scoring more goals I'll agree 100%. So far he's got the tenacity down pat.

I wonder if it will be more likely for dynasty stanley cup champions based on the realignment....

He's currently on pace for 32, his exact output from last year, with more assists and a minor bump in PIMs.

When you say "Cam Neely reborn," I think of a guy who, at 21 (two years younger than Lucic is this year), scored 36 goals in his first year in Boston and followed that up with 42, 37, 55 and 51 goals in the regular season and 5, 9, 7, 12 and 16 in the playoffs. That's what I mean when I say he needs to start scoring more goals before I consider him the second coming of Neely. Maybe in another couple of years, but he's not there yet.

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I concur the numbers are lower, but so is scoring in general. We don't see a lot of 50 goal scorers anymore. And 60, which used to be attainable, seems to be extremely limited. He definitely doesn't have Neely's nose for streaking in and sniping a wrister over the goalie's pad, but he does have that rare combination of goals, assists and PIMs that are pretty much only mirrored by Backes in St Louis and Perry in Anaheim.

I doubt we'll ever see a dynasty again, what, with all the parity in the post-lockout NHL. It seems like it is possible for any team to beat any given team on any night. Case in point: when Winnipeg beat Boston a few days ago, ending their long streak without a regulation loss. Also, just look at surprise teams like Minnesota and Florida.

In other news, Crosby is out with a concussion... again.

Yeah this season's starting to shape up almost exactly like last season, injuries all over the place.

It's funny, though. There was a report at the beginning of the season that concussions had been down like 60% in the last few years. Looks like it will even out a bit this year, though, with Crosby, Giroux, Letang, possibly Pronger, etc out concussed this year.

YouTube Video

Patrick Kane, in his head: trololololololo

My thoughts on the Jets game tonight: Jets lose with only 1:14 Left in Third Period… ? News Leeks

Going back to concussions, now Chris Pronger has been shutdown for the rest of the year including playoffs.

Flyers' Pronger out for season with post-concussion syndrome

That should make some of you Pens fans happy. I think it's a major loss for the league, though. He is such a dick around the playoffs and can make for some great watching.

Everyone hates Chris Pronger, but just as when this happened to others, it's never good to see players injured, have their season ended, or anything of the sort. Hopefully that jerk can recover and come back sooner than expected.

Also, I watched the first episode of HBO's 24/7 about the Flyers and Rangers. Just like last year, the show is fantastically done and gives a great look into behind the scenes and off ice happenings.

As a fan of hockey, I'm in no position to argue with this. The NHL is a better league when all its best players are healthy and playing. I don't care if your name is Crosby, Savard, Giroux or Pronger, but concussions are slowly causing the league's talent to deteriorate and the Board of Governors really need to address it by penalizing hits to the head more aggressively.

Don't leave Skinner off that list. The kid is dynamite, and now he's shut down.

So it seems that the Pittsburgh Penguins want to relive last season and then some. Crosby's out, Staal's out, Neal's out, Letang's out, Adams's out, Asham's out, Jeffrey's out. These Wilkes-Barre kids are gonna need to come up big.

Not looking good, they are falling through the standings like a rock right now.... Ottawa, ever since their two games by coming from behind to win OT is carrying them through the standings upwards...

Bruins fans: :D

So Deni, how did you mourn the death of the hip check? Because the NHL just mourned it by giving Brad Marchand a five-game suspension for what I thought was a damned good hip check.