2011-12 NHL regular season discussion
 

Gamingforce may be dying/dead/a zombie but that doesn't mean we can't have a hockey thread for the first time in forever.

The 2011-12 NHL season starts tomorrow, and it is a season of transition. The Winnipeg Jets are back, but they're still in the Eastern Conference, and the former Jets in Phoenix are possibly on the move too, meaning the NHL may have a much different look once the league decides on realignment.

The league is also struggling to deal with the growing issue of concussions. Stiffer rules, but no outright ban on hits to the head. Which other major player(s) will have to be knocked out for months/years/their career before the league will make any serious changes?

Still, the season starts on a high note for many teams wishing to make a long playoff run for the first time in years. For Boston fans, their time came this past June, and that's good news for fans in Los Angeles and St. Louis. Those two teams are figured to be at the very least dark horses and at most Cup contenders (the trade deadline brings good things to those who can wait for Zach Parise).

For the Penguins, it's been three years since everything clicked for them but the last two seasons felt like missed opportunities. Last year was particularly bad; despite challenging for the two-seed down to the last day of the season, the Penguins bowed out in the first round of the playoffs. Injuries to Crosby, Malkin and others made a 106-point season a disappointment. Now it seems as though Crosby will be back within the first half, if not the first quarter of the season and Malkin has been playing with a fire unseen from him in a couple of years. As long as injuries do not plague the Penguins again, they should be good for the postseason once more.

No change on concussions will be made unless it happens to another Crosby type player or Crosby gets knocked out again.

Once again NHL on dumb Versus station that hardly no one gets.

Sabres under new determined ownership. Who knows what may happen. Can the Maple leafs finally make the playoffs? or will those Toronto fans have to come down to Buffalo to get the good hockey? At least they are not Florida though.

Yay for NHL center ice. All games, bitches.

I would be more excited about the reincarnation of the Jets if there was any hope in this world that i might be able to go to a game. Alas, tickets are far too expensive for a poor university student to afford, and the place is sold out for pretty much the entire season as far as i know. Upside - probably no blackouts.

Other upside: They gon' suck.

Except Dustin.

Because...

Sabres owned Finland today. Oh wait I mean DA Ducks. On to Germany tomorrow!

I've decided I have the best fantasy hockey name of the year: Straight Outta Conklin

Rivaled by my Fantasy Football team: Flacco Seagulls

Well, that Jets opener was saddening.... well, better luck Thursday, right!? Looking forward to a great season! Go Canucks! :)

I dunno if I'd use the word saddening. It was rape, and considering we got a C-grade team, it's not exactly surprising.

Just like they'll lose horribly on Thursday to Chicago.

Maybe, MAYBE Phoenix.

Maybe.

I consider this a blessing, because when all the fair weather retards in this city bail out next season, it won't be expensive at all to get Vancouver tickets.

Well I suppose if I want to have a typical Toronto Maple Leafs, they might as well start off good just to build my expectations up only to suck at end. Still they're on a two game winning streak, probably their biggest winning streak of the year.

You know us maple leaf fans, we'll take anything we can get. I hear Toronto is already planning a parade already.

I can't believe the Leafs blew a four goal lead in the third. After all these years, they STILL have no D.

Malkin's already injured. WHAT IS GOING ON :(

Habs fans can't be too happy with losing Cammalleri for 2 weeks, either.

Nor am I, as I had him in my draft.

I bought NHL Gamecentre Live last night.... totally rocks. And its great since I don't have cable or satellite. I really like the options available too. :) I guess I am going to be watching a LOT more hockey this year! :)

YouTube Video

Pretty cool renovation to the St.Pete Times Forum where the Bolts play. Not as awesome as Red Alert, but it's pretty cool to see in-person.

Cool BucPride....

So, where are we at these days? Bruins on a 9 game winning streak, Jets actually winning 3 games in a row.... and the Maple Leafs and Oilers starting to struggle a bit. Comments?

It's still early, but I read an article on Boston.com that said that if you want to make the playoffs you should be in the top eight by Thanksgiving. That being said, four points currently separate the 14th-seeded Hurricanes from the 8th-seeded Capitals in the East, while in the West the 14th-seeded Ducks are seven points behind the 8th-seeded Red Wings. A lot can still change.

It's hard to identify Hart candidates right now. Phil Kessel obviously deserves consideration, but he'd get his votes dragged down a little by his own teammate, Joffrey Lupul, as both are in the top five for goals and points.

How about those Panthers, huh? Out of nowhere. The Capitals aren't running away with that division this year.

Oh, and

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I am first in my fantasy league by some ways, and all because of Seguin (15th round pick), Jamie Benn (13th round pick), and Tomas Fleischmann (picked up off of waivers early in season). My high round picks of Getzlaf, Backes and Lucic have only been passable for me, but my young, late sleepers are tearing up the league. Defensively, too. Garrisson (picked up from free agency) and sheldon souray (my last pick of the draft) are carrying it.

Luckily my first two picks went to Rinne and Price, so I'm killing in goaltending.

My point is, fucking start playing hockey, Getzlaf.

Anaheim will get better, probably squeak into the playoffs. No way that much talent stays that quiet that long.

Toronto will fall. Playoff team, yes, but not a serious contender. Not with defense that bad. One slump from the hot again cold again Kessel and they're in serious trouble.

Christ, I hope not.

If that man gets hit by a bus tomorrow it would not be early enough.

Doubt it. I don't see them making it in this year. I've heard that Bobby Ryan is being shopped around to teams like the Rangers and Leafs (Brian Burke connection, here). Maybe they want to start a rebuild there. Anaheim hasn't been a serious contender since they won the cup 4 years ago. Yeah, they have great players like Selanne, Ryan, Perry, and Getzlaf, but beyond that there's virtually no depth.

Ovechkin's just suffering from "I've Got Ten More Years On This Contract With This Team?" Syndrome. He'll snap out of it at some point, almost guaranteed.

Bruce Boudreau gets fired by Washington, a team full of underachieving superstars he couldn't motivate, and is immediately hired by Anaheim, a team with even MORE underachieving superstars no one can motivate.

Trolled by hiring?

Meanwhile Washington still sucks.

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.

You mean this check Dope.

YouTube Video

Am I missing something here. I've played hockey I've taken some vicious hip checks in bantam and midget. That was a clean hit as far as I'm concerned. I understand the league is taking precautions to lower the amount of injuries, but this is just ridiculous.

Sami Salo, throwing his stick after he got hit. That was hilarious.

Edit:

I just rewatched the clip. Okay I can understand a penalty for maybe interference since salo didn't touch the puck, but early on in the clip marchand and salo was going at it anyway. Just trading shots back and forth. In hindsight he could of done a lot worse like stuck out his leg or slashed him. It was a great check possibly a penalty but definitely not worth a 5 game suspension.

Edit Again:

In conclusion, I don't really know if this hit would be consider a penalthy, but as Dope said it was a perfectly clean hip check.

First of all, Salo's got six inches on Marchand, so anywhere Marchand would hip check him would probably be considered a low check.

Second, though Marchand's legs were angled, thus making his body even lower, his legs were straight because he trying to stop, first and foremost, then applying the check to win the one-on-one battle for the puck (which invalidates a possible interference call). If he had crouched or bent his legs that would make more sense for a clipping penalty because at that point Marchand's hip would be around Salo's upper knees.

Third, I don't know what Salo's thinking when he's turning around, but he clearly got the wrong idea, which explains why he got up so pissed off, probably at himself.

Watch Shanahan's explanation, as if listening to or reading Shanahan's explanations isn't maddening enough:

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Uh, looks to me like his primary focus is the puck.
It's called a hip check. Since when is a check "defensive" or "instinctive"? Idiot.

I understand that Marchand is a "repeat offender" and that Salo was injured, but if he was trying to take out Salo's knees he could've done a lot worse.

Here, watch this video of some hip checks and tell me how many of those were penalties for (a.) clipping, (b.) tripping, or (c.) intent to injure.

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(Edit: and, of course, I'm trying to find videos of Brendan Shanahan throwing hip checks but the NHL erased them from the Internet. Needless to say, my search came up with more results of Canucks fans whining, flipping over and torching cars, etc.)

Hip checks involve the thrower leading with the hip and demolishing the opponent. I love a good, hard hip check like vintage Blake. This wasn't a hip check.

Whether or not you want to argue how far from the written rule interpretations should be allowed to stretch, that's a different discussion. As per the clipping rule verbatim I don't think it applies, but it wasn't a clean hit.

What Marchand did, and how the clipping rule should actually work, is hitting below the opponent's center of mass. That's what's gonna make him flip over top of you, and that's what's dangerous. "Center of mass" is sort of a nebulous, floating point depending on who the person is, so obviously you can't define the rule that way, but below the hips is an easier, though less accurate, way to categorize that area.

That said, Ovechkin throws a hit like this every other game so there is so unfortunate lack of consistency, but he's a dirty piece of trash and should spend half his idiot career suspended.

Edit: In half of those hip check videos the player being hit tries to jump over them and does it to himself. Some of those are valid comparisons. Most are not.

I offered the hip check video as evidence that what defines a good hip check and an illegal hit is all subjective. You and me, Don Cherry and Brendan Shanahan, we all think something different on hip checks and I worry that the League's Office of Player Safety might've come down a little too hard on Marchand on this particular hit.

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So I don't know about you guys but I'm excited for the playoffs. Crosby's gonna be in the lineup on Thursday against the Rangers and a win will put them two points behind the Rangers for first in the conference. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty ecstatic for the next few weeks.

Anyone else excited? I know the Bruins are kinda mediocre right now, but they still have Tim Thomas.

Excited? Can't wait!

Should we do the playoff contest again?

What do you fucking think? Of Course we should.

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Okay... anyone want to help out with it? I will do it, but can't say I will be quick on posting some stuff...

Sign up thread is up!

http://www.gamingforce.org/forums/co...tml#post795692

For Deni, this has got to be the funniest thing I've seen in hockey in a long time, I don't even know if its legit or not, but hilarious.

http://i.imgur.com/9eLo1.jpg

Here is the original:

http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/p/sp/gett...-142175835.jpg

That is pretty fantastic.

http://www.tophockeywallpapers.com/a....1920x1200.jpg

Orpik's gone downhill the last couple of years, but he's still solid. I hope he isn't suspended long.