[Tournament] 06-07 NHL Discussion Thread

Well, so far Yzerman's retired and the Red Wings have let Shanahan go... hopefully they'll make some moves to get players soon.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've got some mixed feelings about Hasek coming back to Detroit. He retired, then... unretired. And yet he was still pretty good, but then he got hurt. It seems like anything could happen with him here. I would've preferred to keep Legace, even though the playoffs went poorly, he gets more blame for it than deserved. At least they have Osgood as a backup in case anything happens to Hasek, Osgood's gone through the playoffs before.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

WOW

What the hell is wrong with the Islanders?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Glad to see Detroit's defense doing so well already. I'm feeling realy iffy about how long Hasek will hold up this year, so seeing the defense working well is reassuring.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yeah, ever since Toronto left the Western Conference, I don't pay them much attention.

That's a pretty good way to get #500 though.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Borg1982

What the hell is wrong with my Red Wings lately?

Grr..

Aside from that 9 goal game in Phoenix, the Wings just haven't been able to score. Hopefully they can get some good offense together, because the defense should be keeping them in games.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by GALM-1

Also any teams want John Grahame? We'll take 3 hot dogs for him. That's 2 less than Garth Snow's going rate.

Is he definitely past his prime now? If so, the Red Wings might be willing to overpay for him when Hasek goes down.

FELIPE NO

Yeah, Carolina has struggled surprisingly so far. I expect them to get things together soon, though.

Also, I was taking a look through the Red Wings schedule to see what's coming up, and I noticed Christmas week, they play three consecutive games with Minnesota. Whoo, gotta love the weird scheduling quirks the NHL has now.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by RAZGRIZ-3

Though they're both past their prime, I'd rather have a washed-up Vezina/Hart/Stanley Cup winner than a washed up nobody.

You mean as opposed to a washed-up Jennings/two-time Stanley Cup winner?

I'm just poking fact at the fact that Hasek keeps getting injured, and hasn't exactly left Detroit in the best ways the past couple times he's been here. Odds are, he'll suddenly have to stop playing for some random reason.

I don't think either goaltender is as good as they were before, but I still think both are pretty good. I've probably always had more faith in Osgood than most people have. When Legace went down for a bit last year, he did a well enough job being the number one goaltender. Hasek is also still a good goaltender.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Looks like the Red Wings patched up a few of their problems as of late. They won a couple one-goal games, and now they've hit a seven game win streak with a 3-0 win over Edmonton. They've really got to work on those special teams, though. 9% isn't going to cut it on the power play.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by FreeHooker

Are you a Wings fan? They seemed to have a load of problems early on, but are looking good now. Their whole season hinges equally on the NHL's most fragile groin, and on two guys becoming top 3 forwards. I really do hope they do well, just to humble all those saying "LOL Wings suck without spenading moenyss dey cant doo shiite".

As well, a favour is in order for beating the Oilers.

Yep, I've been a lifelong Wings fan, growing up in the Detroit area. I hate all the people that call the Red Wings the Yankees of hockey and claim we always spend money to get good, because for a long while, they were awful. And they only spent a lot of money for a couple years. A lot of people wrote them down to around 6th in the conference last year, and they still finished first (though those playoffs were disappointing). I hope Hasek can hold together this year and give the Red Wings a good season, though I think Osgood can pull us through still if Hasek goes down.

I see you're a Canucks fan. I used to hope they would do well, then they played the Red Wings in the playoffs a couple years back and I started to dislike them more. Though, most of my hate was for Bertuzzi, who Vancouver doesn't even have anymore. So now Vancouver is fine by me once again, just as long as they keep Colorado down in that division.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by FreeHooker

Really, Bertuzzi seems to have been everything wrong with this team. With him gone, they are polar opposites of years past. It's actually quite remarkable, really. They outwork their opponents nearly every night, are great on defence. And I don't mind giving up Allen, Bert, and Auld for Luongo, and Krajicek. Krajicek has been the biggest surprise thus far, and Luongo has been amazing save 2-3 games. Some people criticized Dave Nonis for the moves he made, but I don't think he did ANYTHING wrong, save maybe the Chouinard signing. He dropped Luc Bourdon back down to Moncton, and that's looking good with Alexander Edler's strong play (Who we snagged from Detroit in the third round of the '03 draft, by the way. ). I think that the Wings have what many of the money spending teams of the past didn't have, and that is drafting. Yes, for a couple of years they threw money around, but they also began to draft VERY well. That shows with Zetterberg, Datsyuk (And Kronwall? Confirm this?).

Anyways, cheers. I always look forward to 'Nucks - Wings games. By the way, Bieksa scored form center on Monday. When he did it, the Lidstrom - Cloutier situation was the first thing that came to mind.

:biggrin:

I was amazed Florida gave up Luongo for anything. He's one of the top goalies today, and would stand on his head night in and night out in Florida to keep them in games. I think Vancouver would've made a good move getting just him, but getting another player who is doing well is even better for them.

One problem with the drafting the Red Wings did when they were winning Stanley Cups wasn't just that it wasn't great, it was that sometimes it was nonexistent. They traded away a lot of draft picks to get the big name players (Chelios, for example, came at the expense of two first-round picks). But now that the team has had some decent picks to make use of, they've been doing well with them. Hopefully Yzerman leaving will help Datsyuk and Zetterberg establish larger leadership roles with the team. The two have been spectacular, but have faltered some in big games. Kronwall looks to have been a good choice. He seems to be learning well from Lidstrom. Jiri Fischer was another great draft choice that was starting to become a big presence last year, but then he came upon some unfortunate heart problems. I don't know if he'll play again or not, as he's been sitting out for a year now.

And actually, if you mention big shots from the neutral zone around here, Lidstrom's shot isn't the first thing people think of. Almost everyone will first remember Steve Yzerman shooting one from out there in double overtime of game 7 against St. Louis in 1996. =P

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Brent

The Wings basically were the Yankees of hockey. With the salary cap teams can't really do that anymore, but I'd challenge you with finding another team more deserving of the title. And no, not the Rangers, because though they did spend some serious cash they still lost.

I'll admit the Red Wings were most deserving of the title, just because they were the only team throwing around tons of money who managed to stay consistently good. But, it's hard to actually say any other team is on the same level as the Yankees. The Red Wings also went 42 years between championships, with 14 straight sub-.500 years. The longest the Yankees went between championships since their first is only 18 years. Anyways, I'm glad the Red Wings aren't spending like the Yankees now. It was nice for a bit, but I wouldn't want them doing that every year.

I didn't know they had NHL games on google video. That's great news, because I've been working a lot of evenings and have missed a good number of games already. Thanks for the link. =D

I was speaking idiomatically.

Wow, Hasek got his second straight shutout and the Red Wings stopped Nashville's 5 game win streak. That puts the Wings to 8 straight wins now, good stuff. They're only allowing 21 shots a game, 5 less than the next best team, which is a good way to give the team a chance to win. I missed the game because I was working though, hopefully it'll be up on google video soon.

And Anaheim finally lost a game, about time.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I just saw this statistic on the Red Wings, and I must say this is crazy. This season, they only have 12 power play goals, but they already have 7 short handed goals. What the hell?

After that big winning streak, they've slumped a little, losing a few close games in overtime and regulation. Obviously, the power play is the big failing point for them at the moment that needs to be fixed.

FELIPE NO

I was going to post earlier about how I was sad to see Pittsburgh having fallen down in the standings, being even below the Islanders. But then Pittsburgh went and beat the Islanders tonight, and pulled closer in the standings. And I didn't know Crosby was out a couple games, so I guess their skid makes a bit more sense.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

It was good that Detroit finally played Toronto, for the first time in over two years. And look, Detroit finally got something going on the powerplay, winning 5-1 with 5 powerplay goals.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm watching the Pens/Caps game right now as "background noise" while studying. Which means, I've looked through only three pages in the past hour while intently watching the game.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I thought the game was pretty much over once Washington was up 3-0. That was a crazy comeback, and an exciting finish. Definitely glad I watched that.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Ugh. Red Wings lost to Columbus tonight. Ugh. Sergei Fedorov had a good night too. Ugh.

And the Blackhawks have been on fire lately too. Detroit just doesn't own the Central Division like they used to.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The Red Wings retired Steve Yzerman's #19 tonight. His name now hangs up there alongside names such as Sawchuck and Howe. But unlike those other players, Yzerman was the one I grew up watching for years. And he's the great player and role model I'll tell my kids and grandkids I got to watch when I'm older. Maybe Detroit will find another player like him someday, but it could be a long time before that happens. He had the ability to score, getting 155 points one season, a number only topped by Gretzky and Lemieux. He had the ability to change his playing style for the good of the team, winning the Selke Trophy and three Stanley Cups. He always gave all his effort and never gave up, as shown when he played with an injured knee and foot for a month before winning a Stanley Cup. He's a great player that should always be remembered, and I'm glad to see his number go up there.

Oh, and Detroit beat Anaheim in the game too.

I was speaking idiomatically.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDbEX666G3Y

This is apparently why the Dallas-Edmonton game last night went into overtime. Dallas still won, but Patrik Stefan's probably gonna be hearing about this for a while.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I watched the Detroit-Phoenix game tonight. I was hoping to see the turned around Phoenix team that had won 7 straight games, but it looks like they had run out of gas as of this game. Phoenix held Detroit to a 1-0 lead through the first two periods, then tied it in the third. But they had been outplayed all game, with shots at 45-16, and Detroit went and made it 5-1 by the end of the game. Detroit's youngsters really shined in this game. Zetterberg got three assists, Datsyuk scored twice and had three assists, and Holmstrom got his second career hat trick. It was exciting to watch as a Detroit fan, but I'm sure watching it otherwise, the game would've seemed quite one-sided.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

Well, the NHL All-Star Game is tonight. No one cares since it is on Versus.

I'm watching it on CBC. Living in Michigan has its benefits in that way.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I'm watching the Red Wings/Rangers game right now, which is the only game on tonight. I turned on the game about 7 minutes into it, and it was already 2-1 Rangers. New York then went and scored a third goal. They were outplaying the Wings in the first half of the game. In the third, the Red Wings scored a fluke goal where Lundqvist lost the puck behind the net, then got some momentum and got two more goals. It's now 4-3 Detroit with 5 minutes left.

EDIT - Rangers pulled their goalie, yet couldn't even get posession of the puck in Detroit's zone during the last minute. Ouch. Not a good finish for New York.

Jam it back in, in the dark.