NHL 2011-2012 Thread

[technomancer]

That game was unreal today. And that second Malkin goal

Yeah seriously. It seems like the Pens are heating up at just the right time, let's hope they stay hot

 

[HOKENSTYFE]

As good as that Malkin goal was, Callahan's in overtime help push the lead in the east and was top play on ESPN!

Oh yeah! That's the New York Rangers! Thank you Lord Stanley, we will accept your cup now!

 

[TheDivineWing22]

As good as that Malkin goal was, Callahan's in overtime help push the lead in the east and was top play on ESPN!

Oh yeah! That's the New York Rangers! Thank you Lord Stanley, we will accept your cup now!

Sorry bud, but I think Malkin's goal was better. Maybe it's home team bias, maybe it's the fact that he went through pretty much the whole team to get it.

Anyway, you don't get the cup in February

 

[technomancer]

As good as that Malkin goal was, Callahan's in overtime help push the lead in the east and was top play on ESPN!

Oh yeah! That's the New York Rangers! Thank you Lord Stanley, we will accept your cup now!

Tell you what, since you're so confident, how about if the Rangers DON'T win the Cup I perma ban you?

 

[Powermetalbass]

I'm hoping the leafs pick things up and atleast make it to the playoffs. They've shown they can play well, now if only they could do that with some consistancy.

 

[HOKENSTYFE]

Tell you what, since you're so confident, how about if the Rangers DON'T win the Cup I perma ban you?

Sounds cool! I would take you up on that...I just don't know what you have to offer!?! What would an equivalent cost to the Technomancer be? Maybe for a whole year your site picture would be the 2012 Stanley Cup winner...The New York Rangers. Mmmmm I like that!

Edit: Oh yeah...you keep that your from Pennsylvania, no undercutting, no changing of any other site info! Simple site pic New York Rangers!

 

[HOKENSTYFE]

@TheDivineWing22, Hey, nothing against Malkin's goal, a spectacular display. Though the outcome was pretty much decided by that time. Now Callahan's goal was THEE definitive goal of the game. Not just a pretty goal, but the type of goal going into a Saturday night that leads to an awesome Sunday morning! 2 points!

 

[technomancer]

Sounds cool! I would take you up on that...I just don't know what you have to offer!?! What would an equivalent cost to the Technomancer be? Maybe for a whole year your site picture would be the 2012 Stanley Cup winner...The New York Rangers. Mmmmm I like that!

Edit: Oh yeah...you keep that your from Pennsylvania, no undercutting, no changing of any other site info! Simple site pic New York Rangers!

But you see I'm not the one carrying on like a foo about winning the cup in February

 

[HOKENSTYFE]

That bird won't fly! I am extremely confident the the New York Rangers time is now! A life long New York Ranger fan, it feels good to be on top! Anywhere I can get some hockey talk in & pump the name New York Rangers, I will. This is the Official NHL thread & no one is talking about the leader of the eastern division is comical. Almost all year the New York Rangers have been on top. Unless I missed it, damn near every other team has been mentioned. Sorry...these are the brakes! New York Rangers 2012 Stanley Cup Winners! WoHHH!

Though I did just hijack the thread For the New York Rangers, if you have something to back up my FOO-lishness, I'll take that bet as a no go! Shame! To always read my post's that reference, The New York Rangers as 2012 Stanley Cup Winners, will in all honesty get annoying like fret buzz!

By the way...just havin' a lil' fun with you! Season isn't over. A dude can dream can't he? Later

 

[Psyy]

Well, that trade deadline was a bit boring. Not sure what I think of the Kassian - Hodgson deal. Kassian has skill, but Hodgson was easily rounding into a 30 goal scorer.

 

[Vostre Roy]

On Montreal side, Kostitsyn is out for a second round pick and the conditionnal 5th round that was initially traded in the Gill's trade. My thoughts on that?

Seeing that the Habs now have at least 2 2nd round choice in 2012 and 3 in 2013, its pretty obvious that Kostitsyn was a dissapointment and that they didn't wanted to build the team around him (more likely, it will be around Pacman, Subban, Price and Georges). So, I get that the plan is to re-build the team in a near future. All I hope now is that they'll make the good drafting choices and that they'll find the problem with the player's building program, wich seems to have trouble to handle the young players.

 

[Xaios]

Well, that trade deadline was a bit boring. Not sure what I think of the Kassian - Hodgson deal. Kassian has skill, but Hodgson was easily rounding into a 30 goal scorer.

My reaction to this trade as a Canucks fan:

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...!!!

I generally trust Mike Gillis, but this is all wrong. I can understand why they did it, but it shows an incredible lack of foresight. Two years ago when we go ousted by Chicago for the second time in a row, management knew we needed to add speed. So they did. After last year's finals loss to Boston, management knew they needed to add grit. And now they have again.

Here's the problem. We didn't sacrifice any other elements of our game to add speed two years ago. This time around, we're sacrificing overall skill by trading Hodgson away. Sure, we're in a better position to play against Boston this time around (if we even do), but now it's gonna be harder for the Canucks to get around Detroit, and that's a BIG freaking problem. Cody fit the current team's chemistry perfectly. Now we've traded him for a Bertuzzi type player who hasn't developed nearly as much. As much as I liked Bertuzzi when he was a Canuck, that type of player just doesn't mesh with the overall game plan anymore.

 

[JeffFromMtl]

I like both Kassian and Hodgson, but I can't help but feel that it's a bad move for the 'nucks. To me, hodgson projects as a solid no.1 centre, as in point-per-game production within the next couple of years. Kassian brings good scoring and the physical game for sure, but I just don't think they're the same caliber of player.

 

[Xaios]

Alright, so after some further examination, I guess I can take my head out of the oven.

While it's true that Hodgson individually has been putting up some great numbers this year, his linemates haven't been. The third line has proven to be pretty bad on defense thus far, which is why they've been playing sheltered minutes. This has had the effect of forcing the second line (Kesler & Co.) to take more of a shutdown role, thus sacrificing their offensive output. I'm guessing that the logic is that, while they'll lose some depth scoring on the third line, they'll more than make up for it by allowing their second line to play a true offensive game and then having a defensive shutdown third line.

Whether or not it will pan out is anyone's guess, but if we're going to make a cup run this year, we're going to need Kesler's offensive capabilities. Let someone else play shutdown. The fact that we've acquired a proven shutdown center in Sammy Pahlsson today further plays into that line of thinking. Kassian also apparently has a mean streak a mile wide, so people are going to think twice before messing with him.

 

[troyguitar]

3 defensemen injured and 1 traded, on top of Datsyuk still out. Wings will be lucky to make the playoffs at this point

 

[Unknown Doodl3.2]

Seeing that the Habs now have at least 2 2nd round choice in 2012 and 3 in 2013, its pretty obvious that Kostitsyn was a dissapointment and that they didn't wanted to build the team around him (more likely, it will be around Pacman, Subban, Price and Georges). So, I get that the plan is to re-build the team in a near future. All I hope now is that they'll make the good drafting choices and that they'll find the problem with the player's building program, wich seems to have trouble to handle the young players.

They've always made good drafting choices with Timmins around, regardless of what the media like to say around here. It's our development program that's horrid if you ask me.

 

[Xaios]

Alright, so even though we lost to Phoenix in the shootout tonight, there are still plenty of positives to be taken from tonight for the Canucks. While I know gauging a new player to the team after only one game is a pretty foolish thing to do, I was DAMN impressed with what I saw in Kassian tonight.

First of all, he started the night on the fourth line, and had been upgraded to the second line by the end of the night. He even got some playing time with the Sedins which VERY nearly resulted in a goal. The fact of the matter is that he was a visible force every time he was on the ice. He played a grinder on the fourth line, a power forward on the second line and a cycling playmaker when he got thrown in the mix with the twins. And he looked damn good doing it, every time. Kid makes a pretty great first impression, I'll give him that.

Another positive is that Ryan Kesler looked a lot more like himself on the ice again tonight. Having Pahlsson anchoring the shutdown on the third line is going pay serious dividends for him, now that he won't have to play that role as often. Schneider also had a fantastic game, despite the loss.

Of course, it wasn't all sunshine. The Sedins got pretty well neutralized by the speed of the Coyotes. And Raymond, just... seriously? Honestly, he was obviously putting in a LOT of effort, but he looked like... well, a beached whale. He was falling all over himself the entire game.

Still though, there's reason to be optimistic again.

 

[Vostre Roy]

They've always made good drafting choices with Timmins around, regardless of what the media like to say around here. It's our development program that's horrid if you ask me.

In fact, I'm 100% agreeing with you here. Here is the draft from the past 15 years, at first glance it can look like they aren't good drafters, but seeing how many players played in the NHL (and somes are pretty good also), dunno how many team can say they drafted so many future NHL players. Lets say that if all of those players played with the Habs right now, it might be a totally different story:

1998 Draft: Probably one of the best drafting year in the past 15 years

#2: Mike Ribeiro
#3: François Beauchemin
#6: Andrei Markov
#8: Micheal Ryder

1999 Draft: Nothing really good, some players might have played some NHL games, but I recognise no name there

2000 Draft: Nothing again

2001 Draft: Not a big drafting year, but two well known players here

#1: Mike Komisarek & Alex Perezhogin
#3: Tomas Plekanec

2002 Draft: Little year again, Higgins had some good years

#1: Chris Higgins

2003 Draft: The one that everyone complain because we could have had Carter or some other way better players than Kostitsyn, but it was a good year nonetheless, Halak being chosen in 9th:

#1: Andrei Kostitsyn
#2: Maxim Lapierre & some other guy
#3: Ryan O'Byrne
#9: Jaroslav Halak

2004 Draft: Quite a good year, again they draft a guy in 9th round that will be a real good player, now capitain of his team:

#1: Kyle Chipchura
#3: Alexei Emelin
#5: Mikhail Grabowski
#9: Mark Streit

2005 Draft: The Price year. Can't really complain here, can we?

#1: Carey Price
#2: Guillaume Latendresse
#6: Matt D'Agostini
#7: Sergei Kostitsyn

2006 Draft: Probably the weakiest draft since the lockout. Can only point Maxwell out of the guys drafted

#2: Ben Maxwell

2007 Draft: Having two #1, #3 and #5 picks this year, the Habs recruited some of the best young players in the team actually, aswell as one Defensemen that is now doing good with the Rangers

#1: Ryan McDonagh
#1: Max Pacioretty
#2: PK Subban
#3: Yanick Weber

2008 Draft: The weakiest draft year. None of the players have played a single game in the NHL, I don't even remember seeing their name in the Bulldogs player list

2009 Draft: From this point, only the time will tell us if it was a good drafting year, look like an okay year so far, not bad, neither awesomely good

#1: Louis Leblanc
#4: Alexander Avtsin
#5: Gabriel Dumont

2010 Draft: Two good looking rookies, I believe it will be a good year once the players will be developped

#1: Jared Tinordi
#5: Brendan Gallagher

2011 Draft: Last year draft. I like what I saw from Beaulieu in the pre-season games. Archambault could also be a good player. Again, time will tell

#1: Nathan Beaulieu
#4: Olivier Archambault

 

[JeffFromMtl]

I will never let the 2003 draft go. One of the deepest 1st rounds in draft history and we get Andrei Kostitsyn 10th overall. He wasn't exactly a bust, but by comparison, definitely a poor choice. Carter, Richards, Getzlaf, Perry, Parise, Brown, Seabrook, Burns, Kesler and Eriksson were all picked after Kostitsyn in the top 40. True that the Habs aren't the only team that missed out on these guys, but you still have to shake your head when you read that list of names.

 

[Vostre Roy]

I will never let the 2003 draft go. One of the deepest 1st rounds in draft history and we get Andrei Kostitsyn 10th overall. He wasn't exactly a bust, but by comparison, definitely a poor choice. Carter, Richards, Getzlaf, Perry, Parise, Brown, Seabrook, Burns, Kesler and Eriksson were all picked after Kostitsyn in the top 40. True that the Habs aren't the only team that missed out on these guys, but you still have to shake your head when you read that list of names.

Put it that way. Imagine that Kostitsyn just wasn't suiting the Habs developpment program and maybe didn't played up to its potential. I'm not saying that he's a Carter, Richards, Getzlaf or Perry, but maybe he could had been a better player if he had a better developpment (hell, look at his brother, not a star player, but a good one in Nashville. I really fear that he'll become good in Nashville).

That being said, that first round pick was a brain fart from the Habs. I was saying that even with a ridiculous first round pick, some of the player drafted on the late did good, proving that the drafting team did some good move, despite doing a pretty bad 1st pick.