*Official* NHL thread

[Archangel Damien]

my perdiction you will see either this

[Archangel Damien]

or this

[dio91]

Thordic, I'm not trying to crap on him, all I'm saying is there's more problems to this guy than people say. Yes he has my sympathy and he is a great hockey player but he is too much of a head case and thats just how I feel about him.

Archangel Damien
That was a great day/year. I was able to go to Game & vs the Devils and the double OT. I ended up going with my cousin to the Ticket Tape in NY and sometime aournd there I also went to Chesire CT to see the Cup in person when Leetch brought it to CT. My cousin had Leetch's dad as a coach so he knew the family pretty well. Doesnt get much of a better year than that.

[Thordic]

Then why make comments about cocaine?

He is an admitted alcoholic, but there have been NO reports of cocaine use besides ABSUSIVE FANS who have nothing better to do than make up rumors about the guy.

If he admitted to coke, or there was some proof, then fine, but I have yet to see ONE single shred of evidence pointing at anything other than alcohol.

[ShooterJM]

I agree with Thordic on Fleury. As for my picks. It depends how serious officals are on clutching and grabbing. I'm gonna go with three in each:

Western Powers: Avs, Detroit, San Jose

Eastern: Carolina, Senators, Rangers

Western Champ: Avs over San Jose

Eastern Champ: Rangers over Senators

The Champs: Avs over Rangers in 6

Biggest trade: Richter to Flyers or San Jose

Haven't thought of the trophy's much.

[Thordic]

I think the Rangers could still struggle this season, but its good to see people outside of NY thinking they'll do well. We're a cynical bunch around here

I'd say there's maybe a 25% chance of Richter getting traded. Blackburn isn't ready to be a starting goalie yet, but he IS close. If he can show he is ready this season, then Richter might go. I have my doubts though, the management is loyal to him.

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by Thordic
I'd say there's maybe a 25% chance of Richter getting traded. Blackburn isn't ready to be a starting goalie yet, but he IS close. If he can show he is ready this season, then Richter might go. I have my doubts though, the management is loyal to him.

Yeah, I think it really depends on how well the first 25% of the season goes or so. Goalies tend to be scapegoats for a teams failure. Especially in the media, (I'm afraid of what's gonna happen to belfour) . If the rangers don't play well early I wouldn't be surprised if he's dealt to Philly. (That's a team that's gonna have issues this year, could be terrible, could be a force). San Jose has seemed a bit peeved with nabakov and his contract holdout, but they'll probably come around after he recovers from missing training camp.

[ShooterJM]

Rangers win! Avs tie. Great games!

[Thordic]

Rangers game was awesome. Brind'Amour tried to fight Barnaby, hahaha. He got a bloody nose for his trouble

It was an amazing game to watch, though. Some impressive skating on both sides, and the refs were really on the obstruction calls. It really did have a noticeable effect on the game, and it was great.

[ShooterJM]

Yeah the way the ref's are calling the obstruction is great! It allows for so much more speed through the neutral zone especially. Normally I hate watching games with dallas (and other teams the play a trap), but with the new rules it didn't just turn into a mugging and clusterpuck type of game.

Didn't see the fight, but how about Messier! Those goals were nice!

[Thordic]

The first goal was a beautiful read by Leetch, which resulted in an open net for Messier.

The second one, though, was much more impressive. Messier proved his shoulder is healthy by some great stickwork that put the puck up over Irbe and into the net.

Nedved's second goal was a beauty too. Great pass from Lindross, and a beautiful shot on Irbe.

[dio91]

Origianlly posted by Thordic
Nedved's second goal was a beauty too. Great pass from Lindross, and a beautiful shot on Irbe.

I honestly didnt think it was that nice, just my opinion though. If the defenseman hadn't stepped across to take out Lindros, Nedved would have been locked up. Plus the shot he took should have been stopped by Irbe, Nedved didnt even make an attemp to pick his head up. None the less, they scored and won which is all that counts.
All-in-all, great game. The obstruction calls to me are ok, but its going to eliminate tying guys up on face offs, which I love doing in games.

Oh, and one more thing...Ricter was fantastic, I really didn't think he was going to show up the way he did. Too bad sloppy passes and bad coverage lost him his shut-out. The whole thing with Barnuby fighting was bs, just for the fact that he went after a guy who had just scored, but eh it was nice to see Brindomore get a shots to the face.

dio

[Rmarks]

Originally posted by dio91


The whole thing with Barnuby fighting was bs, just for the fact that he went after a guy who had just scored, but eh it was nice to see Brindomore get a shots to the face.

dio

You're joking me right? It was a scuffle after the goal with some Cane's pushing some Rangers, Barnaby and Brindamour locked up and went at it. You make it sound like Barnaby purposely went after him just for the goal.

[dio91]

My whole point is the Rangers knew that they had shown sloppy defensive zone play, and got scored on for their mistake. Instead of just either going to the bench or lining up for the next face off, they had to go and look like bantams. Just my opinion. And yes, I know a Cane skated into a Ranger, which was even more ridiculous that Ranger went and started the whole scuffle.

dio

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by dio91
My whole point is the Rangers knew that they had shown sloppy defensive zone play, and got scored on for their mistake.

Can empathize with that. For the first 10 minutes of the avs game I was yelling at the TV like crazy. Their defensive zone passes were just horrible! Ended up giving up a goal because of sloppy play. Very frustrating.


Did anyone see the Kings game? Wonder how they looked.