The Everything NHL Thread

[Eraddd]

Dick Heatley makes Team Canada. It's going to be surprising whether he actually wants to go to Alberta for training camp.

I'm sorry, but how the hell doesn't Souray make Team Canada? Better than some of the pylons there...

And finally Jordan Staal? Give me a break. Staal>Savard? BULLSHIT

Gaborik goes to the Rangers. Hmm, thought Heatley might want to go there.

Any guesses on whether Ottowa is still willing to trade Heatley?

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

They said that if he wasn't traded on July 1st, that they would be keeping him (because they had to pay that $4M bonus). Although if Brian Murray is clever, he could increase Heatley's price because of this.

 

[Olie]

k I seriously hope Heatley gets run over by a bus or gets in a car crash (too soon?)

I mean, I can accept a player asking for a trade. But not after signing a long-term pact, and especially not after having some philosophical differences after 25 games.

But even then, he demands a trade. But the trade has to be on his terms, to his choice location, how he wants. What the fuck. As much as a player like Heatley would have helped the Oilers, I always feel like Oilers fans want to cheer for players they like (or any fans, for that matter). I can only hope Heatley's offensive numbers continue to decline, as he's clearly proven to be the one-dimensional player a lot of us already think he is.

As far as Team Canada goes, I noticed right away Jason Spezza wasn't invited to the camp; a seemingly noteworthy omission. Then I looked closer and realized that Marc Savard wasn't invited! Yet another slap in the face to the first-line center of one of the best teams in hockey.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

I can understand Spezza being omitted (awful without the puck, and gives amazing giveaways), although there are alot of "WTF" defencemen recruited (i.e. Stephan Robidas, Marc Staal).

 

[Jackal]

no savard is a joke

 

[Vineon]

I really love Olympic hockey, there is nothing sports-wise bigger for me and I am still craving for the day Québec gets to send its own national team. I build myself a team Québec every 4 years to gauge how competitive it would be and while it falls short of being as powerful as team Canada/Russia/Sweden, it would certainly be strong enough to match on paper the other top teams from the US/Finland/Czech. Certainly strong enough to be a viable medal hopeful. There are still going to be the Don Cherry of this world to tell us our team "wouldn't do better than Belarus", apparently those people haven't attempted to build a roster.

It would likely look more or less like this:

Simon Gagné - Vincent Lecavalier - Martin St-Louis
Alex Tanguay - Daniel Brière - Jean-Pierre Dumont
Alexandre Burrows - Mike Ribeiro - Jason Pominville
Antoine Vermette - Derik Brassard - Pierre-Marc Bouchard

Marc-Édouard Vlasic - Kristopher Letang
François Beauchemin - Stéphane Robidas
Marc-André Bergeron - Philippe Boucher

Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo
Marc-André Fleury

Little better than what Belarus has to offer, I'm not afraid to say.... Obviously all NHLers, our goalies would all be amongst the best and our forwards are definitely good enough to compete with other powerhouses. We haven't had a top tier defenseman since Raymond Bourque however, it has always been our weak point.

 

[Eraddd]

I really love Olympic hockey, there is nothing sports-wise bigger for me and I am still craving for the day Québec gets to send its own national team. I build myself a team Québec every 4 years to gauge how competitive it would be and while it falls short of being as powerful as team Canada/Russia/Sweden, it would certainly be strong enough to match on paper the other top teams from the US/Finland/Czech. Certainly strong enough to be a viable medal hopeful. There are still going to be the Don Cherry of this world to tell us our team "wouldn't do better than Belarus", apparently those people haven't attempted to build a roster.

It would likely look more or less like this:

Simon Gagné - Vincent Lecavalier - Martin St-Louis
Alex Tanguay - Daniel Brière - Jean-Pierre Dumont
Alexandre Burrows - Mike Ribeiro - Jason Pominville
Antoine Vermette - Derik Brassard - Pierre-Marc Bouchard

Marc-Édouard Vlasic - Kristopher Letang
François Beauchemin - Stéphane Robidas
Marc-André Bergeron - Philippe Boucher

Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo
Marc-André Fleury

Little better than what Belarus has to offer, I'm not afraid to say.... Obviously all NHLers, our goalies would all be amongst the best and our forwards are definitely good enough to compete with other powerhouses. We haven't had a top tier defenseman since Raymond Bourque however, it has always been our weak point.

Sorry, but I lol'd so hard on the defence. Letang as first liner? I'm thinking swapping beauchemin for letang on the lines.

ANyways, I doubt Quebec is going to separate anytime soon. And if it does, most likely it'll come back. In a hurry (but let's not start a french separatism movement arguement shall we?)

Let's discuss hte Canucks (I'm bored). Other than signing Sedin and Rome (or whatever his name was), any other signings you nuck fans are looking for? Or is the prospect of Hodgson finally playing next year, good enough with the Sedins being signed?

 

[Vineon]

ANyways, I doubt Quebec is going to separate anytime soon. And if it does, most likely it'll come back. In a hurry (but let's not start a french separatism movement arguement shall we?)

In the futur, don't take that route if you are actually unwilling to engage on it.

I'll just say while a secession is possible (or at the very least a referendum in favor of it), rejoining Canada afterwards would hardly be and especially not in a hurry.

I wouldn't mind Beauchemin on the first pair, I was just impressed with Letang during the playoffs, he's come a long way and he is definitely our best D prospect. Actually, I'd just put Vlasic on the 2nd line.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Only thing Canuck fans want right now is Luongo getting an extension.

 

[Articuno64]

Actually we really need another defenseman after losing Ohlund, and getting Sundin back for a full season would be nice if he came at a much lower price (although we'd survive without him).

 

[Synre]

I think the main worry for the Canucks right now is that while they signed the Sedins, they had the Sedins before so they didn't get better, they just avoided getting worse... except they lost Ohlund and probably Sundin, so they did get worse. The one thing I really like about this team, though, is that in spite of the ridiculous offer they were trying to get(or, I suspect, that their agent was trying to get) the Sedins have a pretty reasonable contract for their production now, and most of the other players signed for a few years have reasonable contracts too. Assuming Luongo does the same, which I can't imagine he wouldn't, the Canucks will get their's eventually, I'd think. Kesler has been pretty vocal (lol, if you're familiar with the story) about taking less too so when his contract comes up I am sure he'll put the Canucks in a nice spot. When you have most of your core doing that it encourages the fringe and outsiders to do it, too... Vancouver seems to be getting a really nice culture going there.

They could really use a couple serviceable signing for this year, though. A D to replace Ohlund, maybe a couple 3rd or 4th line caliber signings... even with the Sedins they have just a ton of cap room (with their current contracts NHL players + Hogdson it's like 7m under) so they should be active in the next couple weeks. Once they add Sundin in February they'll be in pretty good shape, but hopefully they sign Wellwood (so I can read more "with hands as soft as his belly" signs) for the mean time and find a D somewhere.

The West should be fun this year with Detroit and Anaheim getting worse, Chicago and Calgary getting better, and San Jose staying about the same. Add in the Canucks once they make a move or two, the Stars bouncing back... should be a real tight race again!

 

[Eraddd]

I think the main worry for the Canucks right now is that while they signed the Sedins, they had the Sedins before so they didn't get better, they just avoided getting worse... except they lost Ohlund and probably Sundin, so they did get worse. The one thing I really like about this team, though, is that in spite of the ridiculous offer they were trying to get(or, I suspect, that their agent was trying to get) the Sedins have a pretty reasonable contract for their production now, and most of the other players signed for a few years have reasonable contracts too. Assuming Luongo does the same, which I can't imagine he wouldn't, the Canucks will get their's eventually, I'd think. Kesler has been pretty vocal (lol, if you're familiar with the story) about taking less too so when his contract comes up I am sure he'll put the Canucks in a nice spot. When you have most of your core doing that it encourages the fringe and outsiders to do it, too... Vancouver seems to be getting a really nice culture going there.

They could really use a couple serviceable signing for this year, though. A D to replace Ohlund, maybe a couple 3rd or 4th line caliber signings... even with the Sedins they have just a ton of cap room (with their current contracts NHL players + Hogdson it's like 7m under) so they should be active in the next couple weeks. Once they add Sundin in February they'll be in pretty good shape, but hopefully they sign Wellwood (so I can read more "with hands as soft as his belly" signs) for the mean time and find a D somewhere.

The West should be fun this year with Detroit and Anaheim getting worse, Chicago and Calgary getting better, and San Jose staying about the same. Add in the Canucks once they make a move or two, the Stars bouncing back... should be a real tight race again!

Really good point there. They're going to need to replace Ohlund and his experience somehow. Their defence has left a huge gap open. I think Vaanenen's contract expired. So they have 2 gaps to fill, either by calling up from the AHL, or signing a defencemen. THey did sign Rome so that's one gap filled.

Also, any predictions about Corey Schneider? By not resigning Sanford and Labarbara, Schneider could see some back up time. Still not decided whether he is NHL calibre or not, although his AHL numbers suggest that he is.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Luongo's gonna play around 65-70 games, may as well continue to develop in the AHL.

 

[Synre]

Love all the comments I'm reading on sites like sportsnet who think Samuelsson is going to be a productive line 1 player with the Sedins or something. I think Gillis probably knows better but, well, keep thinking that.

Between that and Chelios we've done some serious addition by subtraction here in Detroit...

 

[Articuno64]

What did you not like about Samuelsson? I saw you say before that you hoped Detroit would get rid of him, but is he really that bad or is it just that Detroit has so many good players already?

 

[Synre]

Samuelsson's command list

Shoot
Shoot
Shoot
Hook
Shoot
Shoot
Commit Turnover Being on the Point on the PP for some reason for a SHG
Shoot
Shoot
Shoot

His skills aren't terrible, it's just the basketball player mentality of I'm-going-to-shoot-immediately-from-anywhere that drove me nuts mostly, he's a bad fit with the tic-toc Detroit did IMO but he'll probably fit in Vancouver's system a little better.

 

[Aldaron]

cool then he'll be the perfect 3rd member of the sedin line =)

 

[Articuno64]

haha exactly, the sedins don't shoot enough

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Hopefully Ville Leino will play for Detroit this year ;)

 

[popemobile]

Hawks get Hossa, Stanley Cup guaranteed for Chicago.

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

I think LA underpaid for Smyth, but Quincey is beast.

 

[Carl]

I'm a little late to the party here but since I am now back from vacation I can post some thoughts about the last few days. :)

First off, let's start with the team I follow most.. the Detroit Red Wings. Teifu put it best.. "addition by subtraction." The key so far to their offseason has been complacency and I'm quite happy with that. Detroit "tried" to get Hossa to hang around but the Franzen signing a few months back pretty much signaled which forward Ken Holland was more interested in keeping. He could realistically only sign one of the two based on the cap and we all knew it. So while Hossa leaving isn't really that shocking, his jump to division rival Chicago doesn't exactly leave me thrilled for this upcoming season. As an aside, it's an excellent win now move for the Hawks (unless you believe Hossa is the anti-cup) but good luck with that come July 1, 2010.

The departures of Chelios and Samuelsson are accepted and welcomed loses IMO since neither is a key component to the team and sometimes hurt more than helped.. the former because he is just too old and the latter because his on ice decisions aren't always ideal. Losing Kopecky actually concerns me more than Samuelsson's move to Vancouver, TBH, since he was one of the bigger young bodies the Wings had. He had some good upside and showed some nice potential in stretches. Not to say he isn't replaceable, but following Hossa to the windy city doesn't help Detroit's cause. The good news in all of this is that there is now room to resign Hudler and Leino as well as the roster space to call up Helm and Ericsson full time with potentially Abdelkader. For all the knocks about the Red Wings being "too old," well they just got a bit younger. The other UFA was Ty Conklin but I think the Wings are overdue to see if Jimmy Howard is someone to count on or not at the NHL level. If not, Ken Holland will need to budget accordingly since Osgood won't be around much longer and there's lots of inexperience in the system ATM.

As for other teams, props to the Rangers for shedding Gomez and stealing so much from Montreal in the process while also landing Gaborik from free agency. Gaborik is a gamble but considering the Rangers didn't have a go to scorer before it's still an upgrade, especially if he can stay healthy. Speaking of Montreal.. really?? Scott Gomez?? You gave up that for him when Koivu could do everything he does? And Gionta was definitely not worth that amount of money. The signing of Cammalleri was the only real good move by the Habs that I can see right now. If they can get Kovalev back that's even better. I'm really not sold on any of their moves outside of Cammalleri so only time will tell if they're good ones or not.


Other teams that made good moves while I was away:
Flyers - it will be fun to watch Pronger cheap shot Crosby a few more times a year. They paid a lot to get him but this team is only a season removed from a conference final so Pronger could be the extra piece to push them deep into the playoffs again. The loss of Knuble might hurt more than they expect but improving the back end could still outweigh that by a lot.

Caps - Knuble is a great signing.. he's been a pretty consistent scorer for a few years now and will complement the top 6 well.

Panthers - They got something for nothing with the Bouwmeester trade so that's a win by default. Resigning David Booth is also good. Craig Anderson leaves for Colorado to stop 50 shots a night on a regular basis and gets replaced by Clemmenson who did quite well when Brodeur was injured. Even trade off there most likely.

Thrashers - They went from a mediocre team to probably a bubble team which is really all you can ask from a hockey team stationed in Atlanta. And they did it by getting former Maple Leafs! It should add to some of the young talent they have and obviously Kovalchuk.

The Central Division - I covered why I think the Wings are fine despite not having signed anyone since July 1 but the Hawks made significant adds along with the Jackets (they also locked in Rick Nash early which was a must). The Blues will get injured players back plus Ty Conklin who has proved he's able to be a starter. And the Preds get a full season with an actually healthy Steve Sullivan who they resigned. OK so the Preds and Blues didn't really do much but I wanted to mention my prediction somewhere: This will be the best division in the west and arguably in the NHL next season with all 5 teams having the potential to make the playoffs. The Preds were barely out this year and always seem to be a bubble team so they could conceivably make it.

I've been writing this for way too long so I'll just leave it at that though I probably forgot something I wanted to mention..

 

[CaptainKishimoto]

Angry Habs fans want Kovalev back, staging protest!

 

[Eraddd]

Thrashers have Evandar Kane. Kane is one kickass player. I'm waiting for when the Thrashers become a powerhouse with Kovalchuk, Kane, and one more break out player.

 

[Carl]

kovalev is a senator lol