hockey fans?

DeCaptain · Post by **DeCaptain** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:16 pm

Serbia wrote:
DeCaptain wrote:Anyone else watching the wings-wild game? great physical game with some excellent goaltending. Demetra just scored though so 2-1 wild in the second

Serbia wrote:I am, and I'm not as happy as you are.
So how'd you like the end of that game?

It was a good game regardless of the loss. Anytime you can get a point out of a game against Detroit is a good game in my opinion.

gannable · Post by **gannable** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:32 pm

I'll be surprised if the Red Wings make it out of the west. in recent years they've been a playoff bust.

on the other hand, the Flyers are now only 3 pts from the top seed in the East with 2 games in hand.

Forsberg might be signing by the end of the week.

Serbia · Post by **Serbia** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:52 pm

gannable wrote:I'll be surprised if the Red Wings make it out of the west. in recent years they've been a playoff bust.

on the other hand, the Flyers are now only 3 pts from the top seed in the East with 2 games in hand.

Forsberg might be signing by the end of the week.

Prior to last year, I'd have agreed with you. Detroit came very close to the finals last year, in fact, had Schneider not been hurt for the Ducks series, the Wings may have been able to pull that one off. This year, the team has more confidence, they've got two hot goaltenders, the young players have been through a long playoff season, guys like Filppula, Hudler, and Kronwall (before his latest injury) are a year older, and having solid seasons, and we've added some grit with Drake and Downey that haven't hurt the offense any.

Saying that, I'm looking forward to the trade deadline, to see what moves are made. Also, it's too early to start making serious predictions... lots of hockey left to play, and there's always the possibility of major injuries along the way.

denominator · Post by **denominator** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:49 pm

Serbia wrote:
gannable wrote:I'll be surprised if the Red Wings make it out of the west. in recent years they've been a playoff bust.

on the other hand, the Flyers are now only 3 pts from the top seed in the East with 2 games in hand.

Forsberg might be signing by the end of the week.
Prior to last year, I'd have agreed with you. Detroit came very close to the finals last year, in fact, had Schneider not been hurt for the Ducks series, the Wings may have been able to pull that one off. This year, the team has more confidence, they've got two hot goaltenders, the young players have been through a long playoff season, guys like Filppula, Hudler, and Kronwall (before his latest injury) are a year older, and having solid seasons, and we've added some grit with Drake and Downey that haven't hurt the offense any.

Saying that, I'm looking forward to the trade deadline, to see what moves are made. Also, it's too early to start making serious predictions... lots of hockey left to play, and there's always the possibility of major injuries along the way.

Their goaltenders are not hot by any stretch. Any goalie in the league can be hot facing an average of 14 shots per game.

The problem I see with Detroit is that if either of their top 2 defencemen (Lidstrom or Rafalski) go down, they're in big trouble. The rest of them simply can't pick up the big time minutes that they'll be required to, resulting in more shots and subsequently more goals.

Anaheim still scares me the most out of the West, but the style Minnesota plays is destined to be good in this year's playoffs.

rhoges6 · Post by **rhoges6** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:59 pm

The NHL shouldn't play games in Europe next year or ever, and they need to take teams like Florida or Tampa or Nashville and give cities like Winnipeg or quebec teams again. If the NHL wants to become important again then it needs to locate itself in cities where it will be important. That's my opinion at least.

denominator · Post by **denominator** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:07 am

rhoges6 wrote:The NHL shouldn't play games in Europe next year or ever, and they need to take teams like Florida or Tampa or Nashville and give cities like Winnipeg or quebec teams again. If the NHL wants to become important again then it needs to locate itself in cities where it will be important. That's my opinion at least.

Gary Bettman will never allow it. For some bizarre reason, he has decided that the best thing for the NHL is to play in Europe, and that the worst thing is to allow teams into Canada.

Here in Calgary, Sidney Crosby has come once. To get tickets for that game, you had to be online at the exact moment they went on sale and get lucky when you happened to hit refresh, or line up at 5:30 in the morning, or buy them on eBay for over $200(Canadian dollars). But Bettman thinks the best thing to do is to send Crosby over to Europe to play some season opening games.

Nashville is averaging 15000 fans per game in an arena that holds 22000. In the 2004 playoffs, if you paid a traffic ticket on time you got 2 free tickets to a Lightning game. Yet when Jim Balsillie attempts to buy the Predators and move them to Canada, Bettman kills the deal faster than an Ilya Kovalchuk wrist shot. Now he wants to move the team to Las Vegas. Where's the fan base in Vegas?

In my opinion, Gary Bettman is the worst thing that has ever happened to the NHL. He forced an entire season to disappear because he wanted a salary cap, he won't allow teams to relocate, and he is pushing for NHL hockey in Europe where it won't be accepted.

Serbia · Post by **Serbia** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:12 am

I'm not sure hockey won't be accepted in Europe, after all, a lot of players come from Europe. But agree with most of your points. Hockey doesn't belong in Nashville, or Miami. And surely not Vegas! I was in favor of Balsillie buying the Preds. I'd like to see some teams moved to Canada, but the money thing is still an issue.

rhoges6 · Post by **rhoges6** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:15 am

denominator wrote: In my opinion, Gary Bettman is the worst thing that has ever happened to the NHL. He forced an entire season to disappear because he wanted a salary cap, he won't allow teams to relocate, and he is pushing for NHL hockey in Europe where it won't be accepted.

Exactly. I loved it at the All-Star game when he was introduced and everybody in the buidling booed him.

denominator · Post by **denominator** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:36 am

Serbia wrote:I'm not sure hockey won't be accepted in Europe, after all, a lot of players come from Europe. But agree with most of your points. Hockey doesn't belong in Nashville, or Miami. And surely not Vegas! I was in favor of Balsillie buying the Preds. I'd like to see some teams moved to Canada, but the money thing is still an issue.

Hockey will be (and is) accepted in Europe. It already is (look at all the Swedish Elite League). But the NHL won't be. Plus it is a logistical nightmare to think of relocating a team to Europe (which I have hear rumours of Bettman considering).

The long term problem with moving teams to Canada was that the Canadian dollar was doing so poorly that economically it was a poor idea. But with the salary cap and the Canadian dollar approximately on par with the American dollar, the economics are no longer the issue.

Serbia · Post by **Serbia** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:50 am

I have chatted with some Europeans who have interest in the NHL... but how widespread it is, I don't know.

Adding a team to Europe would be stupid. A better idea that I read somewhere recently had the formation of a "NHL Europe" type idea, basically formed like MLB then, where the NHL and the Euro version end up playing for the Cup at the end of the playoffs. Not that I support that idea either, but it's better than a couple teams that somehow have to play in the NHL.

MR. Nate · Post by **MR. Nate** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:56 am

With the US Dollar as week as it is, shouldn't Canada be able to support more teams now? That was always one of the sticking points I thought.

denominator · Post by **denominator** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:13 pm

Serbia wrote:Adding a team to Europe would be stupid. A better idea that I read somewhere recently had the formation of a "NHL Europe" type idea, basically formed like MLB then, where the NHL and the Euro version end up playing for the Cup at the end of the playoffs. Not that I support that idea either, but it's better than a couple teams that somehow have to play in the NHL.

The other idea is to add/relocate and entire division to Europe. With the schedule the way it is now (thank god they're changing it next year), the European teams would play 32 games within themselves and each would have 5 5-game road trips to the states. One North American division would do a European road trip, while the other 2 divisions would do 2 road trips.

This could work, but it would create a style of play in Europe entirely different from the rest of the world (look at the current difference between East and West).

rhoges6 · Post by **rhoges6** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:10 pm

Wow, its almost playoff time and nobody has posted anything here since feb. 7. I was so pumped by the Bruins win today (3-2 OT over the hated flyers) that I had to post something. Let's go B's!!

oggiss · Post by **oggiss** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:33 pm

Detroit - all the swedes owns

but I also like Vincet Lecavalier - he makes hockey beautiful

rhoges6 · Post by **rhoges6** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:48 pm

oggiss wrote:Detroit - all the swedes owns

P.J. Axelsson: everybody's favorite Swede!!

Serbia · Post by **Serbia** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:01 pm

oggiss wrote:Detroit - all the swedes owns

but I also like Vincet Lecavalier - he makes hockey beautiful

Aye! Nick Lidstrom SHOULD get consideration for MVP, but he won't. He'll most likely win the Norris again though.

oggiss · Post by **oggiss** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:05 pm

Serbia wrote:
oggiss wrote:Detroit - all the swedes owns

but I also like Vincet Lecavalier - he makes hockey beautiful
Aye! Nick Lidstrom SHOULD get consideration for MVP, but he won't. He'll most likely win the Norris again though.

Nicklas Lidström might be one of the best defenders ever. Chris Chelios is good as well, btw he's still playing?

Aye norris for sure, hopefully at least.

Alfie is a good swede that should also get consideration for MVP.

Neoteny · Post by **Neoteny** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:08 pm

Serbia wrote:
oggiss wrote:Detroit - all the swedes owns

but I also like Vincet Lecavalier - he makes hockey beautiful
Aye! Nick Lidstrom SHOULD get consideration for MVP, but he won't. He'll most likely win the Norris again though.

How many Norris trophies has he won? Surely he could trade them all in for an MVP or two...

Serbia · Post by **Serbia** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:09 pm

Yes, Chelios is still playing. He's 46 years old now.

And I agree totally with you on Lidstrom. Far and away the best defenseman of this era, one of the greatest ever.

oggiss · Post by **oggiss** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:10 pm

Serbia wrote:Yes, Chelios is still playing. He's 46 years old now.

And I agree totally with you on Lidstrom. Far and away the best defenseman of this era, one of the greatest ever.

Omfg, Chelios is teh old. Stay in there buddy!

Yep, although he doesn't make much noise of himself :/

Serbia · Post by **Serbia** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:11 pm

Nick has won the Norris 5 times, and the past two. He's likely to win again this year.

oggiss · Post by **oggiss** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:15 pm

So who you guys think will win Stanley Cup?

Neoteny · Post by **Neoteny** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:22 pm

oggiss wrote:So who you guys think will win Stanley Cup?

I'm going to be 100% biased and say the wings. I don't think it's an unsafe guess either.

Neoteny · Post by **Neoteny** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:23 pm

Neoteny wrote:
oggiss wrote:So who you guys think will win Stanley Cup?
I'm going to be 100% biased and say the wings. I don't think it's an unsafe guess either.

I'm kinda boring, I realize, but it's the only Detroit team I can root for that actually has a chance.

oggiss · Post by **oggiss** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:34 pm

hehe, they sure look strong