Official Hockey discussion thread

We watched it at work, and it was fucking awesome.  A true thriller, when Sweden scored just before the end of the third, everyone went quite quiet...and the goal, you could hear people being put on hold or mute just for some celebrations.
 
I think I'm a bit confused...isn't there a world junior event coming up in May? LC you mentioned you're going to Halifax for a hockey game...I thought it was the word junior championships...? :blink:

Maybe I'm just way off in left field somewhere.  :P

Great job Canadians! Now if only they would have sent some luck to the floundering Steelers. LMAO j/k
 
Floundering?!! I found it thrilling how they erased and surpassed an 18 point defecit to make it an exciting game.
 
The one in Halitown is the Men's World Championships for 20 year olds and older.  Though, younger players have played in it, like Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews.
 
Onhell: Yes, the 4th quarter was exciting because they *tried* to make a comeback, but all through the game they made mistakes. Jacksonville deserved the win. But the Pats will crush them cuz they're 16-0 and Brady is unstoppable. Better luck next year for Ben and co...hopefully. Maybe Sidney and the Pens can give them pointers  :P

LC:OK, that clears it up for me. So this game was for under 20 year olds?
 
http://capitals.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=349546

So ovechkin just got signed to a 13 year contract. It seems these ridiculously long contracts are getting pretty popular, with Mike Richards of philly signing an 8 (or was it 10?) year contract and most notably DiPietro signing for 15 with NYI. NYI also signed Yashin a while back to 10 years (first one to ever sign that long) and of course he didn't play for them that long, they bought him out of what was left shortly after the lock out I believe.

What do you guys make of these signings? Is it a backlash to free agency? Harkening back to old time hockey when teams remained with a stable line-up for decades? Is it a way to jip the player out of lucrative contracts and bonuses by locking them early to so many years? Both? Personally I like the idea, it show commitment by both the player and organization and as seen in the Yashin case, it is not a set in stone thing, however I also think it is mostly a way for the organization to save lots of money...
 
It's a way to give job security and definitely a backlash against free agency.  If you want a player for a long time you need to give him a long term contract.  The Caps will have AO till he's 33 or 34.  That's most of his career and certainly his most productive years.  If he chooses to go ahead and leave after that...then so be it.  But he likely won't.  He'll take a 5 year big ass contract at whatever near league max is at the time and then retire around age 40, go back to Russia, and rule with an iron fist.
 
It would be nice if players signed to Canadian teams stuck around for that long instead of moving to higher pay.  We'd have more Canadian Stanley Cups.
 
Well, some teams manage their players poorly (see: Maple Leafs, Toronto; Oilers, Edmonton).  Others are known as hell to play in (Montreal) so players don't want long term deals.
 
Canadian teams seem to be high risk/pressure, low rewards (monetary and professional) markets to play in. Sure people actually care about hockey, but in places like Montreal, Edmonton and Vancouver, they are honestly FANATICAL about it. I remember when Edmonton had their miracle run a couple of years ago I believe it was Pisani who said that when they don't play well, the fans let them know it. Frankly as a fan I think you have every right to be sad/disappointed, but to complain to such a degree, well fuck it, then they can get on the ice and play instead.

  But as far as getting paid better, a friend of mine that works in a back recently told me the Canadian dollar is actually stronger than the American dollar recently... dun dun dun. It used to be an issue of players wanting to get paid in U.S dollars, but with the recent drop in dominance... who knows.
 
Ahem.  With the recent utter failure of the Maple Leafs' trip west, there are many rumours that if they lose to San Jose (very likely, as San Jose is a great team with awesome star power) that John Ferguson Jr. and Paul Maurice are done.  A new GM is likely to clean house, finding a buyer for Mats Sundin for some serious draft pickage (possibly Detroit or Pittsburgh, Colorado is also rumoured to be looking for a leadership candidate as an interim replacement for Joe Sakic).  It'd be hard for a Maple Leaf GM to find buyers for his other overpriced players like Bryan "Scores On My Own Net" McCabe and Jason "Cancer Patient And Crybaby" Blake.
 
The Leafs did lose, and Paul Maurice was almost in tears when he spoke with press after the game.  Not only did they lose, they blew a 2-0 lead in the third.  Yes, it looks like the Board is going to clean house.
 
I read the recap... blowing that lead... man... wtf? Sundin said he's not going anywhere as far as he's concerned.
 
How would his departure help? And if he left I'd like to see him go to Colorado, hell even Vancouver...

P.S last I checked Crosby was 3rd in the scoring race, checked again he is again in 4th, but Pitts is currently beating the shit out of NYR 3-0 :D...
 
Sundin leaving would bring a nice, juicy first round draft pick to a team that has traditionally wasted or spoiled their first round draft picks.

Consider their picks of the last 10 years:
1997: Traded their 1st round pick to the Islanders.  (Roberto Luongo)
1998: Nik Antropov, 10th overall.
1999: Luca Cereda, 24th overall.  Never joined the Leafs organization.
2000: Brad Boyes, 24th overall.  Never played with the Leafs, part of a trade to the Sharks for Owen Nolan in 2002.
2001: Carlo Coliacovo, 17th overall.
2002: Alex Steen, 24th overall.
2003: Traded to Boston via San Jose in the Nolan trade.  (Mark Stuart)
2004: No idea where this went, but they didn't fucking draft.
2005: Tuukka Rask, 21st overall.  Traded to Boston before he entered the organization for Andrew Raycock, who was promptly signed to a long term deal before he played a game and is now playing backup for Toskala.
2006: Jiri Tlusty, 13th overall.  Best known for nude photos on the internet.
2007: Traded to St Louis via San Jose in the Toskala trade.  (Lars Eller)
 
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