Official Hockey discussion thread

Ovechkin is back and entertaining as (On)hell.

And I'm a little nervous about what your Bruins are going to my Sabres tonight after we poked the bear Thursday.
I must say Ted Nolan is doing a good job turning Buffalo around though.
 
Have been really pleased with the Hawks so far, good start to the season and surviving Crawford being out pretty well.
 
I've heard from a few radio sports figures that who ever wins the series between the Blackhawks and Blues in the playoffs will be the team that wins the Cup this year.

Man, it's great to see St Louis doing so well this year!
 
As usual, I don't think it is that easy to pick a clear winner. Pittsburgh is back to their usual regular season dominance, but are back to square one when it comes to the playoffs, having to prove themselves all over again. Boston is playing well and the Canadians have impressed me. Out west Chicago may be a favorite, but they do have stiff competition not only from St. Louis, but L.A and the Ducks. Also, I am curious to see how Colorado ends up.
 
If the blues make the rumoured deal for Ryan Miller, they will be tough to beat.
Ironically, Anaheim is another spot Miller may end up.

To me, Pittsburgh is the only team in the east with a chance. Boston doesn't seem to have it this year.
 
10 Blackhawks made various Olympic teams, Ideally we will be seeing Patrick Kane with a Gold medal this time around. Cannot wait for this to start.
 
FINALLY some hockey discussion. The Finns are stacked at goal, but will Salanne have enough to the tank? The U.S STILL look like underdogs. Canada is loaded up front, but I don't like their goalies, they all have question marks. Russia has a lot of pressure as the host, but do they have the depth after Malkin, Ovechkin and Kovulchuck? Sweden seems the most stable on paper.
 
Canada's the most stacked in talent, USA has excellent grit up front and great goaltending, Sweden is loaded with smart hockey players and seems built for the larger ice, while the Russia have their stars and the home ice advantage.

Should be your usual toss-up, with some great hockey along the way.

Meanwhile, after meeting these guys on the streets during Vancouver 2010, go Latvia!

Latvia.jpg
 
Onhell said:
Canada is loaded up front, but I don't like their goalies, they all have question marks..
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Excuse me? How the fuck does all our goalies have question marks? Luongo is notoriously streaky but there's a reason they picked Carey Price over Corey Crawford, and that reason is consistency. Price isn't as good as Brodeur was at his age, of course not, but look at his numbers for the last 5 years. He's never higher than 2.77 GAA nor lower than .905 S%. Price is gonna be the starter unless Luongo rides a super hot streak into Sochi (which, I will admit, is possible). The thing that scares me most about all this is that Carey Price is easily the best goalie Canada has developed in the last 10 years, and there's nobody else his caliber coming up that we're aware of. For some reason, Canada's stopped developing great goalies.

How the fuck did Patrick Marleau and Rick Nash make this team over Martin St. Louis, anyway? Not only should St. Louis be there, he should be team captain. I think, honestly, that Yzerman passed over Marty to ensure that he's healthy for the Lightning's stretch run. Which makes me wonder who they will name as captain. Team Canada has 5 team captains and three ex-team captains on the squad. I expect it will be Crosby, but I hope it's Weber.

Let's look at the other teams - Sweden is fucking stacked. Only one non-NHL player and apparently the Swedish Hockey Federation has a rule that any international team must have one SEL player on the roster. Russia's pretty tight too, and I'm glad to see they're going with Bob and Semyon (sounds like a sitcom). Bob's earned his accolades. Slovakia is aging, but good D and goaltending can take them far. The Czechs are the same way, though it is interesting to see Jagr named to the squad but Plekanec made captain (not that, as a Habs fan, I am complaining). Swiss probably will do OK, but not great. A far cry from the days when only David Aebischer was the only Swiss player in the NHL though. At this rate they will supplant Germany as the #8 hockey country in the world, if they haven't already. I like Finland, but I am sad to see Saku not make the team. I don't think he wanted to make the team, but I'm still sad.

I had an analysis of what team's NHLers made it then I accidentally deleted Vancouver throwing the whole thing off. Fucktarts. Suffice to say Montreal sends 8, Detroit, St Louis, and Chicago send 10, and Florida sends 2. Figure out the gist.
 
LooseCannon said:
Excuse me? How the fuck does all our goalies have question marks? Luongo is notoriously streaky but there's a reason they picked Carey Price over Corey Crawford, and that reason is consistency. Price isn't as good as Brodeur was at his age, of course not, but look at his numbers for the last 5 years. He's never higher than 2.77 GAA nor lower than .905 S%. Price is gonna be the starter unless Luongo rides a super hot streak into Sochi (which, I will admit, is possible). The thing that scares me most about all this is that Carey Price is easily the best goalie Canada has developed in the last 10 years, and there's nobody else his caliber coming up that we're aware of. For some reason, Canada's stopped developing great goalies.
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Luongo is more than "streaky" I don't like his glove hand (yes i'm still on that) and he notoriously allows soft goals at the most inopportune times. Price is in a similar position as Fleury at the moment. Great regular season goalie, but the playoffs? No Cup, nothing deeper than the second round. Sure you could say it is the team in front as well, but we all know what a less than perfect Montreal team with a great goalie did in '93. I may be judging too harshly, but there just isn't any "great" goalies anymore. Brodeur is too old, Hasek is gone, Roy is gone. Look at todays goalies and only Lundqvist fits the bill and image of consistency and even he doesn't have a cup (but he has gold medals). Finally Smith is well... unproven. So he and the coyotes had one good run... Let's see if he can keep it up, that's all.

How the fuck did Patrick Marleau and Rick Nash make this team over Martin St. Louis, anyway? Not only should St. Louis be there, he should be team captain. I think, honestly, that Yzerman passed over Marty to ensure that he's healthy for the Lightning's stretch run. Which makes me wonder who they will name as captain. Team Canada has 5 team captains and three ex-team captains on the squad. I expect it will be Crosby, but I hope it's Weber.
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I know! I can't believe Thornton got passed over as well (most assists in the league!).
 
Onhell said:
Sure you could say it is the team in front as well, but we all know what a less than perfect Montreal team with a great goalie did in '93.
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That was a different NHL. Goalies don't steal playoffs anymore. They win Conn Smythes but they don't steal playoffs. No goalie has stolen a playoff like that, not since Roy did it in Colorado in 2001. Everything afterwords has been consistency. I love Montreal, but they haven't had a top 4 team in a long time. This year comes so very close so far, and I'm hopeful that I can be hopeful. Price is way better than you give him credit for. Watch and see.

bearfan said:
Easily and it would be a top 5 team
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Of course.

G: Fleury, Crawford, Harding

D: Seabrook, Beauchemin, Boychuk, Phaneuf, M. Staal, Green, Giordano, Campbell

F: Thornton, Seguin, Giroux, Couture, Hall, St Louis, Eberle, Skinner, E. Staal, Neal, Lucic, Schwartz, Iginla

There. Bronze medal.
 
LOL, I saw that last night and I thought, "LC will be happy." Too Funny.

Jagr finally passed Lemieux in points for sole posession of #7 all time. What still makes Mario the greatest? It only took him 915 games to get there... took Jagr 1400+ :p Oh Mario... had you been healthy :(
 
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