2009-2010 NHL Season

[Brass]

Not even sure what Eye's problem is. He's admitted he doesn't watch the NHL anymore, so why bother posting in the thread?

Anyway, back on topic - big win for the Bruins last night. Hopefully this signals a turnaround for Tim Thomas. He's too good a goalie to be playing like he has, so I'm hoping he picks it up. With the injury bug that's struck a number of the B's defensemen (Wideman, Morris, etc), he'll need to up his game if the Bruins want to see the playoffs. I trust he will. Would be great if they could get a win against a talented Thrashers on Wednesday night. Best news is that Milan Lucic skated prior to the team's practice on Tuesday, inching closer to a return. The Bruins desperately need his intensity on the ice as soon as possible.

[Eye]

Brodeur is the greatest goalie ever. It's a shame that he plays for the crap organization that is the Devils. The team is good every year, with Brodeur being a huge reason, but the management and fans are garbage.

Devils management is pretty classy, hate to break it to you. The team's fantastically run. I wish we had their management in Toronto. As for fans, I've only met a few in real life, and a few here, and they all seem very passionate/knowledgeable of the game.

First and foremost, Devils management isn't that classy. Yeah the on ice produce is great every year; however, where the management fails is in marketing the team. That's what I mean by management. The turnoff to the team is their management, and garbage fans, not on ice product. Sure there are some intelligent Devils fans, but half empty crowds in the new shiny arena are unacceptable. Terrible promotion of the team and terrible fanbase.

Not even sure what Eye's problem is. He's admitted he doesn't watch the NHL anymore, so why bother posting in the thread?

Anyway, back on topic - big win for the Bruins last night. Hopefully this signals a turnaround for Tim Thomas. He's too good a goalie to be playing like he has, so I'm hoping he picks it up. With the injury bug that's struck a number of the B's defensemen (Wideman, Morris, etc), he'll need to up his game if the Bruins want to see the playoffs. I trust he will. Would be great if they could get a win against a talented Thrashers on Wednesday night. Best news is that Milan Lucic skated prior to the team's practice on Tuesday, inching closer to a return. The Bruins desperately need his intensity on the ice as soon as possible.

Did I say I don't watch the NHL anymore? I may have, can't remember, but that could all change if the league turns it around. Maybe I will go back to watching NHL hockey, but I don't see that any time soon. The awesome sport of hockey (and this goes for any sport because any sport is bigger than the top league) is much bigger than the top professional league that is the NHL.

My problem with Brass is that he has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to hockey, EVAR, but god forbid you disagree with him.

[The_Admiral]

The Blue Jackets are basically Nash, Mason, and bodies. Not really set up to handle bumps in the road.

I realize they don't have a lot of big names, but this is basically the same roster that went to the playoffs last year. What was great about them last year was that they outworked so many teams and they rarely had a bad loss, meaning they were always in the game in the third period.

What was great about them was that they had a Vezina candidate in net who gave them wins they wouldn't have had otherwise with the skaters they dressed. As goes Mason, so go the Jackets; if he's going to keep posting a GAA around 3.5, they're not going to do anything. There are too many talented teams in the West for them to skate by (as it were) on "hustle and grit" or whatever if they don't have the goaltending to prevent "scoring."

[Brass]

My problem with Brass is that he has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to hockey, EVAR, but god forbid you disagree with him.

"on ice produce" sounds delicious! Eye, I'd be very interested to know how you've come to this conclusion. Especially when I posted how excited I was about a college game over a professional game. I'm not even sure how you can use that as evidence in an argument that I have "no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to hockey". I'd also like to know why no one can disagree with me. Please, fill me in.

Anyway, I found out that Lucic is aiming for a January 1st comeback - obviously the Winter Classic. That would be terrific for the black and gold.

[Sport]

The Blue Jackets are basically Nash, Mason, and bodies. Not really set up to handle bumps in the road.

I realize they don't have a lot of big names, but this is basically the same roster that went to the playoffs last year. What was great about them last year was that they outworked so many teams and they rarely had a bad loss, meaning they were always in the game in the third period.

What was great about them was that they had a Vezina candidate in net who gave them wins they wouldn't have had otherwise with the skaters they dressed. As goes Mason, so go the Jackets; if he's going to keep posting a GAA around 3.5, they're not going to do anything. There are too many talented teams in the West for them to skate by (as it were) on "hustle and grit" or whatever if they don't have the goaltending to prevent "scoring."

Steve Mason has been terrible this year (case in point: the 3 goals he gave up in the first 4 minutes in Denver), but he's not getting any help from his defense either. Fedor Tyutin looks like he's standing still all the time. Marc Methot is a turnover machine, Commodore is slow, Klesla is injured and Chris Russell is undersized (though he could become the next Scott Niedermayer). The only defenseman that I think is playing well is Jan Hejda.

[crashcarson15]

The Blue Jackets are basically Nash, Mason, and bodies. Not really set up to handle bumps in the road.

I realize they don't have a lot of big names, but this is basically the same roster that went to the playoffs last year. What was great about them last year was that they outworked so many teams and they rarely had a bad loss, meaning they were always in the game in the third period.

What was great about them was that they had a Vezina candidate in net who gave them wins they wouldn't have had otherwise with the skaters they dressed. As goes Mason, so go the Jackets; if he's going to keep posting a GAA around 3.5, they're not going to do anything. There are too many talented teams in the West for them to skate by (as it were) on "hustle and grit" or whatever if they don't have the goaltending to prevent "scoring."

Steve Mason has been terrible this year (case in point: the 3 goals he gave up in the first 4 minutes in Denver), but he's not getting any help from his defense either. Fedor Tyutin looks like he's standing still all the time. Marc Methot is a turnover machine, Commodore is slow, Klesla is injured and Chris Russell is undersized (though he could become the next Scott Niedermayer). The only defenseman that I think is playing well is Jan Hejda.

And that's when the suckitude began.

[Eye]

My problem with Brass is that he has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to hockey, EVAR, but god forbid you disagree with him.

"on ice produce" sounds delicious! Eye, I'd be very interested to know how you've come to this conclusion. Especially when I posted how excited I was about a college game over a professional game. I'm not even sure how you can use that as evidence in an argument that I have "no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to hockey". I'd also like to know why no one can disagree with me. Please, fill me in.

Anyway, I found out that Lucic is aiming for a January 1st comeback - obviously the Winter Classic. That would be terrific for the black and gold.

On ice produce would sound delicious, though I would prefer an on ice product.

Here is how I have arrived to the conclusion that the Devils management is terrible. They don't know how to sell their product. Half empty arenas for a perennial contender with the greatest goaltender of all time. Yes, the fans are awful, but that is only part of the problem.

Yeah, basically your other post was about how you used the phrase "I'll be honest". It has nothing to do with hockey. Just that in theory you should now preface everything you say with some variation of the previously mentioned phrase to clarify you were being honest.

Nobody can disagree with you because you will throw some sort of smarmy comment back at them rather than defend your point. The thread where the greatest American hockey player comes to mind.

[The_Admiral]

Here is how I have arrived to the conclusion that the Devils management is terrible. They don't know how to sell their product. Half empty arenas for a perennial contender with the greatest goaltender of all time.

Evidently they do a horrible job of marketing, but they're in such an awful location. Nobody liked going to the Meadowlands, and apparently nobody likes going to Newark either. I can imagine why: Newark is infamous for being a Terrible Place. They also have the misfortune of being the third New York team behind two others with bigger and more established fanbases. Nobody asked for the New Jersey Devils; they just sort of shoehorned themselves into the market and were crappy for a long time before becoming good but boring. I know Brodeur is really good and all (though who isn't really good behind a clutchy grabby neutral zone trap that makes hockey so categorically awful that the league has to take a year off to purge itself), but not even the best marketing wizards on Madison Avenue could figure out a way to get people who already like the Rags or Isles to shlep out to Jersey to watch nothing happen for a couple hours.

Does anyone remember what Phil Jackson said about why he didn't take the Nets gig? He said something about how he couldn't coach somewhere where there wasn't a "power base." Sounds kind of abstract and odd and Phil Jackson-y, which I guess it was, but he had a point that's equally applicable to the Devils as it is to the Nets: they're not a civic institution, they're a building tenant and cable television programming. They don't have a history, legacy, traditions, they don't mean anything to anyone. They only exist as a hockey team. They're hardly even from a place. The Rangers paraded through the streets of Manhattan when they won it all. The Devils hung out in a parking lot.

[Don]

Here is how I have arrived to the conclusion that the Devils management is terrible. They don't know how to sell their product. Half empty arenas for a perennial contender with the greatest goaltender of all time.

Evidently they do a horrible job of marketing, but they're in such an awful location. Nobody liked going to the Meadowlands, and apparently nobody likes going to Newark either. I can imagine why: Newark is infamous for being a Terrible Place. They also have the misfortune of being the third New York team behind two others with bigger and more established fanbases. Nobody asked for the New Jersey Devils; they just sort of shoehorned themselves into the market and were crappy for a long time before becoming good but boring. I know Brodeur is really good and all (though who isn't really good behind a clutchy grabby neutral zone trap that makes hockey so categorically awful that the league has to take a year off to purge itself), but not even the best marketing wizards on Madison Avenue could figure out a way to get people who already like the Rags or Isles to shlep out to Jersey to watch nothing happen for a couple hours.

Does anyone remember what Phil Jackson said about why he didn't take the Nets gig? He said something about how he couldn't coach somewhere where there wasn't a "power base." Sounds kind of abstract and odd and Phil Jackson-y, which I guess it was, but he had a point that's equally applicable to the Devils as it is to the Nets: they're not a civic institution, they're a building tenant and cable television programming. They don't have a history, legacy, traditions, they don't mean anything to anyone. They only exist as a hockey team. They're hardly even from a place. The Rangers paraded through the streets of Manhattan when they won it all. The Devils hung out in a parking lot.

Game. Set. Match.

[The_Admiral]

I play to win at messageboarding.

[rams80]

There's a reason a lot of parents send their talented hockey playing kids to Shattuck-St. Mary's School in Fairbault Minnesota.

You never have to see your little precious for great stretches of time, and sentencing them to life in the boondocks of Minnesota is a fitting punishment for their transgressions?

What in the he-man's thong are you talking about?

The only appeal of boarding school from a parenting perspective is that you can send your children away to rural holes for months at a time; leaving you plenty of time to live your life as you, as opposed to them, see fit

[Brass]

On ice produce would sound delicious, though I would prefer an on ice product.

Here is how I have arrived to the conclusion that the Devils management is terrible. They don't know how to sell their product. Half empty arenas for a perennial contender with the greatest goaltender of all time. Yes, the fans are awful, but that is only part of the problem.

Yeah, basically your other post was about how you used the phrase "I'll be honest". It has nothing to do with hockey. Just that in theory you should now preface everything you say with some variation of the previously mentioned phrase to clarify you were being honest.

Nobody can disagree with you because you will throw some sort of smarmy comment back at them rather than defend your point. The thread where the greatest American hockey player comes to mind.

So, you're just mad because I used a figure of speech? Lighten up a tad.

Oh, the "Best American NHL Player" thread. I love that one. You called Brian Leetch overrated, and I just posted his accomplishments and you got your panties in a bunch because someone called you out on it. You commented back and we left it at that. Then, someone said they'd take Chelios as the best, to which you, out of left field, provided us with "Wrong, and you know it. The best ever is Brass97. He knows so much more than anyone of us could fathom and he is the best player ever. He's great. All bow down to him and his infinite knowledge and skills of the game. It's his world and we're just living in it, yo". So who's the smarmy one?

In NHL related news, the Bruins wore their brown helmets today in practice - same ones they'll wear at the Classic. They look sharp!

[JQK]

You gotta remember what looks like empty seats are people hanging in the fire and ice lounges and the goal bar. The Devils do ok on attendance.

..and Eye, my friend, as a garbage Devils fan, i say with pride that you can go fu*k yourself.

Prick...

[Brendan]

Watching the Canucks Preds game tonight I was wondering why Barry Trotz has stayed with the Preds for as long as he has. He's a great coach who would continually compete for a Stanley Cup with a large market team that spends to the Cap.

[The_Admiral]

Maybe Nashville has the best bridges to live under.

[Eye]

On ice produce would sound delicious, though I would prefer an on ice product.

Here is how I have arrived to the conclusion that the Devils management is terrible. They don't know how to sell their product. Half empty arenas for a perennial contender with the greatest goaltender of all time. Yes, the fans are awful, but that is only part of the problem.

Yeah, basically your other post was about how you used the phrase "I'll be honest". It has nothing to do with hockey. Just that in theory you should now preface everything you say with some variation of the previously mentioned phrase to clarify you were being honest.

Nobody can disagree with you because you will throw some sort of smarmy comment back at them rather than defend your point. The thread where the greatest American hockey player comes to mind.

So, you're just mad because I used a figure of speech? Lighten up a tad.

Oh, the "Best American NHL Player" thread. I love that one. You called Brian Leetch overrated, and I just posted his accomplishments and you got your panties in a bunch because someone called you out on it. You commented back and we left it at that. Then, someone said they'd take Chelios as the best, to which you, out of left field, provided us with "Wrong, and you know it. The best ever is Brass97. He knows so much more than anyone of us could fathom and he is the best player ever. He's great. All bow down to him and his infinite knowledge and skills of the game. It's his world and we're just living in it, yo". So who's the smarmy one?

In NHL related news, the Bruins wore their brown helmets today in practice - same ones they'll wear at the Classic. They look sharp!

Actually, the real answer is that I don't like you, but I figured that an answer like that would be unacceptable, so naturally I didn't say that.

And JQK. Thanks for proving why Devils fans are the bestest. You rool, dood.

[JQK]

...And JQK. Thanks for proving why Devils fans are the bestest. You rool, dood.

Awwww... Thank you buddy.

I'm just glad we have fine people like you, that do not follow the NHL, to tell others who do follow the NHL how much they suck, if they are garbage, and if their team is worth following.

You are a genius, especially compared to New Jersey Devils management, and how anyone can question you is beyond comprehension. God bless you, Eye. God bless you.

[IceCap]

Hey King, since it's been decided beyond a shadow of a doubt that Devils management sucks, I'll kindly put you and your fellow fans out your misery by offering to swamp management with the Leafs. I'm just looking out for what's best for you

[Brass]

Actually, the real answer is that I don't like you, but I figured that an answer like that would be unacceptable, so naturally I didn't say that.

Then don't read my posts. Problem solved. Goodbye.

[Shane Does Art]

Actually, the real answer is that I don't like you, but I figured that an answer like that would be unacceptable, so naturally I didn't say that.

There's a wonderful thing called the ignore function.

Use it, I'm about to.