2009-10 NHL Season Part 2

[The_Admiral]

SON YOU JUST GOT ODDBALLED

Well, the eight for the West are set, but a lot of the playoff positioning is still very much up in the air. Meaningful games till the bitter end. I like it! I don't like that Calgary couldn't give us one more win when we needed it last night. I mean, winning 13 of the last 15 with them was nice, but I really wanted the Sharks to lose.

[Still MIGHTY]

Thats not what the '06 Oilers, '03 Ducks, '01 Kings, '94 Sharks, '93 Maple Leafs, '92 Blues thought.

And what a brilliant first round that was.

Speaking of first rounds, if the Ducks even get that 8th playoff spot, they'll be up against San Jose, just like last year. They'll either end the Sharks' season quickly again (knowing how the Sharks have a bad habit of crashing early on), or the Ducks will simply be swatted aside, much like we were during 5 of 6 of our regular season meetings.

Maybe that playoff spot won't be worth the trouble after all.

Well, with the Avs defeating the 'Nucks tonight we can pretty much stick a fork in them for this season. I'm sort of bummed we won't have a shot at repeating last season's success. But, what do expect with this this season. We've continued to be inconsistent all year long. It's a shame it took us all the way until the brink of elimination to finally get with it. Oh well, I'm hoping for some changes next season.

Sorry, I hate to break the news to y'all, but you were eliminated way back in December. All this winning was just a smoke screen. You were never in contention after the halfway point. There's a stat out there somewhere that says that 80% of the teams that were in the playoffs at halfway stayed in the playoffs. That was when y'all were like two points out of the worst record in the league. From what I see, you have a defense of two, Niedermayer and Visnovsky and the rest are bad. The offense is great, and then you have big-time question marks in goal. Your goal issues are repeating themselves again. McElhinney is your new Jonas Hiller of a few years ago and Hiller has become what Gigure was before they shipped him off. You have an untested goalie challenging a "veteran". Hiller has played well, but has he been shoved aside for a cheaper goalie? If you're not stable in the net and have a bad defense, then get ready for year after year of missing the playoffs. Trust me, as a Kings fan, I know what bad defense and no stability in the crease is like. It sucks! I feel for the pain that you are about to go through, it won't be pretty.

I don't want to waste time on you with a rant, so points:

- Yeah, because being 2 points out at the Olympic break is not in contention.

- The Ducks problems have been starting off slow in October and November. The Ducks had the 6th best record after the midway point. If they fire Carlyle, they may be able to get an early head start so these late blasts aren't needed each year. The only fast start under Carlyle was the 2006-07 Cup season.

- Hiller hasn't been "shoved aside" recently. He's had back spasms. Carlyle also said that he was going to rest him after riding him all season and the playoffs a distant hope. McBackup was going to get a few starts, but had Hiller's back not seized up he'd have been playing. (I guess you can compare it to Giguere's chronic groin muscle problems, but this is the first time Hiller has been injured.)

- The only thing I actually agree with you with is the defensive issues. The defense underperformed early on. Niedermayer has taken a step back, but still good. Whitney was terrible all season. Wizniewski is about even to his play last year. Visnovsky has been a God send. I can't wait for a full season with him. And Eminger, Brookbank, Festerling, Boyton, revolving door of #5/6/7 defensemen, et al is well, enough said. I am excited for Luca Sbisa to stay up with the team full time next year. He played well initially, was sent down, had a great season in juniors, and was very very good in the Olympics. There are the oncomings of Mark Mitera and maybe Jake Gardiner out of the NCAA for next year.

Ducks offseason:

1. Fire Carlyle

2. Convince Selanne and Niedermayer not to retire. Teemu has had a great season, even at 35. He still has it in him. Niedermayer may not be at his same level, and I'd love to see him back, if only for a sure thing.

3. Bulk up defense through free agency/draft

4. Resign Bobby Ryan

5. Groom young offensive talents.

[NEW.ERA]

Raleigh and the Carolina Hurricanes are set to host the 2011 NHL All Star Game.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=317028

[JQK]

Who wants to bet the NHL All-Star Game NEVER comes to Newark...

[BigMac12]

Who wants to bet the NHL All-Star Game NEVER comes to Newark...

Glendale's still waiting for one.

[Shane Does Art]

Who wants to bet the NHL All-Star Game NEVER comes to Newark...

Glendale's still waiting for one.

Glendale can wait.

Ottawa needs one.

[Lee.]

Who wants to bet the NHL All-Star Game NEVER comes to Newark...

Glendale's still waiting for one.

Glendale's still waiting for pro hockey, too. The two generally go hand in hand.

[BigMac12]

Who wants to bet the NHL All-Star Game NEVER comes to Newark...

Glendale's still waiting for one.

Glendale's still waiting for pro hockey, too. The two generally go hand in hand.

Doesn't this season's Coyotes count?

[charger77]

Tough for the Jackets to beat both the Wings and the refs.

-Dan

[BrySmalls]

Tough for the Jackets to beat both the Wings and the refs.

-Dan

Refs had to assure that the Wings keep their 100 point season streak intact. They are 2 points out.

[HedleyLamarr]

Raleigh and the Carolina Hurricanes are set to host the 2011 NHL All Star Game.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=317028

I was just in Raleigh a couple weeks ago, when the Thrashers played there. It's a rather boring town. It had us wondering why they decided to put the team in Raleigh as opposed to Charlotte.

Who wants to bet the NHL All-Star Game NEVER comes to Newark...

Glendale's still waiting for one.

Considering that Glendale was the supposed favorite, I think it speaks volumes about the future of the NHL in Phoenix...

[The_Admiral]

I was just in Raleigh a couple weeks ago, when the Thrashers played there. It's a rather boring town. It had us wondering why they decided to put the team in Raleigh as opposed to Charlotte.

NC State needed a co-tenant in order to get a pro-calibre basketball arena. Pretty sure this was why.

[Sport]

This will seem rather biased but I think it's time Columbus hosted the all-star game. It's a centrally located city, which is probably what led to the most well attended draft ever, and the arena is still fantastic. Columbus also held the frozen four a few years ago and the building (granted different arena, but whatever) was packed for all 3 games. It would be successful.

Also, the Blue Jackets players are in "job-saving" mode as they actually went out and played with some energy tonight in Detroit. The refs gave the wings back to back power plays on which they scored both. From there the team was totally deflated. It's such a shame that at this time last year I was getting ready to watch Blue Jackets playoff hockey and now we've regressed to the point where we're worse than we were before.

[Don]

Who wants to bet the NHL All-Star Game NEVER comes to Newark...

Glendale's still waiting for one.

Glendale can wait.

Ottawa needs one.

The US capital needs one more.

[Shane Does Art]

You had your turn in '82.

[The_Admiral]

Nobody needs an NHL All-Star Game anywhere. Even for an All-Star Game, this one's so useless it's almost offensive that it exists in the first place. There wasn't one this year and nobody cared. If you have to have a skills competition or a slapshot contest or a "Recite Lines From Slap Shot" contest or whatever, just do all that crap around the Winter Classic.

[Sodboy13]

Dave's a killer!

[MDC]

Nobody needs an NHL All-Star Game anywhere. Even for an All-Star Game, this one's so useless it's almost offensive that it exists in the first place. There wasn't one this year and nobody cared. If you have to have a skills competition or a slapshot contest or a "Recite Lines From Slap Shot" contest or whatever, just do all that crap around the Winter Classic.

That would actually be really cool. I dont care about the all-star game and the skills contests are semi-interesting, but not enough to stay at home at watch. If they put during the intermissions of the Winter Classic, that would keep my attention for the time being.

[Corvus]

Nobody needs an NHL All-Star Game anywhere. Even for an All-Star Game, this one's so useless it's almost offensive that it exists in the first place. There wasn't one this year and nobody cared. If you have to have a skills competition or a slapshot contest or a "Recite Lines From Slap Shot" contest or whatever, just do all that crap around the Winter Classic.

Agreed, the all star game itself is terrible.

[The_Admiral]

I'm glad people agree with me. I also agree that it doesn't augur well for the future of the Coyotes that they were supposed to get the 2011 game in exchange for getting hosed on the '06 game and now they lost that too. If you're going to have this stupid All-Star Game, just have it in Phoenix every year so all the transients can see their favorite players.

Luongo or Raycroft needs to have a hell of a night tonight. A Canucks win clinches first place for the Blackhawks, which seemed impossible a few weeks ago when they couldn't stop a shot to save their lives. I thought for all the world that the Red Wings would catch them again.