2009-10 NHL Season Part 2

[NEW.ERA]

Winners and Losers everybody & Final Thoughts.

Thoughts

- I think it's safe to say Washington and Phoenix did the best.

- Teams that needed the leadership and grit come April did so. (Buffalo, Los Angeles & Washington)

- Toronto gets low picks and a prospect. Leaf fans decide how Burke did.

- Phildelphia, Chicago, Detroit, San Jose all stand pat.

- Fringe teams like Dallas, NY Rangers and St Louis do nothing.

- Big names like Ray Whitney, Dan Hamhuis and Tomas Kaberle will not have new addresses.

- Flames and Oilers made a deal. First ever deal between the arch rivals.

- Wojtek Wolski might be the steal of the day. Only time will see how Peter Mueller does in Colorado and Kevin Porter former Hobey Baker Winner is a great ''Prospect''.

Winners

Phoenix

- Acquired arguably the best player today and getting rid of a bust well at least he was in Phoenix (Peter Mueller).

Washington

- Got their defensive situation fixed with bringing in Joe Corvo and bringing back Milan Jurcina. Leadership and depth scoring with Scott Walker and Eric Belanger.

Los Angeles

- Brings Jeff Halpern into a very young locker room. Halpern will bring experience and leadership to help this team down the stretch and into the playoffs. Freddy Modin can help if he stays healthy.

Anaheim

- Got rid of Vesa Toskala, Bring in a great offensive defenseman in Visnovsky.

Losers

Calgary

- Failed to bring in a first or second round draft pick, fixed the Backup goalie situation sort of with Vesa Toskala of all Goalies, got rid of a potential a second line center in Dustin Boyd and brought in a declining defenceman in Steve Staios

Boston

- Didn't address their offense which sorely needs a boost.

Feel free to agree and disagree that's what Forums are for.

[Don]

I'm extremely happy with what the Caps did today. Scott Walker brings alot of leadership and more sandpaper. Eric Belanger is a great 2 way center with speed and he's good at the dot. Caps fans know what Jurcina brings. The one I'm really excited about is Joe Corvo. The guy is such a great skater and puck mover which we needed. Definite upgrade over Pothier. The fact that we only gave up 1 roster player and 1 prospect and brought in 4 guys is excellent usage of the depth of our organization by George McPhee. I'll give it an A-.

[NEW.ERA]

No more deals until the Draft, Thank You! What you see is what you have till April, May, June or whenever your team stops playing.

Tonight I find myself cheering for the Canucks tonight to get 2 crucial points to set the Wings back just bit more.

[SenatorJake]

WINNERS:

Washington & Phoenix - Not much in the way of big name acquisitions. I guess the Capitals and the Coyotes are now slightly better teams for the post-season. Corvo is usually pretty good come playoff time and Wolski might help out with the lack of top 6 forwards in Phoenix. All in all, nothing really changed today. Visnovsky to Anaheim is a step forward for the Ducks, but it's nothing to write home about when you consider that Anaheim isn't even in a playoff spot right now. I guess he makes their powerplay slightly better.

LOSERS:

Philadelphia - I must say that I'm shocked the Flyers didn't go out and get a goaltender with Ray Emery being on the LTIR. Leighton for the playoffs is a hell of a gamble and not making a move today hurts the chances of Philadelphia going deep in the post-season.

Calgary - Has Darryl Sutter lost his mind? Why does he keep picking up all these Leafs players? He had a great team at the start of the year and now it's a dismal collection of guys nobody wanted. Note to the Sutters: you can't hit the panic button everytime the team is in a slump.

Nashville - They really could've gotten some scoring punch for Dan Hamhuis. I don't understand why they didn't. Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't Hamhuis been somewhat underwhelming on the second pairing this year. Seems to me like there was a lot of buzz surrounding this guy and the Preds should've capitalized on that by trading a player who's been underachieveing this year.

MY TEAM:

I'm satisfied with both moves the Sens made in the past month and didn't feel there was a whole lot they could've done today. Cullen's been "meh" so far but I think that he'll eventually find his place on the team. Sutton is a warrior and I hope Clouston pairs him up with anybody not named Matt Carkner because that would be the slowest pairing in the NHL.

[Viper]

Watching Wild vs. Flames on Fox Sports North... and guess what? Miikka Kiprusoff just gave up another gimmie goal (to Andrew Brunette) after getting caught out of position. It wasn't quite as crap-tacular as the one he gave up against the US in the Olympics, but to see Kiprusoff get schooled like this twice in six days is hard to believe. And guess who got an assist on the goal after coaxing Kiprusoff out of the net? None other than his Suomi teammate, Antti Miettinen. 2-0 Wild.

Update: And now another of Kiprusoff's Team Finland mates, Mikko Koivu, just made it 3-0. I guess playing for your country in front of a rival NHL goalie has its advantages. Meanwhile Niklas Backstrom, who relieved Kiprusoff in net in the Olympic game, still has a shutout going.

Update #2: Now it's 4-0. Kiprusoff must really be shell-shocked.

[BrySmalls]

Can this thread be merged with the main NHL thread? Thanks.

[BigMac12]

Am I the only one who thinks Peter Mueller will be better in Colorado?

[Still MIGHTY]

Am I the only one who thinks Peter Mueller will be better in Colorado?

He scored a goal last night in his first game with the Avs

You never know. Sometimes a change of scenery does well for guys, other times it doesn't matter.

[TFoA]

Just letting you guys know, in addition to doing a week-long preview of NHL Center Ice, they're doing a one-night preview of NHL Gamecenter. All sorts of awesomeness.

[Cujo]

Can this thread be merged with the main NHL thread? Thanks.

Agreed. TY.

[Don]

Scott Walker acquaints himself with the DC fans well with 2 goals including the game winner! I like him already.

[TFoA]

So during the 3-2 Sharks win over the Habs, Max Lapierre got away with what could be generously described as a cheap shot on Scott Nichol.

I wish there was video, but right now I can't find it so I'll describe it: Nichol's chasing for the puck on what could potentially be icing, Lapierre comes from behind, gives him a bit of a slash, then cross-checks him into the boards. Nichol's lucky that he wasn't laid out in a heap (though he did have to leave the game). A ref was probably no more than 2 feet away & called nothing.

Either way, Lapierre's probably gonna hear from the League from that. The best part was Ray Ferraro absolutely laying into Lapierre.

[FiddySicks]

So during the 3-2 Sharks win over the Habs, Max Lapierre got away with what could be generously described as a cheap shot on Scott Nichol.

I wish there was video, but right now I can't find it so I'll describe it: Nichol's chasing for the puck on what could potentially be icing, Lapierre comes from behind, gives him a bit of a slash, then cross-checks him into the boards. Nichol's lucky that he wasn't laid out in a heap (though he did have to leave the game). A ref was probably no more than 2 feet away & called nothing.

Either way, Lapierre's probably gonna hear from the League from that. The best part was Ray Ferraro absolutely laying into Lapierre.

And of course I turned it off when it was 2-1 Habs.

[tBBP]

I got to see Evgeni Malkin score the game-winner in OT last night vs the Rangers...with three seconds to go on Pittsburgh's power play.

I'm not gonna sit here and profess to watching a lot of hockey on TV, but I've gotten to watch quite a bit here lately some since the Capitals/Nationals seem to have a dedicated channel around here. I have no clue if the Penguins always play this way, but DAMN were they putting the pressure on poor Lundqvist...to say nothing of the rest of the Rangers' defense last night. I think the Rangers only got like three shots off on goal in that last period...they couldn't get out of their own zone to save their lives. (I believe that's quality forechecking, is it not? I ain't up on hockey lingo, so someone help me out here.) For all that, it's amazing Lundqvist only let in four shots in regulation...I think the Penguins threw like 50-something pucks at him (one of which careened in off Mark(?) Staal's leg--and I think that shot was thrown by his brother from the top left corner). Either way, that was a pretty entertaining game...and, of course, it's always good to see a goal scored live, especially a game-winner.

And oh yeah...this Malkin guy, he's pretty good.

[TFoA]

So during the 3-2 Sharks win over the Habs, Max Lapierre got away with what could be generously described as a cheap shot on Scott Nichol.

I wish there was video, but right now I can't find it so I'll describe it: Nichol's chasing for the puck on what could potentially be icing, Lapierre comes from behind, gives him a bit of a slash, then cross-checks him into the boards. Nichol's lucky that he wasn't laid out in a heap (though he did have to leave the game). A ref was probably no more than 2 feet away & called nothing.

Either way, Lapierre's probably gonna hear from the League from that. The best part was Ray Ferraro absolutely laying into Lapierre.

And of course I turned it off when it was 2-1 Habs.

Yeah, the game got really good in the late second/third period. But it kinda sucked though because the refs really let that game get out of hand. There weren't any line brawls, but you had the feeling that if they did any worse there probably would've been.

But it was a pretty good comeback for the Sharks. I thought that they were gonna continue this run of bad hockey against the East, but I guess they killed that thought. Also a little bit of a shame that Casey Price probably had his best game of the year & they lost. He was making some outstanding saves, really the only goals he let in were the ones that absolutely nobody would've stopped.

Kinda surprised that there was a pretty good amount of Habs fans in San Jose. Is that normal no matter where they go?

EDIT:

Here's the Lapierre video. It wasn't on an icing play, it was actually off a break. Still cheap as hell.

[NEW.ERA]

He's very lucky it wasn't head first or that could have been horrible.

[The_Admiral]

I'm a little surprised the Canadian telecasters didn't pull their punches on the Lapierre hit. In fact, I think they owe it to their audience not to condemn the Canadiens for "garbage plays," unless of course there are so few anglophone Habs fans that they owe them nothing. They sound like Sharks partisans.

[NEW.ERA]

I'm a little surprised the Canadian telecasters didn't pull their punches on the Lapierre hit. In fact, I think they owe it to their audience not to condemn the Canadiens for "garbage plays," unless of course there are so few anglophone Habs fans that they owe them nothing. They sound like Sharks partisans.

Ray Ferraro will always sound that he's one sided to one team during broadcast it's just the way he is.

[NEW.ERA]

League comes down on Maxim Lapierre. Suspended four games for his hit on Scott Nichol.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=312523

[The_Admiral]

7uongo's back!