2010 NHL Offseason chatter

[The_Admiral]

I thought the Devils owned their own arena. Hmm.

I wonder if Jersey City would've been a better location than Newark. It's closer to the city, has more businesses, and it's not known as the festering anal cyst of the East Coast. But I don't really know where Devils fans live in relation to the arena, or if they live anywhere at all, so maybe Newark was a brilliant idea after all?

[NJTank]

The Rock is about two blocks from Penn Station, which is the biggest train station in New Jersey, most trains come through here. They also provide shuttle buses to the other train station at Broad Street so public transportation is plentiful, unlike Jersey City which is the most god forsaken place in the entire US of A.

[BrySmalls]

The Hockey News is rolling out extremely early 2010-11 Team Predictions for each Conference one day at a time:

East:

15 - Florida Panthers

14 - New York Islanders

13 - New York Rangers

12 - Toronto Maple Leafs

11 - Atlanta Thrashers

10 - Ottawa Senators

9 - Carolina Hurricanes

8 - Montreal Canadiens

West:

15 - Edmonton Oilers

14 - Columbus Blue Jackets

13 - Minnesota Wild

12 - Dallas Stars

11 - Anaheim Ducks

10 - Nashville Predators

9 - Colorado Avalanche

8 - Calgary Flames

Thoughts?

[charger77]

Apparantly the Blackhawks have the cap space for Fernando Pisani.

[oddball]

Apparantly the Blackhawks have the cap space for Fernando Pisani.

Well of course they do. They traded away all their over-priced third and fourth liners!

[OMMF]

The Hockey News is rolling out extremely early 2010-11 Team Predictions for each Conference one day at a time:

East:

12 - Toronto Maple Leafs

Thoughts?

I hope 12th in the East = 27th overall. Another top-3 pick for the Bruins would be fantastic.

[DEAD!]

A sign of things to come?

http://www.gettyimages.ca/Search/Search.aspx?EventId=103269838&EditorialProduct=Sport

... or not

[Don]

I dunno, hybrid icing seems interesting, and I saw an image with a "bench crease" making it easier for officials to determine too many man, I kinda like that idea. 3v3 OT though? I dunno.

[The_Admiral]

League minimum is fair for Pisani to be a fourth-line winger or 13th forward. I feel marginally better about a Bickell/Dowell/? fourth line now that it has someone with some games under his belt on it. If he sucks, he can be waived with little pain. He'll endear himself to Chicago's sizable grinderphile contingent and maybejustmaybe contribute more than Ben Eager or Colin Fraser did. Speaking of the little scrapper, if you pretend this is a Fraser-for-Pisani trade, Chicago comes out on top!

[OMMF]

A sign of things to come?

http://www.gettyimag...alProduct=Sport

... or not

I've read all the descriptions about what they are trying out but none of them mention what that yellow line behind the goal line is for.

[HedleyLamarr]

I believe it's the goal line that, if the puck touches any part of it, results in a goal. It looks to be about a puck's width past the red goal line.

[charger77]

So they're thinking about only one faceoff circle directly in front of the goalie?

[NJTank]

I wish Bettman stopped screwing around with the game

[NEW.ERA]

The Hockey News is rolling out extremely early 2010-11 Team Predictions for each Conference one day at a time:

East:

15 - Florida Panthers

14 - New York Islanders

13 - New York Rangers

12 - Toronto Maple Leafs

11 - Atlanta Thrashers

10 - Ottawa Senators

9 - Carolina Hurricanes

8 - Montreal Canadiens

West:

15 - Edmonton Oilers

14 - Columbus Blue Jackets

13 - Minnesota Wild

12 - Dallas Stars

11 - Anaheim Ducks

10 - Nashville Predators

9 - Colorado Avalanche

8 - Calgary Flames

Thoughts?

Take Phoenix out of the Top 8 and put Anaheim in.

I just can't see Phoenix relying on Bryz once again and losing Lombardi and Stempniak's rebirth is going to hurt. If they can score there in, if they can't they're out. Same goes with the Flames though I do feel a little more positive that Tanguay and Joker can help out.

[BrySmalls]

#7s are the Tampa Bay Lightning and Phoenix Coyotes.

[The_Admiral]

I'm gonna slot Calgary 8th and Anaheim 9th. Ducks still have that dynamite scoring+checking combo line (presuming they retain Bobby Ryan) and strong goaltending, but there's too much going on in the West for them to sneak in as presently constructed. Halak won't be as good as people think in St. Louis (my 10th) when he doesn't have a Jacques Martin defensive-zone trap to hide a multitude of ills, and he'll also have to help kill all of Janssen and Crombeen's retarded penalties. The Detroit power play alone will eat him for brunch. I don't care where the Coyotes end up as long as it's below 8th and ultimately Winnipeg.

And speaking of Detroit, I want to build the world's largest atlatl to start launching spears in the direction of anyone fawning over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Enough of this "Steve Yzerman: best GM in the league today, or best GM ever?" crap, please. They'll look better than they really are because they play in the NASCAR Division and get 18 games against teams that are just trying to pay their utility bills but they'll still get facially violated by the Capitals, the Penguins, and the Western Conference.

[OMMF]

I believe it's the goal line that, if the puck touches any part of it, results in a goal. It looks to be about a puck's width past the red goal line.

I thought that and it makes sense. Still won't make a difference if the camera view is obstructed, though, which is often the case in replay situations where they are trying to determine if it did cross the line.

[Brendan]

I wish Bettman stopped screwing around with the game

The research camp was actually Brenden Shanahan's idea, so ya go attack him.

[Don]

I wish Bettman stopped screwing around with the game

The research camp was actually Brenden Shanahan's idea, so ya go attack him.

Bettman used jedi mind tricks to seduce Shanahan into thinking up this idea. Mindless pawn!

[rams80]

I'm gonna slot Calgary 8th and Anaheim 9th. Ducks still have that dynamite scoring+checking combo line (presuming they retain Bobby Ryan) and strong goaltending, but there's too much going on in the West for them to sneak in as presently constructed. Halak won't be as good as people think in St. Louis (my 10th) when he doesn't have a Jacques Martin defensive-zone trap to hide a multitude of ills, and he'll also have to help kill all of Janssen and Crombeen's retarded penalties. The Detroit power play alone will eat him for brunch. I don't care where the Coyotes end up as long as it's below 8th and ultimately Winnipeg.

And speaking of Detroit, I want to build the world's largest atlatl to start launching spears in the direction of anyone fawning over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Enough of this "Steve Yzerman: best GM in the league today, or best GM ever?" crap, please. They'll look better than they really are because they play in the NASCAR Division and get 18 games against teams that are just trying to pay their utility bills but they'll still get facially violated by the Capitals, the Penguins, and the Western Conference.

So you don't like him either. Could the Blues' next "hometown hero" not be a semi-trained ogre on skates please?