2010-11 NHL Season Thread

[BrySmalls]

The Pens' Guardian Project superhero has been unveiled. Looks like the X-men traded Cyclops to Pittsburgh for future considerations.

[BrySmalls]

Let's Go Caps!

[RedRenesis]

So that wasnt just a quirk for the marketing shots, the Craps are going to wear red helmets for an away game?

[NEW.ERA]

Well didn't they wear red helmets back in the day.

[wildwing64]

So that wasnt just a quirk for the marketing shots, the Craps are going to wear red helmets for an away game?

The Wings did that in their game against Chicago too.

On the topic of the Guardian Project, I think the Facebook app voting is either rigged or not working properly. Yesterday, the votes for the Capital were a bit higher than the Penguin, today they were 50-50, yet they unveiled the Penguin. The King is beating out the Duck, 61% to 39%. I'm fairly certain that I voted for the Duck, yet the Facebook app is telling me that I voted for the King. Clearly, if it is rigged, they wanted the teams that either have the bigger fanbase or are raved about more to have their superheroes unveiled first.

[TopCat]

Looks awful there. Maybe give Minnesota a game so it won't melt the ice! They're playing in a puddle right now.

[Sport]

I'm really happy for the Capitals. Jason Chimera is my dood and you know how I feel about Pittsburgh.

The rain is making me less annoyed that my chance to go to this game fell through.

[crashcarson15]

Ottawa is playing in Columbus tonight with the Blue Jackets in their third. Hooray for another Senators win.

Try again. CBJ wins in OT.

Corrected yet again. Anyone have Columbus' record while wearing their third?

2-5

I still think they're cursed though. Against Minnesota they never had a power play while Minnesota had 7, the faced 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, gave up a goal with 1.5 seconds left, and up 3-2 gave up the tying goal after missing a breakaway of their own. A lot of crazy occurrences there even though they won in a shootout. Last night they had a 3-0 lead before allowing Ottawa a late second period goal and two third period goals. Thank god they won in OT.

It was a fun game though. I was sitting in 206 with some buddies and the place was packed. It reminded me of the games from the first couple years. Rowdy and loud. Also, Mr. Healthy Scratch, Jake Voracek had an assist and scored the game winner. Good for him and the Jackets are on a 3 game winning streak albeit with wins over Minnesota, Toronto, and Ottawa.

Oh the atmosphere last night was great in the arena. Very good game, and all things considered, I think blowing the lead could actually be good for this team. The extra point being given up doesn't hurt the CBJ, and it's really nice to see them fight back from adversity, and for Voracek to get a good confidence boost. You could tell he was the Jacket with the fresh legs last night after being scratched the night before. Fun night, and I think the thirds look pretty good in person. Not as good as the primaries, but I like 'em.

[BrySmalls]

So that wasnt just a quirk for the marketing shots, the Craps are going to wear red helmets for an away game?

Despite the discrepancy, it was announced in October that the Caps would wear the red helmet and pants:

Directly from an article on NHL.com:

In a tribute to the past, the Capitals will don their original white jerseys with the Washington Capitals logo worn from 1974-1995. Former captains Rod Langway and Yvon Labre joined Ovechkin on stage at the team's fan festival to model the Jan. 1 sweater. The Caps will also wear red pants and red helmets.

[Maz]

I can go on and on about this game, but I won't.

Just wait until April, where it counts.

[nash61]

According to Pierre Lebrun on HNIC, the leading candidates to host the next Winter Classic are Philadelphia and Denver. He also said that the NHL prefers football stadiums to baseball stadiums.

[BrySmalls]

According to Pierre Lebrun on HNIC, the leading candidates to host the next Winter Classic are Philadelphia and Denver. He also said that the NHL prefers football stadiums to baseball stadiums.

Go West, NHL! There's no reason to have a Classic in Western PA one season and Eastern PA the following season.

[Still MIGHTY]

According to Pierre Lebrun on HNIC, the leading candidates to host the next Winter Classic are Philadelphia and Denver. He also said that the NHL prefers football stadiums to baseball stadiums.

Go West, NHL! There's no reason to have a Classic in Western PA one season and Eastern PA the following season.

Exactly. The game should really alternate conferences each year anyways. Plus we don't want to be repeating teams again two years in a row with Philly.

Who would the Avs opponent be? Despite my opposition to it, the NHL doesn't seem to mind a repeat so we could see the Red Wings or Blackhawks in it. Red Wings if they want to play up the rivalry and get the TV viewers. They'd get the viewers with Chicago as well. Divisionally, they'd have to go with the Wild for an American team. An Avalanche choice opens up a wide number of teams for the opposition. And of course I'd love it to be my Ducks (especially seeing as the only way they'd be in one is on the road, although the conditions in Pittsburgh today weren't all that different than what we've had the past week), but NBC would have a difficult time hyping up Avalanche/Ducks to the national casual sports fan.

If they do go to Philly, I think it'd be pretty obvious that the Rangers would be the front runners to be their opponent.

[Maz]

Mindless, in reference to the conditions concerning our bet, the Caps have earned you the right to choose what the loser of the bet uses as their signature.

[The_Admiral]

I'm not saying that Datsyuk is horrible by any means, what I am saying is that the award has totally overlooked defensive forwards and the only forwards who get any recognition for the award are guys who score points. It's just when you see great defensive players not get their due because they don't score points, it's frustrating. You look at some of the great defensive forwards who have won the award in the past and they weren't offensive players, they were defensive players that were recognized for what they did. If you want to create the best defensive player that scores a lot award, then go ahead and create it, but let's give recognition for the players who work hard and may not score a lot.

It's a fluid two-way game. Defense at its best generates offense, quite reliably quantified in goals and assists (especially assists, I'd say). The award for best defensive forward does not overlook defensive forwards; it overlooks bottom-six forwards, who are not to be conflated with those who have elite defensive abilities. The "great defensive players of the past" who won the Selke include Sergei Fedorov (56 G 64 A), Steve Yzerman (35 G 44 A), Troy Murray (45 G 54 A), and Bobby Clarke (23 G 62 A). Even John Madden still notched 38 points, close to career high, in his Selke season. Now, if you want to create the Kirk Maltby Memorial Trophy to reward excellence in the field of being a good solid Canadian boy who plays fourth line wing every night, place calls to the Hall of Fame and your nearest trophy shop, and let's get something going.

I had to invoke three Red Wings in this post, and two of them in a positive manner. Thanks a lot. Die in a fire.

[Sport]

According to Pierre Lebrun on HNIC, the leading candidates to host the next Winter Classic are Philadelphia and Denver. He also said that the NHL prefers football stadiums to baseball stadiums.

Go West, NHL! There's no reason to have a Classic in Western PA one season and Eastern PA the following season.

Exactly. The game should really alternate conferences each year anyways. Plus we don't want to be repeating teams again two years in a row with Philly.

Who would the Avs opponent be? Despite my opposition to it, the NHL doesn't seem to mind a repeat so we could see the Red Wings or Blackhawks in it. Red Wings if they want to play up the rivalry and get the TV viewers. They'd get the viewers with Chicago as well. Divisionally, they'd have to go with the Wild for an American team. An Avalanche choice opens up a wide number of teams for the opposition. And of course I'd love it to be my Ducks (especially seeing as the only way they'd be in one is on the road, although the conditions in Pittsburgh today weren't all that different than what we've had the past week), but NBC would have a difficult time hyping up Avalanche/Ducks to the national casual sports fan.

If they do go to Philly, I think it'd be pretty obvious that the Rangers would be the front runners to be their opponent.

Interesting, but seeing that the NHL probably wants to keep doing this beyond next year I just compiled a list of the potential teams and their host venues. It seems that NBC is trying to avoid Canadian cities and it's too risky to hold it in traditionally warm weather cities so that leaves us with:

"cold" weather cities

Detroit Red Wings - Comerica Park or Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor

Minnesota Wild - TCF or Target Field

Colorado Avalanche - Invesco or Coors Field

Boston Bruins - fenway or gillette

Buffalo Sabres - Ralph Wilson

Chicago Blackhawks- wrigley or soldier field

Columbus Blue Jackets - Ohio Stadium

New Jersey Devils - meadowlands stadium

New York Islanders - ?

New York Rangers - yankee stadium (I think this is ruled out thanks to pinstripe bowl) or they could play at meadowlands stadium

Philadelphia Flyers - lincoln financial or citizens bank park

Pittsburgh Penguins - heinze, pnc

not sure about their january 1st weather

Washington Capitals - Fed ex or nationals park

St. Louis Blues - busch stadium

Just as the host city we can eliminate any of the warm weather cities. We can probably eliminate Columbus, New York Islanders, and New Jersey because they wouldn't be large enough national draws, though I still think they could sell Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium. We can eliminate Pittsburgh, Chicago, Boston, and Buffalo because they just hosted. That leaves us with Detroit, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Colorado, and New York

We know that the Rangers are going to host this thing sooner or later, but for next year out of that group I'd love to see the Avalanche host the game and it would be cool if they played one of the southern teams, though I don't know who.

[IceCap]

Sad to hear that the NHL prefers football to baseball stadiums. Baseball stadiums just seem more intimate and seem to fit in with the Winter Classic "theme" better then football stadiums. Oh well.

If the choices are Philadelphia or Denver for next season I would like to see Denver get it. As for who to put them against? Detroit will probably draw more viewers.

Though you would think after the winter the Twin Cities have had the Wild have to be on the short list of future hosts. Especially after this season's weather scare. You're guaranteed snow in Minneapolis

[See Red]

Denver has too much potential to be a mistake because of the weather, I would think. The average temperature around this time of year in Denver is nearly 50 degrees and with as much sunshine as Colorado gets, that can't be good for the ice.

[TopCat]

A Winter Classic at Target Field would just look incredible. Make it happen!

[Sport]

Ottawa is playing in Columbus tonight with the Blue Jackets in their third. Hooray for another Senators win.

Try again. CBJ wins in OT.

Corrected yet again. Anyone have Columbus' record while wearing their third?

2-5

I still think they're cursed though. Against Minnesota they never had a power play while Minnesota had 7, the faced 1-0 and 2-1 deficits, gave up a goal with 1.5 seconds left, and up 3-2 gave up the tying goal after missing a breakaway of their own. A lot of crazy occurrences there even though they won in a shootout. Last night they had a 3-0 lead before allowing Ottawa a late second period goal and two third period goals. Thank god they won in OT.

It was a fun game though. I was sitting in 206 with some buddies and the place was packed. It reminded me of the games from the first couple years. Rowdy and loud. Also, Mr. Healthy Scratch, Jake Voracek had an assist and scored the game winner. Good for him and the Jackets are on a 3 game winning streak albeit with wins over Minnesota, Toronto, and Ottawa.

Oh the atmosphere last night was great in the arena. Very good game, and all things considered, I think blowing the lead could actually be good for this team. The extra point being given up doesn't hurt the CBJ, and it's really nice to see them fight back from adversity, and for Voracek to get a good confidence boost. You could tell he was the Jacket with the fresh legs last night after being scratched the night before. Fun night, and I think the thirds look pretty good in person. Not as good as the primaries, but I like 'em.

They look way better in person than they do on TV, but the primaries are so much better it's ridiculous. I hate how the team store is pushing all this cannon stuff. It's okay, but it doesn't need to take over your regular identity.