Hockey anyone?

[trizz251]

hi ppl, remember me, i was in australia for like two months, haha and when i came back, hockey is back. and i heard we signed peca and pronger, that's great. i'm actually looking forward to this season, theres no more stacked teams everything is even out, it's gonna be interesting!

[Kolab]

Love that hockey is back, hate that red wings haven't signed Datsyuk and Zettie.

[superkaratemonkey]

trizz- how was australia? what place did u visit? i went there like 10 yrs ago, i wanna go back so bad. btw, even w/ pronger and peca, u guys still dont have a legit #1 goalie, or a decent 1st line. it wont be fun to play against the oilers 8 times a year, but i thnk the nucks will be fine (we are still relatively stack )

kolab- i heard datsyuk mite stay in russia, if thats the case your red wings are doomed. no datsyuk, no hatcher, no joseph/hasek, no hull, and chelios/yzerman/shanahan being 2 yrs older, it doesnt look good for u guys except for lidstrom.

[trizz251]

oh well edmonton still trying to develop their team, we're a young team, but i still have a problem, why has nobody got rid of craig MacT yet, geez have they realize, he sux

[Kolab]

I think Datsyuk just might stay in Russia , hopefully they'll sign Kornwall? I think that is his name. Would love to see him after all that I've heard about him.

[trizz251]

hey do the nucks still have sandersons and ruchinsky, or have they gone somewhere else already. i know you guys got anson carter, former oiler.

[Kolab]

Who is going to be the Lightning's goalie if Habby left? Just wondering what do you think is the most important part of a team? Goalie, defense, offense, leadership, or cohesion?

Also, if you were a GM, who would you rather lose, your goalie, captian, leading scorer, or best defensemen?

[Bai Qi44]

Yeah Monkey,

Great that we signed Ohlund. Now we don't have to worry about losing him as a UFA for the next 4 years. Now, only Cooke remains and Ruutu isn't important enough so whether we sign him or not, no one would care. It's better if Nonis doesn't sign him just to leave some cap money.

hey do the nucks still have sandersons and ruchinsky, or have they gone somewhere else already. i know you guys got anson carter, former oiler.

No, Sanderson was just a loan player from Columbus for the playoffs. He's back with the crazy Jackets. Ruchinsky signed with the Rangers....again!

Who is going to be the Lightning's goalie if Habby left? Just wondering what do you think is the most important part of a team? Goalie, defense, offense, leadership, or cohesion?

Also, if you were a GM, who would you rather lose, your goalie, captian, leading scorer, or best defensemen?

The Bolt's goalie will either be Sean Burke or John Grahame. Well, you need all of those positions in order to make a good hockey team. Having said that, I'll say goalie is the most important part of a hockey team. Just look at the Flames and how far their goalie got them last year? Iginla might be more valued in Calgary, but Kipper should be the MVP there. Without him, the Flames don't make the playoffs and definitely wouldn't have made it to the SC finals.

Oh team chemistry is also very important. When Jeff Brown slept with our goalie's wife back in the mid 90's, Kirk Mclean was never the same again.

[Kolab]

I agree team chemistry is important, people fight harder to win if the chemistry is good. The goalie can carry a team, but only so far. Defense and Offense can win games in key situations, while leadership can help motivate the team and turn the tide of victory either way. Thus, I would hate to be in any GM's position when he could only keep one of his key assets.

[superkaratemonkey]

Who is going to be the Lightning's goalie if Habby left? Just wondering what do you think is the most important part of a team? Goalie, defense, offense, leadership, or cohesion?

Also, if you were a GM, who would you rather lose, your goalie, captian, leading scorer, or best defensemen?

i think TB is gonna be fine w/ their goaltending situation, graham is a decent goalie, and TB is a team that doesnt need a goalie to win them games, just a goalie to not lose them games.
in the old nhl i would've said goalie is the most defense is most important. i think past cup winners all have good goaltending, but they never need their goalie to win them the cup (except for colorado '01 with roy and brodeur in '03), but teams can have osgood in net and still win if their D is good enuff. in the new nhl i'll have to say offense, just becuz the games supposed to be more open and u cant completely shut down a bunch of snipers w/ the traps anymore (at least dats the idea of the new rules)


bai qi- did brown really slept w/ mclean's wife? i thought dat was just a urban legend?? i heard dat the nucks were on a road trip when brown was 'supposedly' w/ mclean's wife, and brown was on the trip. either way, mclean left the league becuz he couldnt/wouldnt change the way he plays (stand up style) and his equipment (small leg pads), and he was letting in a lot of goals in carolina. btw, i cant believe how little ohlund is getting, jovo better have a kick *** yr to justify his contract.

[trizz251]

if the nucks still have bertuzzi then i would consider them stacked, oh well. and it's true tampa don't need their goalie to win, as long as their goalie don't let everything in when being shot against, they are good enuff to win the cup, but this year there are more teams that we can look at.

theres ottawa, with hasek and heatly, wonder if they'll go far

pittsburgh, with corsby, i wonder if chemistry will be good between lemieux and corsby cause that could be a very dangerous combo

pheonix, with gretzky coaching, and all these new players they have like nedved, hull, joseph, the list goes on, will they be a contender for the cup

florida, now that's a team with a complete make over, coaching staff and players

philidelphia with forsberg, can this old team do anything good

and then again we have tampa who will remain strong and ppl will second think playing calgary now. any more to add, these are the only things that came up in my mind, correct me if i'm wrong

[superkaratemonkey]

what do u mean "if the 'nucks still have bertuzzi"?? hes still w/ the team last time i chek.
hasek is too old, havent play for too long, i dont think hes gonna be the answer to ottawa's problem. heatly will replace hossa, but they wont be dat much better overall.
pitt is gonna be crazy offensively. lemieux, crosby, palffy, recchi, malone, kraft, leclare, gonchar etc... i wonder if they can win the cup just by outscoring other teams.
i predict the final 4 is gonna be calgary vs vancouver in the west, and ottawa vs philly in the east. and SJ, TB, bos will also have a chance. and my dark horse of the year is clb. better D to go w/ nash's scoring and denis' goaltending, they can at least make the playoff and do some damage once they are there.
i'll make a final ranking of the teams rite b4 the season start

[trizz251]

that's my thought of the teams, what are all yours?

hey how bout the new rule changes. brodeur is gonna have a hard time i think and some of those snipers are gonna be everywhere.

[Kolab]

is hasek still going to play with Ottowa? I must say that really surprises me, since I thought for sure he would retire if there was lockout.

Good Note: Looking forward to seeing Kronwall, Jim Nill is comparing him to Konstantinov, which I hope means good things for Red Wing's future.

Sad Note: Speaking of Konstantinov, I regret very much that I never really saw him play . Can anyone tell what kind of player he was? What was it like to watch the Russian Five, really wished I was older now so I could have seen them skate together.

Bad Note: Datsyuk and Zetterberg still not signed. Sigh!

[superkaratemonkey]

trizz- i think brodeur and other puck playing goalies are gonna be fine, he can still play it behind his net. i think the Dmen will play alittle deeper in their own zone so that if the puck is dumped in the corner they can play it faster and rely on the goalie less. i think this will lessen the effectiveness of the trap, becuz theres more seperation between the forward and dman of the defending team. hopefully that'll create more scoring chances.

kolab- dont believe what hasek said, he told us hes retiring, then he doesnt retire, then when he finally retire he said hes done w/ the nhl, then he came back. but ott relying on a 40 yr old goalie w/ a bad groin is like tor relying on belfore, very risky if u ask me.
datsyuk probably wont be back in the nhl this season, i heard hes asking for more money then the wings are willing to pay. det cant even trade him cuz of his demand and his lack of a nhl contract. zetterberg i heard is looking for $2.5M-$3M, which is alot if u ask me. they mite both hold out.
konstantinov was just an awesome player back in the 90s. hes not very tall (6'0 i think) but hes built like a tank, very thick and muscular. hes very strong (outmuscle forsberg time and again) and hits like a train (just ask lindros). hes the best defensive defenseman in the league in the mid '90s, IMO, and thats when guys like cheilos, stevens, bourque are in their prime. he was much better then lidstrom too. it was too bad his career ended that way, it was a huge blow to the wings and i think the team would've won a couple more cups if hes still there. not much chance he'll recover completely anymore, but hope he can live a life as close to normal as possible.

[Kolab]

Just wondering what was it like to watch the russian five skate together, does anyone have any videos? your description makes me sad and happy. Happy because he seems evey bit the player I imagined him to be, sad because I never got to watch him or the russian five play My sisters and I love the red wings, we always wondered what if he was never injured, he might have become the captian and for sure they would have won more cups. People and drugs, they ruin so many lives.

[trizz251]

hye kolab, do you live in detriot? The red wings to me is a great team, but they are kinda full of lots of old ppl dont' you think? but any how, i think they will still be one of the powerhouses in the nhl and remain one for quite some time. as for colorado, well i guess they can step down as the northweat division's best team cause vancouver seems to be stronger on paper and they are a very strong team, i think they just need to be consistent. and darn oilers, get rid of MacT already

[superkaratemonkey]

Just wondering what was it like to watch the russian five skate together, does anyone have any videos? your description makes me sad and happy. Happy because he seems evey bit the player I imagined him to be, sad because I never got to watch him or the russian five play My sisters and I love the red wings, we always wondered what if he was never injured, he might have become the captian and for sure they would have won more cups. People and drugs, they ruin so many lives.

dont have videos, but i remember watching them destroyed my canucks game after game. the russian 5 plays very russian style of hockey, lots of puck control, dont dump it in, pass around alot till they have a good scoring chances, good skating, and i like how they'll circle back w/ the puck if they cant move it up (unlike my nucks who would just dump it in). i think konstantinov would've become the wings captain after yzerman retired, he seems like a leader and he play w/ heart and passion. imo, he would've won the norris a couple times, maybe even a hart (if pronger can win it, konstantinov can too), and the wings would've won a few more cups. i dont get the 'people and drugs' part tho....

trizz- det is old and they lost alot of skill, they are in bad shape. i dont even know if they'll make the playoff to be honest. i think col will still be a top team, they may not be the favorite to win the division anymore, but they'll make the playoff easily imho.

[Kolab]

I live in California, but the red wings was the first team I ever watch on TV and I love them ever since, but since I was a kid I couldn't really follow up with watching games and all. I love the russian style of play, that's what makes hockey beautiful for me. That why I loved from the first time, but i don't remember much except that the game was against St. Louis, i think the audience was chanting something mean about the russians.

Also the drug thing is becaue the driver, who drove konstantinov and co. into a tree, has a history of using some drugs and had his licence suspended before he was hired by the red wings to drive the limo. Ironically, had the red wings never won the cup the accident would never have occured because they hired limos to drive the players home since they were celebrating their victory at a golf course.

I think red wings will make the playoffs because they do have a good team, or maybe I just biased. Then again, haven't bein paying attention to any other team.

[trizz251]

all i have to tell you is i think yzerman is too old for the game, he may be a good player, but yeah he's kinda injury prone, he needs to step down, 3 stanley cup, olympic medal, world cup, canada cup, that should be enuff.


but colorado didn't they lose quite a lot of guys i dont' know, but i think they will make the playoffs, but going far i'm not too sure.