08-09 National Hockey League Thread

[freddiewaht]

lance,i look forward to watching a game with you at my place of residence..

[spance]

hells yeah!!!

Of course now the Devils will lose tonight to Carolina because the Rangers need them to win. 2-0 Whalers early in the 2nd.

[Yoda]

Impressive.

Haven\'t the Devils been a solid team for the past few seasons?

yeah...untill they play the Rangers in the playoffs:)

Oh, and congrats to Fatso on being the all-time wins leader. I can\'t wait untill March 30th when Avery gets to congratulate him in person...that will be must see TV.

Typical ranger fan comment... Do you forget a couple years ago when we swept you out of the playoffs?  For the most part you\'ve had our number in the playoffs, but the rangers were a different team during those series.  You can call Brodeur fatso or dredge up his personal issues (which has nothing to do with his playing ability), but he still is statistically the best goaltender to play the game; and he\'ll have the shutout record by year end or early next year...  We\'ve had 3 Stanley Cups since your last in 94 and by my calculations, you\'re due for another in 2048.  Have fun watching us win until then...

You guys still aren\'t even as good as the 80-84 Islanders and where are they now?  And your Stanley Cups...you ONLY HAVE three last time I checked. And after that flop Brodeur took last year when Avery pushed him...he LOST my respect, he became no better then Avery. It was like he was auditioning for a career in movies for his post-hockey days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y0RJ7rvxu4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjZUmnyId3M...this ones even better

Original Six fo\' life!!! Maybe you should jump on the Boston bandwagon while it\'s still warm because they are the team to beat coming out of the East...not the Devils. Regular season hockey don\'t mean shit either, when the Playoffs start it\'s a whole new animal and if you can\'t play 60 or more minutes of physical style hockey...then forget it. But we\'ll see what happens in the next month, still too early to even know who\'s playing who.

But seriously, I hate your team so don\'t take it personally....its just sports. I hate alot of teams:) And no, i\'m not the typical Ranger fan...those guys/gals are hardcore. And the last time I checked, only one goalie in the HISTORY of the NHL has won 30 games in his first 4 seasons.

All I can say is that you better keep winning because you\'re only 4 points ahead of the 9 spot. You have even a small skid and you\'re not even in the playoffs.  As for regular season not meaning anything, you\'re a little right, but if you don\'t perform in the regular season, there is no post-season (which the rangers are accustomed to with the exception of the past to years).  As for only having 3 SC, I think that\'s pretty good seeing as we\'ve only been in the league for 27 years; that\'s one championship every 9 years and the fact that we\'ve won the three in 14 years really equates to a championship every 4-1/2 years.  Yes, the Rangers have 3 SC championships, but you been in the league for over a half century longer than us, I\'d hope you\'d have more than us by now.  Statistically, you win a championship once every 20+ years, and since you won your first in \'27, that number pretty much holds except for the 54 year drought from 1940-1994.

You\'re comments were those of a typical Ranger fan.  The only one you didn\'t make was that at least you have a parade and not a parking lot party...  See you come playoff time, if you\'re there...

[spance]

a little food for thought...Ottawa hasn\'t won a Stanely Cup since 1926-27 yet they have 10 overall. The Montreal Canadiens are to hockey as the NY Yankees are to baseball....the most storied franchise in history. 24 or 25 Cups since 1915-16. Then Toronto (11), Detroit-Ottawa (10), Boston (5), Chicago (3), New York (3)...winningest expansion team are the Edmonton Oilers (5). The game that we watch today is faster yes, but not truely as physical as it used to be...for good reasons, there were too many goons running a muck and not sticking to the code. Fighting was used to self-police the game, get too close to an opposing goalie and forget it...you were getting hit HARD. Today it\'s rarely for those reasons...like defending a smaller more vulnerable player. The Islanders of the late 70\'s early 80\'s (and the 70\'s Flyers) were skilled yes, but they had a goon factor that just isn\'t seen anymore.

If I were a Devils fan (yuck) I would PRAY we don\'t meet the Capitols because OV and company have a shitload of young and old talent on their team and they can put the puck in the net and play solid D...their goalie is questionable though. And you\'re right, even the smallest skid at this point could take a (East or West) team from 4th or 5th to 9th in the standings really fast...but I believe in my team win or lose and I think we\'ll sneek in again this year. Everyone in the East can beat each other on any given day and that\'s what parody is all about.

and don\'t worry...we\'ll be there:)

[Yoda]

a little food for thought...Ottawa hasn\'t won a Stanely Cup since 1926-27 yet they have 10 overall. The Montreal Canadiens are to hockey as the NY Yankees are to baseball....the most storied franchise in history. 24 or 25 Cups since 1915-16. Then Toronto (11), Detroit-Ottawa (10), Boston (5), Chicago (3), New York (3)...winningest expansion team are the Edmonton Oilers (5). The game that we watch today is faster yes, but not truely as physical as it used to be...for good reasons, there were too many goons running a muck and not sticking to the code. Fighting was used to self-police the game, get too close to an opposing goalie and forget it...you were getting hit HARD. Today it\'s rarely for those reasons...like defending a smaller more vulnerable player. The Islanders of the late 70\'s early 80\'s (and the 70\'s Flyers) were skilled yes, but they had a goon factor that just isn\'t seen anymore.

Thanks for the history lesson... Don\'t assume that because my team isn\'t one of the original six, that I don\'t know about the history of the sport.  Also, my father is a 30+ year season ticket holder for the rangers in the old blue section and he doesn\'t have to say yuk when he mentions the devils. I actually don\'t hate the rangers (except for avery); I do, however have an issue with ranger fans that constantly boo their team game in and game out.  If you\'re really that disappointed with your team, stop watching.

If I were a Devils fan (yuck) I would PRAY we don\'t meet the Capitols because OV and company have a shitload of young and old talent on their team and they can put the puck in the net and play solid D...their goalie is questionable though. And you\'re right, even the smallest skid at this point could take a (East or West) team from 4th or 5th to 9th in the standings really fast...but I believe in my team win or lose and I think we\'ll sneek in again this year. Everyone in the East can beat each other on any given day and that\'s what parody is all about.

and don\'t worry...we\'ll be there:)

And if I were a ranger fan, I would pray that the rangers continue to win so that they can hang on to a 6-8 seed.  Pretty sad for a team that spend most of the season atop the division to now be within 2-3 games of not making the playoffs...

[kindm's]

Rangers fans HAD to boo the team in order to get any kind of action from management. And so far it has worked.

If the Devils were playing as soft as the Rangers had been all season I would hope that your fan (hehehe) would boo them as well. Only difference is Lou Lam knows hockey players like no other and hasn\'t really had to deal with under achievers.

The Devils are the team to beat coming out of the East right now. The Bruins have not been playing very well and this is the worst possible time for them to be slumping. They are still a ridiculous team but the Devils right now are looking scary.

As much as torts has done I still don\'t like the way this team is playing hockey. It is definitely more fun to watch then Renney\'s system but I still see problems. We will probably make the playoffs but won\'t get past the first round if we finish 6,7,or 8. This team just doesn\'t have what it takes to play with the other playoff teams. 7 game series and they are in trouble.

Hank has been medicore at best IMHO. that F-ing soft short side goal he gave up in Montreal was just sad, and with the F-ing game on the line. 30wins in first 4 seasons doesn\'t mean jack really. All it means is the rangers had shit goal tending and started a good rookie. And hank benefited from that. Yes he is a very good goal tender but as much as I hate to say it he cannot steal games. It sucks that for whatever reason he cannot single handily shut down other teams. He never does it. He may ride a shutout until the 3rd or whatever but he almost always gives one up. He never DOMINATES a game. And to me that is what makes a GREAT goal tender.

[spance]

I watched the Devils last night before I went to see Timmy and they didn\'t bring much untill the 3rd period...sure there was the whole Brodeur side show the night before but seriously, they never look very scary.

Avery OWNS Marty and I can\'t wait to see them at it again come the 30th. I\'m glad that people are stupid enough to hate him....THAT\'S WHAT HE WANTS. He takes your best players out of the game which allows his team mates to get into open areas on the ice and get quality scoring chances. And he brings 110% every night...with his mouth and his stick.

As far as Lundy goes...he hasn\'t even played his best hockey this year and whether he brings it to another level is yet to be seen, but if we can score 3 or 4 goals a night for the rest of the year then I think we have a shot at 4th place...but Pittsburg is hot right now as well so who knows. I still think Boston is the team to beat. All it will take are a few key injuries to any of the contenders and things can change in a heartbeat. God I love this time of the year.

[freddiewaht]

strangers defense has been lookin pretty damn good
staal will be an allstar in no time
girardi and redden are assteady as could be,as is big paul marra.
rosival is probably the weak link and the new kid derek morris is getting better every game.
the team has been playing with alot more heart.
freddie shoestrum and blair betts are the EPITOME of hustle..
you cant possibly say enough good things about ryan callahan,and i havent even mentioned any of the bigname players...

[spance]

The boys just need to take it one game at a time...if the playoffs ended today we\'d be playing the Caps I think and i\'m not sure if that\'s the best match-up for us. I\'d like to get some revenge on Pitt for last year but they are playing their best hockey right now so......it\'s gonna be tough no matter who we play.

Avery has definately been the spark plug that this team needed and under Torts they HAVE gotten their confidence back. Nassy hasn\'t played this type of up tempo hockey in a long time so it\'s taken him a bit longer to get going but he\'s coming around. Nic Antropov has also given us SIZE (6\'6\' 220lbs) up front which we lost when Jagr left, he has soft hands for a big guy and although he doesn\'t have blazing speed he seems to put himself in the right place at the right time. Limiting mistakes is what this team needs to concentrate on.

I\'m not saying the Strangers are a Cup contender this year but I can see them making the 2nd round again. They\'re only 10 games into a new system and it takes alot more time then that to get comfortable so i\'m happy with the turn around for sure...players want to play, not over think the game and that was where I think Renny went wrong.

[Yoda]

Actually, you\'d get the Devils in the first round.  The Caps are a point up on us because they played last night and we didn\'t.  Do you like your second round chances any better now?

[spance]

Here\'s one swift kick in the ding-ding for your boy
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3997788&campaign=rss&source=NHLHeadlines

And I would love to play the Devils in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd round just to hear their fans whine about why they lost...cause they\'d never say that the better team won.

[Yoda]

And again... what the hell does his alimony payments have to do with his ability to play hockey?  Again, you\'re spouting typical Ranger bullshit; you can ask anyone that knows up in CT that\'s a hockey fan, even Freddie if he remembers the conversation from 7-8 years ago, I\'ve always said that the best series of hockey that I have ever seen was the \'94 conference championship series in which the rangers beat the devils... Chew on that before you start stereotyping Devils fans...

[freddiewaht]

<< dosent remember 7-8 minutes ago..

[Yoda]

fair enough, but we did have the conversation at some dumpy bar somewhere in CT during the Devils/Avalanche Stanley Cup Finals...

[tyzack]

http://www.tsn.ca/Story/Image.aspx?path=http://images.tsn.ca/images/stories/20090320/ovibig_1326.jpg&width=430&height=280