2006 - 2007 NHL Season

Buffalo might just be my new favourite team. They’re on pace for 160 points this season. They probably won’t break 130, no one ever does, but they tied the record for most wins to start a season, ten in a row. Along with Anaheim, they’re the only teams to remain lossless.

Minnesota and Atlanta are looking good too. They will be contenders this year.

I’m really laughing at Calgary right now. The Canucks are my boys, so the Flames’ failure is funny to me. They’re tied for second last in the league. Only Phoenix is below them.

The Canucks are doing surprisingly well for a team that was just overhauled. Naslund’s been averaging a point per game and a goal every two games. Luongo’s not the god he was last year, but he’s still solid as a rock, and he’ll only get better. Daniel Sedin is tied for second in plus/minus and both of the Sedins’ production are WAY up.

I want to see Detroit burn.

Go Thrashers!

I don’t really pay attention to hockey, so fill me in on Atlanta. Contender has a nice ring to it.

Atlanta is first in the Southeast Division and Second in the Eastern Conference.

Of the top five producers in the league, two of them are on Atlanta’s top line. Marian Hossa is tied with Sydney Crosby for second. Ilya Kovalchuk is third.

Kari Lehtonen, their goalie, is one of the best in the league. Some people have compared him to Roy, the best goalie in any sport, in history.

Cotenders means this: It would not surprise me to see them in the Stanley Cup Finals. Don’t get too excited though. There is a lot of tough competition this year and it’s still very early to make predictions.

Oh shit! How could I forget Mellanby! He’s a player to watch out for.

Sweet mother of Christ, the Flames are killing me this year. We desperately need more offensive skill, and all we get is Alex Tanguay. -_- Meanwhile, we’re stuck with Tony Amonte and the Darren McCarty sideshow (I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but this cannot be anything but a distraction). Our defense has been mediocre, with Phaneuf is having the usual sophomore slump, Regehr and Warrener haven’t been playing great. This team can’t play a complete game - they either lose 2-1 (and try to ride Kiprusoff to victory), or they lose 5-4 and it’s like having no goalie at all. I like hard-working players, but grit can only carry a team so far. The whole plan of basically relying on Iggy and Kiprusoff to carry the team cannot work every year. The Flames lack secondary scoring and they didn’t get it in the offseason, and they’re not really getting it out of their players this year. On the bright side, Sutter’s calling up some of the younger guys from the farm team, so hopefully it’ll help a little at least. :x

Why do you hate Detroit so much, Hades? >_>;

I don’t think that’s the solution the Flames need right now, but rest assured Sutter will fix things eventually. He’s Sutter.

McCarty’s not an asset to the team anymore imo. Teams no longer need that kind of grit. Tanguay is a good player, but he’s a lot like Peca this year on the Leafs. The spark just isn’t there. Kiprusoff is as good as he’s ever been, but 80% of a team’s defense is the blue line, and you’re right that Phaneuf needs to kick it up a notch. I don’t see any problems with Amonte though.

I don’t really know what’s wrong with the flames. All of the pieces are there, Sutter just needs to solve the puzzle.

I hate Detroit because my friend thinks they’re God’s divine gift to hockey, and I have to hear about how every other team sucks because they’re not Detroit.

Like I said, Kiprusoff’s kept this team in the game more nights than not. They can’t rely on him to pull their asses from the fire night after night - something’s gonna give. :\

To be honest, I think Amonte’s best years are behind him, and I don’t think he scores enough to justify paying him the $1.85 million he’s going to get.

The problem is, the Flames just are not playing a complete game right now. They either score a lot and have no defense, and lose 5-4. Or, they get shut down offensively and lose 2-1. I think they’ve lost 6 games this season by one goal, including a 2-goal loss that happened because of an empty-netter in the last seconds. They used to be on the winning end of those one-goal games last season, now they’re not. Hopefully something changes soon.

Then again, they went like, 3-6 to start last season and ended up winning their division. >_>;

This is why I’m worried about Vancouver, lmao. They’re the opposite, if you didn’t know. Then again, with Luongo…

Yeah, Vancouver definitely has a solid goalie now. Luongo definitely was better than his stats in Florida indicated and he should’ve won the Vezina at least once while there. Solid free agent pickup which really solved Vancouver’s main issue.

Can you tell I’m jealous?

Yeah, it’s still too early to make predictions, since most teams – especially the really fast starting teams like Anaheim and Buffalo – haven’t even played everyone in their conference one time yet. Those streaks won’t last, obviously, but they’re pretty strong indicators that we’ll (probably) see both of those teams late in the spring. Buffalo in particular; seems their deep run in the playoffs last season shouldn’t have been all that surprising after all, or maybe it was only the beginning.

San Jose’s start has brought me much pleasure too, a sloppy early redeux of their collapse in Edmonton last spring notwithstanding. TWO strong goalies, sharing time equally, it’s a fun luxury to have. Not to mention I’m still cackling with glee over that trade every time I see Joe Thornton on the ice (usually making something awesome happen). Bring on the Ducks, we’ll how long this lossless Anaheim nonsense lasts once their games with the Sharks start rolling around. :stuck_out_tongue:

[note to Hades: I feel pretty much the same way about Anaheim that you feel about Detroit, though for different reasons. :P]

You’re not the only one.

Auld was no pushover. He started weak, but by the end of the season he was a magician. He really racked up the ice minutes last year. I’m glad we have Luongo, but we don’t really need him and we’re paying as much for him as we did for Auld and Bertuzzi combined (7M). I still have no solid proof it was a good trade, since we’re having a few offensive problems over here, and look at last night’s game. That’s not supposed to happen with Luongo, and if it keeps up, I’ll wish we still had Bertuzzi and Auld. And especially Jovanovski.

Then again, this is Minnesota we’re talking about. Last night’s game isn’t that surprising, but still… Vancouver has always been a giant-killer.

Although I agree that buffalo is good, they will still not win. They are from Buffalo, they don’t win things (except the Bisons)

PIT might actually make the playoffs which might save the team in the city

OTT, my boys are frustrating me to say the least.

TOR…burn in hell

Crosby and Malkin are on pace for 140 points each. If Pittsburgh doesn’t take the cup this year, they will next year or the year after. It’s not a question of if, but of when. They are first in their division and they will make the playoffs for sure.

No defense, no cup. Playoffs yes 1st round or second at best.

I like Penguins this year. Crosby and Malkin performance reminds me of another fantastic Pens duo - Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.

As for Detroit, that used to be one of my favorite NHL teams, and not just because Red Wings were awesome (and no one can deny how good the team was under Scotty Bowman); I fell under that team’s spell right after they acquired Fetisov and Larionov, who were instrumental in breaking the barrier that stopped Soviet players from joining the NHL. And watching “The Russian Five” playing for Red Wings gave many painful flashbacks of witnessing Soviet Wings being trashed over and over again by the mighty CSKA (aka Red Army club).

The most recent cups have gone to teams with less blue-line defense than Pittsburgh has now. They played a puck possession game like Pittsburgh does now.

I’m also going to point out the obvious inconsistency of a comment like that in a game as dynamic as hockey, where offense and defense overlap in so many different areas.

I agree with Hades that the post-lockout successful teams all have:

  1. A large number of young players
  2. Team depth
  3. Emphasis on skating and puck possession as opposed to body-positioning and “dump and chase”

Having hot goalies in the playoffs helps too, kek.

I’ve actually found successful post-lockout teams have a large number of breakout vets who are more effective in a skating/thinking game than a holding/checking game. (Jagr, Shanahan, Modano, Brind’Amour, etc.)

Okay, I’m not a huge hockey fan. I really only support the Thrashers in the whole “We’re doing good? Go us.” fashion. However, due to familial connections, I get free tickets to home games. So, could someone look at this schedule and suggest some what-should-be good games in Atlanta on a Friday or Saturday in January or later?

Atlanta doesn’t really have any rivals. Go to anything you want. If they play Buffalo, that would be a good choice. Or Pittsburgh. Seeing Hossa, Kovalchuk, Crosy, and Malkin on the ice at the same time would be spectacular.