NHL 2008/2009 Season

[Darth Fanboy]

As luck would have it, Ottawa stepped up and did what they had to do for the first time in this calendar year.

This is going to be a very interesting season, i'm interested in seeing how the Southeast in going to shape up, the Lightning spent all that money to lose the first two games of the season and of course i'll be watching Mathieu Schneider in Atlanta.


EDIT:

A neat story, the Ducks pull Nathan McIver off of waivers from Vancouver, and the guy scores the game winner in OT on a breakaway in a preseason game between the two clubs tonight. Here's hoping he does this when it matters most.

Got my mini plan tickets in the mail, I will be there for the Oct. 15th game against Edmonton.

[Robert Treder]

Kyle McLaren put on waivers.

Doesn't bother me in the least; he was overrated around here. He added some grit back then, but now he's just redundant.

[Robert Treder]

Not going to be able to wear my Flyers jersey for a while after reading this story.

If I were the ref I'd give her an Unsportsmanlike Conduct minor and a Game Misconduct when she stepped on the ice, though

[Darth Fanboy]

You think that's bad, the Ducks ECHL affiliate in Bakersfield has formally invited Palin to be the honorary "Team Mom" which includes a guaranteed tryout for her 19 year old son.

Although that was slightly less embarassing than the Ducks AHL affiliate in Iowa trying to get Brett Favre to sign a deal to play for them...

[Burak Gazan]

Well how about that, the Leafs win the opener against the Red Wings

I definitely want to see a certain Sportsnet hockey central commentator eat a large shitburger tomorrow at noon......

[Archon]

A terrible opening weekend for Archon. Defensive coverage by the Flames forwards was terrible. At least Iggy got Willie 'Hatcher Jr.' Mitchell with a nice shot at the end of a fight.

TSN: Ranger prospect dies during KHL game.

R.I.P. Alexei Cherepanov: (January 15, 1989-October 13, 2008)

[Archon]

TSN: BLACKHAWKS FIRE SAVARD AFTER FOUR GAMES.

Denis Savard wins the fired coach sweepstakes.

[Burak Gazan]

Judging from the commentary here and there, and Mack's blog in particular, it looked like a real charlie-fox at the arena; bloody shame it seems to have cost a young fella his life.


Chicago, what are you thinking?

[Robert Treder]

LOL Palin strikes again! Manny Legace gets pwned by Palin.

[Darth Fanboy]

For the first time since the 2007 Finals the Ducks benefit from a fluky goal, and wouldn't you know it it was against Ottawa again...

Todd Marchant whacks it out of the air past Alex Auld.

[Robert Treder]

Granted that's a pretty fluky goal, but I doubt very much that the Ducks got no fluky goals last season. I mean I know you guys were tied for third worst in the league in scoring, but at least one of those had to have been a crazy one, right?

[Darth Fanboy]

Granted that's a pretty fluky goal, but I doubt very much that the Ducks got no fluky goals last season. I mean I know you guys were tied for third worst in the league in scoring, but at least one of those had to have been a crazy one, right?

Fluky yess, but not in that echelon of craziness. We tend to only get the really weird goals to go our way in the Finals.

[Darth Fanboy]

I did a little research, our last weird goal like that was in a game against the sharks last year where we scored with just under a minute to go. Doug WEight shot a puck that was actually a pass however it deflected of the foot of Sharks defenseman Alexei Semenov and right into the net. It was crazy, but not THIS crazy.

Just once i'd like to be at a game and see one of those cross-ice goals scored like the one scored against Toskala by the Islanders last year, or the infamous shorthanded goal North Dakota scored against Minnesota a while ago.

[Robert Treder]

The Sharks just suffered what is, in some ways, a heartbreaking defeat. While dishing out 57 shots, the Sharks lose to the rival Preds, thanks in no small part (ok, thanks entirely) to Dan Ellis, who seemed hell-bent on vindicating the Preds bosses on their shedding Mason. A franchise record for shots taken resulting in a lowly consolation point, the end of their impressive 9-0 home winning streak ...

Yet I can't be too upset. If we keep throwing 40+ shots at the net (and a lot of them were quality, too), we'll win more often than not. Hell of a game, though.

[Darth Fanboy]

I'll talk more about the Ducks situation with Brian Burke stepping down as GM and our team mostly recovering from that horrible start later when I can wrap my mind around it all. I'm passing on attending this weekend's games but that is only because I ended up with tickets for the game on the 19th against the Capitals. I hate the Kings and their fans, I have no interest in the Predators, and Alex Ovechkin is one of the most entertaining athletes i've ever seen play any sport. Easy choice.

[Master of Ossus]

The Sharks just suffered what is, in some ways, a heartbreaking defeat. While dishing out 57 shots, the Sharks lose to the rival Preds, thanks in no small part (ok, thanks entirely) to Dan Ellis, who seemed hell-bent on vindicating the Preds bosses on their shedding Mason. A franchise record for shots taken resulting in a lowly consolation point, the end of their impressive 9-0 home winning streak ...

Yet I can't be too upset. If we keep throwing 40+ shots at the net (and a lot of them were quality, too), we'll win more often than not. Hell of a game, though.

They found a hell of a way to respond to that, though. At the end of the first they're up 4-0 on the Flames, having outshot them 20-5 and totally dominated in every facet of the game.

Interesting stat on them, too: the Sharks lead the league by strafing opposing goaltenders with over 38 shots per game, but are 2nd in the league in shots against, giving up under 26. So they're taking 12 or 13 more shots than they give up in a typical game.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, what's going on with the Stars? After embarrassing themselves in Boston, they had a golden opportunity to claw and scratch back up to .500 with a home-and-home against LA and a third game against Phoenix, and they respond with one point out of two games with the Kings? If I were Brett Hull, I'd be looking to find a replacement for Tippett, but maybe he will want to try and move Steve Ott for some offensive help (they could use more depth on the blue line, too). He seems redundant for a team with Avery.

[starslayer]

A fun stat for the Sharks that Hahn mentioned during the game: the Sharks have tied the record for over 40-shot games in season at nine... fewer than 20 games in. Jesus, they shoot a lot.

[Darth Fanboy]

That's why they are winning.


Barry Melrose is already out in Tampa, and replaced by Rick Tocchet. Looks like the greased up mullet will be back on ESPN sooner than he thought.

[Master of Ossus]

Well, there went any chance whatsoever Detroit would not manage to win the Central for about the 45th year running. Andy McDonald in St. Louis is going to miss two months with a broken leg (on top of all the other injuries the Blues have had), and now Jason Arnott in Nashville was taken off in what looks to be a very serious head or neck injury.

Trashville is the dirtiest team in the League, but I still respect Arnott for playing with his heart and somehow managing to find the line between physical and dirty play that other Predators don't even think about.

Edit: According to the early reports, Arnott has movement and feeling in all of his limbs and he's just being observed for precautionary purposes. Hopefully he'll be back up and skating again, soon.

[Darth Fanboy]

I'd love to see how the Wings would finish if they had to play a full season as part of one of the other two divisions in the West. They'd still be a good team but it wouldn't be this annual running for the President's trophy like they do right now.

Ducks halt winless streak and started a new points streak by shutting out the Kings and Wednesday night is Ovechkin night, i'm taking my camera.

[Master of Ossus]

We're not even a quarter of the way through the season, but I think the Stars are done.

Not only are they at or near the bottom of the League in the standings, but they just lost Morrow for 6 months with a torn ACL, and he was one of their only consistent performers (along with Avery, of all people). Their Boucher-for-Sydor trade also smacks of panic beginning to set in. Sydor was highlight-worthy against Chicago (just saw the highlights), giving up an absolutely pathetic goal to Versteeg and screening Turco on another goal.

Meanwhile, the Sharks continue to roll, but can't get any separation from Detroit. That team just never fucking loses. Despite all the naysayers, Hossa has looked awesome for them, and they still have Zetterberg and Lidstrom performing up to their usual marks.

[aerius]

Meanwhile, the Sharks continue to roll, but can't get any separation from Detroit. That team just never fucking loses. Despite all the naysayers, Hossa has looked awesome for them, and they still have Zetterberg and Lidstrom performing up to their usual marks.

Hossa always plays well during the regular season, but with the exception of last season he chokes it up during the playoffs. I personally think last year was a fluke, but we'll see.

[Master of Ossus]

Holy. Shit.

Roberto Luongo was injured about 5 minutes into the Canucks game against Pittsburgh. The Canucks announcers have described it as looking "very serious," although there's no official word about the injury. Hopefully he won't be out too long.

Edit: Late game laugher. The NHL.com scoreboard is having some hilarious problems. It's currentl 6-2 Sharks, and the time remaining is: FINAL/4:50 3RD.

2d edit: I know that a lot of fans were saying that the Sharks overpaid for Blake in the offseason. That's probably true, just because no one else was offering him near the money that we gave him. But he is a WEAPON on the PP. When he gets that slapshot off it either goes in or there's a rebound into a shooting position for a forward. It's so hard and he's so good at placing it where opposing netminders can only get to it with their pads that goaltenders find it uncontrollable, and that puts the puck up-for-grabs down low with the netminder out of position. The Sharks started the year with a horrible PP that had to get itself sorted out, but now that we've got it together we look to be in good shape.

The only things I don't like about the Sharks is that the netminding has been soft and lost a couple of games that we controlled. Hopefully Nabby will be healthy again by Wednesday. Also, we don't really have a place for Cheechoo. He can't play with the Marleau-Thornton line because Setoguchi is better than he is, and he can't play with the Pavelski line because Clowe is better than he is. So we've got a guy who won the Richard trophy three years ago and who's finally healthy again playing with a third line that's not a scoring threat (I think the other guys are Grier and Goc, since Mitchell's hurt) just because the Sharks have two other players who are better snipers. He even has to play left-wing despite his right-handed shot just because Grier really can't move over. Also, we've had some minor issues with the PK, and I'm hoping that Mitchell's return by Christmas will get that resolved. Mitchell and Grier are ridiculously good PK'ers, and with Marleau and Pavelski playing with the PK, too, that should be enough to carry us through defensively.

[Darth Fanboy]

And as if you couldn't get your team any older, Claude Lemieux has just signed a tryout agreement with the Sharks.

Luongo being injured fucks the Canucks like a ten dollar hooker in Testing. He's the only one left on that team with both talent and heart.

Also, I was at the Ducks/Caps game last week and although I can't blame the officials for our loss, I will give them a hearty fuck you for their preferential treatment of Alex Ovechkin, who was punching guys from behind while they were otherwise engaged with other players and not being called on it. Bobby Ryan wanted to beat Ovie's ass and the refs were stumbling into their paths as fast as they could to break it up. We've had points in three straight since then.

Went to my first AHL game the other night, it was a lot of fun.

[Master of Ossus]

And as if you couldn't get your team any older, Claude Lemieux has just signed a tryout agreement with the Sharks.

The Sharks aren't that old of a team.

Only 6 of our skaters are over 30, and none of our top-6 forwards are 30, yet. Only Blake and Roenick are over 33, and Roenick plays less than 6 minutes a game. Average age of a Sharks forward: 27. Sharks' Defenseman: 29.

Compare with the Ducks: Average age of forwards: 29, Ducks' D-man: 29. (I also counted players who get very little ice-time, even though the Ducks play their youngsters a lot less than the Sharks do). The Ducks have 6 players over 33, including Scotty Nieds, Pronger, and Selanne.

And don't get me started on Detroit, which seems to play no one without AARP card.

The Sharks aren't a young team like Chicago or the Caps or Penguins, but they're also a lot younger than people think since they get MAJOR minutes out of guys like Michalek, Setoguchi, Vlasic and Pavelski, who are all sub-25. Clowe and Erhoff are 26 and also big contributors.