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NHL 2012-13 Season Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

Scott Merryfield

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Ockeghem said:
Scott, I was actually surprised by the Canadiens - Sabres score, especially after Buffalo dealt Boston their first loss in regulation (7-4) recently. I watched the nationally-televised game yesterday (Pittsburgh at Washington). There were a few times where Ovechkin was about four (maybe less) feet from the net with the puck, and he was stopped. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, please tell your Habs to have an off night in their next Wednesday night matchup. Thanks. ;)
The game against the Sabres surprised me, too. Buffalo looked terrible, allowing Montreal to constantly drive to the net undefended. I would have felt sorry for Ryan Miller if he was playing against any other team. Ovechkin looks completely out of sorts to me. I'm not sure if it's all the different coaching styles the past few years, the big contract, or something else, but he's not the same player anymore. Sorry, Scott, but I'm sending "pep talk vibes" to the Canadiens for Wednesday's game. They already lost the opener against the Leafs, so I do not want to see two straight losses to our biggest rivals. They have a return match against Toronto on Saturday, too.
 

Ockeghem

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Scott Merryfield said:
The game against the Sabres surprised me, too. Buffalo looked terrible, allowing Montreal to constantly drive to the net undefended. I would have felt sorry for Ryan Miller if he was playing against any other team. Ovechkin looks completely out of sorts to me. I'm not sure if it's all the different coaching styles the past few years, the big contract, or something else, but he's not the same player anymore. Sorry, Scott, but I'm sending "pep talk vibes" to the Canadiens for Wednesday's game. They already lost the opener against the Leafs, so I do not want to see two straight losses to our biggest rivals. They have a return match against Toronto on Saturday, too.
Scott, Gosh, and we even did you a favor by defeating the Leafs recently, 1-0. ;)
 

Scott Merryfield

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Ockeghem said:
Scott, Gosh, and we even did you a favor by defeating the Leafs recently, 1-0. ;)
:laugh: BTW, I was standing in front of a guy wearing a Bruins shirt at last weekend's Plymouth Whalers game. I had on my Habs coat, and told him I didn't think we were allowed to stand next to each other. His response was "it only would be a problem if you had on a Rangers coat". :laugh:
 

Ockeghem

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Scott, A funny story. I've never had any animosity toward the Rangers. Now the Habs, on the other hand.... ;) Well, the Bruins rallied for a 2-1 win last night. I thank Rask for that as Montreal was peppering him throughout the game, and he was up to the challenge. As this season goes on, I wonder if the power play will be all that important to Boston. They didn't have a very strong one a couple of years ago when they won the Cup, but I sure wouldn't mind seeing it be a tad more effective than it has been for a couple of years now.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Rask was very good last night, and Boston came out like gangbusters in the 3rd period to take the lead. Montreal blew a few scoring opportunities (Plekanac breakaway, Desharnias missing two open shots, etc.). On the positive side, I have both Seguin and Krejci on my fantasy hockey team at work. :laugh: I didn't realize that Rask was a former Leaf. If you guys win another Cup, you need to send half of it to Toronto, or at least put Brian Burke's name on it. :laugh:
 

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We can't thank Burke for Tuukka -- we got him before Burke joined the Leafs (In trade for Andrew Raycroft, who's currently playing in Italy). I wonder if he'll be hired by a team with some juicy draft picks available. . .
 

Scott Merryfield

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Aaron Silverman said:
We can't thank Burke for Tuukka -- we got him before Burke joined the Leafs (In trade for Andrew Raycroft, who's currently playing in Italy). I wonder if he'll be hired by a team with some juicy draft picks available. . .
For Raycroft? Geez, that wasn't a steal, was it? In a bizarre CBA salary cap deal, Boston has traded Tim Thomas to the Islanders for a conditional 2nd round draft pick that they will never get. The Bruins clear some cap space, while this helps New York reach the salary cap floor without having to pay any real money. Boston only gets the draft pick if Thomas ends up playing for the Islanders, which will never happen. I wonder how they settled on a conditional 2nd round pick? Why not a couple 7th round conditional picks, or maybe six conditional 1st round picks? Now that would have been funny!
 

Ockeghem

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Scott, You seem to know a lot of the AHL players. Have you heard of Wade MacLeod? http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8957924/ahl-game-suspended-player-seizure-ice
 

Scott Merryfield

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Ockeghem said:
Scott, You seem to know a lot of the AHL players. Have you heard of Wade MacLeod? http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8957924/ahl-game-suspended-player-seizure-ice
Scott, no, I had never heard of him before the story of his seizure came out. I am more familiar with players that come through the OHL to the AHL, and it looks like he took the college route out west. I am glad to see that he is doing better, though. It's funny that players you had completely forgotten about resurface sometimes, though. Last night I was flipping between the Habs - Carolina game on NHL Network and the replay of the Whalers Saturday night came on the local Comcast station. During the Habs game, I heard the name Michal Jordan (pronounced Your-DON), who recently was called up from the AHL for the Hurricanes and thought the name was familiar but couldn't place it. Then I flipped to the Whalers game, and the local announcers were talking about a Whalers - Windsor trade in 2007 where Plymouth sent Michael Neuvirth (now playing goal for the Capitals) to Windsor for Matt Hackett (now a backup goalie for Minnesota) and Jordan, who just finally made it to the NHL. I clearly remember that trade when it happened and watched Jordan play for the Whalers for a couple of years, but had completely forgotten about him now, as I hadn't seen him mentioned anywhere in years.
 

Ockeghem

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Scott, Please tell me what's wrong with the Northeast picture in this link: http://espn.go.com/nhl/standings
 

Scott Merryfield

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Ockeghem said:
Scott, Please tell me what's wrong with the Northeast picture in this link: http://espn.go.com/nhl/standings
Boston's too high? :laugh: Actually, if the Habs could hang onto a 3rd period lead, they would be even further ahead right now. They have blown 5 third period leads, including last night against the Islanders. Montreal has also played three more games than the Bruins. I am just glad they are competitive and playing better this season after last year's 15th place finish in the conference. They still are a work in progress, and have been getting absolutely zero contributions from Gionta or Cole. However, players like Borque, Eller and Plekanec have all been much better than last year, and the rookies Galchenyuk and Gallagher both have looked very good.
 

Ockeghem

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Scott Merryfield said:
Boston's too high? :laugh: Actually, if the Habs could hang onto a 3rd period lead, they would be even further ahead right now. They have blown 5 third period leads, including last night against the Islanders. Montreal has also played three more games than the Bruins. I am just glad they are competitive and playing better this season after last year's 15th place finish in the conference. They still are a work in progress, and have been getting absolutely zero contributions from Gionta or Cole. However, players like Borque, Eller and Plekanec have all been much better than last year, and the rookies Galchenyuk and Gallagher both have looked very good.
Scott, Er, I don't think so. ;) I think the Habs have looked quite good thus far. As long as they remember their heads when they play Boston, I'm okay with their current position in the standings. And I definitely keep track of games-in-hand in all divisions, and especially so whenever I see an aberration like that in my link above. ;) Did you happen to see the hit Jannik Hansen put on Marian Hossa? I know somewhat how blows to the back of the head (with both the bō staff and the blade of the hand) feel from studying martial arts. They are incredibly effective and quite painful if placed correctly. And, they can kill a person if enough force is used. I don't usually root for San Jose, but tonight I am going to just because Chicago can't go without losing in regulation forever. Or can they? I do think often of getting my DirecTV upped again so that I have the NHL Network. That game is televised tonight.
 

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Jeff Gatie said:
The Hab-nots need to play 3 more games than Boston in order to be in first?
Jeff, Yeah, that's it. ;)
 

Scott Merryfield

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I definitely do not expect the Habs to stay on top of the division. As I mentioned, the team still struggles to hold onto a third period lead -- something that happened all the time last year. To me that is a sign of a weak defense, and that can kill a team during a playoff drive. The team still needs to fill in a few more missing pieces before becoming a legit contender -- another good defenseman (hopefully to be filled by Tinordi next year), and another scoring winger (which will probably have to come from the draft) are just a couple of those missing pieces. I am just hoping they can stay in front of the Leafs and make the playoffs. I fully expect Boston to finish on top of the division, as they have the most talent -- especially with all of Ottawa's injuries.
 

Ockeghem

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NHL Proposes Realignment To 4 Divisions http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8991414/nhl-realignment-proposal-adds-playoff-wild-cards-drops-league-4-divisions-source-says
 

Scott Merryfield

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The main thing I do not like about the proposed realignment is that the East will have 16 teams and the West only 14 teams. That means teams in the West will have a better chance of making the playoffs (8 out of 14) vs. the East (8 out of 16). If Phoenix ends up relocating to Quebec, then an Eastern time zone team needs to move west anyway. Why not just put 15 teams in each conference? The Habs pulled off a nice trade yesterday, sending Erik Cole to Dallas for Michael Ryder and a 3rd round pick. Cole acted like the lockout never ended as he was invisible on the ice, and he still had two more years left on his contract after this year @ $4.5M per year. Ryder is an unrestricted free agent this summer, plus Montreal gets another pick in a very deep 2013 draft. I do not understand why Dallas made this trade, but am glad they did.
 

Ockeghem

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Scott, With regard to the sixteen (East) and fourteen (West) team realignment, have you heard any news of adding two more teams to the league?
 

Scott Merryfield

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Ockeghem said:
Scott, With regard to the sixteen (East) and fourteen (West) team realignment, have you heard any news of adding two more teams to the league?
Nothing concrete -- just wild rumors. Seattle, Kansas City, Las Vegas and Quebec are sometimes mentioned as new NHL cities, along with a 2nd team in the Toronto area. Expansion would be a huge mistake, IMO. There are already too many teams struggling in poor hockey markets -- Columbus, Nashville, Phoenix, Miami and Raleigh come quickly to mind. All except Raleigh and Phoenix are from past expansions that were not well thought out by Bettman in his attempt to make the NHL into another NBA, which was never going to work. If the NHL wants to enter some of the mentioned markets, they should just relocate these struggling franchises, similar to what happened with Atlanta. Quebec should be the first choice, too. That city supported an NHL team in the past (moved due to arena issues), and currently draws over 12,000 fans per game for their Canadian junior team!
 

Ockeghem

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Scott, I wouldn't mind seeing a Quebec franchise (the Nordiques?) again in the NHL. I'm not sure that a second franchise in the Toronto area would work. But as hockey is almost a religion in Canada, I suppose that it might be possible. That's impressive to have that many fans for a junior team game! And speaking of the Maple Leafs and junior teams, I believe they're playing a game tonight against an up-and-coming minor league franchise. ;) I have a funny story to tell (which wasn't too funny at the time). I was on my honeymoon back in 1986 in Old Quebec. I was filling up my tank, and while there I struck up a conversation with a few of the others who were getting gasoline. I said something like, "How about them Canadiens!" I had mistakenly thought that because I was in Canada, everyone loved the Habs. Of course, as I was driving away I realized what I had done, and where I was at the time. Ooops. I thought I was going to be lynched. (Actually, no one responded to me.)
 

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