2003-2004 NHL Thread (1 Viewer)

[Christ Reynolds]

as a red wings fan (in boston), i'll admit that i want to see the ducks fail, because of last years playoffs, and because of fedorov jetting off there. AND because the ducks basically said 'see ya' to their franchise leader, paul kariya. anyway, i'm disappointed at how the bruins are handling their lines, although i dont dare mention this anywhere around here. they have a top scoring line, but they break it up. thornton samsonov and bergeron would be a great line, but they put all the big guys together, thornton murray and knuble. murray has a hard shot, but who couldnt get goals palying with thornton? when samsonov is out there, he is ALL OVER the puck, yet the announcers barely mention him, ah what else is new in boston, he is russian this will be a repeat of last year for them, fast start, winning games they shouldnt be winning, then the bottom will drop out. at least they have potvin playing very well to keep them in it.

CJ

 

[kamyiu]

i was at that game. the sharks were atrocious. the only one who played well was nabokov. the rest of the team could have phoned in their performance. the (lack of) defense totally let him down on those two goals. the passing was so bad, they rarely connected on more than two consecutive passes. i couldn't even understand how they outshot anaheim, it didn't seem like gerber was tested at all. christ, i've been playing goal for 6-7 years now, i coulda got a shutout against the sharks. san jose has scored one pathetic goal in their last three games. it's not looking pretty at all.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Now I'm getting less worried about the Ducks. Putting up four goals against a good defensive team like Philly isn't too shabby. And another point: in any game the Ducks are involved in that goes to overtime, shouldn't they just start calling it Jiggytime?

 

[kamyiu]

no, they shouldn't. sports nicknames are awful, and "jiggy" is one of the worst. it's too bad, because the guy is really good. listening to a 40-something commentator say "oh, he's gettin jiggy!" makes me want to wretch.

 

[McPaul]

Mark my words, the Ottawa Senators will win the president's trophy this year. Believe me, it's hard saying this, considering it's coming from a Canucks fan!

I'm in two fantasy leagues this year. One decent, another horribly bad luck in a very early draft. I'll let you figure out which team is which:

Demitra, Sakic, Marchant
Bonk, Prospal, Kariya
Bondra, Sykora, Czerkawski
Pronger, Ozolinsh, Ohlund, Wooley
Turco, Raycroft

Spezza, Primeau, Allison, Koivu
Tanguay, Havlat, Torres, Chistov, Pyatt, Dupuis
Sykora, Hemsky, Langenbrunner
Lidstrom, Jackman, Boynton, MacInnis
Turco, Numminen

 

[Andrew_Sch]

I have two teams, I can only remember the complete roster of one though:

Sakic, Demitra, Spezza, Lecavalier, Datsyuk
Bondra, Guerin, Nagy, Palffy
MacInnis, Pronger, Jovanovski, Visnovski, Chara
Hackett, Giguere, Aebischer

Needless to say, I'm dominating this league so far.

 

[Shane Bos]

My hockey pool isn't doing so well as my 2 goalies are from SoCal. Giguerre and Nabakov even with that set back I do have the most points over the week and I am making a run up the standings.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Finally, there's some good hockey on American TV this week. On ESPN2, there's Ducks-Rangers tomorrow at 7:30, Blues-Wings Weds. at 7:30, and Flyers-Devils Thursday at 8.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Hey, I've got a fantasy quandary for all you hockey fans out there. Should I drop Peter Bondra to pick up Sergei Samsonov?

 

[PatrickM]

Andrew, if you can drop Bondra now for Samsonov and then pick up Bondra again later it might be worth doing. Bondra and the rest of the Caps have sucked lately and I suspect Cassidy will be shown the door soon. Samsonov is playing well as are the Bruins and could produce quite well.

BTW, I just got back from your part of the world yesterday. The downtown area in the inner harbor near Camden is a nice area. The ESPN SportsZone was great too.

Pat

 

[Christ Reynolds]

Should I drop Peter Bondra to pick up Sergei Samsonov?

the bruins like to smother their offensive talent by forcing them into a defensive system. i cant tell you how many gifted offensive players i have seen the bruins ruin/let go by playing them on the 4th line, criticize them for not playing defense, setting them up to fail. samsonov should be able to score wherever he is though, i'd never bet against him.

CJ

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Sigh...life just hasn't been fair so far this year for my man Jiggy. Seems like when he's in net, the Ducks can't stop their grandmothers on defense, and couldn't score on their grandmothers on offense, but when Gerber's in net they play decent D and put a few in net. Why must they torture Jiggy (and thus, me) so? I doubt if it's because he hasn't done enough for this team over the past six or so months.

 

[kamyiu]

stupid sharks, shut out by carolina. WTF?? owen nolan? we don't need him. teemu selanne? don't need him as well. they didn't even try to resign him. why are they pinning everything on such a streaky scorer like marleau?

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

My Canucks are doing nicely, despite a few really poor defensive plays. Good to see the scoring being spread around to tie for most goals in the league, and sitting at the top of the conference early in the season. I'm liking Hedberg as the backup, and the way the team plays in front of him.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Marty Turco gets embarrassed giving up three goals and gets yanked. Gurian takes a penalty, comes out of the box and gets a hat trick, while the Stars’ backup goaltender shuts everyone down.

4–3 Stars in another routine win.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Another Gerber start against a crappy team, another win for the Ducks. You'd think Babcock would want to put Jiggy in some easier games to build up his confidence after his rough start, but I guess Jiggy hasn't earned the right to be a starting goaltender in the NHL yet. :rolleyes

 

[Prentice Cotham]

CUJO to play tonight. The soap opera for the Red Wings continues! The Blues took care of Hasek last night. Great game! Ozzie played an awesome third period.

 

[kamyiu]

just let him play against the sharks, guaranteed to build up anyone's confidence

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Now I'm hearing rumblings of a full-blown goalie controversy in Anaheim. I think that, if it's true, it's just plain wrong. Jiggy was the team during their incredible run last season. I know it wasn't JUST him, but I didn't see any other Ducks stopping 63-64 shots against a team with eight future HOFer's, or shutting out the Wild in the conference finals for three straight games. I recognize that Babcock, by playing Gerber, is doing what he thinks gives his team the best chance to win, but this isn't a Marc Bulger/Kurt Warner situation, where one guy is clearly finished due to injury/prolonged ineffectiveness. Giguere had a few bad games to start the season, but he's not injured, and it's not like the talent that took them so far last year just disappeared. He's not going to get out of this slump by sitting on the bench either. Anybody with me?

 

[kamyiu]

i'm with you, but you gotta play the hot hand as well. i think giguere would be the first one to say that, judging by interviews and articles i've read. he carried the team last season, and there's no reason why the team can't carry him for a while. gerber's gonna cool off sooner or later, and giguere will find himself back in the crease again.