The Random Hockey Thoughts Thread

[wr50l]

Giroux's goal was pretty awesome. The Flyers have the offfence to go far, pity about the goaltending.

[wingsfan77]

I won't be surprised if Jagr is productive, especially given that he's got talent around him and won't be asked to carry the load. I do worry about the physical grind of an NHL season wearing on him though. I get the why the Carter and Richards deals, but I'm not convinced yet that they won't be missed through the season...

The goals by Carter will be missed but that's about it, and nobody on the team is going to miss Richards giving a half assed effort most games, we'll see how it all works out. Couterier had a really strong debut last night, I'm curious to see if he sticks around after 9 games or not.

EDIT- just read an article that said he was on the ice for the late-game PK's (which were awful calls by the way) and Laviolette was quoted as saying "why not, he's our best defensive player." That's a pretty bold statement.

[leaffan]

Richards had a goal and an assist today

[Ravin]

I love how you guys just jump on the 'bash richards and carter' bandwagon. I'm sure when they got signed to those big long contracts you were all fist pumping about how secure the franchise would be.

The Flyers had a solid goalie in Bob, the problem was, they didn't know if they wanted Bob to start or Boucher to start and that killed them. Look at Washington as the same thing with Varlamov and Nuevirth. Pick a fucking goalie. And then when you go from stanley cup finals the year before, you panic and start the goalie that played last year, rather then the rookie that was playing most of the regular season. He had a 28-13-8 record in his opening year. Who the hell thinks that is bad for a rookie? But instead of getting him some playoff experience, you toss him out for the other guys and the rest is history.

To me, I would rather Richards and Carter, over everything you got in return, and spent some money on a sick goalie coach and give Bob some time to mature as a goalie. He is 23 years old. You HAVE a franchise goalie if you do it right.

[wingsfan77]

I don't disagree with you, I would have liked to keep Richards, despite his flaws he is a very good all around player. Carter, however, I won't miss.

[Sharkweather]

Red Wings probably gonna destroy the Avs tonight, gonna be a long season.

[Ravin]

Wow, the Flames look so bored coming out for the opening on this. No energy at all. I always hated when teams called every player out because it really is hard to get people into it.

[Obst]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hm9nhMoeVA&feature=channel_video_title"]Flyers At Devils - 10-8-11 - Claude Giroux scores - [HD] - YouTube[/ame]

Giroux off to a great start

[Rip]

I only watched the Leafs and Wild play this season so I'll give a review

Wild actually have a real front line! Even though it was against the Blue Jackets, Seto and Healtey looked great.

That Dion Phaneuf hit was brutal. Leafs are looking good too.

Good way to start the season.

[Ravin]

Thank you Calgary for not play 30 minutes last night. The Flames just looked like they didn't give a fuck last night at all. From the opening name calling, where they just came out, raised their stick and gave a quiet "hey guys" to the crowd, all the way to the third period where they finally started to play some hockey and almost tied it up.

Loving the depth we got now, and now just a one man show. The defence playing great, and I am a big fan of what Matt Niskanen is doing on the blue line. We don't even have Brooks Orpik in the line, so the defence is only getting better. Once Crosby comes back, these guys will be right back in as favourites to win the Cup.

[Ravin]

Worst national anthem ever at the Jets opener. My god, that woman seemed like she forgot the words and didn't know what to do with the crowd so loud. They should have just let the crowd sing.

[Ravin]

Penguins winning till 5 minutes in third and end up dropping it in a shootout. No Malkin in the game, so one shootout player was gone. Johnson is a complete bag of crap on shootouts. Still took 5 of 6 points on the western road swing.

Hopkins got his first goal as well. I don't see the Oilers putting him down in the WHL again, because he is fitting in really well in the NHL. From what I have watched of him so far, he isn't making a bunch of mistakes, and is creating a bunch of chances. The Oilers are going to still suck regardless if he plays or not, so might as well keep him up and get him and Hall working together. At this point, it just seems like a waste of time putting him in Red Deer where he will just dominate the fuck out of everyone. He isn't learning anything there.

Other thing is though, watching him hit is funny. I don't know who he hit, but he bounced right off him. So unless they send him down for conditioning, he should just stick to setting plays up. I say Edmonton keeps him past 9 games.

Oilers also may have found a goalie who isn't old as shit. Devan Dubnyk who was the Oilers 1st overall pick in 2004 (random info, Rinne was drafted 258 same year). He looked solid. Only hard thing to judge is, Penguins are without both star players and were on their third game in four nights. So time will tell on that goalie, but good for Edmonton to finally go with a young goalie and see what happens. You finished 30th twice, you can't go any lower unless the NHL starts to do regulations and sends them down to the AHL.

And Pittsburgh needs to do something on defence. They need a puck mover badly, because Letang is playing way to much. He played 29minutes. Niskanen and Martin played 22 each, so 7minutes difference. That is a lot of time. He played all but like 30 seconds of overtime.

[killgod]

Oilers +130 FTW

[Ravin]

I'm glad to see that the NBC deal is going full out to open the season. Today they got the Tampa/Washington game, tomorrow Florida/Pittsburgh, Wednesday Carlona/Boston.

Also insane how many games the penguins are playing. Play Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. 6 games in 9 days.

Although will point out, I think this is where hockey fails. There are games all day today, with three, 1pm games, a 2pm game, a 6pm game and two 7pm games. Should have got with NBC or someone and had an all day hockey showing since its a holiday today.

[Ravin]

Apparently this is what the Phoenix/Dallas game looks like right now. Not even after the second where people are grabbing a beer.