NHL Weekly Thoughts [1/19-1/26]

[ThomasTomasz]

 

[dave]

Weekly thought: Those green dudes are creepier than me.

 

[EmpireWF]

Boyle, Pyatt and KREIDER...the new line, looking for good things from them -- Rangers in Boston tonight.

 

[ssags11]

Boyle, Pyatt and KREIDER...the new line, looking for good things from them -- Rangers in Boston tonight.

yeah the Rangers are looking good. I will be watching it with a few of my Boston buddies and some Rags fans out here in Seattle. Good luck! I think this game will test each other.

 

[Ravin]

Was in an interview this week and we got talking about Toronto hockey and the Brian Burke thing. The guy told me that he said to his friends "I think the leafs fired Burke because they wanted to get the media spotlight back on them since they are the biggest team."

:ukiddingme::walker:

I told him "The leafs could have a press conference announcing the change in their tim horton's order and people would show up and tweet about it for a day."

 

[1ke]

If Patrick Kane plays all year as he did today. Maybe finally will we all see what the kid is truly capable of.

 

[wr50l]

Panthers game is a sell out.

 

[Boss AZ]

Panthers game is a sell out.

Free admission ?

 

[wr50l]

Schneider gets chased after 30 minutes, Canucks fans give Luongo a standing ovation. What a predicament.

 

[leaffan]

Schneider gets chased after 30 minutes, Canucks fans give Luongo a standing ovation. What a predicament.

Was :rofl: at the 5th goal.

 

[PP]

Great game by the bruins. rangers didnt look good at all. Thorton busted Rupp's nose :dance:

 

[leaffan]

Quick notes from the Leaf game.

- Montreal is bad and I mean really bad. The only thing really holding that team together right now is goaltending but its obvious (much like I said last year) their old GM had no idea what they were doing and fucked them up bad. They can argue not having PK all they want their defense was beyond horrible and their offense is essentially non exsistant.

- Leafs rolled with Scrivens tonight. Was really shaky looking in the begining kind of calmed down.

- Impressed with a Carlyle ran team. Defensively they held themselves together well and offense wasn't all that bad.

- Still worried about what they will play like against better teams.

- Kadri is for real and he's only going to get better.

- I forgot how rediculously good Kessel is lol.

 

[leaffan]

And more thoughts from the random games I watched today.

- Detroit looked flat from when I watched them although they played against a St. Louis team that looked like a team that should be getting all the 1st place votes in the west they've been getting.

- Pitts/Philly was the best game I watched today. It was kinda wierd seeing Schenn in a philly uniform but I find it funny I was still seeing them same little dumb moves that bothered me when he played for TO show up in philly.

- Chicago looked god dam good. Kane looked like he was in mid season form carrying the puck. That shot on the first goal was just money.

- Jets/Sens was a borefest.

 

[EmpireWF]

Rangers didn't have anything going for them yesterday, Bruins all over them.

Just some rust...it's alright.

 

[dave]

Quick notes from the Leaf game.

- Montreal is bad and I mean really bad. The only thing really holding that team together right now is goaltending but its obvious (much like I said last year) their old GM had no idea what they were doing and fucked them up bad. They can argue not having PK all they want their defense was beyond horrible and their offense is essentially non exsistant.

- Leafs rolled with Scrivens tonight. Was really shaky looking in the begining kind of calmed down.

- Impressed with a Carlyle ran team. Defensively they held themselves together well and offense wasn't all that bad.

- Still worried about what they will play like against better teams.

- Kadri is for real and he's only going to get better.

- I forgot how rediculously good Kessel is lol.

I'm not writing Montreal off on one game. Leafs won fair and square, no issue there.

My problem is this - Montreal finished 15th in the Eastern Conference last year ... they have nowhere to go but up ... why drop Galyenchuk down to the third line and pretty much not play him in a game you're down 2-0 ... and, worse, replace him with a chronic underachiever like Rene Bourque? I buy Bourque having more experience, but the Habs were 15th in the conference, they're rebuilding, no fighting for a playoff spot. Play Galyenchuk to death, let him learn.

 

[leaffan]

I'm not writing Montreal off on one game. Leafs won fair and square, no issue there.

My problem is this - Montreal finished 15th in the Eastern Conference last year ... they have nowhere to go but up ... why drop Galyenchuk down to the third line and pretty much not play him in a game you're down 2-0 ... and, worse, replace him with a chronic underachiever like Rene Bourque? I buy Bourque having more experience, but the Habs were 15th in the conference, they're rebuilding, no fighting for a playoff spot. Play Galyenchuk to death, let him learn.

That is the absolute worst thing you can do. This was his first NHL game tonight with little to no training camp and no pre season games. He was timid most times but played ok, had a tough time dealing with the likes of the leafs 3rd defensive pairing and the habs simply don't have the depth to hide him on the 3rd line since he won't be able to manage top line roles. Its just stupid to let him keep playing out there.

Let him play 3 or 4 more games then send him back here to Sarnia and let his dad keep training him with him knowing what they speed of the game and NHL play is like. Sting are first in their division right now but their playoff history has been horride so hopefully he gets them further.

As far as to why they dropped him down it was clear he wasn't generating all that much and giving more ice time to Plekanec and Lars Eller in your top 6 is the way to go.

Frankly as I wrote last year (in another thread) the Habs need to basically do a transistion and wait a year or two and having a bunch of kids up in the big club is a waste. Especially in a division as volitile as the Northeast. The biggest thing I noticed tonight was that their defensemen were utter shit. They have a very nice crop of guys on their way but rushing them only really leads to failure. Patience is needed in montreal. They have a fairly top ranked farm system but its pretty young and nothing is going to just spring up over night.

 

[leaffan]

Rangers didn't have anything going for them yesterday, Bruins all over them.

Just some rust...it's alright.

This was quite apparant from the slew of games I watched tonight. IMO I would of really liked to see another week allowed for training camp but they just ran out of time.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Huberdeau > *

This is going to be a great year for first time players...no rookie wall. Just go out and play.

Panthers have really become maybe the most fan friendly franchise.

 

[Fappin Raptor]

Penalties ultimately killed the Wings, as well as the inability to shoot the puck. 7 shots through 2 periods? Can't win games like that.

 

[s@ppisgod]

Tarasenko didn't disappoint. Between him, Steen, and a healthy Perron, it seems we finally have some finishers to go with a slew of playmakers. And a great defensive system. And two thriving goalies. This should be a good year.