NHL: Hope Springs Eternal*

[BlueRose]

Did anyone else watch the awards on TV? The music was absolutely terrible, the background music sounded like it either belonged in an 80's sitcom, or in porn.

No one booed Bettman though, which must be a first for him.

[TheHoundRules]

The draft is tonight. I like Atlanta's pick in Evander Kane. Size, speed, scoring, toughness.

[Rexor]

Philly trading for Pronger really just confirms that they are not committed to winning, but to a locker room blowing up in pre-season.

Carcillo and Emery were bad enough together, but now Pronger? Jesus H.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Boy, Sutter sure loves to wheel and deal. I was surprised at getting JBo's rights. I was concerned IF we did sign him, how in the heck could we fit him under the cap? Then he traded Vandermeer for Prust. Interesting. I'll be watching like a hawk to see if Sutter can sign Bouwmeester.

[Biter]

The draft is tonight. I like Atlanta's pick in Evander Kane. Size, speed, scoring, toughness.

I love Atlanta's entire draft. Your summary of Kane seems accurate. Klingberg is a swede with a North American playing style (i.e. really physical). Morin is a pure sniper. Pasquale certainly can turn out great, but it's really difficult to predict how goalies will turn out. I wasn't expecting Bubnick to last beyond the first 100 picks, so grabbing him at 155 was a good decision.

The winners of this draft in my opinion is Nashville (yes, I know that we won't know who the real winners of the draft are for a few years). The development of the talents in Tampa Bay and Edmonton should also be interesting.

Congrats to a kid from my hometown on getting drafted in the first round - David Rundblad, who went to the Blues with the 17th pick. With that blueline - EJ, Pietrangelo, etc. - it will take a long while (i.e. a few years) before he reaches the NHL. Yeah, I will follow David's development during his entire career.

The Sharks get two good defenders in William Wrenn and Taylor Doherty. In the later rounds they gamble on some forwards and another german. Pretty much what you would expect from an organization that focuses on the present, not the future.

However, as arizonahotrock mentioned, Pronger is now in the Eastern Conference. :cheers:

[TheHoundRules]

I love Atlanta's entire draft. Your summary of Kane seems accurate. Klingberg is a swede with a North American playing style (i.e. really physical). Morin is a pure sniper. Pasquale certainly can turn out great, but it's really difficult to predict how goalies will turn out. I wasn't expecting Bubnick to last beyond the first 100 picks, so grabbing him at 155 was a good decision.

As much as I hate to admit it. Don Waddell did damn good in this draft. Easily his best ever and one of the top in the league for this year. I really like our draft. Hopefully we trade Lehtenon or Pavelec for a top 6 forward and resign Kovalchuk in the coming week.

[Rexor]

Wow. Montreal got fleeced yesterday. Taking on that albatross of a contract that is Gomez...

[Sis Who Swears]

Fuck!

Roloson's gone! :cry: And it's a no-go with Heatley... neither of those surprises me in the least unfortunately. :(

Once I get over my Rolly depression I might get excited about Khabibulin and Quinn as coach.

Maybe.

[BLU-RAY]

MTL is building a weird team up there... unfortunately, I think Toronto is building a slow team and will get walked on by them, Boston, and Buffalo. Colton Orr? What the fuck, Burke? But Cammalleri, Gomez, Gionta, Gill, and Spacek are all good pickups. They do have to pay off the ridiculous Gomez contract, but they seem to be accepting of that.

Little concerned about the Devils, and the Penguins are losing two of their top four D... will be interesting to see how they move to address that.

[TheHoundRules]

I am really happy with what the Thrashers have done. They got rid of Exelby for Kubina. Upgrade. They picked up Antropov which made Kovy happy. We wanted a top 4 defenseman and a top 6 offensive player and got both. With how we ended the year and these additions, I really like how we look going into next season. I still do not think we are done. I expect a trade of one of our goalies. I am really happy so far.

[Lord O' Bones]

Two of three things I need to happen have. The Sharks locked down Ryan Clowe, and got Blake back for one more year. The 3rd would be JR, but largely out of sentiment, and because hell, you can always use another coach/motivational speaker. Also, he still doesn't suck.

Goc, Plihal, and Kaspar will land on their feet. Good luck boys.

I'm OK with pretty much any other move Wilson makes from this point forward. Except for trading our Captain. Or Douglass Murray. But trading Crankshaft would be insane.

Anyway, Go Giants!

[BLU-RAY]

Anybody have thoughts on Olympic rosters? Canada invited 46 players to their camp, and will have to whittle it down to 23. I took a shot:

46-Man Roster:

Goaltenders

Martin Brodeur

Marc-André Fleury

Roberto Luongo

Steve Mason

Cam Ward

Defensemen

François Beauchemin

Jay Bouwmeester

Dan Boyle

Brent Burns

Drew Doughty

Mike Green

Dan Hamhuis

Duncan Keith

Scott Niedermayer

Dion Phaneuf

Chris Pronger

Robyn Regehr

Stéphane Robidas

Brent Seabrook

Marc Staal

Shea Weber

Forwards

Jeff Carter

Dan Cleary

Sidney Crosby

Shane Doan

Simon Gagné

Ryan Getzlaf

Dany Heatley

Jarome Iginla

Vincent Lecavalier

Milan Lucic

Patrick Marleau

Andy McDonald

Brenden Morrow

Rick Nash

Corey Perry

Michael Richards

Derek Roy

Joe Sakic

Patrick Sharp

Ryan Smyth

Martin St. Louis

Eric Staal

Jordan Staal

Joe Thornton

Jonathan Toews

My breakdown is as follows: 3 goalies/8 defensemen/12 forwards. Concievably, you could cut a D-man for a 13th forward; I'll address that at the bottom.

Goalies:

Martin Brodeur

Roberto Luongo

Cam Ward

Defensemen:

Francois Beauchemin (L)

Scott Niedermeyer (L)

Chris Pronger (L)

Dion Phaneuf (L)

Jay Bouwmeester (L)

Mike Green ®

Dan Boyle ®

Stephane Robidas ®

Forwards:

Sidney Crosby (C, L)

Eric Staal (C, L)

Jordan Staal (C, L)

Ryan Getzlaf (C, R)

Jeff Carter (C, R)

Dan Cleary (W, L)

Corey Perry (RW, R)

Jarome Iginla (RW, R)

Shane Doan (RW, R)

Martin St. Louis (RW, L)

Rick Nash (LW, L)

Simone Gagne (LW, L)

Lines:

Nash-Crosby-Iginla

Gagne-Getzlaf-Perry

Cleary-J.Staal-Doan

Carter-E. Staal-St. Louis

I took five centers and seven wings, because frankly, Team Canada is embarassingly strong down the middle. To wit, players left off this list include: Mike Richards, Joe Thornton, Johnathan Toews, Vincent Lecavelier, Patrick Marleau, Patrick Sharp, and Joe Sakic. The team also got picked for chemistry in a lot of places, and the ability to multitask; specifically the 3rd line (checking line) and the Perry-Getzlaf combo.

Captaincy goes to Iginla or Niedermeyer.

Some odd juggles: I had to cut Thornton and Toews when I realized that I had seven centermen, four wingers, and Cleary, who plays everything. They went for Gagne and Doan, who are really probably better choices. Considered Morrow over Doan, but Doan is a righty-shot and Morrow a lefty; in cases where that came up, I generally favored balancing the team a bit.

Another such change was cutting Duncan Keith, who I like a lot, for Stephane Robidas, who is tough as hell, and is also a right handed shot. Other candidates for that position included Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Brent Seabrook, and Shea Weber; I'm unsure as to whether Robidas or Weber is the proper call.

If you were, hypothetically, going to cut a D-man for a forward, it would probably be Bouwmeester (or Beauchemin, but I feel like Bouwmeester is maybe the most untested player on this hypothetical squad) for Morrow or Thornton. I could probably also be sold on Toews over E. Staal.

Thoughts? Criticisms?

[Demonblade]

Anybody have thoughts on Olympic rosters? Canada invited 46 players to their camp, and will have to whittle it down to 23. I took a shot:

My breakdown is as follows: 3 goalies/8 defensemen/12 forwards. Concievably, you could cut a D-man for a 13th forward; I'll address that at the bottom.

Goalies:

Martin Brodeur

Roberto Luongo

Cam Ward

Defensemen:

Francois Beauchemin (L)

Scott Niedermeyer (L)

Chris Pronger (L)

Dion Phaneuf (L)

Jay Bouwmeester (L)

Mike Green ®

Dan Boyle ®

Stephane Robidas ®

Forwards:

Sidney Crosby (C, L)

Eric Staal (C, L)

Jordan Staal (C, L)

Ryan Getzlaf (C, R)

Jeff Carter (C, R)

Dan Cleary (W, L)

Corey Perry (RW, R)

Jarome Iginla (RW, R)

Shane Doan (RW, R)

Martin St. Louis (RW, L)

Rick Nash (LW, L)

Simone Gagne (LW, L)

Lines:

Nash-Crosby-Iginla

Gagne-Getzlaf-Perry

Cleary-J.Staal-Doan

Carter-E. Staal-St. Louis

I took five centers and seven wings, because frankly, Team Canada is embarassingly strong down the middle. To wit, players left off this list include: Mike Richards, Joe Thornton, Johnathan Toews, Vincent Lecavelier, Patrick Marleau, Patrick Sharp, and Joe Sakic. The team also got picked for chemistry in a lot of places, and the ability to multitask; specifically the 3rd line (checking line) and the Perry-Getzlaf combo.

...

Thoughts? Criticisms?

I like your picks for goalies, and the forwards are mostly spot-on, but no Lecavalier? I'd take out one of the Staal bros and put him in there. If he ever gets traded to Montreal you could be damned sure that he's going to be picked.

[Biter]

Seven D, thirteen forwards:

Defense

Bouwmeester (Untested? He's played 16 international games already with Canada, not including juniors. In comparison, Dion has played 7 games)

Boyle (Keith, Burns)

Green

Niedermayer

Phaneuf

Pronger

Weber

Forwards:

Nash - Crosby - Iginla

Heatley - Getzlaf - Perry

Morrow - Richards - Doan (OUCH!)

Carter - E. Staal - St. Louis

Thornton (Toews, Lecavalier)

From what I've seen, I really understand Doughty being selected to the squad - I'm really impressed by his maturity on the ice.

The U.S. squad (a.k.a. the next generation):

Goaltenders: Ryan Miller, Jonathan Quick, Tim Thomas.

Defence: Tom Gilbert, Tim Gleason, Ron Hainsey, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Mike Komisarek, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik, Brian Rafalski, Rob Scuderi, Ryan Suter, Ryan Whitney.

Forwards: David Backes, David Booth, Dustin Brown, Dustin Byfuglien, Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Patrick Kane, Ryan Kesler, Phil Kessel, Jamie Langenbrunner, Ryan Malone, Mike Modano, Kyle Okposo, T.J. Oshie, Zach Parise, Joe Pavelski, Bobby Ryan, Paul Stastny.

Goalies

Miller

Thomas

Quick

Defense

Erik Johnson

Komisarek

Martin

Orpik (JJ, Gilbert)

Rafalski

Suter

Whitney

Forwards

Parise - Gomez - Kane

Kessel - Stastny - Ryan

Brown - Kesler - Backes (also ouch!)

Okposo - Drury - Booth

Pavelski (Malone, Oshie)

Modano isn't the player he once was, and I hope nostalgia doesn't play any part here. DiPietro is recovering from a serious injury. No Ballard, Bogosian or Niskanen... oh right, Bogo had that broken leg.

[BLU-RAY]

I like your picks for goalies, and the forwards are mostly spot-on, but no Lecavalier? I'd take out one of the Staal bros and put him in there. If he ever gets traded to Montreal you could be damned sure that he's going to be picked.

Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me to see him picked, but honestly, I feel like you have to take two of Carter, Eric Staal, Lecavalier, and Thornton. Carter's on there as the only right-handed center in that group, but frankly, could definitely cut him for Thornton, who is a better playmaker. After that... I dunno, Lecavalier has just not impressed me that much in Tampa; he's got a ton of talent, but I don't know if he cares as much as Staal or Carter do. I've just had a negative impression of him for the last few years.

Biter: I actually thought Bouwmeester was a couple years younger than he is, so my bad, but what I was referring to mostly is that he's never really been through the playoff grinder. However, your point is fair, so if we need to cut the 8th defenseman for a 13th forward, I guess we can lose Beauchemin or Phaneuf.

[Biter]

With some recent signings, Toronto has shown they are committed to having a solid defense this upcoming season. How about this:

Kaberle - Komisarek ($4.5 mil/season)

Beauchemin ($3.8 mil/season) - Schenn

White - Exelby

Strålman (Finger, Frögren, Van Ryn)

Sure, they're lacking in great forwards and a franchise goalie, but that defense is impressive. Will any of the defenders that won't make the cut get traded? We'll have to wait and see.

[BlueRose]

The rumor mill is already going nuts about Kaberle getting traded away now that Beauchemin is signed, though.

I wanted the Canucks to pick up Beauchemin, but maybe we'll get Kaberle out of it now.

I have no words to describe the Canucks signing of Andrew Raycroft. :ack: The only good thing about it is that he signed for the league minimum for back up goalies, $500 k. Considering that he probably wont play more than 10-12 games, I guess that's okay...

[TheHoundRules]

With some recent signings, Toronto has shown they are committed to having a solid defense this upcoming season. How about this:

Kaberle - Komisarek ($4.5 mil/season)

Beauchemin ($3.8 mil/season) - Schenn

White - Exelby

Strålman (Finger, Frögren, Van Ryn)

Sure, they're lacking in great forwards and a franchise goalie, but that defense is impressive. Will any of the defenders that won't make the cut get traded? We'll have to wait and see.

Exelby is going to drive you nuts. He is gives some big hits, but is out of position a lot. He was great in the locker room and with the fans of Atlanta, but his play is nothing to brag about.

[BLU-RAY]

Exelby is going to drive you nuts. He is gives some big hits, but is out of position a lot. He was great in the locker room and with the fans of Atlanta, but his play is nothing to brag about.

I guess I'm OK with that as a 3rd-pairing Dman, given the other names on Biter's list. I'm really, really concerned about our ability to score next year, though.

Has there been any news on that Scandinavian goalie who was coming across?

[Biter]

Has there been any news on that Scandinavian goalie who was coming across?

Jonas Gustavsson hasn't made a decision yet. Toronto, Dallas and San Jose are some of the teams that are interested in signing him.