Chadd

Only saw the third and it seemed pretty poorly called to me. I really don't care who wins, it's just an observation.

Shouldn't have gotten to OT...both the TV and Radio annoucners (Canadians mind you) said that Interference call was BS because he was pushed. But...it doesn't matter. Allan and the D had an off game...but came through when it mattered...now I can go drink! Happy New Year everyone! There four or five other times where Canada ran the goalie earlier in the third without a call.

I would expect Boucher to get the start in Ottawa.

Wasn't that more than ten months ago? That was long before this topic was created.

I agree that Kubina would be good for a playoff run, but the $5 mil hit beyond this season is what has me saying no when the likes of Backstrom, Flash and Fehr have to get under contract. Flash is only making $700 this season, I can see that being tripled if he goes over 20 goals with him getting 19 last season. Semin just signed a 1 year deal that bumps his salary up to $6 mil next year. Ward is a much more managable cap hit but he still has a year left to go. I think next year it will be Green, Poti, Mo, Alzner, Erskine and Schultz as the top 6, with Erskine being the odd man out to get CArlson some seasoning, so I don't think they want to carry 8 or 9 d-men like they are doing this year NHLnumbers.com shows Kubina as UFA at the end of this season, same for Ward. Again, I'm not saying that they will, simply that they could. My honest guess is that they over-value the guys they have on the blue line and will not make a significant change.

Sorry if this is noob, but I think I keep up pretty well on hockey gear. But WTF is a fischer??? I've never heard of them. But that grip does look nice; very tennis-esque. Euro only, there was some talk a couple years ago about them getting into hockey in North America.

Exactly the point I made: surely a helmet with a visor is safer than one without. The only counter-argument on that score is, of course, the one that says a visor bolted in at the sides (ie. that can't be flipped up) impedes emergency first aid. This may be true, but Health Canada seemed entirely unaware of it: they told me that as far as they knew, it was a facial coverage issue. They also had no clue about the safety issues involved in an ill-fitted mask. That's the insane part: the government body doesn't even know the standards upon which they're enforcing the law they wrote, since they left the standards entirely up to a private company. It's not the blind leading the blind so much as people willingly putting on blinders and allowing themselves to be lead because they're too lazy and/or ignorant to look where they're going. At one point Itech had a visor without the top attachment that was certified. I believe it had a number of holes on the side instead of slots and was similar to the RBE 1 in all other respects. In the past, I was told that it was strictly a coverage issue, though that may have changed or been incorrect.

Guys like Ward, Wallin or Kubina would be improvements for a playoff run. They aren't going to get a number one guy, they can't afford it. The can afford a short term rental player that is a much more solid number two or three that allows the other guys to get slotted more to their talent levels. Either way, this makes more room for guys like Alzner and Carlson over the short term.

Looking over rosters for UFAs and just noticed that only Orpik and Goligoski are signed through next year. Letang is RFA and everyone else is UFA.

There are a few guys that are UFA at the end of the season that would make good deadline deals to improve the roster, if the price is right. I don't see them making a trade for a significant player with a number of years left on his contract. They just won't have the cap space to do that. The bigger issue is if Washington would be willing to give up picks or players that they will have to see a bunch of times a year.

Actually someone else mastered it a long time ago, they are just the current beneficiaries of the system. It's also why record companies have abandoned rock music. They know the formula for pop music and can just insert the next "artist" into the mold.

agreed, nickelback sucks. canada come on. They've apparently sucked their way to millions in record sales. Someone must like them. How many millions have the Jonas Brothers sold? Volume /= quality

Or at least a Buekeboom to go with their Leetch. Carolina has a lot of UFAs and could really reshape their roster with some deals at, or before, the deadline. Corvo, Ward and Wallin could all be available for the blue line on some team. Kubina in Atlanta could be another major deadline move for someone.

Let's not abuse it the first day.

I second this motion.

What the... does this even make sence? We traded our capitan, and (unfortunately) one of our better defensemen for a third or fourth line winger? And cleared about $1M ($2.15 full year) salary for this year and more than $600k for next year

A couple years back I was playing in a fairly mellow pickup game and a kid shows up going balls-out every second he's on the ice. Cross checking in front of the net, hacking at sticks and throwing his body in front of shots. After about 20 minutes he attempts to block a shot and end s up taking out the shooter, an older guy that wasn't a great skater and couldn't avoid his sprawled out body sliding across the ice. End result is a guy riding in the ambulance with a broken leg and not being able to work for more than a month, just because one guy wanted to play "all-out".

Tampa has won 3 of 11 games this month. While it was good that the Flyers won, it's not like they beat a playoff team. Hopefully they can enjoy the good vibes over the holiday break and get on a roll heading into the new year.

Landing a punch as you both fall down isn't enough to "win" a fight. Hartnell taking that penalty to end the powerplay killed whatever momentum they had. Carcillo has done a good job of playing with self control, Hartnell has not figured out how to play hard without being stupid.

McCabe lost his balance, didn't look like anyone landed a punch.

uh-oh

A buddy of mine has one that's sitting on the street around the corner, he left it here when he went to Orlando last weekend. When I tried to move it first thing this morning I couldn't get it up the alley behind the house or the street in front. That thing is terrible in the snow.

The smart thing for traffic flow would have been to put the arena next to the football stadium and ballpark. Then again, there wasn't much other interest in developing where they are/will be.

That crowd could find something to boo in a 10-1 victory.

Richards tried to drill Eaton in the head in the first period but mostly got body. So much for not being that kind of guy. Flyers look better overall tonight. They are winning some races to loose pucks and are moving their feet better overall. Hartnell has made some really bad passes and has been standing around in the offensive zone a lot waiting for someone to get him the puck.