Chadd

Which sign of the apocalypse is that? ;)

Never seemed to hurt Jofa sales.

Most GMs want at least one veteran netminder when they head into the playoffs.

They were 1 for 3 on the power play (two other penalties resulted in 4-on-4 play). That's better than their season average, yet they were missing their triggerman on the top unit and their best player this season from the second unit. Coming into the game, Thomas had a 1.5 goals against over his previous six games, but there's no doubt he had a clunker Thursday. The bottom line is Chicago appears to be a superior team than the B's are at full strength, and are undoubtedly better than a hobbled B's team. There's no shame in being outplayed by a better team, yet the drunk skunks booed instead. On NHL Live the other day they were commenting on how every player or coach that was asked to name the best team in the league, picked the Blackhawks.

I had pictures done at the PO when I got mine and I was out of there in less then five minutes.

I would actually pay to get less Leaf coverage on NHL On the Fly or the lame talk show they run around five PM. Some teams get a 30 second highlight clip, but every damn night we get five+ minutes on Toronto, even if they don't play.

It's called Reebok protective now. They simply discontinued the name and all new product has come out with the Reebok name on it.

2-6 weeks was mentioned on NHL Live today.

One regulation loss in the last six games and you're down on them again? They probably should have started Boucher today but I don't think Laviolette has any confidence in him. When you have to decide between Michael Leighton, Ray Emery and Brian Boucher, it's not really a coach's wet dream. The skaters are figuring out the system, they certainly have players that will work in the new system. On a side note, Richards problem with his sticks, and his comments afterward were interesting. He didn't have a new backup stick taped and ready to go when his stick snapped on the PP. Makes you wonder if he, and others, are worn out from the schedule, not doing the requisite prep work, or just dropped the ball this one time.

because the rink is literally a mile away. we have it worked out. i need a free hand to carry beer. I'm about 2 miles from the rink and guys stop by my place on the way to the rink. If you drag it into the locker room you are going to spend most of the time hunched over the sharpener and be the last one on the ice every night. There is always going to be one guy that shows up at the last minute but still expects you to do his skates.

Anything more than a couple pair at a time. Personally I would want to recoup my investment in 12 months or less, your mileage may vary.

Much like the Penguins benefited from playing under a defensive coach before Bylsma took over, the Blues will benefit from his time there. That said, they will also benefit from his departure. You have to coach a style that fits your roster, that's the sign of a great coach.

That happened to a few "friends of friends" when I was in school, never really had to deal with that when I was younger. Family, of course, but nobody in the same age bracket. Best of luck man.

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