NHL 2005-06

[jokabofe]

More bad news for the Avs?  Avs decline next year's options on Sakic and Blake.

I love Sakic - he's my favorite NHL player, playing on my second favorite team, and I'd hate to see the Av's lose him next year.

That said, I'd love to see him wearing a Rangers jersey sometime in 2006. It would be the only way I wouldn't be seriously pissed about the Av's losing him.   

I was shocked when they let Forsberg go. Big mistake IMO.

[Ryan]

More bad news for the Avs? Avs decline next year's options on Sakic and Blake.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/news_story/?ID=140342&hubname=nhl-avalanche

That is actually not as bad as it sounds. The Avs still have the rights to them and acan resign them, it is just how things are going to work in the new league with cap restrictions. This frees up almost $700,000 for the Avs this year, so they have room to make a good tade or two. I don't see Skic leaving or Blake either for that matter, I think bith guys are really happy here and, short being traded, they are going to finish their careers in CO.

[Ryan]

The Avs almost had an amazing comeback. hey were down 5-1 with like 4minutes left, the Avs scored 2 goals in 17 seconds to make it 5-3 and then got a PPG with about a minute left to make it 5-4. They couldn't quite pull it off in the end though, I give them a whole lot of credit for staying in though.

[Holographic Elvis]

It's a good thing they can do that to a team as good as Columbus...

Jealous much?    

Wings improve to 8-1 and just rollin along!

[Holographic Elvis]

Strange scheduling quirk.  Anyone else see that the Wings played the Jackets in Columbus yesterday and play the Jackets again tomorrow...in Columbus?  Can't say I've ever seen that during the regular season.

[Jesse James]

Ryan...

Dude, you can't imagine how the Pens fans are feeling.  Watching some of the weekly sports shows tonight, all the reporters are BIGTIME down on the Pens because they've got such glaringly obvious problems they just didn't, or won't address.

-Goaltending was my prediction for the team's downfall prior to the season starting, and I fear it all came horribly true... 

-A close second is a Defense (and defensive mindset) that is just piss poor.  The Pens are playing like they thought D would go out the window, which they've done in the past but which they should've been smarter than this.

-Overall coaching/team management...  I love Eddie O as a coach because I think he's a good guy and could be a great coach, but he's got no control on this team I'm afraid.  I think they got guys like Gonchar in and they're being defiant on the ice as to what they NEED to be doing.  Eddie O's gotta take some blame for where they are right now.

Ironically they've made ok points by getting into OT (but never winning it), so they're not incapable of turning the season around being so early yet and still having SOMETHING to show for what they did do right...  But if they don't address some **** and do so right quickly they'll not make the playoffs.  Goaltending is my biggest gripe all around and I think the team is just floundering around trying to figure out what to do.  They don't have one solid goalie, and Fleury (my choice) is so rattled by being basically ousted for Thibault that I think he's not gonna come back the same guy from WIlkes Barre if/when they do move him up.  He's not shown that goaltending that kept them in the game some their last season.

The D's a very close second though and I'd be unloading Gonchar at this stage of the game for some people who actually play D...  he sure as hell is not doing so 99% of the time and he's the guy who I think is telling the coaches to go F themselves because he "plays his own way".  We rid ourselves of that attitude with Nedved and Jagr, it'd be nice NOT to bring it back to the lockerroom.

Eddie O just needs to grow nuts and stop being everyone's pal on the Ice...  He needs Herbie's ghost to come snap his ass in gear on that.

[Holographic Elvis]

I think most everyone figured that the Pens would suffer for those reasons.  Just because the game has opened up doesn't mean you don't have to play D and you MUST have strong goaltending.  Hopefully they get it going. 

Wings up 5-2 after 2 and looking strong yet again.

[Holographic Elvis]

Wings put up 6 more on the Jackets and are now 9-1!!! 

Ottawa blows a 2 goal lead and loses their first game of the season to Carolina.

[Morgbug]

Strange scheduling quirk.  Anyone else see that the Wings played the Jackets in Columbus yesterday and play the Jackets again tomorrow...in Columbus?  Can't say I've ever seen that during the regular season.

I think that's the oddest part of the schedule.  The league seems to think that scheduling changes were necessary and I disagree.  Within divisions teams are playing each other too much.  Yeah, it's great for the big rivalries: Boston-Montreal; Calgary-Edmonton; Toronto-Ottawa.  But who the hell wants to see so many games between Detroit-Columbus or Ananheim LA?  That's dumb. 

-A close second is a Defense (and defensive mindset) that is just piss poor. The Pens are playing like they thought D would go out the window, which they've done in the past but which they should've been smarter than this.


The D's a very close second though and I'd be unloading Gonchar at this stage of the game for some people who actually play D... he sure as hell is not doing so 99% of the time and he's the guy who I think is telling the coaches to go F themselves because he "plays his own way". We rid ourselves of that attitude with Nedved and Jagr, it'd be nice NOT to bring it back to the lockerroom.

Having selected Gonchar so early in the draft, I'm more than a little disappointed.  Surprised too as I've never really thought of him as an overly productive defensive defenseman.  He's always been a scorer and should at least be potting points on the powerplay if nowhere else.  It's too early to dump him, but I sure can understand the desire to.  But Gonchar shouldn't have been brought in to lead the D for anything other than offense.  He's always been about scoring so the coaching and management should have known that.

[Holographic Elvis]

Here you go Brent.  Small article regarding the new "mini series" featured in this year's schedule:

http://www.freep.com/sports/redwings/wcorn22e_200510224.htm

[Morgbug]

Yep, I can see the logic behind it.  And I can understand that it can build rivalries.  But I still see some potential problems.  LA vs Anaheim two nights in a row?  Islanders vs Rangers two nights in a row?  Especially if one team sucks caca?  Potential recipe for success in creating rivalries but also potential for crapping out attendance.  Oh look, the Wings have outscored the Blue Jackets 75-3 in the first seven games this season, let's go to the last matchup here in Columbus cuz I think the Jackets are ripe for a win.  That's fine if you're a Wings fan in Columbus but maybe not so good if you're one of the 5000 Blue Jackets fans in the world

[jjks]

So how 'bout them Predators being the only undefeated team in the league?

...and how 'bout that still only put 12,000 butts in the seats on Saturday 

[Jeff]

Yep, I can see the logic behind it.  And I can understand that it can build rivalries.  But I still see some potential problems. 

You mean like how with tonights game, the Wild have played THREE home games against Vancouver in the last 2 weeks?

The schedule is really weird this year for sure.  Some teams get spread out evenly (Calgary/Colorado) while others get lumped together (I think we have 4 games against Edmonton in a 2 week spread in March).

Doesn't seem like there is any rhyme or reason (unless you want to get all conspiracy-theory).   

[Morgbug]

...and how 'bout that still only put 12,000 butts in the seats on Saturday 

Cool, just about the same attendance figure as when the Jets set the record for most consecutive games without a win (33 I think).  I believe we only had about 8 wins that season (lots of ties) but we averaged around 12,500 in attendance.  Go Preds

[Jesse James]

The thing with Gonchar though is that he (this is rumor, but from a good Pens reporter around the city) is giving a big "F You" when the coaching staff's asked him to step up his defensive play...  I guess he's being indignant about being asked to try helping clear the zone, clear the crease, etc...  Like he doesn't get that he ISN'T an offense guy at all and that he has to have SOME skill at clearing his own zone... 

I'm a firm believer in offensive defensemen on every team, especially since the Pens haven't had too much there since Larry Murphy took off...  But usually they have some defensive ability.  Kind of like 3rd line muck & grinder offensive players.    Murphy was like that...  He'd be a great help putting points on the board, he was way underappreciated on the PP, and yet he was a guy you could count on to get his **** together and get the team BACK on offense quickly.  Paired with Ulf Sammuelson, he was great because you had the best of both worlds with the two...

Gonchar though just seems to give up the puck so much and I mean really stupid **** too.  Clearing attempts out the middle, never using the boards, takes weak hits like they're open-ice checks from goons...  He's turning out to be, simply, a *****.  It's frustrating as **** to be a Pens fan right now.  We have so much offensive talent and a lot of it's not getting much time because we're on the defensive most of the game, and taking it up the poop shoot from even weak offenses because our D sucks and our Goaltending is weak at best.

And every time they toss Fleury down to Wilkes-Barre he just gets more and more demoralized.  The kid that was here last season is seemingly long gone and the Pens have no desire to find him.