NHL 2013

[Morgbug]

Nice pickup by the Wild today.  We better make some acquisitions over the summer or our first year in the West is going to be mighty painful. 

[P-Siddy]

Rangers did good on their trade last night...  6-1!! against the Pens!  And all of the newbies scoring.  Hopefully it isn't a fluke (and yeah, it doesn't help when the Pens are missing Crosby.

[DSJ™]

What's with the Oilers beating Calgary 8-2.. Can't remember when they had that many goals in a game let alone a 5 game winning streak!   

[Jeff]

Nice pickup by the Wild today.  We better make some acquisitions over the summer or our first year in the West is going to be mighty painful.

Finally have some time to check in.  Pominville is a nice pick-up indeed.  His $5+mil cap hit next year pretty much signifies the end of Dany Heatley in MN I'm guessing...  and the Pominville deal has opened the door to a huge amount of Vanek speculation too (mission #1 - bring all gophers/minnesotans home  ).   If for some reason, that comes true and Vanek makes his way back here on a hometown discount... yeesh. 

Our blue-line still needs work, but without much cap room, we may be stuck there.  Same with goal...  with Hardings MS issues and trading Hackett, re-signing Backstrom for a few years becomes a HUGE need to mentor Kuemper while Harding sorts his situation out.

My hopes for the year have wavered up and down, but my bar was set at playoffs - get in and it was a good year...  with the 7game win streak and Pominville on the team now though, I'm starting to expect a series win now too.  I think we match up very well with Detroit, Vancouver, SJ but LA, STL, and Chicago all seem to have our number.  I like my chances with 3-VAN/6-MIN matchup, though I'd be cool with a 4/5 matchup with San Jose too.  We'll see I guess...

[Jeff]

Two solid wins in Alberta over the past two nights and I'm feeling better about my club.  Still not sure where we're going to end up... could be anywhere from 5th to 9th with this streaky club. 

[Morgbug]

Two solid wins in Alberta over the past two nights and I'm feeling better about my club.  Still not sure where we're going to end up... could be anywhere from 5th to 9th with this streaky club. 

It's just Alberta.     I mean it's not like you're playing the Southeast Division 

[JesseVader08]

Bruins clinched a playoff spot with the shootout loss to Buffalo and continue to battle with Montreal for 1st in the Northeast.  But more importantly, it was a pretty emotional game tonight, I have to say the crowd singing the anthem gave me goosebumps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNwKRpCDDAc

I'm doing a 10km run this weekend with my wife in Vancouver and many runners (50,000 are expected) are planning on wearing blue and yellow to show support for the Boston marathoners.  Sorry, I know this is off topic, but this all seems rather personal right now.

[P-Siddy]

Good luck on the run!

[Jeff]

I mean it's not like you're playing the Southeast Division 

It's a bummer that Oates got Ovi all turned around again... I was really liking the idea of a ridiculous "Southeast Champs" banner hanging in your barn for years to come. 

In other news, Lumbus.  WTF?  They just roll into SoCal and beat Anaheim?   When is that "little engine that could" going to figure out they shouldn't be doing this?  Where are all the Fenwick/Corsi guys yelling about regression to the mean?  With each new win, Bob gets closer and closer to Vezina/Hart wins...  Lumbus - 8th in the West? 

It's crazy, I tells ya.  Crazy.  Granted Lumbus has four games left to screw it up... 


Looks like I'm cheering for Toronto (yuck), Florida, Dallas, Phoenix, and LA tonight.

[Morgbug]

Still the smallest chance we get that banner.  It would be so sweet and entirely stupid. 

Second OT win of the week tonight and first time we've won five in a row.  Four games left and we need them all.  Thank you Ottawa for the assist, let's hope it starts a tumble. 

Oh yeah, Columbus is totally overdue for a regression.  Absolute over-achievement. 

[Jeff]

UGh.

We follow up two big wins in Alberta with two turkeys in SJ and at home.  We've lost five in a row at home.     Not exactly what a playoff push team should be doing.  Now we have the kings tonight and we're looking at needing to win at least 2 out of 3 to get in for sure.

My hopes for the year have wavered up and down, but my bar was set at playoffs - get in and it was a good year...  with the 7game win streak and Pominville on the team now though, I'm starting to expect a series win now too.

Get in the playoffs, I'll still be happy...  but if this team implodes and misses the playoffs (and let's face it, they are a Minnesota sports team, which are prone to falling flat on their faces) things are going to be pretty ugly if your name is Mike Yeo.

I don't really blame him because of all the wierdness of a shortened season, but I have to imagine he's in a lot of trouble if we miss the playoffs after flirting with a division championship and a 3 seed just a couple weeks ago.   

[Jeff]

Big win last night, but it may have cost us Pominville.  

Brent's team got no love from the hockey gods putting that last Southleast title banner out of reach (maybe even the playoffs out too, unless the Rangers fall flat on their faces for their last two). 

[Morgbug]

Well I guess I'll eat my words from the start of the season about the Caps.  They took the division, though I still don't think they're legit third overall.  They've been hot and Oates seems to have Ovie going well so maybe, but I'm not a Holtby believer by any stretch still.  That's not to say they might not come out of the first round, they may well, depending on who they're playing. 

As for my Jets, well, you can't take a five game holiday in the middle of the season and hand three games to divisional rivals in a short stretch, especially two to the Capitals on consecutive nights.  They didn't lose the division last night, they lost it in the third week in March by giving those two games (and the equivalent of eight points) to the Caps when we were playing at home. 

I don't see us squeaking in by the grace of other teams losing I'm afraid. 

[Jeff]

Red Wings pick up a big win against the Brown-less Kings last night (glad to see he got the suspension he deserved for the elbow on Pominville).  Looks like the Red Wings don't want to disappoint their new captain by missing the playoff for the first time in 20+ years during his first year as captain.

Lots on the line tonight.  Red Wings have Nashville, Lumbus plays Dallas.  Three of those four desperately need a win to keep their playoff chances alive.  We (Minny) just need Lumbus to lose in regulation and we're locked into the playoffs...  of course, we still need to win out the year to ensure that we get #2 ANA (where we have a shot) instead of #1 CHI where we're pretty much dead.

I'm sort of torn.  I'd like to see Lumbus make it, just for the novelty of them being so bad for so long, but on the other hand, I really think DET has the best chance at beating CHI in a 7-game series.  Would be nice to see DET get in as the #8 and then upset a #1 for a change.  Perfect revenge for them seeing how many times they've been a #1 outed by a #8 before in their past.  

[Morgbug]

Stick a fork in us, we're done as we lose (well, in ten minutes from now), Rags and Sens win.  I think the league fixed it so we couldn't get in 

All aboard the North Stars Wild bandwagon.