f13.net

Here's this year's hockey league.

Yahoo Fantasy Hockey (http://hockey.fantasysports.yahoo.com/hockey)
League ID#: 12756
League Name: Bat Country
Password: catass2victory
Draft Type: Live Draft 
Draft Time: Sun Oct 1 6:00pm CDT [ Add to My Calendar ] 
Max Teams: 12
Scoring Type: Points Only
Max Games Played: 100 
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow 
Start Scoring on: Wednesday, Oct 4 
 
Roster Positions: C, LW, RW, F, F, D, D, D, G, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR, IR, IR 
 
Stat Categories: G (5), A (3), +/- (1), PIM (.3), PPP (2), SHP (3), GWG (1), FW (.2), W (5), L (-3), GA (-1), SV (1), SHO (3) 

I'm going to adjust the stat categories soon.

In. Fear The Peter Northstars!

LOOK IT OVER.

I've never played in a fantasy league before, I'll give it a try. :evil:

In.

Points adjusted for penalty minutes to .1.

Gonna get my roommate to register with you all. He loves his fantasy hockey.

I still can't figure how hockey gets popular in the desert. That just seems strange. Of course, he is probably a transplant like everyone else in the Valley  :-D

The Nits are in, and ready to do some damage...mostly to themselves.

I am wondering what Goalie Saves Points were set to last season. At 1 point per save, it seems like goalies on some teams, even if they lose, are going to rack up tons of points just by the merit of facing tons of shots.

I would think that's a good offset to good goalies that are stuck on bad teams. They may not get the win points, but by dint of taking an asston of shots, they still get decent points. I think of guys like Luongo with the Panthers who used to take a metric fuckton of shots (and made the saves) but still didn't have a great W-L record. It just opens the goalie pool.

I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

Just realized you set the position slots differently this season...

It should be...uh...interesting.

I actually remembered the drafrt last night, but I had to head over to my buddies house to watch the Seahawks on SNF. I chose poorly  :cry:

At least I had a chance to rank my top 100- Yahoo always makes some 'interesting' choices in their rankings. No Canucks on my roster, which is probably good, since they are going to suck ass this year.

I just guessed for my roster. Ended up being mostly Avs and Red Wings players. haha.

I completely forgot the goddamn draft. I'm afraid to look at my roster.

As I was glancing at everyone's roster after the draft, I didn't notice anyone with a roster that jumped out as being remarkably poor.

Funny thing about the Canucks is that every pre-season ranking/television show/magazine/whathaveyou was pimping them up to somehow be exponentially better than last year. I was wondering if every hockey show and magazine was filmed/printed in Vancouver.

Sure, they picked up Luongo. They also lost Carter, Bertuzzi, Allen, Jovonovski, Ruutu... I'm probably missing some. Oh, and they picked up Willie Mitchell. Wow. This was described, on the cover story no less, as making a "huge splash in the off season" by The Hockey News. Vancouver fans have to admit to themselves that the only splash made was from a dive, I guess.

Willie Mitchell is a decent defenseman, but he isn't as big a splash as Luongo. Luongo is solid, better than the Canucks have had for years. But losing that kind of offense is going to be a wash, most likely.

I think the splash is from falling into the toilet along with the rest of the turds. They are gonna suck. Their blue line is a fucking disaster, and they have 1 line + Naslund that can score at all. My prediction is 10th place in the Western Conference.

Go Go Team Canada Russia Sweden will OWN YOU. In your rink, crosschecking your ringers.

Hockey starts tonight! Get your lineups set, and get ready for 10-15 power plays a period  :evil:

Don't remind me. Apparently that's progress.

I agree the clutching and grabbing had to go... butat the expense of playing the entire game on special teams? Pft, I dunno. Not to mention that it's basically the only reason "offense" is up.

Shrug.

Can't we implement a three tier penalty problem? One minute for hooking seems fair, right? Or something that wouldn't affect the flow of the game so much... something more streamlined..

Hell, who am I to complain I guess. Everyone loves it. Let the powerplays commence.

In fact let's just take the GOALIE out for penalties. THAT'LL create more goals. Amitirefolx?

I can see some people still have not set their line-ups for tonight.  :evil:

After my warning, I totally forgot about it! Thankfully I only had 2 guys going tonight and both were in the default lineup.

Somehow I missed the 1 point per save thing. That seems extremely high to me...anyone else? 3 saves is the same point value as a Shutout??

How do I edit my lineup to add a new player?

I have another Center to replace one of my Center's that's on Injured Reserve - so I need to swap him out, how do I do that?

Edit: nevermind, I figured it out. Maybe.

Yes, 1 point per save is very high.  I'm glad someone finally mentioned it.  Kolzig and Fleury are gonna dominate.  I'm betting Legace's a great pickup too.  And also, if tonight wasn't enough evidence, Vancouver is still a force to be reckoned with.  Losing one strong defender and a slumping scorer is more than offset with an elite goaltender like Luongo.  They may not win the cup, but they're a contender.

Also, the Penguins kicked ass.  Awesome!

So do I need to adjust saves down then?

I was amazed at the Canucks last night. God bless Luongo- he made 4 or 5 saves that Alex Auld would never have made last year. The new aggressive defense in the neutral zone (not a trap!) was very well played. Still don't think they have nearly enough scoring other than their top line, but this gives me at least a glimmer of hope.


H- as for the saves, I think they are far too high. However, that is how they were set pre-draft (and I failed to notice it), and I am not sure how many people used that in their draft strategy. I would vote to lower them by 50% minimum, but I will bow to the majority if folks want to keep them as is.

Damn, Flames go 0-9 on the powerplay and have the same old problem, lack of scoring. Trying not to knee-jerk on just ONE game, but losing to the Oilers on opening night sucks. Would of been nice to ruin their banner raising evening.

You are a Flames fan? You seem so nice and well-adjusted. Who knew you were evil incarnate?  :evil:

Gotta cheer for the hometown team.

Western Conference is going to be a dogfight. They're going to beat each other up so much that whoever wins the East might coast to another cup.

Yep. With Vancouver actually looking somewhat competent last night, the NW division is going to be absolutely brutal. Minnesota got a lot better in the offseason, so there is really no doormat to beat up.

I'm still waiting for the Flyers do decide they would like to play a complete 60 minutes, instead of a decent 25 minutes interspersed throughout the game.

Once again, they had far too much PP time with no goals, and once again they got stonewalled by M-A Fleury.

Yeah, I definitely drafted based on the scoring system.  I don't think Kolzig would be worth very much if it weren't for the shot volume he's going to face.  Although, I'm not particularly worried about it if you guys want to adjust the scoring.  And did anyone else notice that based on last year's totals, Luongo was worth 2200 points?  Totally dominated everyone else.

Yeah, I just noticed the point-per-save deal, that is wayyyy too high.

Vancouver looked good last night. Luongo is a pimp.  I just hope their 16 SOG doesn't become a habit.  Then they become NJ Devils West, which isn't hockey, it's just gay, don't call it a trap!

Nah, they'll get into a groove eventually.  And does it really matter how many shots they take if they can still outscore their opponent?  I mean, the Penguins were outshot 40-21 last night and still won 4-0.  And Fleury is no Luongo.  Yet.  Or, for that matter, look at how well Calgary can do with only one scorer on their roster and Kipprusoff the stone wall.

Also, if we're talking about adjusting the scoring, I think shutouts should be worth a LOT more than they are, considering their rarity.

Hey, who has that guy? I remember he tore up our league last season.

I'll adjust the saves down to .5 per save, and adjust the shutout points up a bit.

Pwnage Pudding. He won't be worth as much this year, even had I kept the saves so high. Vancouver will see a lot less shots on goal than Florida did last year.

True, he won't have as many saves.  But he won't see as many goals against, either, and his # of wins is likely to increaseby 10 or more.  So the drop won't be too terrible.  Still, I'd say this is another year of domination by Brodeur and Kiprusoff.

Heh, of course the night I post about the Canucks having 16 SOG, they go out and get 44 SOG.   :-P They just out-hustled Columbus in the third period. They look good early, and that makes me a very happy man.  Luongo has been MONEY so far.  I don't care how old Linden is, this guy is the heart and soul of this team.  He is incredible, a grinder who plays the game the way it was meant to be played.  It will definitely be a sad day when he finally hangs up the skates.  Here's to keeping it going 'Nucks!

GO WILD! Six goals agains the Predators. I'm a bit concerned that they gave up 5 goals, but they won. How the hell has Vokoun given up 6 goals in each of his two games? He's one of the better goalies in the league, but his stat line this year has been awful.

Gaborik. 40 goals this year. Marketh my words.

I like my team this year...I only wish I could have gotten Gagne as well (and I almost did).

Hey, make an offer.

Went to my first hockey game of the year Saturday night (Major Juniors- WHL). Seattle was facing the top team in the league (Vancouver) who had started the season a perfect 10-0-0, and were trying to set a league record for consecutive wins to start a season.

Game was scoreless until midway through the 2nd period when Vancouver's relentless pressure finally produced a goal. The T-Birds battled gamely, but were mostly overmatched. At least untl 19:38 of the 3rd, when they scored a PP goal to tie it and sent it into OT.

In OT, Seattle started things off nicely by taking a penalty and going down 4 skaters to 3. Chris Durand found a loose puck at the blue line and fired it down the glass/boards out of the zone. The Vancouver goalie went out to cut the puck off in the corner. Midway down the boards, the puck hit a stanchion or something and ricocheted toward the Vancouver net. The goalie tried to reverse directions to get back into his net and lost his footing, sending him sprawling. He watched in vain as the puck trickled toward the empty net. Even a thrown stick failed to fully deflect the puck, which settled into the open goal, giving Seattle an improbable 2-1 OT win.

Seriously the strangest thing I have ever seen at a live sporting event, I think. What an ending!

As a golie I've always been afraid of that happening. I've sat around running through all the weird shit that could happen if there was something wrong with the boards. Kind of weird that you actually saw one of the things I thought about.

The closest to that I've had happen was when I was playing and went to play the puck up to centre and the puck caught and edge of a tile (roller hockey) and was sent right into an opposing player. I almost gave up, but decided at the last second to make an attempt at saving it. The guy waited 1 second too long to shoot and I slid back with my stick out. Just got a piece of it on the paddle and sent it over the net. Highway robbery.

Not to jinx myself, but I am still wondering how I am even in the top handful at this point in time. I'm only highly ranked in 2 or 3 of the categories, and there's still a player or two I need to dump.

Are the points borken or something?

I'd say goaltenders are still broken a bit. A fantastic night from a fantastic player is a pretty regular night for a goalie, points wise.

Yep.

Any suggestions about the goaltenders? I went ahead and modified wins down to 4 points instead of 5.

I honestly don't think it's that bad.  A good goaltender SHOULD be worth more points than a good skater.  You can only play two on any given night, and there's never 100% odds that your guys is going to play anyway.  And they're generally the single most important person to a team on any given night.  Don't you think that should reflect in the scoring?

Besides, I used my first three draft picks on goalies.  Don't penalize me!

I agree about the goalie, as in it should be the cornerstone of the team. I'll let the stats update and see if the 4 points is acceptable to the grousers. :)

I think at this point, dropping wins to 4 points may be a bit punitive, what with losses being -3.

Plus, my netminders are probably the only thing keeping me in the running at the moment.  :evil:

I love that Malkin kid!

Fuck that Crosby fucker, fuck him right in the face.

(It seems every time I watch a hockey game, pretty much any ad for an upcoming game HAS to have a shot of Crosby swooping around after he put in a winner in OT vs PHI last year. Enough is enough.)

After that washed up goon Hatcher busted his teeth out and he fucked them right in the ass for it. Looks like Philly got fucked in the ass again by the Pens this year already, too.

Fuck Philly.  :-D

Philadelphia doesn't have the luxury of having 8 years of top picks in their lineup.

EDIT: What's funny is that a lot of people are still only ranking the Pens as the 7 or 8 seed, which looks hilarious at this point.

Shrug, I don't care where we're seeded. Just getting into the playoffs after like five or six years would be pretty nice.

About our picks, yeah, I agree. But each one of those high picks also symbolizes a year of Penguins fans suffering. We paid for them. If you end up watching Philly finish 29/30 for the next 6-7 years, you'll probably agree that you'd have paid for yours as well.

We did luck the fuck out with Crosby and Malkin happening to be in those draft years, though. Not to mention that Staal just barely made the draft age cutoff this year, and would have likely been a consensus #1 next year.

Oh, anyway, another reason to raise goalie win points back up to 5 is that leaving them lower, at 4, seems to hamstring some goalies who are on some of the better defensive teams who don't let up a lot of shots.

QQ noobie, reroll. Goalies R OP.

Anyone else having problems accessing the league with FF2.0? Whenever I try to log in, I get stuck in some sort of redirect loop...

I haven't tried recently, but I have FF2 at work and I was on it a couple days ago.

I access it daily with FF2. Not that you can tell from my place in the standings...

Alright, so, like, do you guys give up yet?

Surely you can face my massive hockey-picking skillz no longer.

You're kidding, right?

Oh shit, did I just fall out of first place last night?

Roofles pwned.

Make your time.

Don't get cocky, kid.

pweent

Looks like a lot of first place jockeying coming up.

Better watch out or I won't let you catch up again.

Anyone interested in Gagne?

Forsberg seems in and out of the lineup this year, so I have no idea what his totals are going to look like. He might pick it up though, or he might not. He seems to have been lately but... I hate Philly. I think that was outlined earlier in this thread?

As this is the only hockey thread we have on F13, I'll drop my greviance here:

I generally dislike national telecasts for a number of reasons, but I HATE HATE HATE NBC's coverage.

Yes, Crosby is really good, and the Flyers are having their worst year ever. Yes, we get it. No need to remind us every 45 seconds. Especially with Crosby - I should chart how often Emrick and DouchCo. mention Crosby. I figure it's about every 47 seconds.

It's insulting - National coverage is supposed to be unbiased. Fuck this shit. They could at least be kind enough to take Crosby's dick out of their collective mouth during gameplay.

EDIT: Fuck Ed Olczyk. Right in the fucking ass. (paraphrasing) "The Flyers need to trade Forsberg. By the time they are good again, he won't be in the league anymore." What a stupid asshole. First of all...um, hello Forsberg to Gagne? Second, even if they Flyers trade him to Detroit like the idiot suggested, what could they possibly get that will help them? I'm guessing nothing. Such a trade would make Zero Sense. ZERO. No wonder he got canned in Pittsburgh after coaching the Pens to a stillborn start, even with all the talent they had.

And really, as bad as the Flyers are playing, on paper, the team is not THAT terrible. It's not going to take the decade it took the Pens to rebuild. Depending on what happens in the summer, the Flyers could be a perfectly good team next season.

As a Pens fan, the NBC coverage pissed me off equally.

Network coverage of the NHL in general blows ass. ABC's was decent when they were paired with ESPN and had Melrose and some of the others there. I haven't seen NBC's coverage, but I can expect it will be almost as retarded as the glowing puck.

I just want to reiterate that I really hate Emrick. And who is that little shit that use to do color commentary that use to be a backup goalie in NJ? He's a douche as well.

I miss the ESPN's coverage when I was forced to watch it. VS isn't that bad, but they have at least one really odd play-by-play guy on there.

Seriously, Man-Power Advantage? Who says that? Man advantage, power play, sure. But Man-power Advantage? Come on.

The ESPN coverage had a very collegial atmosphere. The VS coverage feels like a network focused on fishing shows doing hockey coverage.

Just remembered who I was thinking of: Gary Thorne, Duke of Douche.

I would've guessed Darren Pang.

Or if you just want to talk about backup goalies in broadcasting in general who are HUGE douchebags, Glenn Healey.

I might have been thinking of Darren Pang, but Thorne is a douche as well.

Also, Glenn Healey, lol.

Motherfucker I can't believe I sat Hossa last night.


And WTF is with the Ducks?

JSG is on the DL.

Yeah, Pronger too. But they have a 1A backup in Bryzgalov, and you honestly woudn't think that they'd go from first class to complete ass (Ah the oh so rare 90's talk show reference) that quickly, that completely.

Not as quickly as the Flyers went from "Competitive team with more than a straight decade of winning seasons and playoff appearances" to "lollercakes."

Hey, on the plus side:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Esposito

Whoever the Flyers draft will be the next Alexander Daigle.

Hey now, Daigle played pretty well for HC Davos in the Spengler Cup this year.


 :roll:

Yeah so.... anyone a Leafs fan?

I live within the border of Leafs Nation, and as a Penguins fan... well. Yeah.  :-D

NiX is for sure, but he's not in the fantasy league.

You know.. I was thinking. If the Flyers snatch the #1 pick this year (which is highly possible), and trade off Forsberg or some other assets and somehow swing a three way to procure another top 5 this year, then tank next year as well...

You guys could have a stable of prospects that included Esposito, Cherapanov, Tavares.. as well as Richards and Carter. Then you just need to swindle Toronto out of Justin Pogge like Boston swindled them out of Tuuka Rask. Hah.

That'd make for some VERY good Eastern Conference finals for the next 10 or 15 years.

I highly doubt someone is going to cough up a top-5 pick for Forsberg. I'd be tentative even if I was offered a top-3 pick for him. And quite honestly, if he's able to play at a high level, I would be sad to see him leave.

Historically, the Flyers have not been great with really young players. They either rush them through development or trade them (RE: half the current lineup).

Tavares (next year's #1) just put up a 7 point game in the OHL.

He's 16.

I think they said the last person to do that was Gretzky.

Start trading shit and planning to tank next season.

Did anyone else notice that Sean Avery was traded for a guy named Cliche?

As humourous as that may be, what struck me as most strange about this trade is that someone swapped a decent prospect for Sean Avery.

Marc-Andre Cliche played on the Team Canada World Juniors gold medal team this year, as well as in the CHL All-Star game.

I wouldn't trade my favourite pen for Sean Avery.

Now, I won't totally deride his style of play. There ARE players who can be considered "instigators" and "shit disturbers" that are worth while. Usually not, but there are. Their benefit to the team generally comes from a mix of being smart and being an asswipe, which can get other people off of their game or draw penalties.

Mr. Avery is all asswipe, baby. There's no place for him on my team.

Looks like another second place finish coming up for me.

*shakes fist*

Eh, I'll take another Bronze.

Still enjoyed it anyway.

I don't know, all it would take is two or three solid games from Pittsburgh for you to catch up, and they do have more games remaining than pretty much anyone else.

Crosby and Malkin haven't been producing for a month, though.

Awww, cry more nub.  :wink:

There, is that better?  Crosby, Malkin AND Gonchar get points for you.

Gonchar is badass.

I'm glad to see him turn it around this year.  I was ready to put him in the Palffy/Leclair/Recchi club.  And I almost feel like I should take Recchi out of there, too.

I wouldn't.

Although Palffy, LeClair and Recchi are on totally different levels of failure.

Recchi is PLAYING, and he's ABLE to play. He just can't really do anything. But at least he didn't sign a contract and bail, or become totally unable to keep up or contribute. But we have limited options as far as top six wingers go.

But yeah, Gonchar owns. I think it was total disrespect not even having him on the All-Star ballot this year.

Yeah, he was fat and lazy after the lockout. For a few months. Then he REALLY turned it around, and he's been fantastic this year. Even defensively.

Does anyone know why I'm constantly given a seemingly arbitrary number of points that has nothing to do with the actual points my players totals added up to?

For instance, last night, my players (none on the bench) turned in:

14.90
6.20
10.20
23.20
5.50

I was awarded 20.4000001.

Now, I might not be the BRIGHTEST, but I think there's a discrepancy there. This is also definitely not the first time it's happened.

How soon after the games are over are you looking? Is it the next day or something?

Matters not when I check, it's still the same way right now as it was last night. Fact is that this isn't the first time I've noticed my points getting jipped considerably, and I'm definitely glad I don't have money on a Yahoo pool.

You hit your Max Games at some point.

EDIT: For Left Wing and Forward, anyway. I've already hit max on C, LW, and RW. I should have been paying more attention.


EDIT2: I wish I had remembered that rule weeks ago. It appears at least Phildo did. I might have had something of a chance if I had remembered and jumbled my roster correctly with free agents.

I guess I should have read the fine print.

Yeah, I noticed the max games thing about two weeks ago when my left wingers stopped getting any points.  I thought you guys would notice when I loaded up on five goalies.

Woo, victory!

PS: It may have taken me 2 years to finally figure out the rules to this game, but NEXT season I'm taking the crown.

Maybe I should have just read the fucking rules in the first place.

Will I do it this year?

You'll have to wait and find out.

The answer is no.

ES - PO - SI - TO

DUN DUN DUNDUNDUN

ES - PO - SI - TO

DUN DUN DUNDUNDUN

Crosby
Malkin
Staal
Esposito

How's that for young strength down the middle.

Although I assume Esposito and possibly Staal will move to wing.

Yes, but they had to trade Chris Thorburn to make room for another center.  A sad day for Pittsburgh.

Hey, I liked Thorburn.

Flyers got Briere. Having a true playoff team around again will be nice.


And I sure hope that lineup you show is what PIT will have 2-4 years down the line, because Esposito won't be starting next year. Hell, I'd be surprised to see any picks from the past draft play a single game this season; it just was not that kind of draft.

Buffalo really took it in the rear, I can't believe they allowed both Briere and Drury to walk.

As far as the Atlantic, the power just shifted a bit I think.

New Jersey got weaker (Gomez/Rafalski gone).

The Islanders got BAD (Blake/Yashin/Smyth/Poti/Zednik/Kozlov gone) and won't come within a mile of the playoffs.

NYR added Gomez and Drury, but have lost Nylander and may lose Shanahan and Straka. If they can get those two re-signed (unlikely), NYR may end up bring the division champs this year.

Pittsburgh did nothing but add, which is fantastic. Sykora, who I'm lukewarm about.. but is leaps and bounds ahead of any other wingers we have, and Sydor, who single-handedly shut down the Sedins in the playoffs.

Philly probably turned into a playoff team. Can't argue with Timonen, Briere, Hartnell, Smith, Lupul and not losing jack. Well, you can. Since they overpaid like crazy. But they'll be a MUCH better team.

I think it's kind of amusing that Pittsburgh and Philly may be the best two teams in the Atlantic this year. It's a great rivalry though, so it'll be fun.

Don't overlook TB. If our defense doesn't blow the shit out of assholes and put so much pressure on two goaltenders to carry the team, we could be a force. Holmqvist is a monster. Lecavlier still has St. Louis and Prospal (who is one of the nicest guys I've ever met). Richards just needs a good winger and the acquisition of Jason Ward will definitely help there. Oh. Note that we just signed Michael Ouellet. Watch out for a good second scoring line that looks something like Ward/Richards/Oullet/Kuba/O'Brien.


Yeah, I'm a fanboi. I'll fight to the fucking death over the 'Bolts though.

Overpaid compared to what? It's simply the nature of free agency; you have to make the deal a little bit sweeter to garner the attention.

Also, Salary Cap, lolz. I'm sure you remember the days of the Flyers binging around the trade deadline, and having their payroll balloon past $70m.

In addition to that, Briere's contract, which is the one you are focusing on I am sure, only averages $6.5m; it's just front-loaded. Hell, will he even see the latter years of that contract? Or will PHL even have to put it against the cap (Comcast money = payout ftw?)?

Some of the local radio guys were lamenting that they may not have the chemistry to make it all work? Are you fucking kidding me? This isn't amateur hour; I'm pretty sure these professionals can learn to work as a team in quick order. The only direction for this team to go is up.

Actually, hockey is probably the most chemistry intensive sport there is. You have to work with people out there, you need to know them, how they play, where they'll be, etc. It's not just a number of individuals guys on a field playing their own individual game, sometimes chucking the ball over to someone else.

See the difference between the Rangers and the Yankees for proof of this.

However, I think Philly will be fine.

But they did overpay.

6.5 for Briere is a little much, but not insane (Drury got 7, so what the hell - but I think they're both overrated). 6.3 for Timmonen is total insanity. 4.2 for Hartnell is very high. I don't like their trade with the Oilers past the first two years, either. I think Lupul is a bust, and Smith is going to be a great leader for a couple more years - then they're going to miss Pitkanen.

But they made themselves better. They'll make the playoffs, because they grabbed skill and grit and leadership. If I was a Flyers fan, I'd be happy.

Just not as happy as a Penguins fan.

Jeez, I stop paying attention for a week and look what I miss!  I might have to move back to Pittsburgh for this season!

I'm not denying that hockey requires chemistry, I'm just objecting to the theory that the team will be worthless because some of the players are new. They'll just have to start small, like, I don't know, send Gagne toward the slot as Briere goes up the boards, throw it on net, see what happens. Or toss it back to Timmonen at the point, and let it rip. This is basic shit that sometimes they just Would Not Do last year. RE: Flyers Terrible PP performance.

And I'll admit, the Flyers overpaid a bit compared to what Buffalo would have had to possibly pay, but I think that's just a product of the FA market. Why would he switch from a perfectly good team unless the other team Really makes it worth his time to uproot and all?

Finally....No, we won't miss Pitkanen. The defense as a whole was pretty bad for most of the year, but at least most of the players got better as the year went on...kind of. As much shit as he got, Hatcher actually played fairly well from about the All Star break onwards. I believe he may have been about an even +/- player for that time period. Pitkanen was making mistakes he wasn't even making as a rookie; shit that you or I could teach a group of 9-year olds.

And you may not be happy as a Pens fan....but at least NJ has a distinct chance to Suck this year. -- Gomez and Rafalski? Heh.

NJ sucking would be nothing but good for hockey.

On payment, I wouldn't be too insulted by anyone who says Philly overpaid. Everyone overpaid for everyone.

It's only overpaying if he doesn't perform.   :-D

No that's true, and I think you're going to be happy with everyone you picked up.

Also, I hope Crosby stops doing all that stupid shit with trying to score while sliding around, either on one leg or his ass.

I swear he does it on purpose, just to get on ESPN or some shit.

I guess the problem is that he usually puts the puck in the net. And it's usually against the Flyers.

It was cool the first time, but it loses its charm when he does it repeatedly.

He's still trying to out-do Ovechkin.  :evil:

Haha, well, considering Ovechkin has one highlight to his name (and none from last year), I'd say he's been outdone.

Can't argue with that too much.

Pretty happy that the Flames have locked up Iginla for the next 5 years, now if we can just get Kipper signed we should get through next years Free Agency period in decent shape.

Quality, not Quantity.  :evil:


ANyway, yeah, it's nice to see Calgary was able to keep their core together. Kind of a shame some of the other teams have been picked pretty clean, such as Buffalo, NYI, and Nashville.

Buffalo got lucky to be as good as they were. Nobody wants to play there, and it'll show every time someone's contract ends. All they can do is draft well, make good trades.

It's a shame, because it's really a very good hockey city.

Unlike Nashville, which should move ASAP. But then again, so should half of the teams in the south.

Edit: As far as the Islanders, GOOD. There has to be at least ONE team in the Atlantic that isn't going to be a dogfight every time we play them. I doubt Philly will fit into that role anymore.

Is it just me or do you guys write of Tampa Bay completely? Hello -- they won they Cup a few years back, remember? Sure, we're missing Khabibulin now, but Holmer can get the job done!


:D

No, we're just more concerned with the Atlantic division.

Also, there's rarely ever more than 1 good team in the SE division.

Yes.

The story just keeps getting sadder for the Sabres.

I read something that suggested they're now trying to trade Vanek. Are they going to get more than 4 or 5 first rounders for him?

With that contract, I seriously doubt it. Although I suppose the offer sheet thing was more about the principle of Kevin Lowe being a dick licker.

And the way, the Devils just signed Zubrus, and the Islanders signed Comrie and Guerin - bringing up up the bottom end of the division.

I'd say that the Atlantic is easily shaping up to be the toughest in the league.