EHM The Blue Line

MacLean got fired by Ottawa.

Wow, after a comeback win as well. They must have someone they want....TORTS? LOL

Yeah it's a weird timing, plus he won the Jack Adams not so long ago. He clearly paid for the weak team he had.

He would probably have been fired a week ago if it wasn't for the Alfie retiring

Yeah the owner wanted Cameron in there. Dave is not just interim HC, he is the guy and has a long history. Had the team not made the playoffs last year he would have been gone at end of year. But the guy has got more out of a WEAK roster than just about anyone.

There were some weird things about how Maclean used his players and his loyalty to some players who are, for lack of another term, useless, also caused problems.

HOWEVER...

Ottawa's roster is terrible. Bobby Ryan, Kyle Turris and Clark MacArthur are the only top 6 forwards they have and Karlsson is the only top 4 (or arguably even top 6) d-man they have. The only reason they aren't Edmonton Oilers bad is because Maclean has gotten excellent performances out of kids such as Hoffman, Stone and Zibanejad.

Story I heard floating around Ottawa is that he lost Ryan and Karlsson who essentially told Murray that Maclean had to go. Combine that with the owner's candidate waiting in the wings and it was the end for the Paulrus.

What do people know about Cameron? He's been in Ottawa awhile but I never got much sense of his coaching ability.

Lecavalier is going to be benched tonight for a 4 straight games in a row. Sounds like the end for Vinny.

As anyone else watched Guy Lafleur interview after he visited Beliveau? It was both sad and so awesome at the same time. That picture is even more awesome IMO : http://www.rds.ca/hockey/canadiens/jean ... -1.2076405

MacArthur as top 6 is very very debatable. He has never been a top 6 player on a real good team, only on average to weak ones. Cameron is known for his junior teams and National Jr Team work. He is apparently good with kids, and young ones....we shall see.

Lafleur worshiped Beliveau, totally not surprised he broke down.

I think he is a top 6 winger but we can both agree that he is not a 1st line left winger and that is what he is on Ottawa by default. Given that the other options are M. Hoffman and some other guys he is the go to guy and no matter how good the coach, a team like that is going to lose.

On a team like the BlackHawks he would play on the fourth line. MacArthur can fill some holes here and there in case of injury but he's not top 6 for me either.

Sorry...3rd line guy on a strong playoff contender at best. He does nothing overly well. Not a super skill player, not a super stud skater, not a super stud power forward. He is what is known as a "vanilla" player. 9 times out of 10 if he is noticed it is because he is not doing something well enough. In the top 6 on any team, that is an issue. If he is playing 3rd line he is good enough for that. I would NOT want him in my top 6 forwards ever, except as emergency day to day fill in. On the converse side of things there are tons of players on the top two lines in the NHL that would SUCK in the bottom 6. Nothing wrong with being a #9 forward, which is really what he is if you want to contend for a championship.

Look at the contenders---the real ones, and with the exception of the Penguins and their two superstars, there is no room in the top 6 forward spot for a guy like Macarthur.

Anaheim
LA
Pittsburgh
Chicago
Tampa Bay
Detroit

heck even St Louis, Montreal, and healthy Boston....and heaven forbid this to be true...but the Islanders and Rangers.

So my point stands---on a top level team, CLarke MacArthur has no business being in a team's top 6. With the obvious exception where Malkin and Crosby can turn scrubs with a decent set of hands into 30 goal scorers (Read Kunitz, Dupuis, and now Comeau). If he is there, in 99.9% of the cases, that means the team is not a contender, which in terms partly means that he does not belong in the top 6. I would rather develop a young guy in that spot if I had to, I mean you know you ain't going anywhere with MacArthur there, so why bother playing him there. Put someone young in that slot who has a chance to get better.

I think the same thing in Vancouver where there 3rd and 4th lines have been better than the second line. Burrows-Bonino-Higgins is basically to me right now their 4th line. Burr was only a top 6 forward with studs like Henrik and Daniel, and when he played with Kesler....the team was not very strong. Not enough depth. Burr should be third line, Higgins should be third line, and by definition they are therefore not good enough to win a Cup....and therefore should develop younger guys in that slot. Kassian, Jensen, Vey, heck even Horvat come to mind as guys who should play with Bonino...who by the way has not really proven to me lately that even he is a 2nd line guy.


If you are okay with losing...MacArthur is a 2nd line guy. Ask Toronto. If not....time to change it up.

Just saw some highlights from the start of the Habs-Canucks game...it was the first Habs home game since Jean Béliveau's death, and they had a ceremony before starting play. Then once the game started, when the puck went into the stands the fan gave the puck to Béliveau's widow

Oh really? Haven't seen it yet! Class act. The ceremony before the game was pretty cool too and very touching seeing his wife crying while the crowd did an ovation.

Plekanec also made sure Elisse got the game winning goal puck.

As always Montreal does a great job on the ceremony, and they played very well. The score does not show how much they dominated a VERY VERY tired Vancouver team. Canucks could not get anything going. Best line all night was the 4th line. That can happen once in awhile,and a team will be okay. BUt it is happening far too often for the Canucks.

At Beliveau's funeral Yvan Cournoyer finished his speech with O'captain, my captain. Made me thought about Nino's post when Robin Williams past away.

Got to love Eakins expression at the end. Tells alot.

Nevermind he just got fired.

Its the Mump Hockey League.

Mumpety Mump.

Meh, Eakins. Only took them a year too long.

Now the question is, is McTavish going to get fired too? Or should I say will his friend have the balls to do it.

MacT gonna be on the bench for a few games with his new coach....the guy who was their minor league coach (Nelson I think name was???). Another dude with a TON of experience in the show. LOL. Edmonton is such a bloody mess.

GO MUMPS GO!! Another Penguin diagnosed today....Beau Bennett.

Wonder if more players will get mumps this season than the Oilers will get wins?

Saku Koivu's speech at Bell Center was really nice!
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/consol ... l:topheads

And Olli Matta---tough year for him.


I wish the Swedish Chef had a song about the mumps.

What's going on with Matta?

He has an upper-body injury about the same shoulder he had a surgery on during summer (I think) and now he was diagnosed with mumps too. And during the fall he had a minor cancer tumor which he also had a surgery on.

ForNever wrote:He has an upper-body injury about the same shoulder he had a surgery on during summer (I think) and now he was diagnosed with mumps too. And during the fall he had a minor cancer tumor which he also had a surgery on.

Yeah, that's what I'd call bad luck!

Guys try to spell his name right. MÄÄTTÄ!