EHM The Blue Line

Yea Del Zotto's effort have been superb! I hope he will keep going and end as very good d-man!

Franck wrote:Big LOL at the two guys on Versus that thought that Del Zotto could break Brian Leetch's 71 point rookie season.

The guy should be extremely pleased if he even gets past 40 points.

He already got 9 pts in 9 games it's not bad for is first NHL season. I'm sure he can pass the 40 pts at this rythm. He can make 50 pts easy or 60 pts if he continu to play like this, not 70 though.

Franck wrote:Big LOL at the two guys on Versus that thought that Del Zotto could break Brian Leetch's 71 point rookie season.

The guy should be extremely pleased if he even gets past 40 points.

Yeah, this isn't the 80's. I don't see many veteran defensemen capable of putting up a 71 point season, never mind a rookie. Still, the kid is doing great.

Danny wrote:It's a 3rd and conditional 4th depending on goals scored.

He's good on the PK. Bruins PK sucks.

And this move makes even more sense with the news this morning that Marc Savard will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot.

bruins72 wrote:

Danny wrote:It's a 3rd and conditional 4th depending on goals scored.

He's good on the PK. Bruins PK sucks.

And this move makes even more sense with the news this morning that Marc Savard will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot.

Ouch that's gonna hurt for the Bruins.......in another case the stanley cup champion as lost Gonchar for one month with a broken wrist, let's see if they gonna do as well as last year without him.

In case anyone is interested, TSN is doing a poll until October 28th 2009, for the best current goalie mask in the NHL.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=295572

*Don't miss their gallery of masks at the bottom of the article to help you vote!




I voted for Luongo. Simple and sort-of old-school with just a couple logos and his number on the chin.

My runners up were Cristobal Huet's Native American feathers, and Miika Kippruoff's flames/skull.

Jeez... there's a lot of ugly masks in the NHL these days. Most of them just looked like jumbled messes in those pictures. Maybe they'd look better up close in person? There were some pretty bad themes though. I did like the Spiderman mask though.

It seems that as the season goes on, the General Manager who placed the best young talent in the AHL and in key spots in the current lineup (NHL) will have placed their respective clubs in a position of envy.

I think, for example Atlanta could be world beaters this season. They have several young players, with talent, that are low salaried players who can be called up at any time. Don Waddell has admitedly made some misteps in the past, but I have to give Don credit for working on a long term contract, publicly and honestly, with Ilya Kovalchuk and putting exciting young forward Evander Kane in the middle of the lineup.

Overall, it shows in what's happening with Montreal, Boston and to a lesser extent, the Maple Leafs. Not enough young talent with no waiver eligibility. This is the new NHL, and next season you will see General Managers balancing their rosters to give their teams this coveted depth and freedom. The long term contract is a good thing for the NHL and the NHLPA, but only for those players who actually bring it every night. Richards, Ovechkin, Phaneuf, etc. Contracts will change I feel in a big way next season, and you will see a lot of shorter deals for 2nd and 3rd line players, regardless of their intangibles. The clubs will strive for the ability to move players freely between the NHL, and the AHL.

I hate to disagree here Peterman. I wish we could see shorter term deals. In fact, the NHL owners want to get rid of GUARANTEED contracts altogether at the next negotiations. No way does that happen.

Anyway, as for 2nd third liners...everyone wants those guys on their rosters. So they will still get their paydays, and they will still get the term if they WANT the term. Not 10-12 years obviously like top guys are getting right now (A loophole, see hossa, luongo, that will be closed at next negotiation). Each and every team is going to want a second or third liner that can score 20-25 goals or even 30.

I mean, Ryan Kesler--tell me noone would step up and offer him 5 years for a total of 20-25 million. Everyone in the league would. ANd he is barely a 2nd line center.

Peterman5000 wrote: Overall, it shows in what's happening with Montreal, Boston and to a lesser extent, the Maple Leafs. Not enough young talent with no waiver eligibility.

Actually, Boston has got some pretty good prospects in the AHL and on their AHL roster. They felt they needed to trade Kobasew so they could bring Marchand and Sobotka up to the NHL. They've got Hamill down in the AHL still and he made a nice showing for himself in training camp. Plus, if you look at the Boston roster, you've got some really young guys there like Wheeler, Lucic, Krejci, Hunwick, and Rask.

bruins72 wrote:

Peterman5000 wrote: Overall, it shows in what's happening with Montreal, Boston and to a lesser extent, the Maple Leafs. Not enough young talent with no waiver eligibility.

Actually, Boston has got some pretty good prospects in the AHL and on their AHL roster. They felt they needed to trade Kobasew so they could bring Marchand and Sobotka up to the NHL. They've got Hamill down in the AHL still and he made a nice showing for himself in training camp. Plus, if you look at the Boston roster, you've got some really young guys there like Wheeler, Lucic, Krejci, Hunwick, and Rask.

Wheeler hasn't earned his silly contract, thus far.

Also, with Savard out, Krecji needs to step up. nearly 4 million a year...ouch

If he continu that way he will earned it for sure. Rask doesn't have a stupid contract yet too. And for MTL they got some great young players in the AHL, the only problem is that there's almost just great 3rd ans 4th liner and 4-5 D-men, except for P.K. Subban.

The Habs retooled up front with much smaller forwards, with speed, and conversely, slow lumbering defense.

Peterman5000 wrote: Wheeler hasn't earned his silly contract, thus far.

Also, with Savard out, Krecji needs to step up. nearly 4 million a year...ouch

Wheeler had a really good rookie season and his contract isn't huge because his bonuses haven't been met. I'm pretty sure he's only making about $850k, which he has earned, IMO. Krejci is off to a slow start this season but he's also coming off hip surgery and was originally expected to be out until November. So I'm willing to cut him some slack.

Still, you original point was about them not having young talent, which they clearly do.

bruins72 wrote:

Peterman5000 wrote: Wheeler hasn't earned his silly contract, thus far.

Also, with Savard out, Krecji needs to step up. nearly 4 million a year...ouch

Wheeler had a really good rookie season and his contract isn't huge because his bonuses haven't been met. I'm pretty sure he's only making about $850k, which he has earned, IMO. Krejci is off to a slow start this season but he's also coming off hip surgery and was originally expected to be out until November. So I'm willing to cut him some slack.

Still, you original point was about them not having young talent, which they clearly do.

First off, Wheeler is earning triple that. 2.5 million.

Peterman5000 wrote:

bruins72 wrote:

Peterman5000 wrote: Wheeler hasn't earned his silly contract, thus far.

Also, with Savard out, Krecji needs to step up. nearly 4 million a year...ouch

Wheeler had a really good rookie season and his contract isn't huge because his bonuses haven't been met. I'm pretty sure he's only making about $850k, which he has earned, IMO. Krejci is off to a slow start this season but he's also coming off hip surgery and was originally expected to be out until November. So I'm willing to cut him some slack.

Still, you original point was about them not having young talent, which they clearly do.

First off, Wheeler is earning triple that. 2.5 million.

No, he has the potential to earn that much. He isn't currently making that much.

http://www.capgeek.com/players/display. ... &pid=78686

His salary is $850k. His bonuses for this season are $2.05M but they're pretty much out of reach. The Bruins would be over the cap if he were making that much.

http://www.nhlnumbers.com/overview.php? ... eason=0910

Patrice Bergeron would also step up. He is good center if plays with 100% attitude.

Bergeron looked good last night. I really liked the line of Marchand-Bergeron-Ryder. They played really well together.

Willie Mitchell smokes Jonathon Toews

This was reminiscent of the Scott Stevens hit that was the beginning of the end of Eric Lindros' career. Perfectly clean hit, Mitchell didn't leave his feet or get the elbows up. To his credit, Toews wasn't a little Crosby about it. According to the clip on NHL.com, when he made it back to the bench he dropped the F-Bomb and admonished himself for having his head down. Hope he is alright and doesn't go the way of the great disappointment Lindros.

BOOM goes the dynamite.

That was a perfect hit except Toews didn't see it coming. And Vancouver ends up in the box? Looks like the refs are protecting the stars.

No penalty for the hit. Penalties for scrum after the hit. There is no whining from Hawks fans about that hit, and that is a good thing. Perfect.

2 things:

1. Play should have been allowed to continue. Chicago instigates stupidity, so play should not stop until they get control of the puck.

2. Troy Brouwer should be yelled and screamed at by Quenville for making that pass to Toews in the first place. Jesus that was setting it up for an injury nicely. Great stuff Troy.

3. Toews took the heat off Brouwer right away by talking on the bench about having his head down. That is a CAPTAIN.

4. Mitchell is playing some great hockey for the Canucks at both ends of the rink. Now if that team could only get Edler and Bieksa to smarten the hell up they would do fine. Block shot, block shot....caught on bad pinch, burned to the outside, burned to the inside. Man am I talking about NHLers or Pee Wees?

Thats 4 thing batdad LOL no worries, it was all good stuff though

I agree, their trying to cut down on scrums after clean hits yet they stop a 2-0 breakaway against the team that instigated it?? If they let play continue and Vancouver scored this would send a message to all the teams to think before just jumping in to fight someone.

It's amazing how Dave Tippett is getting solid play out all these young Yotes.

Martin Hanzal is a monster.

I can't wait to see how this team looks when Tippet's system is fully absorbed. The Yotes have so much talent up and down the roster.

Problem for them is that most of that talent is young and inexperienced and a few years off their prime.

It does look VERY promising though.