Nhl thread

[Beanflicker]

Kadri will probably shipped out like Evander Kane was from Winnipeg.

NHL is actually exciting to me now, a month or so ago I accepted that the Sens were not making the playoffs, now they are 4 points out and Andrew Hammond is playing amazing and breaking 80 year old records in net.

Ottawa is 4 points away from Boston and playing them tonight... big game!

[Beanflicker]

Andrew Hammond is one of the biggest stories of the year in the NHL IMO.

The guy was a mediocre goalie by AHL standards, both starting goalies are injured and they have to reluctantly play him, and he's now gone 11-0-1, 2 shut outs, with a 1.35 goals against average and .956 save percentage. He's living every kid's dream. Hasn't let in more than two goals in a game yet.

[palmerq]

robble robble

[Beanflicker]

God damn Bruins broke his streak and scored 4 on him, but the Sens pulled out the 6-4 win so it's all good.

[El Kabong]

Soooo rumblings of Ilya Kovalchuk wanting to return to the NHL are making the rounds recently, if I was a Devils fan I'd be pissed.

[Beanflicker]

Yeah I think with the collapse of the Russian ruble, a lot of those KHL guys are looking to come back to America for that American green.

He'd still make a great addition to any team, he's only 31. Jagr was much older when he jumped back to the NHL after spending a several years in the KHL. You dream of having a guy like Kovalchuk on your team. He's a big body, an elite sniper with an A+ wrist shot, and in New Jersey he was a fantastic 2-way player.

[El Kabong]

He doesn't have much heart.

[Beanflicker]

He's reportedly a bit of a prima donna, but I think it's worth dealing with an ego from a guy who's probably behind only Ovechkin and Stamkos in pure goal scoring ability. Doesn't have the heart to carry a team on his own but he's a 40-50 goal scorer if paired with a center he can click with.

He'd be a great pick up for a few teams that fell short of the play offs and have the cap space to spare. Can you imagine him playing on the left wing of the Voracek/Giroux line in Philly? Or with Thornton and Brent Burns in San Jose? Those are pretty scary combinations.

[El Kabong]

Oh no doubt Ilya is hella skilled, he's big, he's strong, he's got great hands...he'd be very scary on the right team. You could pair him with Datsyuk or Ovi or Malkin or Crosby or ANY of the top scorers/assist leaders and he'd contribute...but there's that little thing you know hovering over him which is will he give you 100%?

If I have a team on the brink of making a Cup run, I wouldn't take him because he'll fuck up the chemistry on the team. If on the other hand I have a shit team and am looking to just get into the playoffs sure I'll take him. I think he wins you games in the regular season but goes missing in the playoffs.

[El Kabong]

Extremely disappointing game last night, we lost again in OT. We didn't have the full team there, but players were noticeably lagging myself included. I just had no legs for the game. I had a few decent shots on goal but nothing came to fruition, it also took me a while to settle into the game. Hopefully we get shit straight before the playoffs because we do have a good team that can win it all.


This said, Jesus the Penguins are imploding.

[El Kabong]

Played a game last night which we ended up winning in a shootout. They had a weak bench and we were skating them off the ice so we should have dropped 10 goals on them, but oh well. I broke my drought and scored an absolute beauty! Off of a rebound I shot one high and hard that bounced off the back crossbar, the goalie didn't give me much to shoot at, but he didn't get anything on that shot.


The Isles are fading a bit, think they'll hang on to their playoff spot?

[palmerq]

Played a game last night which we ended up winning in a shootout. They had a weak bench and we were skating them off the ice so we should have dropped 10 goals on them, but oh well. I broke my drought and scored an absolute beauty! Off of a rebound I shot one high and hard that bounced off the back crossbar, the goalie didn't give me much to shoot at, but he didn't get anything on that shot.


The Isles are fading a bit, think they'll hang on to their playoff spot?

good job on scoring a goal, I tried ice skating a couple of times and I was awful, I cannot imagine how difficult it is to actually play ice hockey let alone do well and score and stuff :S


the isles as in the islanders ? they are still well in the play off positions aren't they, by about 6 points or so I thought, I think they will make it, not that I know much about the sport but a bid advantage for them isn't just the points total they have but also how many teams would need to pass them.

Looks like the canucks are going to make to the play offs with a bit of comfort now after beating saint louis and nashiville on a road trip in back to back games, good job. It will be interesting to see who the canucks will get i the playoffs, I was sure it was going to be la but their revival has slowed down a fair bit and calgary just keep on going so calgary v vancouver is a pretty big possibility for the first round, that will be a fun series and either team could make it through... If la makes it though they could beat anyone over 7 games..

[Beanflicker]

The Islanders will be in the playoffs barring a complete breakdown. They've got solid goaltending in Halak and some scoring depth so they'll be a hard team to beat.

Glad to see Tavares emerge as the superstar they'd hope he'd be over the last few years. Guys like him and Stamkos are always going to be in the scoring race for the next 10 years or more.

Speaking of scoring races, Ovechkin scored 2 tonight to bring it to 52 and (barring a miracle) guaranteed his 5th Rocket Richard trophy (3rd straight). Happy for him, he had a rough few seasons where everyone said he was washed up, but since the lockout he's been back to his sniping self.

[El Kabong]

Playoff battles coming to a head now! Montreal, Tampa, NYR, The Caps, Blues, Preds, Chicago, the Wild, Ducks, and Vancouver are all locked in, now the question is: "Who else makes it?"

In the East Detroit, Boston, Ottowa, Isles, and Pens are all fighting for 2 spots and in the West Winnipeg, Calgary, and LA are duking it out.

Current playoff matchups look like this:
East
Montreal vs Pittsburgh
Tampa vs Detroit
NYR vs Boston
Caps vs Isles

West
Ducks vs Jets
Cannucks vs Flames
Blues vs Wild
Preds vs Chicago

Who are the most dangerous teams? Who will fold in the playoffs and who will rise to the occasion?

[palmerq]

Flames play the kings tonight, the kings can still overtake the flames I would assume, la are 2 points back although I don't know what their head to head record is.. I really hope it's not the kings that the canucks face or it might be a short play off adventure... Calgary v Canucks would be a pretty great playoff atmospehere, especially in calgary..

I think I'll be watching la v calgary tonight instead of the canucks game S: