2011-12 NHL Regular Season Thread
 

Pre-season is over. The real fun begins. About damn time.

Also, here is one that is sure to rile up fans in the West:

The Winnipeg Jets are content to sit and smile while NHL decision-makers work on realignment formulas.

The Jets would prefer to be shifted to the Northwest Division next season, joining Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and a geographic rival in the Minnesota Wild.

Playing more games in Canada not only has obvious rivalry benefits but has its financial advantages because it's less costly flying principally in Canada than in the U.S.

A shift to the Central Division is also a strong possibility for the Jets; with Detroit, Nashville and Columbus all eager to move east.

The Red Wings will continue to quietly campaign for a move, perhaps, seeking support from influential Eastern Conference teams like Toronto, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers to help sway the vote at the December board meetings.

Detroit, however, has offered a concession.

The Wings are willing to stay in the West, providing they travel to Western Canada once instead of twice and far West into the United States once instead of twice per season.

Eastern Conference teams don't see a need for a drastic change and all clubs remain concerned over the uncertainty of the Phoenix Coyotes and the potential for future realignment.

The perfect scenario would see the Coyotes ownership issues resolved prior to the December vote.
In any case, the Winnipeg Jets will be keen observers of the process.

http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/darren_dreger/?id=377001

Fabian Brunnstrom earned (well, nothing official yet) a contract with a great pre-season. It didn't hurt that Mursak is out three months but he is an intriguing guy to make the roster. Has some offensive upside, we'll see if he can be another Wings reclamation project.

Also, Gustav Nyquist was amazing this pre-season. The Wings farm system is just so loaded right now with solid prospects, but Nyquist has superstar potential.

I'm not sure what will happen, but I think it would be a better idea to keep Winnipeg and Minnesota in the same division somehow. To me it seems goofy to put Winnipeg in the same division as Calgary, Edmonton, and especially Vancouver. We are closer to cities like Minneapolis and Chicago, and also share their timezone. It also keeps from having some kind of strange defacto "Canadian" division that I don't think would be a good idea for the league.

And Steckel....and Shaone Morrisonn...

Agree with this.

Now I can't believe anything those other guys have said. Guilty by association.

I think if we had to stick with 3 divisions of 5 teams I'd go with something like this:

San Jose
Anaheim
LA
Vancouver
Phoenix

Colorado
Calgary
Edmonton
Winnipeg
Minnesota

Dallas
Chicago
St. Louis
Detroit
Nashville

That moves Columbus east. I should be commish.

I don't think anyone defended Semin because he farking took a dive.



And what, Detroit wants a schedule where they only play 1 game per season out West, or they want a 14 game road trip?

I don't care about the east :)

Just kidding, you're right, swap Columbus for Nashville then. You can be Assistant Commish.

That doesn't really come off as a dive to me. Dude put his elbow right to the side of Semin's head. What would be the non-dive reaction to that play?

Crosby says he is not impressed with the way Semin gets hit in the head, and that players like himself and Ben Smith receive headshots in a much more interesting way.

So glad hockey season is back.

DOLA

Not very many big names exposed on waivers.

Viktor Tikhonov waived, and cleared already.
Gilbert Brule on waivers today, 48 hours to clear.

Blues hockey this Saturday, can't wait!

http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.ht...id=DL|PIT|home

Avery waived.

Oh Sean Avery...

Cooke is going to elbow Ovy in the mouth, and the tooth he loses will be auctioned.

Time zones. Columbus is on EST, whereas Nashville is on CST. I'm just sick and tired of missing 10-20 games a year on TV because they start at 10 PM. It really doesn't help a fanbase that could use some help growing.

I don't think you can solve this problem without some sort of major realignment.

Personally, I think we need to do 4 divisions (2 w/8 teams and 2 w/7) and no conferences. First two rounds of playoffs inside the division (1v4 and 2v3) and then however they want to decide who plays after that.

Schenn: Pure Money Move | Frequent Flyers | 10/04/2011

Leafs acquire David Steckel from Devils for a fourth-round pick in 2012.

If only this were baseball, and instead of tie-breakers, a play in game was used to determine the last playoff team/division winner. In essence, an 83rd game, that, assuming healthy, would give Schenn the chance to play an 82nd game.

If Schenn were to get traded, this could happen.

This was my other thought...but even Homer wouldn't trade him within a year of trading for him. That'd be like moving a player on an 11 or 13 year contract!

I believe he did that to Mike Comrie.

Well that was Clarke not Homer.

Why is there such a big market for Kylie Turris?

Has;nt he been a fairly large bust?

22 year old defenseman with a 20 and 25 point season so far? I mean, he's not Doughty, but I can see why teams would try to poach him from a team without an owner.

He's a center... a 20 and 25 point season makes him 3rd,4th line material.3rd over all pick sounds like he is on the verge of busting...unless he is a late bloomer.

Turris is a center though.

His draft year, people kept comparing him to Sakic.
Those are the same people who said Kris Beech was the next Ron Francis.

Well it is true that neither of them are in the NHL, so they have that in common at least.

He is still young at 22 and has time to grow into a decent player, especially if he goes to a team that knows how to develop players.

That makes sense now why the Pens traded Jagr for him. :)

Doh. Totally confused him and Yandle.

Honestly, at that time, it was allegedly a good return.
Beech was a top 6 center, Sivek a top 6 winger and Ross Lupaschuk was the big D with a huge shot.

Beech played with, what, about 5 teams, but nothing more than 20 games with each. Lupaschuk never reached the NHL. Sivek was decent, but he returned to the Czech Republic when his mother got sick, and chose to never return.

But trading Jagr allowed Pittsburgh to keep Kovalev, Straka, Lang, etc for a couple more years.

And then trade those guys for more bums - Rico Fata, Mike Wilson, Martin Strbak, Joel Bouchard...and Mikael Samuelsson.

Mikael Samuelsson was used to move from 3rd to 1st in the 2003 draft, to take Fleury, who made the Cup winning save on Lidstrom.

So really, without trading Jagr, Pens never win in 2009.:p

Who is Stefan Elliott and why did the computer AI draft him for me over several proven veteran Dmen?

An Avs prospect who I don't believe is going to even see the NHL this year. But I could be wrong.

Awesome. He's not even a former 1st rounder.

Well, if anyone in your league wants a shot at Elliott, they're gonna get it.