What a terrible tragedy. I was hoping we might see him in Hartford next year.

Wow this really hurts. Not just for us Ranger fans, but all hockey fans who will be missing out on someone who really could have been special. Feel terrible for his family.

I think they broke the 150 minute mark for penalties today.

Here's the fight (s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTPudRyyhsE

Kyle Quincey picked up by the Kings off waivers-
And the Kings needed to grab someone, with Jack Johnson out up to 3 months with a shoulder injury.

Also, Flyers make a deal for Andrew Alberts from Boston-- give up Ned someone or other (I think one of the guys they got from the Kings in dumping Denis Gauthier this summer) and a conditional pick.

No confirmation on the rumor that Scott Hartnell was sent to pick up Alberts at the airport.

The Cherepenov thing is a double whammy for me, as I'm not only a Rangers fan but I also had him in my keeper league.

I suppose this is also bad for his friends and family.

Dola

The above is tongue-in-cheek, it's definitely a terrible tragedy.

Very sad situation.

But I'm more concerned by the TSN story about it (http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=2525...=topStory_main) :

Had a feeling something bad would come out about this...

Wow, I was going to get on here and rant about having to work through an unbelievable entertaining Sabres game . . . but this is just horrible news.

Ducks act is getting old really freaking fast. Honestly, I'm not above calling for Carlyle to be fired if they are still taking so many penalties by mid season. This team will be lucky to make the playoffs IMO.

Did you just yell at the TV like I did? I am extremely NOT happy with the Ducks and how they are playing. They seriously need to pull their collective head out of their collective ass.

Just the same stupid penalty over and over and over ad infinitum. Give the puck away -> bad defensive position -> hooking call. Has been the same way since the start of last season. At what point do you say thanks Carlyle for the cup, but if you can't get your players to stop taking the same penalty 5 times a game, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out?

Combine that with a much weaker blueline (Schneider and O'Donnell might not have been great, but they were 10x better than Montodor, Klee and MacIver put together) and I just have a real bad feeling about this season.

Oh, and next time you take a double minor penalty on a retaliation call, let's actually make somebody pay. Niedermayer should be smarter than that...

Yup, can't say it much better than that. If the backend of the blueline is going to continue playing like this, I say cut them all and bring up Salcido, Festerling and the kids. At least they might learn something from Niedermayer before he leaves.

And as I am typing this, they get another penalty. Ugh.

The turnover issues remind me a lot of 2003-04, when we were just awful in the year after we went to the Cup.

Yup. Looking at the way they came out and took another penalty and nearly gave the Kings 2 goals, Carlyle might not even last until the all-star break.

Pronger can fuck off as well. Trade his ass while he still has some value. He hasn't been the same player since the cup win.

Agreed. Really, few of the players on this team have played anywhere near the level they showed in 2005, and most of them are too young to use age as an excuse.

Love this latest penalty. Oh, wait, there we go, another Kings goal.

i was at the kings-ducks game. you guys pretty much nailed it. not much to say about giving the kings 9 power plays. some of the kings kids look pretty good, for once i think this team has a decent future.

a funny moment happened at the end of the game, when the arena released purple streamers...and i had to stop and think, "are the streamers new, or have i never actually seen the kings win a home game before?"

So, did Lowe make the trip to Anaheim?

Chief Rum, is there a UFC ring setup outside the Pond??

Watching the BOS vs. MTL...fantastic game. Lots of end to end action...almost feels like a playoff game. Great to see this early in the season.

Glad to see the Sabres stay unbeaten and give the Rangers their first defeat on the season. Vanek has 5 goals in the first 3 games (2 of them are short-handed; and scored two games in two games). I hate Andrew Peters with a passion.

Great to see Patrick Kaleta does what he does best: Piss opponents off (while playing clean) and draw penalties. Paul Mara getting a game misconducted for just punching Kaleta was fun to watch. I wonder if Mara was thinking back to Kaleta's hit from last year, which sidelined Mara for 12 games with a fractures in his face.

The crowd was kinda dead though, almost like if they were exhausted by the pre-game ceremonies and the first period.

Agreed, the fans just seemed out of it by the end of the game. Crazy bounce to help the B's tie it up and get the point, an OT win would have just been gravy. Savard and Ryder are looking good together, I'm still unsure about having Axe with them, but we'll see how it goes for now.

Was at the game, wish I wasn't. One of the worst games I've seen the Rangers play in years.


That was insane, I've never really seen a guy refuse to drop the gloves and just sit there taking punches like that. Maybe Claude Lemieux back in the day. Forgot about any history between them.

Phewf. Been holding my breath for the last few minutes of the Oilers/Ducks game. Solid effort in the final two periods to take one in Anaheim. Garon once again standing on his head.

Oh, and Pronger is on Rome tomorrow.

I don't Kaleta even had a chance to respond. He turned around, still holding his stick and gloves still on, and Mara just started to punch the heck out of him. What was funny is Kaleta missed the check.

Oh good. I'll be at work. Can you do me a favor and call in and ask Pronger when he'll show up this season? 'K, thx.

I saw him at the game tonight...in the penalty box a few times...with that ridiculous beard.

Just who is this Pronger fellow you guys keep speaking of?

The Chicago Blackhawks fired head coach Denis Savard on Thursday and replaced him with Joel Quenneville.

...

SI

Don't like that 1-2 start, eh?

Why? What's the point? It's only been 3 games. If you didn't want him for the season, fire him in the off-season. This is ridiculous.

Must be something going on in Chicago...that simply doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Quenneville is

1) defensive-minded
2) tough on young players
3) schizophrenic with his goalies

I'm sure there are teams more ill-suited for coach Q, but I can't think of one right now.

Sure, but 3 games into the season and after getting their first win?? Doesn't make any sense.

Isn't there new management in Chicago? I remember reading that they were going to fire Savard first chance they got, and Quenville was there for that reason.

Quennville? There goes any chance of being above mediocre.

I read a few quotes that definitely link it to the hit Kaleta laid on him last year and messed up Mara's face. Mara accused him -- both times -- of leaving his skates to throw the hit.

Allegedly, during this latest scrum, Kaleta asked him, "Hey, how's your face?"

Really pissed Mara off.

Kaleta is the new Matt Barnaby, apparently.

Rangers back Mara's retaliation to Kaleta's hit -- Newsday.com

What makes Kaleta great is he can keep his emotions in check, read the emotions of opponents, and get under their skin. Kaleta's job is to agitate, make his checks in a clean manner (and he's very good at making hits), energize the team, and draw penalties. He does this very well.

I really hate the fact that this is anybody's "job" in the NHL.

Pretty much every team has one. I just find it funny that Rangers fan are whining about him, when they've had Avery.

This coming from the guy whose team has had the likes of Darcy Tucker and Tai Domi on the ice??

As long as you hate your own as much as you hate the other players on other teams, its all good.

no kidding, and unlike kaleta, Avery was openly mouthy to everyone, he never played nice and clean, he was just a schmuck.

Um, where?

;) He did say "fan" singular, somewhere in that teaming cespool of a city a fan has to be whining about it ;)

The Avs finally won...I didn't get to see it, thanks to the clowns at DTV changing the channel the feed was on (meaning I recorded dead air).

oh well, that's 2 extra hours of sleep for me. Avs are currently on pace to break the 300 goal barrier...for and against.

Penguins shit the bed last night...go up 3-0, only to lose 4-3 to the Caps.

It didn't lose them the game (they did that on their own)...but replays of the Caps 4th goal, Hal Gill takes a high stick to the face, about 3 feet from the official. If he's not watching the puck 3 feet away from him, not sure what he's watching.

Crosby and Ovechkin yapping at each other on the ice after the buzzer sounded.

Also during the game, the new kid in town, Paul 'Biz-Nasty' Bissonette drops Matt Bradley with one punch. To his credit Bradley got right back up, only to get knocked down again. And he didn't look too pretty after.

Bradley was bleeding pretty good after that fight.

I am sure I'll get label a Penguins apologist or Crosby fan-boy...but Ovechkin proved out while he is a superior goalscorer, I don't think he's a better overall player than Crosby (or maybe Malkin even). He spent half his night on his side of the redline-great when the Caps have the puck, not great when he's cherry-picking.

The running around after Malkin...I read over and over last season how he's so improved defensively, I don't get how targeting one guy and trying to plow into him all night is great defensive play-- especially when the hit Malkin avoided along the wall, for any 3rd line player on any team in the league, would be an automatic charging call.

But the most selfish thing I saw all night was him shoot for the empty net from 70 feet away, miss, and give the Pens another faceoff. Nothing would have been better than to see them score directly from that faceoff.

I am wondering if it's just me, but the Wings dominate the stat sheet every night, be it shots, time of possession, or what have you, but they look horribly flat. Obviously this is bound to happen, and considering Z didn't play last night, it isn't surprising, but they just look flat through the first week of the season.

It's no cause for concern, and I mean, it isn't like they're 0-5. It's just more an indication of how crazy good they'll be once everything is in motion.

PS to Don Cherry - The Wings 11th goal of the season was the first one scored by a North American. He has to be cringing right now.