The OFFICIAL 2009-10 NHL Regular Season Thread
 

The regular season begins October 1. I am excited, been looking forward to seeing what the Wings can do this season without some of last year's players.

Are you all ready?
:popcorn:

Went to the Oilers' final preseason game last night and they actually looked pretty good. Top line scored a few PP markers (although I think they really need to revamp what they do on the PP) and the 2nd line scored a few beauties as well. A couple of fights including a "junior-style" tilt where Brule...yes, former #6 overall...squaring off at center ice and removing their lids and actually having a nice little dance. And then Brule actually had a hand in the OT winner as he won the draw and went to the net as Gilbert ripped a blast from the point.

From all accounts...and appearances...Quinn and company looks like he's going to try and have 3 scoring lines with two "skill" guys per line with that third guy being a big guy...whether it be Moreau, Penner, Jacques, S or even Stortini...to either create a little space or else make sure the "little" guys don't get run over. I like the concept, and from what I saw, but we'll see how it works out.

I watched a preseason game a few nights ago between the Oilers and Lightning. Is Penner considered an official "bust" if he is now a physical/tough guy on a line with 2 other "skill" guys?

Is Penner what we thought (or hoped) he'd be after two years...probably not. So, I guess in those terms, he's definitely a bust but has two years and a fresh start (new coaching staff) to turn that around.

I guess that "physical/tough" guy could also be called "power forward" and I think that's what we all want Penner to be and he has shown that he can be that guy on a few occasions. I think Jacques (the guy who's going to start the season next to Horcoff and Hemsky) is going to be facing the same expectations...so, these two guys are going to be the keys to success, I think, and their contributions both in the physical and offensive departments are going to be under a microscope for the first month or two of the season.

The NHL is better when Canadian teams are successful. Especially Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal.

LOL...glad you didn't say Calgary!!

That's his other favorite team.

Looking forward to the Devils having another solid year, than giving up 2 goals in the final minute of game 7 to lose in the first round.

I wonder if Brandon Jacobs plays hockey?

Wouldn't he play for the Rangers?

No, Giants play in New Jersey.

Yeah, and I still find it funny that they are called the NY Giants (just like the NY Jets).

Statue of Liberty is also in Jersey, but yet again, we get shafted.

I blame it on the French.

GO AVS!!!!!

The Devils and Ducks play against each other on my birthday this year (November 11). The Niedermayer brothers will be competing against each other for the first time in years. I'm looking forward to it, as I was always used to cheering for Scott.

Then again, Rob may get waived by the Devils long before November comes around. I don't really expect a whole lot out of him.

Meh, maybe Colin White will get hurt and Rob will have to fill in for him on the blueline. :D

Wow, it's like going from drinking battery acid to drinking slightly diluted battery acid.

There's a difference?

Jackets make a trade, acquiring D Anton Stralman from Calgary for a 3rd Rd Pick.

Anybody know much about him? All I've read is that he's still young and has a right handed shot, something the Jackets sorely need.

Season hasn't started yet...and Ticketmaster (with an assist from the Pens) pissing me off!

I've always had 2 seats. The row I am in, begins with seat 2. I was sold seats 3 and 4 from the beginning, in 2004. It worked out pretty well, once we started taking our daughter to games. Usually that single wasn't sold, I'd slide down, she sat in the middle.

Fast forward a couple years, to where she needed her own ticket (3 and under free). I'd buy that seat separate as needed, my son was young enough to not need his own seat.

Now this season-- several factors: both kids needing their own seats, promotion at work, new bldg opening next year, I got 4 seats.
Seats 2 - 5.

Last week all the tickets arrive. Great.

I assume most other teams also have this Ticketmaster Exchange program, where you can sell your tickets via the web, TM credits your account, as well as charges a fee to the buyer.

I go in to check out my seats, and they are listed as follows:

Seat 2
___________________

Seat 3
Seat 4
___________________

Seat 5

Basically, I can not sell all 4 together. I can sell 3 and 4 together. And 2 as a single. And 5 as a single.

So I spent about an hour on the phone with someone from the Pens ticket office trying to get this fixed. They are saying that since I bought 2 and 5 separate, they are listed separate.

Yet, somehow, I received all 4 sets in the same package via Fed Ex last week. So I asked them to send me each of those two seats, 2 and 5, separately, in their own envelopes. They questioned why, since I already had the tickets. My reasoning is I am being told they are separate. She says "But they are all going to the same address"

FUCKING EXACTLY!!!!

I know it's not this woman's fault...it's the way TM coded them. But, Jesus Christ, FIX IT!

[/rant off]

Anyway...once I get past that, I am excited to see a Cup title defense. Lineup is pretty much set:

Kunitz - Crosby - Guerin
Fedotenko - Malkin - Kennedy
Cooke - Staal - Dupuis/Conner
Rupp - Adams - Godard/Conner/Dupuis

Orpik - Gonchar
Letang - Eaton
Goligoski - McKee

Fleury
Johnson

Tyler Kennedy pretty much wrapped up the job opposite Fedotenko on Malkin's line. Talbout is out thru November, and none of the 1st year guys grabbed the spot.

They signed Chris Conner from Dallas in the summer, and he's played really well in the preseason. He and Dupuis might split time, or both dress games that Godard doesn't.

Penguins make a pair of minor moves yesterday and today, but it makes tons of sense.

Martin Skoula signed for 1 year, $575K. He'll be the #7 guy. Shero has always made sure to have enough depth on the blue line to make it through the season.

Skoula had been in Florida and Columbus on tryouts during camps, cut last week by the Jackets.

With guys like Mark Eaton and Jay McKee who have some injury history, they have a solid cheap veteran in place now.

Also, they signed Ryan Bayda to a 1 year deal, 2 way, $500K. He'll probably stick around as the 13th forward for now, and gives them another guy to fit into the bottom 6, especially when Godard sits.

I just signed up for the NHL GameCenter thing and will now get all of the regular season games.

This is literally my first time following hockey. I've always liked it, but it's never on TV so I never got a chance to follow. This should really help a lot.

My biggest issue: I think I'm a Coyotes fan. :banghead:

This always happens...I get a sports game, pick a shitty team to play as, learn all of their players, and then become a fan.

Me and the Coyotes go back to NHL98.

Handful of other moves today

Some serviceable guys waived-

Brad Lukowich
Randy Jones (Dr Sak should be pleased)
Adam Hall
Chris Bourque
Possibly Matt Lashoff from Tampa

Rob Schremp waived by Oilers, already claimed by the Isles

Also, Robert Lang signs with Phoenix (there you go Jets a reason to, er, cheer) pending a physical.
Atlanta signs Max Afinogenov.

Your name is Jetsin06. It only makes sense that you like the Coyotes.

The NHL starts on Oct 1st? Yikes. Someone send me a PM if they ever move the southern teams back north.

Here, let me help you with that. ;)

Go Sabres!

They have three guys to let go by tomorrow (could be less depending on how they handle the injuries to Adam Mair and Toni Lydman). The big questions will be if they keep rookies Tim Kennedy, who was one of the best players in the last two or three pre-season games, and defensemen Tyler Myers, who either has to return to the WHL or stay with the Sabres. Myers is certainly causing a lot of talk due to his sheer potential (6'7.5'' frame, extremely physical, and stellar performance last year in the WHL and world juniors).

Heh...I thought the same thing!

I had no idea Randy Jones was making something like $3 million a year. That's crazy. That goes back to our earlier conversation in the off-season thread about a pay structure for your defense. Now, granted, at the time I imagine the Flyers thought Jones would be a 3rd/4th defensemen, but you can't be paying your 5th or 6th guy $3 million, not even close.

Yeah...I think most would agree Carle is a better player than Jones, but offer a similar skill set. So they were paying Carle like $3.5 and Jones $2.75-- and heading into the year, they would be together on the 3rd pair (Sak can correct me on that, I am assuming Parent, Coburn, Timonen and Pronger were set in the top 4).

Yeah Randy Jones was basically going to be a 3rd pairing guy. He had hip surgery last year and hasn't really recovered since. He thought the offseason rest was going to help but he had a really bad preseason and with JVR and Mika Pyorala stepping up, Jones became expendable.

I have great news!!

My wife is working late on Thursday......that means a full night of NHL hockey for me!!!!!!!!!!

O happy day

Sundin retries...

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=293154

I like how he waits until a day before the season starts. Guess nobody wants to pay him this time around.

So when Pat Quinn was brought in as the Oilers coach, I think a lot of the fans were hoping for change. Now I never hid the fact that I thought MacT's time here was done quite a while ago, but I do appreciate the poetic justice that leaves Quinn with largely the same player group to utilize this season so that there may be some insight gained into how much of the blame should fall on the (former) coach, the players and/or the front office.

That said, back to the changes. I had hoped we might start the season with Horcoff on the 3rd line in 5 on 5 situations, plugged into a defensive role, logging a ton of PK time and taking important defensive zone face offs, never to be heard of on the PP. Now how he'll be used on special teams is still up for debate, but he'll start the season as the #1 center skating on a line with Hemsky and JF Jacques who has excelled as a scorer in the minors but failed miserably as a 4th line banger any time MacT brought him up.

Instead, we see another MacT favorite demoted from the 2nd line to the 4th (at least to start the season) in Sam Gagner. Obviously things can change by the time the puck is dropped but he is currently slated to skate on a line with Zach "the fighter formerly known as Huggybear" Stortini and the captain, Ethan Moreau. How he'll take to this demotion and how he'll evolve his game given that his line mates aren't exactly known for the offensive prowess, who knows.

Other changes, well, Gilbert Brule cracks the lineup as does Ryan Stone. Robert Nilsson is on the outside looking in while Fernando Pisani is likely going to be on the IR for quite some time. Andrew Cogliano has been ousted from the center position and will roam on the wing while the one real new addition up front, Mike Comrie, will play on a line with Dustin Penner and Patrick O'Sullivan.

It's going to be an interesting start to the season in Edmonton. I'm assuming there'll be some line blending and adjusting of roles depending on who starts hot, but given such a common player base to what MacT had, the combinations and roles players are being asked to play already show a very different flavor. This was a team widely regarded as a challenger to the NW Division title prior to last season, be interesting to see if they can deliver on those aspirations this season.

SR - I read that Carle was going to be on the top pairing with Pronger. I hope that's the case seeing as I just drafted him in the Fantasy thread for that very reason.

Carle as been playing along side Pronger all preseason.

Gagne could have a breakout season, assuming he gets off that 4th line.

A lot of people have been high on Gagner since he came in, I'm just waiting to see it myself. I'm just as reserved about Eberle (at least in regards to his label as a sniper, not his skating/ability to create plays) right now.

I really do hope that Gagner flourishes and it will hopefully help that while there is pressure on the team, he's not necessarily being as pressured to be the catalyst that he seemed to be a season or two ago. He's had some good stretches but right now still is a perimeter player and really needs to learn how to cut to the middle of the offensive zone a lot better and be willing to do so. He also needs to trust his abilities a bit more as one of his big down falls seems to be second guessing/pausing a bit too much with the puck at times before pulling the trigger. Given the other skill options on the team right now, he'll have a chance to work through his issues, and it'll be interesting to see how many PP chances he gets to do that when there are so many other options.

The strength of the Oilers will have to be their defense and goaltending. I think Khabibuhlin will have to play very well for the team to be successful. Based on past experience, that is a risky proposition.

While the forward ranks are pretty solid and balance, there's really no line or even player that would really scare me if I was the opposition. I can see the wisdom in spreading the talent over all four lines, since there is no one line to shut down, but the flipside of that is that other than a line getting hot here and there there is no line that really looks like it can generate goals on a consistent basis. After Hemsky is there any forward who would be considered a first line forward on any of last year's playoff teams? I'm not sure. I really haven't seen too much out of most of these guys, so it will be interesting to see how it all comes to together, especially under the new coaching regime.

I think that's why Quinn has taken the approach he's taken..."we don't have a real first line but we've got three 2nd lines, instead." A little unorthodox but I guess he's just trying to make his brand of lemonade out of the lemons he's been given. We'll see how it tastes.

Yeah, I guess you have to do something. The Oilers lack a truly deadly offensive forward and don't really seem to have that many really good defensive forwards either. So, they can't form a potent scoring line or a good shutdown line, so they are making 4 lines that can kinda-sorta do a little bit of both.

I guess the plan is to try and nibble teams to death. Interesting...

It seems like the Oilers have had this type of team for a long, long time now. A lot of young talent, most of which doesn't really turn into what they were hoping for, and subsequently they are a perennial middle of the pack team. I think they need a different approach, just not sure Quinn is the answer.

I think the plan is to play an up tempo style to wear teams down and force mistakes. There is a ton of skill in the lineup (Hemsky, Gagner, Comrie, O'Sullivan, Brule, Penner, Cogliano) up front and as I've discussed with John, I really believe the biggest thing they need up front this year is to out skate the opposition. Draw penalties instead of taking the lazy one's that have plagued them over the past few years (slashes and hooking calls). Their PP has the players to be top 10, may not end up there, but the potential is there. Not sure if you can say the same about the PK so just best to avoid having that unit out there as much as possible.

They need to turn every game into a 60 minute battle for puck possession and just not give their opposition a chance to breath. There are a lot of young guys fighting for promotions (Cogs, Gagner, Brule), guys a bit older who are fighting to prove them belong in the NHL (Brule again, Stone, Jacques) and hopefully a few out to prove that last season wasn't a true reflection of their abilities (Penner, Moreau, Gagner). If Quinn can cultivate that hunger and find some guys who work well together, a true top line will emerge by the end of the season.

And HB, I fully agree with your diagnosis above in regards to the Oilers pushing for 8th place and a playoff spot. If they want to contend for home ice and the NW title, they absolutely need some of these forwards to take that next step and for very few of them to experience any form of regression. That said, I do like the insurance policy they have for Khabibulin. Deslauriers looked great early last season when he was getting something closer to regular playing time. Hopefully this year he won't get forgotten about for months at a time again.

I'll defer to the Dr on this one.

But, to me...doesn't make very much sense. Is Parent the guy on the 3rd pair now? With Timo and Coburn the other pair?

Seems to me like they are trying to spread these guys out to have a solid player on every pair, rather than two really good pairs and a 3rd pairing that will only get 12-14 mins a game.

Why not pair Parent with Pronger, Timo and Coburn, Carle and ??? (Tollefson? Syvret?), and those top two pairs play 22-24 mins a piece, Carle sees time on the PP, and the 3rd pair takes about 10 shifts together the entire game.

Because then I'd have completely wasted a fantasy pick on a defenseman that I didn't really need?

Seriously, has Carle really fallen off so much that he's considered a third pairing guy now? There was a time with SJ when he was really highly regarded IIRC and he's the perfect type of player to pair with Pronger.

i guess this is just for directv people, but i read a tip that they were giving good deal to anyone calling to complain about the lack of versus this year

its true. they gave me center ice for free this year. i spoke to the retention department.

Sabres pretty much stand pat after two disappointing seasons.

Gotta hope the young'uns step up and some of the vets stay healthy and return to the form many of them had three years ago.

Fans will be calling for somebody's head if they don't hit the postseason this year.

Wow, nice. Way to step up DirectTv!

Might have to give these bozos a call.

I see Sbisa made the Ducks roster. He's gonna be a good one.