PlasmaTwa2
The Second-Hottest Man in my Mother's Basement
I'd say Crawford is dueling it out with Smith right now to see who will be the backup. I think the start's Price's to lose.
NHL '12/'13 Thread
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I'd say Crawford is dueling it out with Smith right now to see who will be the backup. I think the start's Price's to lose.
Stanley Cup final schedule
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...e-chicago-blackhawks-vs-boston-041619878.html
Kind of oddly spaced...
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...e-chicago-blackhawks-vs-boston-041619878.html
Kind of oddly spaced...
PlasmaTwa2
The Second-Hottest Man in my Mother's Basement
Wouldn't be surprised if they want it to drag out till after the NBA Finals. A Chicago/Boston final is going to be huge ratings in the States and no competition is only going to increase them.
That's a good point. You're a smart guy, I don't care what everyone says about you.
I think the goalie race for Team Canada has been blown wide open by the shaky play of both Carey Price and Marc-Andre Fleury. Prior to the last couple of weeks of the season, I think nearly everyone would've said that those two were shoe-ins and that Price was a shoe-in to be given the first opportunity to start. Goaltending is by far the biggest weakness that Team Canada is facing, and right now I think that Corey Crawford is the guy to go with. I still think that the Team Canada hockey program is dead-set on giving Price the first crack at it, but he was so bad in so many big games for Montreal both down the stretch and in the playoffs, not to mention that he's recovering from injury right now. Should he return to the form that he has shown in the past to start next season, then maybe I'll change my mind. Honestly, our goaltending is really weak right now. The US can throw Quick/Anderson/Howard/Miller out there, which is scary good, and the Finns are neck-and-neck with them (or perhaps even better) with Rinne/Niemi/Rask/Backstrom. Those are both wow! And the Swedes have Lundqvist, so no worries for them, the Russians actually look much better off in terms of goaltending than I expected they would with Bobrovsky playing so well and Nabokov having a resurgence of sorts. Canada blows the competition away on defence and in terms of forward depth, but goaltending is going to be a huge question mark. Right now, I would go with Crawford, Price, and then Mike Smith (but I could even see Jonathan Bernier in the mix, which sounds crazy with his lack of experience, but who knows). In fact, I'm gonna pick a Team Canada right now and post it...
Team Canada picks (as of now) (I'm gonna base this mostly on team chemistry and overall balance):
G: Corey Crawford, Carey Price, Mike Smith
Which leaves Cam Ward, Ray Emery, Jonathan Bernier, Martin Brodeur, Marc-Andre Fleury, Brian Elliott, and Roberto Luongo off the team.
D1: Drew Doughty & Shea Weber (both top five defencemen in the world and they balance each other well, I think)
D2: Duncan Keith & Brent Seabrook (do I really need to explain this one?)
D3: P.K. Subban & Eric Brewer (I like this combination because Brewer is a steady veteran defensive defenceman and he can temper Subban's flashy style)
D4: Kris Letang & Marc Staal (I like the balance here too; Staal is a premier defensive defenceman and Letang is one of the five best offensive defencemen in the world)
I like the idea of going with eight defencemen (and, thus, twelve forwards) because I think it's much easier to throw a defenceman out on a forward line than a forward out on a defensive pair, and there are more forwards to roll out there anyway, so it's easier to make that up should someone get injured.
This would leave Jay Bouwmeester (again, poor guy), Brian Campbell, Brent Burns (who could be a forward/defenceman), Dan Boyle, Alex Pietrangelo, Dion Phaneuf, Cody Franson, Kevin Bieksa, and Mike Green off the team. That's more than enough for a second team right there!
F1: Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis (why they hell not, what a line with sick chemistry and skill)
F2: Rick Nash, Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis (I like a big guy in Nash out there with the smaller St. Louis (who has been passed over enough times); and, the guy can snipe too)
F3: Jordan Staal, Jonathan Toews, Eric Staal (this is a dream third line; they can shut you down defensively and score goals in buckets)
F4: Claude Giroux, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry (yeah, the fourth line)
This would leave Patrice Bergeron (honestly, I think he's a bit overrated), Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic, Jarome Iginla, Patrick Sharp (such a tough cut), PA Parenteau, Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly (who is just the type of player I'd love to see on this team), Jamie Benn, Ray Whitney (it would be great to see him play next season and be on the Olympic roster), Taylor Hall (he'll be there eventually, and he probably deserves it already, but Team Canada is just too deep), Jordan Eberle (has a knack for coming up big for Team Canada, so who knows...), Jeff Carter (snubbed again), Justin Williams, Mike Richards, David Clarkson (who would be such an asset, but oh well), John Tavares (tough snub), Matt Moulson (tough snub), Jason Spezza (such a tough snub, he's deserved this chance for many years), Wayne Simmonds (such an asset he would be as well), Shane Doan, James Neal (really?!?!?!), Joe Thornton (really?!?!?!), Logan Couture (for sure one for the future), Patrick Marleau, Chris Stewart, Nazem Kadri, Joffrey Lupul, Mike Ribeiro, Andrew Ladd (such a great leader), and Evander Kane off the team! Wow!
I'll definitely do this again when we get closer to the Olympics...
G: Corey Crawford, Carey Price, Mike Smith
Which leaves Cam Ward, Ray Emery, Jonathan Bernier, Martin Brodeur, Marc-Andre Fleury, Brian Elliott, and Roberto Luongo off the team.
D1: Drew Doughty & Shea Weber (both top five defencemen in the world and they balance each other well, I think)
D2: Duncan Keith & Brent Seabrook (do I really need to explain this one?)
D3: P.K. Subban & Eric Brewer (I like this combination because Brewer is a steady veteran defensive defenceman and he can temper Subban's flashy style)
D4: Kris Letang & Marc Staal (I like the balance here too; Staal is a premier defensive defenceman and Letang is one of the five best offensive defencemen in the world)
I like the idea of going with eight defencemen (and, thus, twelve forwards) because I think it's much easier to throw a defenceman out on a forward line than a forward out on a defensive pair, and there are more forwards to roll out there anyway, so it's easier to make that up should someone get injured.
This would leave Jay Bouwmeester (again, poor guy), Brian Campbell, Brent Burns (who could be a forward/defenceman), Dan Boyle, Alex Pietrangelo, Dion Phaneuf, Cody Franson, Kevin Bieksa, and Mike Green off the team. That's more than enough for a second team right there!
F1: Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis (why they hell not, what a line with sick chemistry and skill)
F2: Rick Nash, Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis (I like a big guy in Nash out there with the smaller St. Louis (who has been passed over enough times); and, the guy can snipe too)
F3: Jordan Staal, Jonathan Toews, Eric Staal (this is a dream third line; they can shut you down defensively and score goals in buckets)
F4: Claude Giroux, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry (yeah, the fourth line)
This would leave Patrice Bergeron (honestly, I think he's a bit overrated), Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic, Jarome Iginla, Patrick Sharp (such a tough cut), PA Parenteau, Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly (who is just the type of player I'd love to see on this team), Jamie Benn, Ray Whitney (it would be great to see him play next season and be on the Olympic roster), Taylor Hall (he'll be there eventually, and he probably deserves it already, but Team Canada is just too deep), Jordan Eberle (has a knack for coming up big for Team Canada, so who knows...), Jeff Carter (snubbed again), Justin Williams, Mike Richards, David Clarkson (who would be such an asset, but oh well), John Tavares (tough snub), Matt Moulson (tough snub), Jason Spezza (such a tough snub, he's deserved this chance for many years), Wayne Simmonds (such an asset he would be as well), Shane Doan, James Neal (really?!?!?!), Joe Thornton (really?!?!?!), Logan Couture (for sure one for the future), Patrick Marleau, Chris Stewart, Nazem Kadri, Joffrey Lupul, Mike Ribeiro, Andrew Ladd (such a great leader), and Evander Kane off the team! Wow!
I'll definitely do this again when we get closer to the Olympics...
I don't get all the buzz about Jonathan Bernier?? Never will! He is a backup! His most games in a season is 25. How can that even be remotely considered. It's like Schneider over Luongo...why they wanted to go with an unproven goalie and fare no better is beyond me. Lindback is another. Backups are getting so much hype lately. My picks for Canadas goalie, or try outs. Luongo, Price, Ward and Smith. To a lesser extent Fleury, Reimer (see Luongos tweet?), Holtby (surprised he wasn't mentioned in any forecasts I've seen).
Sorry Crawford, I'm not a bandwagon guy. Let's see where you are mid-season next year. Imagine if everyone wanted Jim Carey in net back in 95-96 (remember him?).
Luongo, Price, Ward, Smith, and Fleury are all guys who are obviously on the radar. Neither Reimer nor Holtby have done anything or shown anything to suggest that they are in the same league as Corey Crawford. The allure of Crawford should be obvious; he's coming off of an exceptional season (19-5-5, 1.94 GAA, .926 SV%) in which he backstopped his team to the best record in the NHL and, more importantly, his playoff run thus far has been even better (12-5, 1.74 GAA, .935 SV%), which is a great indicator for how he performs on the big stage (something that Luongo, Price, and Fleury (recently) have all struggled with; not to mention the fact that Jim Carey was as bad as it gets in his brief and dreadful postseason career, which makes him a very bad comparison with Crawford, in my opinion). I don't really see how anyone can say that Reimer/Holtby deserve a try-out and Crawford doesn't, but you're entitled to your opinion.
Schneider over Luongo was a no-brainer and he's consistently performed better than him (although neither of them have proven themselves on the big stage). The Canucks weren't that good this year, that's why they didn't fare so well.
A tonne of goalies start out as backups and then shine once given the opportunity. That's part of what the hype is about. Bernier's been behind Quick his whole career, so obviously he's not going to play as many games. He's a restricted free agent this offseason, however, and I imagine that he will get an offer sheet (*crosses fingers that it'll be from the Oilers*) that the Kings won't match because they have their started locked up until 2022-23. Then he'll get a chance to start and we'll see how he does (his 9-3-1, 1.87 GAA, .922 SV% bode well, methinks). The hype is about his potential, which is limitless. It remains to be seen whether he'll pan out or not, but that's an unknown. Just look at a guy like Dominik Hasek; he was Ed Belfour's backup in Chicago, and then Grant Fuhr's backup in Buffalo, then he got the chance to start, and the rest is history.
Parise-Kesler-Kane
Ryan-Stepan-Kessel
Pacioretty-Stastny-Pavelski
Callahan-Backes-Brown
Oshie
Suter-Martin
McDonagh-Yandle
J. Johnson-Byfuglien
Quick
Miller
Anderson
Ryan-Stepan-Kessel
Pacioretty-Stastny-Pavelski
Callahan-Backes-Brown
Oshie
Suter-Martin
McDonagh-Yandle
J. Johnson-Byfuglien
Quick
Miller
Anderson
PlasmaTwa2
The Second-Hottest Man in my Mother's Basement
I'd have to agree with feller on this one. I see absolutely no way Bergeron does not make Team Canada. I think he's far more of a sure thing than Getzlaf or Kunitz.
Ha you guys are fucked.
Ha you guys are fucked.
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Killer B
I Like Big Tits! (song by Joe Walsh)
I agree. Bergeron is a lock to make Team Canada. Same with Tavares.
Not being a homer for the Bs with Bergeron support. This is an older story, but sums up what I think. Hockey News 2009.
http://bywww.thehockeynews.com/articles/29711-Bergeron-belongs-on-Team-Canada.html
http://bywww.thehockeynews.com/articles/29711-Bergeron-belongs-on-Team-Canada.html
You're all entitled to your opinions; I agree that Bergeron is a great player and I like him a lot, but I just think he's a bit overrated (I said "a bit" both times now, so don't get carried away with what I'm trying to say here); I don't think he did much for us in Vancouver in 2010; he lost a lot of important faceoffs in the gold medal game (mostly to Ryan Kesler) and he didn't have that chemistry with Crobsy that Yzerman and co. were expecting (and which was the primary reason that he was selected to the team in the first place; he had previously had chemistry with Crosby at the WHC and WJHC). I wanna add here that there is no lock to make Team Canada, not with the depth they have. Stamkos was left off the team in Vancouver and Crosby was left off the team in Torino; that there should be enough to tell you that no player is guaranteed to make it.
P.S. Perhaps you're all forgetting that Bergeron had one (that's right, count it, one) assist in seven games and was a -2 at the Olympics in 2010, and he only played 3:12 in the gold medal game (obviously because he wasn't producing). As I said, you're all entitled to your opinions, and there is a case for him being on the team (left-handed faceoff specialist, defensive forward, et cetera), but I definitely don't think he's a lock and I also don't think he deserves to be on the team this time around based on how poorly he played the first time around. And I wouldn't put him on the team if I had the choice; there are plenty of players available who can bring what he does and more and who have proven themselves at the Olympics already.
We lack that one super duper star. But there is plenty of potential with our core of guys. This lineup is probably more likely:
Still will never be the same as having Amonte, Modano, Ktachuk, Roenick, Leclair, Rolston, et al to run game. But with our stock of goalies we have a very good chance of coming home with some hardware.
I actually think that the US has a far better hockey program and hockey team than they did back in the era you've described. And I think with their depth (which is second only to Team Canada) and stupendous goaltending, they are a serious gold medal threat.
You're definitely right but those guys are all HOFers, not to mention guys like Leetch, Housley, Chelios, Hull, Gueirn and so on.
I'm very excited to see what we do with our roster going to Russia.
I'm very excited to see what we do with our roster going to Russia.
Wrong.
And LMFAO @ Bergeron being OVER-rated. Are you fucking kidding me? he's been getting a lot more love the last couple years, and he's still vastly UNDER-rated. That's the problem with Olympic rosters. When it comes to the forwards, everybody just says "put the 12 most potent offensive guys out there" because it looks like some kind of unbeatable all-time team. Bergeron is the best 3-zone player in the world right now, narrowly edging out Datsyuk (who I love).
How does that video refute the idea that Marchand is cowardly? He cheap-shotted one of the league's softest players because he knew there would be no retaliation and he could get away with it. That's a pussy move. Marchand would never go at a guy who is bigger and stronger than him, he never has. He's cheap. He's a good player, and I'd love to have him on my team, but he's cheap.
And, everyone seems to love Bergeron. OK, that's fine. I don't. I think he was a liability in Vancouver who couldn't hold his own with/against the real Olympic-quality players. If you looked at the team I picked, it's pretty obvious that I didn't just pick the twelve most potent offensive forwards (otherwise John Tavares, James Neal, Joe Thornton, et cetera would've obviously been included and guys like Jordan Staal, Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, et cetera wouldn't have been included); I made my picks based on chemistry and balance, which is how I think it should be done.
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