2008/09 NHL Thread

Justin Pogge's in net for the Leafs against the Sabres.

First shot on net, Sabres 1, Leafs zip

 

Can this be right? Attendance at an ECHL game in Cincinnati last night -- 453? According to the ECHL Daily Stat report on the website. Guess we know which minor league franchise will be going broke next...

 

Shoot, I covered a team that probably averaged that for one year. Small wonder lost both that organization AND an ECHL franchise in a span of three years.

 

Lightning goalie Mike Smith is on the IR, Jussi Jokinen is on waivers, and Gary Roberts is back in the line-up.

The team blew a 3-0 lead in the third to lose 4-3 in overtime to Pittsburgh. When's the draft?

 

Lindros stepped down as NHLPA ombudsman.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=265664&lid=sublink010&lpos=headlines_nhl

 

What is Smith out with?

 

The dreaded 'Upper Body Injury'. The word is he may have hurt his hand throwing a temper tantrum after getting pulled against the Flyers, but the team has denied that.

 

Amen. It's really hard for me to watch the Canucks right now. They are the Ottawa Senators PLUS a goaltender.

Gillis' biggest mistake was not going after anyone last summer, saving his money for this over-the-hill free agent Sundin. Even if he signs in August (thank God he didn't), he totally blows your budget. If you're going to give a guy $5 million, or $10 million, he damn well better be a difference maker. And Sundin, at this stage of his career, is not. I'd take Marcus Naslund, straight up, for Sundin right now.

Not sure Raymond and Burrows will ever be more than third or fourth-liners. Taylor Pyatt is a borderline second-liner. Demitra can't stay healthy long enough to figure out where he fits. The Sedins are the only consistent scorers.

Gotta keep Luongo, but anyone else should be available at the deadline if the offer is right.

 

I think the IR means he's out at least week to 10 days, are they saying anything beyond that?

 

I thought the word during the summer was that most GMs were hesitant to deal with him due to grudges going back to when he was an agent, not sure if those grudges will hold through to the trade deadline or even next summer.

There also will not be much on the UFA market coming up this summer -- Backstrom, Hossa, Cammaleri, Havlat, Jay Bouwmeester, Marian Gaborik will be the biggest available names. They're not interested in Backstrom, unless they package Luongo somewhere, Cammaleri may re-sign in Calgary, Havlat and Gaborik are major injury concerns and that leaves Hossa and Bouwmeester for every team in the league to battle over. I guess Tanguay is also available, but if you're pinning your hopes on Tanguay to turn your team around, you're in trouble.

 

They made it retroactive to last Friday, and he would be eligible for Saturday's game against the Islanders. Lawton said he expects him to play then.

 

Cool. Was trying to figure out who had the more laughable goaltending situation there, the Islanders or the Lightning.