2009-10 NHL Thread

Speaking of ugly cheap shots, here's Boogaard's latest . . . got two games for this knee, but had it been on a noteable player -- say Crosby -- instead of a recent waiver wire pick up it would have been far, far more -- love the NHL's justice system. Tell me does this guy actually know how to play the game or is it all he can do is drop the gloves and cheap shot people?

 

JC, your hatred of Matt Cooke is well noted, and absolutely irrelevant.

I didn't like Scott Stevens, but he was the best (worst?) in the league for doing these kinds of things, and now he's in the Hockey Hall of Fame because of it. He was "a warrior," or so they told us. The league didn't give a shit about this issue back then - why does it supposedly care now? What's changed?

 

Public perception and a growing understanding of the effect of concussions on players.

 

also the speed and size of players. i see what your saying buyt Stevens also brought a lot of other things to the table. He would also defend himself which a lot players these days won't do.

 

I understand that, but players also shouldn't have to defend themselves against what, as far as the rule book is concerned, are legal hits.

 

fair enough, but in this case, I don't see what Savard could have done to protect himself which to me differs from the Richards hit which was head down after admiring a pass. Savard was about to shoot and Cooke came at him from the blindside and deliberately went at the head. Cooke could have crushed without going high and the NHL needs to look at this type of hit in general.

There are going to be times where headshots are unavoidable, I don't think this was one of them.

Does my hatred of Cooke and his act cloud my judgement, probably but I don't know what else Savard could have done.

By the way, they should go back to the old cooper shoulder pads that Shanahan wore his whole career. the equipment they wear has become a weapon.

 

Rask has the second-lowest GAA in the NHL right now. I'm not sure if he gets hot in the playoffs, it would be shocking the world. He'd just be a hot rookie goaltender carrying what he did in the regular season on. But neither he nor Thomas will carry the Bruins anywhere because they can't score.

 

He was also a first round draft pick and has been touted as the franchice's future in net since he was acquired by the Bruins from the Maple Leafs. At what point would a young goalie's success, even in the playoffs, not be deemed a surprise?

 

From a Leafs fanboi perspective, the most depressing part of this is that Leafs traded him away to get Andrew Raycroft as their #1 goaltender. Leafs decided that Justin Pogge was a better bet than Rask. And people wonder why the Leafs are 29th out of 30th in the league.

 

No, actually, people don't wonder that.

Besides, it's not like the Leafs care if they're 29th. The gullible are still filling the building and watching their games on TV and buying the merchandise; that's what it's all about as far as MLSE is concerned.

 

Reason No. 5,367,214 why the NHL needs to get off Versus:

There's a player for Tampa Bay who's having a hell of a season, with 40 goals thus far.

His surname, supposedly, is "Stankos."

And he's a dead ringer for Corey Perry of Anaheim.



http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Versus-has-seen-Stankos-and-he-looks-a-lot-lik?urn=nhl,226748

 

and how people defend the decision to be on versus is beyond me.