2009-10 NHL Thread

Watched it online, but won't get a chance to really watch it until I get home. Was stunned by Boston's "effort."

 

Not a clutch performance at all by the Bruins - who need to be clutch right now in order to make the playoffs. Thornton and Cooke squaring off, I understand. But when your captain takes on Mike Rupp (Mike Rupp?) in an otherwise unnecessary scuffle and takes a 5-minute major?

And the buildup around this game was just ridiculous. This wasn't even a Pyrrhic victory, or a Pyrrhic loss.

 

I don't think Fowler is the top defenseman in this draft- he isn't a big fan of being first in the corner.

The guy with the highest ceiling is NTDP D Derek Forbert IMO- loved the kid since the first time I saw him play three years ago. Big, mean, nasty, decent (not elite) puck skills but is a Northern MN native (Duluth) getting his first dose of truly high-level hockey (and he is thriving).

 

The Myth of Revenge. Thoughtful blog by Damien Cox including his take on the good old days.

http://thestar.blogs.com/thespin/2010/03/the-myth-of-revenge.html

Moreover, like many things in life, there's this romantic belief that in the misty past hockey players were like English knights, settling differences honorably and like gentleman. It's just not true. They used to swing sticks at each other's heads. Cheap shots were plentiful. There were rats and cheap shot artists in the game then. Rocket Richard once said that to understand the time when he played would be understand how violent it was.

The good old days of the NHL never existed. But some convince themselves that they did, that in those days players knew how to take care of their differences and "police" the game.

You know, like Ted Green and Wayne Maki. Eddie Shore and Ace Bailey. Folks, those Broad St. Bullies weren't protecting or policing anyone - they were using intimidation as a tactic.


To paraphrase Herr Goebbels, every time I hear the words "The Code" I want to reach for my gun.

 

I saw the USA U18s play last night, and really liked Forbert. Moves the puck well, has a nice shot, and is a big, physical, intimidating presence. He's got a really nice ceiling.

 

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/03/21/brittanies-legacy.html?sid=101

Very tough, but great read from The Columbus Dispatch on what has happened since the Columbus Blue Jacket puck death from 2002.

 

Good stuff.

Frankly, I'm surprised to find I agree with much of what Cox says here.

 

Thank you for posting that. You're right, it is a great read.

Mike Wagner certainly justified the trust Brittanie's family placed in him. Obviously it must have been extremely difficult for them to make that decision.

I hope now that this story helps to bring her family together with Espen Knutsen so there can be some closure for him as well as for them.

 

Raise your hand if at the beginning of the year that you thought with nine games to go that the Phoenix Coyotes would have a shot at first overall in the West.

I completely underestimated them. i thought they had the potential to be very good, but that the lack of an owner would overwhelm them and drag them down. Still thought best case scenario maybe a fifth place team.

If they win tonight in Chicago not only do they win a franchise record 10 straight games, but they can take over first in the conference with 99 points -- currently tied for first with the Blackhawks with 97 points, although the Blackhawks have two games in hand.

 

After Mike Babcock they have the best regular season coach in the West.

 

Investigators and a U.S. Marshals representative make a visit to Washington's practice facility today ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/23/AR2010032302421.html

Investigators interviewed a number of Washington Capitals players Tuesday after a chiropractor with ties to the Washington Nationals and Capitals was arrested at his home in Reston earlier in the day and charged with obtaining steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs from an alleged steroids dealer in Lakeland, Fla.

A Washington Capitals trainer told detectives in an interview last fall he referred a number of past and present Capitals to Douglas Owen Nagel, 50, but investigators have found no "conclusive evidence or proof" that Nagel has distributed steroids to any professional athletes, according Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

Judd, however, said detectives began interviewing current and former Capitals on Tuesday who had been apparent clients of Nagel. In a phone interview Tuesday, Judd declined to name the players, saying none was currently a target of the investigation. Judd said there were no plans to interview Nationals players.