2010-2011 NHL season

Took in the Capitals in Buffalo last night. Ovechkin was just brutal. The puck was finding him, but he must have fanned on a half dozen passes/shots.

 

They don't. They all think that there should be a way to maneuver around the salary cap, either: (1) The team finds loopholes. They think this because they have been conditioned by the NFL and NBA to think so, and also because they think any obstacle can be essentially lawyered around in this day and age; (2) The players give back part of their salary, in order to keep the team together. First of all, none of them would do the same thing at work. But fans have a sense of entitlement, and no one has a bigger sense of entitlement than bandwagon jumpers. Second of all, the NHL CBA doesn't permit this. So it's a moot point.

 

Montreal defeated the Hurricanes 7-2 last night. Another great game by Price, he made a hell of a save in the third period.

 

Sad to say but the Leafs had one of their better games against the Canucks during this eight game losing skid. And, true to the post Belfour era, Gigurere lets in a 50 foot slapper through the five hole to lose the game. And Don Cherry was totally wrong after the game. No one's stick deflected it and even if it had, JS should have stopped it. Funny, while they were out cleaning the snow from the creases, Giguere was practicing his butterfly, Made me laugh. Something my kid used to do in Peewee during breaks

 

This is very, very sad. May Daron Richardson find the peace that eluded her.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/Tragedy+strikes+Richardson+family/3825176/story.html

 

The Oilers may not get close to the Capitals record of 446 goals against in a season, but this is getting embarrassing, three of their last four games they have allowed at least 6 goals, losing all four -- 7-1 to Carolina, 6-2 Detroit, 4-3 in OT to New Jersey and then 8-2 to the Rangers this morning, in what was essentially a 10:30 a.m. game for them, which is complete bullshit, this isn't fucking atom hockey.

 

That POS Sean Avery insights a line brawl in New York today with a sucker punch on Smid, then starts yapping the bench as he gets taken off the ice.

http://video.oilers.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=4&id=82950&navid=DL|EDM|home

 

Avery....it's really too bad somebody doesn't just fucking give it to him. Do a real number on him.

And there just aren't enough line brawls in hockey. One of the two toughest team sports on the planet, but would it kill you to prove it at least once a week or so?

 

Someone should give Avery the beatdown he got in The Rocket movie..now that would be awesome if it happened for real.

 

I'm not a fan of the all-star format, it seems to me it will be even less competitive and meaningful than it ever was. They should follow baseball's lead, keep the conferences, and make it worth something as far as home-ice in the SC final.

 

I don't see the new format being any worse than the one they use now. Don't agree at all with giving the winning conference home-ice, and I don't like the concept in baseball either. Just doesn't make sense to have Game 7 of the Final in a team's rink solely due to the result of a game 90% of the players didn't even play in.

 

Agree completely, Baseball's format is completely stupid, you have guys on last place teams deciding who gets home field advantage for the World Series, it is retarded.

What I think should happen, and may eventually happen, is if they want to continue to flog the outdoor game, that it becomes the all-star game -- now this would likely require taking the outdoor game off of New Year's Day, but I think it is the eventual step. In this case, because it is an exhibition game at that point you can make the ice bigger and you can keep the draft format or change it to putting the sticks in the middle of the ice. Make it a giant game of shiny with the best players in the world. Now this may take some of the southern teams out of the rotation for the all-star game, but they could still be used to break up the monotony the outdoor game will soon bring. They should also be looking at some different venues for the game, some that may not be so conventional, but that's the beauty of the game, it is so transferable. Take it to Central Park, the Rideau canal, or even Lake Louise or Whistler. Hell take it to Alaska. If the All-star game is about selling the game to investors and advertisers, you can still bus/fly them in to where ever if it is somewhere off the beaten path -- plus I think the players may be a little more gung-ho about competing in something like this if they get to go to different places and sourroundings they normally don't get to go. Besides I think the surroundings of some of these places would make up for having say 8,000 people instead of 20,000 people at some of the games.