All-Purpose Hockey Thread II

I was wondering about this the other night. If you're going by "valuable" in the strictest sense, the question is how much better is Brodeur vs. an average NHL goalie and how good is Crosby vs. an average center (or centre ).

As to making the playoffs? Devils without Brodeur are in serious trouble. The Pens without Crosby are legendarily awful.

 

MVP is the worst award to determine--in any sport. It's totally subjective.

HB, you probably see the Devils more than us Canucks do, but in my opinion, the only worthy candidate for MVP is the Leaf's Wade Belak.

He can play forward, defense and he can FIGHT!

Well, he can't skate and he has hands of cement, but hey, he's versatile.

My vote's for Crosby.

 

Garner - I'll play nice, have you seen more than 3-4 games involving Pittsburgh this season? Mark Recchi is scoring points because of Crosby's play on the ice. Malone's only 'hot' streak and by that I mean a 3-game stretch, was returning from injury and being placed on Crosby's line when Sid was white-hot.

Fact is, if Crosby had a talent like Semin for the RH shot at the LW boards on the PP, he would have 10-15 more assists and probably 3-5 more goals. This is why you're hearing rumors of Pittsburgh and NY discussing a Malone for Peter Prucha trade.

St. Louis' acquisition of Yan Stastny likely frees up Larry Pleau to move Martin Rucinsky but I question Rucinsky's interest returning to NY since Glen Sather showed little interest during the summer.

I'd watch the Blues soon after the All-Star break, there are going to be some teams trying to land Keith Tkachuk, Bill Guerin and Eric Brewer whiles St. Louis looks to stockpile draft picks and young NHL-ready prospects.

 

I think the Rangers' Colton Orr and Ryan Hollweg should get MVP votes. They can't score in a whorehouse, even with a handful of thousand dollar bills, but they can skate. They can crash into other people. They can get their asses handed to them in fights.

My argument for Brodeur is that he has no margin for error. The Devils have scored 116 goals in 46 games, an average of 2.5 goals per game. If he gives up three goals, it's a loss.

Look at his stats this season:
W-L-OTL
28-13-3
GAA: 1.99
SV%: 0.929
SO: 8

He leads the league in wins and shutouts; second in save percentage and goals against.

 

The Brodeur argument is a very good one, no doubt. In Crosby's defense ...

Pens' total goals: 138
Crosby's total points: 68

So, Crosby has had a hand in 49.3% of the Pens' goals this season.

Ovechkin looks to be the only guy even close to that percentage, at 44.1 (63 points, 143 Caps goals)

 

Brodeur's accomplishments don't mean much to me considering he's been aided by the death trap. I don't think Brodeur's numbers would be anything near greatness if he was on a team who deployed a more aggressive skating attack like Edmonton or Pittsburgh. Does New Jersey ownership really expect their attendance numbers during the regular season to improve by moving to Newark and having a new arena? Who pays $75-100 to make themselves bored for 2 1/2 hours?

 

The "NHL Live!" guys are saying that the Kings will probably sign Sean Burke sometime today to relieve their terrible goalie situation. They can't call up Labarbara because he'd have to go through re-entry waivers. The Lightning would be relieved that Burke's salary would be off their cap total.

 

While Brodeur is certainly one of the best netminders of all time, you'd have a hard time convincing me that he is now or ever will be better than Terry Sawchuk. That Sawchuk was able to do everything he did in spite of all his physical and mental handicaps is simply unfathomable. Jimmy Piersall was dancing through the frigging daisies compared to the hell Sawchuk went through.

Actually, that he lived to age 40 was a miracle in itself. Screw Piersall and Rocket Richard, a movie or even a miniseries should be made about Sawchuk's life.

 

Here's an interesting video of the Yotes' Georges Laraque fighting Raitis Ivanans. After you watch the fight, they show a replay with the sound from a miked-up Laraque. It's like Laraque is asking Ivanans to dance!

 

Here are the "streamlined" uniforms to be used in the All-Star game. Not great, but it doesn't look as bad as I thought it would:

 

Alexei Yashin modelling? That can't be right ;D