NHL 2013: Off-Season Running Thread

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

This Friday.

That's why everyone has the lockout date as Saturday, Sept. 15. You don't really lock someone out if they aren't working.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Byfuiglen looks like he staying in pretty good shape.

https://twitter.com/Ten_Foot_Midget/status/244997985673568257/photo/1

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Well, his claim to fame is being really big and letting Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane bank goals in off him, so that's about right.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

I would give him a little more credit than that. He has played well for Atlanta and Winnipeg as a D man but you could see this coming a mile away after he signed his big contract.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Is that a recent photo? Wasn't that supposed to be the rumour last year before training camp that he had ballooned up to like 285, but managed to get back in shape or something for camp? Besides he will have what 3 months to a year to get back in shape this year

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

If Winnipeg would use him the way Detroit has used Tomas Holmstrom for several years, he could be epic.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

He is far more valuable as a 20 to 25 minute a night defenseman than just that.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

The whole "gritty guy standing in front of the net" thing always seemed overrated to me. I'm no hockey guru, but it always seemed to me that most of the time it just leaves you shorthanded on the boards and in the cycle. You need absolutely amazing playmakers on the rest of the line to make it work, like Detroit always has or Chicago had when Byfuglien got everyone's attention as a forward. Jonathan Toews would fight off three guys in the corner for the puck, get it to the middle and bounce it off Byfuglien for the goal.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

True. It takes a group of players to make it work. But one of my teams a few years back didn't have that sort of a guy and I could see how much a team could benefit from having a big body in front of the net who can tip shots from the point, whack away at rebounds, screen a goaltender, etc.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Where you lose on the boards you gain in the distraction that you cause in front of the net, plus at the same time you are also usually drawing a defenceman out of the equation. The thing is you have to be willing to take a shit kicking shift in and shift out. And it's not like the guy doesn't move from in front of the net, he still usually is able to slide to the end boards when the puck is cycled down or come to the top of the slot. Ryan Smyth has made a career out of it, and for a large chunk of it played with no super skilled centreman. He had Doug Weight early on but there was a big span until he hit LA and was dynamite with Kopitar.

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

Now here is an outdoor game even JR could get in to (I know HC would dig it). Saw this on the FB page of a guy I know who plays for Vienna in the Austrian league, they will be playing outdoors at this amphitheatre in Crotia this weekend:

 

Re: NHL 2012: Off-Season Running Thread

That looks like a pretty cool place to play hockey right there.