NHL 2009/2010 Regular Season

[Drew Doughty]

On the subject, Ohlund absolutely smoked Kessel tonight.

 

No penalty for the hit, though he did end up with two for roughing in the obligatory scrum after the hit.

 

Totally clean. Will be interested to see how Toronto (the league) views it though, given it happen to the Leafs and it was Kessel's first game back.

 

that will probably not even be reviewed. if kessel wasn't a midget, he wouldn't have even been hit in the chin. he came back like 5 minutes later anyway. actually played pretty well.

 

gustavsson is...good. really good instincts and anticipation, doesn't overcommit even though he moves side to side quickly. as soon as they get a decent defense, he's going to put up some pretty nice numbers.

 

but the leafs keep losing and i get to keep laughing. good ending to the game tonight.

[kujay]

gustavsson is...good. really good instincts and anticipation, doesn't overcommit even though he moves side to side quickly. as soon as they get a decent defense, he's going to put up some pretty nice numbers.

 

No doubt. Wish we had him.

[Derwood]

Mason's GAA is over 3.50. That's not good....

[Drew Doughty]

he played ok tonight and made a couple of great saves, but the goals he let in were not amazing. slow to react on the cross ice pass -- or rather, just made a poor read and had bad stick position -- and the second goal just rolled off of him. not sure what's wrong with him. the talent is clearly still there and he'll probably snap out of it, but it's gotta be worrying the blue jackets quite a bit.

[TruffleShuffle]

if i was an nhl team with goaltending problems, i'd really try to pry tuukka rask away from boston.

 

p.s. lol @ toronto for trading him away for andrew raycroft.

[Drew Doughty]

if i was an nhl team with goaltending problems, i'd really try to pry tuukka rask away from boston.

 

p.s. lol @ toronto for trading him away for andrew raycroft.

 

i wonder if boston is going to try dangling thomas instead. they need the cap space in the next season or two badly.

 

i wonder if anyone would even bite on thomas.

[sneakypower]

they're really going to regret that extension, it might cost them Savard

 

Mason should be better now with the return of vastly underrated Jan Hejda

[TruffleShuffle]

http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2009/11/nhl-suspensions.html

 

friggin hilarious.

[Drew Doughty]

Mason should be better now with the return of vastly underrated Jan Hejda

 

o...

 

the canes are terrible. just such a sloppy team. i know they're completely banged up right now but my god. such a bad team right now. i was sure they were a top 5 team in the east too. the kings played an average game tonight and, aside from 10 minutes in the 2nd, completely controlled the game. horrible.

[sneakypower]

Mason should be better now with the return of vastly underrated Jan Hejda

 

o...

 

haha, what do i know anyway?

[TruffleShuffle]

Mason should be better now with the return of vastly underrated Jan Hejda

 

o...

 

the canes are terrible. just such a sloppy team. i know they're completely banged up right now but my god. such a bad team right now. i was sure they were a top 5 team in the east too. the kings played an average game tonight and, aside from 10 minutes in the 2nd, completely controlled the game. horrible.

 

yeah i have no idea what has happened to them. although in hindsight this is a pretty lousy defense:

 

Joni Pitkanen/Aaron Ward (Pitkanen injured)

Joe Corvo/Niclas Wallin

Andrew Alberts/Jay Harrison

 

extras: Tim Gleason, Tim Conboy

 

 

there's some skating ability there (pitkanen, corvo) but inside their own blue line that group is pretty shaky, and michael leighton sure as hell is not going to bail them out.

[Drew Doughty]

Gleason is a pretty solid top 4 defender actually. I liked him on the Kings quite a bit.

 

but yeah, when your top 4 has 2 former kings, you're doing it wrong.

[sneakypower]

the Canes probably could have use for Jack Johnson

 

Staal & Taylor Hall might make for a good duo, though

[TruffleShuffle]

beat lousy ottawa 5-1 tonight... 5 wins in a row and outscored the opposition 24-7 in those games. finally getting on a roll despite a few injuries (gagne, parent, tollefson). van riemsdyk (4g, 11a in 13 games) has been terrific for a 20 year old and pronger (3g, 13a in 15 games) is playing norris-caliber defense. the devils are 13-4 though, and doing a great job of boring everyone into submission.

[Drew Doughty]

the Canes probably could have use for Jack Johnson

 

Staal & Taylor Hall might make for a good duo, though

 

i dunno. while it certainly wasn't a great deal from a value standpoint, that was a team that needed players now, not a few years down the line. johnson has been good (not great) this year, but he wouldn't fix the woes with that shoddy defense. he's still quite a bit from being a top pairing guy. gleason won't ever get there, but he was better than johnson up until this season.

 

they also got terrible oleg tverdovsky's contract off the books and got a solid player in belanger. as much as i'm super happy that deal happened, it isn't really that wretched in hindsight.

 

and staal sucks right now too. i know he's a slow starter but man does he blow right now.

 

they need to blow it up though. old team up against the cap...and they're not playing well. unless they win their next 10 straight or something, they've gotta look to sell soon.

[sneakypower]

you're right about that, but they didn't really get any immediate return on those guys, missing the playoffs two straight seasons after the trade. as barren as they are right now with young talent, you have to think they're regretful about that move.

[Drew Doughty]

it didn't come to fruition immediately but they at least had a deep run last year. unless they end up with stamkos/doughty/bogosian/tavares etc, i don't think it's really worth it for them. it might be nice to have that one guy, i guess, but they'd still be in terrible shape with or without him. he might just make the rebuild slightly faster.

[TruffleShuffle]

wow nice job last night kings, getting blown out by the thrashers.

[Drew Doughty]

wow nice job last night kings, getting blown out by the thrashers.

 

i turned it off after the 2nd but they really weren't being controlled. such a dumb game. defense (randy jones and matt greene in particular) made some bad bad plays at the offensive blue line and quick let in a softie. the last 3 goals in the second all came at the tail end of shifts where the kings dominated the play.

[Drew Doughty]

haha, refs gifted us a win tonight. i'll take it.

[sneakypower]

what happened?

 

HNIC picked two duds tonight. toronto-calgary was sloppy, and the avs didn't even show up

[Drew Doughty]

what happened?

 

HNIC picked two duds tonight. toronto-calgary was sloppy, and the avs didn't even show up

 

in OT, hedman (i think) scored from the point but it was ruled goalie interference. only problem was that o'donnell was the one pushing people into quick. should've counted as far as i know. i know incidental contact exists, but pretty sure it doesn't count when the player is shoved into the goalie.

 

that really needs to be a reviewable play. it makes no sense for it to not be.

[TruffleShuffle]

[expletive] this officiating.

[Derwood]

the CBJ keeping pace with the Blackhawks so far. Geron was nails in OT/Shootout last night

[sneakypower]

Garon could very well be the best shootout goalie in the league

 

it also turns out Mason's been playing through back spasms, so i'm absolved of my he'll be fine comment