biittner77

and extend malkin 8/76 They do this hoping that the cap will go up in a couple years. So what do they do in the mean time? What are Fernando Pisani and Nick Boyton up to these days?

It was a long game, but I don't recall thinking he was out of place or making mistakes. Can't say the same for Rozsival, though the guy showed amazing patience on the winning goal in letting Bolland and Shaw get to the front of the net before taking the shot. He play 14 minutes in a 3 OT game. Imagine how fast Stalberg would have looked if he had only skated 14 minutes by the 3rd OT. More to the point, think of how much Kane and Toews double shifted so they didn't have to send Bollig out there. If the best anyone can say is that he didn't screw up, that's no reason to continue this experiment.

Stalberg has been invisible for most of the playoffs but at least there's a chance he could contribute. This move smacks of John Scott on the PP. Maybe Q rented Goon last night and it gave him an idea. I'd rather they play Morin over Bollig. He's not afraid to hit people and is actually a threat to score- something that line could really use.

I think this means we'll see Kane get double shifted a lot in game 1. With the long layoff after game 1 it's not a terrible idea. Though the same could be accomplished by dressing Stalberg who's a much better player despite having little to show for it so far in the playoffs.

That's true but it's not unreasonable to suspect that's what they'd get for some of the players that might get traded. I doubt that happens though. I don't believe they're willing to risk losing 100 games again.

Whoever wrote that really needs a thesaurus. I also liked the comment "We should call him the MArquis du Saad and teach him about pain". A saddist likes administering pain, not receiving it. That's a masochist.

i blame the coal dust I wonder if AV will get the Pens job. As I type this, somewhere in Pittsburgh someone is burning Bylsma in effigy. One of my Pens fan friends said that the Pens might try to get Bernier from the Kings and they're throwing around Malkin's name as trade bait since they can't pay him with the lower cap.

History will be a lot kinder to Kane than his contemporaries. It's hard sometimes for people to appreciate the greatness of a player while they are still playing since they can still fail, or perhaps more accuarately, because they aren't great all the time. Kane hasn't even reached the height of his career yet. Hopefully he'll have 10 more years to solidify that legacy. After he retires, we'll remember the spin o ramas and clutch goals and forget about his tendancy to lose interest or float around his own Blue line.

http://espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=nhl&pollId=3736263 But with hockey, I'd really like to see some Canadian results too. That's surprising considering how the Bruins just dominated the only team ESPN is aware of that plays hockey. Here's how this series will break down. The Bruins will start out trying to do to the Hawks what they did to the Pens. They will then learn that the Hawks are not the Penguins since they actually play defense in front of a capable goaltender. They will then try the Lake scum approach and try to out hit the Hawks which they will be able to do because they'll learn what every team in the West knows- the Hawks don't care about being out hit. The Hawks will use their speed to confuse the Bruins and put more pressure on Rask. This is what Toronto did and they wound up taking the Bruins to 7 games. The key to this series will be first goal. The Bruins had the luxury of playing with the lead for most of their series with the Pens. If the Hawks can make them chase that will loosen up their tight defense. The Hawks weren't afraid of Quick so I doubt they'll be afraid of Rask. I'm not sure how good Rask is but he'll have to prove that the Pens series was more than just luck (I think the Pens hit about 10 posts a game). The Hawks for their part need to dictate a fast tempo and not get sucked into what the Bruins want to do.

trade him for a goalie while he still has value. Like Dennis Miller from Buffalo.

Less so with the new CBA but yes

Bickell's still relatively unproven. I mean would you be ok with the Hawks giving him $5 million per? He's never had a 20 goal season. You make a good point about uncle Dale though since he drafted Bickell originally (didn't he?)

I'd like to to be wrong about this. I'll cling to the hope that he likes winning in the playoffs and sees Chicago as a better place to do that then say Calgary. But money has a way of trumping that. Yeah, I'm hoping we can keep him, but realistically, I just can't see how that happens. They can do it but it would mean moving another part of the core. I think they could now trade Seabrook and or Bolland and use that money on Bickell. They're also saving money by letting Emery and Stalberg go. I don't believe anyone's offering $5 per for Bickell.

I'd like to to be wrong about this. I'll cling to the hope that he likes winning in the playoffs and sees Chicago as a better place to do that then say Calgary. But money has a way of trumping that.

They're Boston fans. Prior to 2004 they were relatively sympathetic figures, but there's a reason things like Tawwwwmy from Quincy exist. They are horrible people and on top of that have become horribly arrogant sports fans. This has always been the argument for idiots regarding not wanting the Cubs to win the WS. I could see Cub fans becoming pretty arrogant after some success but when it comes right down to it, if the Hawks, Cubs and Bears all won and Chicago became the new Boston I'll gladly take all the vitriol that the rest of the sports world can dish out. I think this is a possibility, if the they all won and won frequently. But the difference is that Boston truly has some of the worst people in America. Think of all the worst NY stereotypes, but with none of the influx of other cultures, foreign and domestic, moving into the area to offer respite from the scum. You just described Philly. The idea that there's a group of people worse than the denizens of Philadelphia is the stuff of legend. It's like that first Viking that said "Let's try sailing west". I'll defer here though since you live between the two groups whereas I (thankfully) never come into contact with Boston fans.

They're Boston fans. Prior to 2004 they were relatively sympathetic figures, but there's a reason things like Tawwwwmy from Quincy exist. They are horrible people and on top of that have become horribly arrogant sports fans. This has always been the argument for idiots regarding not wanting the Cubs to win the WS. I could see Cub fans becoming pretty arrogant after some success but when it comes right down to it, if the Hawks, Cubs and Bears all won and Chicago became the new Boston I'll gladly take all the vitriol that the rest of the sports world can dish out.

The Cap hit will always be the average of the total contract. So a 5 yr 25 mil contract will have a 5 mill cap hit no matter how you structure the contract. But to him it would be more valuable to get $15m of that upfront. I've read some speculation that Bickell would be better off taking a shorter contract to stay with the Hawks in hopes of getting more money when the cap goes back up. The feeling is that this will be a bad year to be a FA since very few teams can afford the cap hit needed to offer stupid contracts to big name FAs.

The Pens play no defense and have Voukoun as their starting goaltender. The Pens also aren't particularly fast for a team that scores a lot of goals. How quickly they forget that they nearly, perhaps should have, lost to the Toronto [expletive] Maple Leafs.

Do you mean because of the elbow on Bolland? I doubt they'll do anything about that.

it's a little surprising, but they also didn't get very many shots off in the first two games 101 shot attempts last night, i think. rask is a spectacular goalie. He must be, Jonesie already declared Boston the Stanley Cup winners. Maybe he didn't mean to but he said "when they win the Stanley Cup he (Campbell) will be part of the ceremony". Hopefully that's some kind of jinx. It would be great if Boston found a way to blow this lead like they did in 2010 against the Flyers.

That's a little bit of a concern, long term. Hopefully he won't have to do that again but he's not a young guy.

We can all agree on one thing: it was beyond dumb on the part of Keith to do what he did, where he did it and at that time of the game.

There'd be nobody left on any team if that was called. Slashing hardly ever gets called unless someone winds up with a broken stick, the player does it repeatedly or it happens in the middle of the ice (as in this case). I still think the Hawks can win this game. What bothers me is that they could have given him a fine and no one would have been crying foul. Shea Weber rammed Zetterbergs head into the end boards and got a $2,500 fine. Duncan Keith makes a dumb slash without intent to actually harm and gets a game. The fact that they gave him a double minor instead of 5 and out tells me that the on ice officials didn't believe he was trying to injure him. It's the random nature of the discipline that makes no sense. If suspensions are supposed to be a deterrent, the players need to know what will happen when they do something that they shouldn't.

It's hard to believe that the Pens have had such trouble scoring goals this series. Rask is good but he's Roy.

You think a double minor should lessen the chance for a suspension? the severity of one at least. I thought i remember Shanahan saying that Torres not getting a penalty played into the length of his suspension last year, but I might be insane. If Keith gets suspended, start the conspiracy theories because it will mean the NHL is clearly trying to officiate this series to 7 games. I think he'll get a fine. Last year, Suter(?) tried to kill that guy and he got fined $2,500.