NHL 2012-13 - Half Season Thread

Araysar_sl said:

My only fear is that they might run out of steam come playoffs time, while other teams get really hot (like the Kings).

Click to expand...

Which is basically what all of us were pointing out when you were on the "can't beat the Blackhawks" kick. It could happen, they're still stacked...but there are a couple teams out West that could give them trouble. Kings obviously, I'm not completely sold on the Ducks though.

Caps seem on a tear lately. Who here thought Ovechking would become this dominating once more? I certainly wasn't one of those..

Methodical_sl said:

Click to expand...

Folks think it was the right thing to do, postponing the game?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...3881--nhl.html

Is this real life? Come on Bettman. Way to totally dilute the fucking product. Man the Winter Classic was awesome. The most exciting event of the year for me, and coupled with HBO's 24/7 coverage -- hands down Must See TV.

But seriously? 5+ games? Ridiculous profit mongering. So not exciting anymore. Just take the whole fucking year outside at this point.

lurkingdirk_sl said:

Folks think it was the right thing to do, postponing the game?

Click to expand...

Absolutely. Considering the chaos that was going on -- The absolute right thing would have been to avoid putting 20,000 people into a single place where someone could do something stupid.

Bane_sl said:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...3881--nhl.html

Is this real life? Come on Bettman. Way to totally dilute the fucking product. Man the Winter Classic was awesome. The most exciting event of the year for me, and coupled with HBO's 24/7 coverage -- hands down Must See TV.

But seriously? 5+ games? Ridiculous profit mongering. So not exciting anymore. Just take the whole fucking year outside at this point.

Click to expand...

I had the exact same reaction initially, reading they want a 6 game "series" now. But honestly, after this past offseason, they need to do shit like this to get back in the public eye in a positive light. With it spread over 2 months and with the biggest game(Winter Classic) opening it up so it still gets the biggest focus I think it could work. I'd prefer it was just a 1 or 2 season thing though, and it obviously won't be if it's successful. Which..I mean if it IS successful why stop I guess. It will feel less special for us, but for the extra 200,000 fans that get to go live and the extra millions that get to pull for their team in a "special" game it's cool. So fuck it, give every team an outdoor game every season.

I'm torn on it Grimm...I hate too much of a good thing, but I understand what you're saying about needing to shine a positive light on the league again.

Meanwhile, the Caps continue to win. Although so does Winnipeg. Magic number is 7 with us up 4 points with 5 games left for both of us. Head to head in a week could be a huge game. We were lucky to play a tired Toronto team tonight, but Ovechkin may indeed be back, and if so...big kudos go to Adam Oates. No complaints with that guy so far.

With how much goes into the Winter Classic, I have a feeling we'll be seeing lots of sloppy ice in most of those games. Hard to keep a quality product when you start doing it in rapid succession (not that I necessarily think the same crews will be working on putting ice in every venue).

I imagine that's part of why they want to spread them out over 2 full months(last planned game is March 1st at Soldier Field). Plenty of time for the crews to set shit up.

The bigger concern isn't time, but time of year and location. Maybe they've made some big advances in their mobile ice plants, but I can't see how they can successfully pull off an outdoor game in California at any time of the year. And Vancouver is risky as shit given how much rain they ah shit BC Place has a roof nevermind. In my defense, it has occasionally NOT had a roof in year's past:http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...5/bc-dome.html

Niemi steals us another one. I think he leads goalies in wins now? He was tied for 1st coming into this game. Torres, of all people, gets the shootout win. Heh. I really don't want to admit that this guy has been an extremely positive addition to the team, but...

Lodi_sl said:

Niemi steals us another one. I think he leads goalies in wins now?

Click to expand...

Should be tied with Backstrom still I believe.

Fleury would still lead(he's 1 or 2 W's behind with 8-10 fewer games) but he's getting lots of rest=P Plus missing those games a bit back. But on that subject, Tomah Vokoun has been GD great as a back up for the last month and change. You forget how good he was because he was wallowing in Florida for so long. It's a real luxury after previous years where Fleury would have to play so many games. I like the kid but he's NOT Brodeur, he can't handle that kind of workload.


So, Niemi is looking like the Vezina favorite at this point, right? Just thinking his workload and Wins will probably give him the advantage over Rask. Rest of their numbers are very similar.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

Should be tied with Backstrom still I believe. So, Niemi is looking like the Vezina favorite at this point, right? Just thinking his workload and Wins will probably give him the advantage over Rask. Rest of their numbers are very similar.

Click to expand...

Forgot about Backstrom. If Nemo wasn't shutting everyone down the Sharks outlook would be far more grim. The guy has really upped his game. Given his salary, it's especially impressive.

Araysar_sl said:

I'll be so pissed if Niemi wins the Vezina. I was pissed when Hawks let him go because they didnt want to give him whatever piddly amount he was asking for right after he helped them win the cup the season prior.

And then signed Marty Turco to replace him.

Click to expand...

We couldn't pay him because of Talon fucking up the cap.

Kevin Lowe is already apologizing for his idiotic comments during the press conference when he announced the new GM:http://www.edmontonjournal.com/sport...967/story.html

Long story short, he pretty much said that if you don't have season tickets, you're a second class citizen and your opinion doesn't count. Why the fuck is he still running this franchise? One good season in 13 years.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

So, Niemi is looking like the Vezina favorite at this point, right? Just thinking his workload and Wins will probably give him the advantage over Rask. Rest of their numbers are very similar.

Click to expand...

It's bobrovskys to lose at this point. Aka trollololo philly.

if you'd like to see the most passionate, classy-fist-pumping rendition of the Nation Anthem ever sung - tune into the Bruins @ 7:30 EST. Rene Rancourt has a job to do.