NHL '11/'12 Thread

[LukeEl]

So who is the the top prospect in this year's draft?

 

[Mauser98k]

So who is the the top prospect in this year's draft?

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

 

[bostonkid9]

Let's go for two in a row, Boston!

 

[rodfarva]

I really can't see the Kings wanting to take Horcoff. Remember that the Kings need cap space in order to lock up Doughty long-term; there's no way they would trade a major part of their team (and a big contract) for another big contract (and a less productive player to boot). Do the Oilers have any prospects that they could send the Kings' way?

Like I said, Gilbert, Cogliano, Brule.

 

[STDiva]

Like I said, Gilbert, Cogliano, Brule.

Bust, bust and bust.

 

[BigSwede]

It will be great to see Lidström another season.
Jagr too,whether it is in Detroit or anywhere else.

 

[wottle]

Best defenseman.

In the history of the game. Orr fans might argue and I never saw Harvey play. I have seen the Captain play. Yes, one step slower, but another year smarter.

This signing made my summer. I also want to echo M.M. post about what a dickhead Jagar is. Can't believe HOLLAND IS EVEN CONSIDERING IT.

Rummors abound about a draft day trade. Hudler must go (even if we have eat his contract). Draper Must go..He and Ozzy are the 2 jerseys I bought and wear proudly. but it's time to go.

Fear the Winged Wheel

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

You can all talk about how big of a dick Jagr is, but no one here can deny the man's skills and contribution to the game. In addition to Hasek, he pretty much won the gold medal by himself in '98, and some of his single season records are phenominal. :2 cents:

However, would I like to see him a Wings jersey? No. Same thing I felt about Modano and other who've spent their careers with other organizations and then try to get their last ring with the Wings. Reminds me of the Yankees too much.

 

[Mauser98k]

word going around is the Tampa Bay Lightning are shopping Ryan Malone.

i like Bugsy, but he's one of the guys the old ownership threw a giant contract at to sign. he's scheduled to make $4,500,000 every year until the 2015-2016 season.

rumor has it Montreal is interested in him

 

[rodfarva]

Bust, bust and bust.

Agreed. I would be glad to trade these three guys for a bag of hockey pucks. But there is interest in them, particularly in Gilbert, around the league.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

A lot of teams are coming out with revamped logos for this upcoming year. The Islanders tweeked theirs yesterday, we all know about Tampa and Winnipeg, and today Nashville changed their logo as well.

http://predators.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=566603&navid=DL|NSH|home

 

[LukeEl]

I still like the Milwaukee Admirals logo alot better then the new Nashville one.

 

[Marlo Manson]

word going around is the Tampa Bay Lightning are shopping Ryan Malone.

i like Bugsy, but he's one of the guys the old ownership threw a giant contract at to sign. he's scheduled to make $4,500,000 every year until the 2015-2016 season.

rumor has it Montreal is interested in him

Now that Ryan Malone is available don't underestimate the Red Wings chances of landing Malone, they want to upgrade there forwards and Brad Richards was the front runner for who the Wings wanted, I don't know if that's true or false or how desperate they are too land Richards, but if Malone is on the market Detroit and Tampa have a very good relationship now that Yzerman is the GM, he knows what the Wings have and Vice Versa, Ryan Malone in a Red Wings Sweater would be AWESOME!!

In other breaking news Nicklas Lidstrom has won his 7th Norris Trophy!! I didn't think he was gonna win it this year, I thought maybe Chara or Weber were gonna win it, each would have been very deserving as well, infact I didn't think Lidstrom deserved it this year.

I will re-state my position, I don't want or don't like Jackoff Jagr!! I don't want him playing for the Red Wings under any circumstances!! let him go to the Pens!!

and lastly I kind of like the Preds sweaters, I didn't see any of the other teams NEW sweaters, but I did check the Preds link and I kind of like them. :2 cents:

 

[Mauser98k]

kind of disappointed the only mention in the award ceremony of Derek Boogaard was the few seconds they showed of his goal in the goals of the year video.

 

[rodfarva]

Some very surprising winners tonight at the awards show (good and bad). I did not expect Lidstrom to win the Norris Trophy again this year, and considering he was a minus for the first time in his career, he definitely should not have. I expected Jeff Skinner to win the Calder Trophy, but I felt like Logan Couture deserved it more because of his clutch goal-scoring this year for a division winning team. I fully expected Daniel Sedin to undeservedly win the Hart Trophy, but the voters surprised me in a big and wonderful way by giving the award to the most deserving player, Corey Perry. Tim Thomas winning the Vezina, Martin St. Louis winning the Lady Byng, and Ryan Kesler winning the Frank J. Selke, no arguments here, all deserving of those wins.

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

Good article on the realignment set to occur in the very near future. I had no idea the Wild travel the most out of any team.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_18334600

Since NHL owners this week finalized the Atlanta Thrashers' relocation to Winnipeg, teams dissatisfied with their position, including the Wild, are campaigning to switch divisions for 2012-13 as the league contemplates its most radical realignment in a generation.

Whoever succeeds in reshaping the standings and playoff races will have to flex considerable lobbying muscle to persuade the provincial factions among the 30-team board of governors that their proposal makes the most sense.

From a simple two-team swap to disassembling the current six-division format and scrapping the unbalanced schedule, no proposal will be ruled out, according to NHL spokesman Frank Brown. And the Wild are among several Western Conference teams driving the debate.

Owner Craig Leipold wants his club out of the Northwest Division, with its high-maintenance travel through Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary and late-night telecasts. The Wild yearn to join the nearby Central and reignite regional rivalries the North Stars enjoyed with former Norris Division foes Detroit, Chicago and St. Louis.

With Winnipeg poised to join the Northwest in 2012-13, Leipold believes he has the most compelling case for Minnesota to make the move.

"From a geographical standpoint, we are the Central Division," Leipold said. "The natural rivalries are not against western Canadian teams but Chicago and Detroit, St. Louis and maybe Columbus, maybe Nashville. Those are the kind of rivalries we'd like to see come back."


Conventional wisdom has either the Blue Jackets or Predators dropping out of the Central and into the Southeast Division to replace the Thrashers, a minor reshuffling that would preserve much of the status quo.

"We can assist in having only two teams move," the Wild owner said. "That would be minimally disruptive to fans and the schedule, which is the best scenario."

DETROIT TOP PRIORITY

Who is to say Leipold and the Wild are at the head of the line or that the league

A goal sets off a North Stars celebration by Kent Nilsson, Dave Langevin and Dirk Graham in a 1986 game against St. Louis. (Pioneer Press file photo)is looking to tweak its configuration when it could really shake things up?
The Dallas Stars are unhappy about being stranded in the Pacific Division with Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose, almost 900 miles from their closest competitor, Phoenix. The Central Division would be a logical return for Minnesota's former franchise, although the Stars' complaints could get lost in the ether.

The prestigious Red Wings have been itching to move for years, and their wish is likely to be granted first.

Columbus, which joined the league with the Wild in 2000, and Detroit are the only Western Conference teams in the Eastern time zone. The Wings loathe conceding time and energy to play a western schedule and want to be in the Eastern Conference.


most enticing move would put them in the Northeast Division to rejoin fellow Original Six teams Toronto, Montreal and Boston.
What is more, Detroit's history as a charter member of the NHL and cache as four-time Stanley Cup champion since 1997, coupled with owner Mike Ilitch's clout in the boardroom, makes it the major player in the realignment debate.

"With various expansions, in order to accommodate the NHL, we somehow wound up in the West," said senior vice president and alternate governor Jim Devellano. "We've tried not to bellyache. We've been pretty classy about it. But the truth of the matter is we're not a western-based team."

With 11 consecutive 100-point seasons, the Red Wings have feasted on the competition in the Central

Memories such as the North Stars Willi Plett scoring against Blackhawks goalie Murray Bannerman in Minnesota s 4-1 victory on Jan. 12, 1983, have the Wild seeking a move to more-familiar geography of the Central Division. (Pioneer Press file photo)Division and Western Conference. But like the New York Yankees in baseball, their brand and drawing power are unrivaled, at least in the United States. They have a fiercely loyal fan base that packs arenas.
Nashville is not opposed to moving to the East outright, but the team is not embracing change, according to general manager David Poile. The Predators want to continue playing the Red Wings three times a season, enriching a rivalry spiced by two closely contested playoff series since 2004.

"Our best rivalry since Day 1 has been Detroit," said Poile, who has been with the Predators since their inception in 1998. "Having them move might not be really great for us. In time, rivalries are established. If you veer from what you're doing, the question is why and what are you accomplishing?

Poile, however, acknowledged the time is right to debate changes that might benefit the NHL as a whole.

"Is it better to have four divisions? Are we happy with two conferences and the unbalanced schedule?" he said. "It's an opportunity to maybe be a little more creative and put several concepts on the table.

"I certainly know what's more favorable for us, but to be fair, it's not about us," Poile added.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

The unbalanced schedule has teams playing 24 divisional games, 40 against conference opponents and 18 interconference games. A slate weighted for divisional play seems irrelevant with the top eight teams in each conference qualifying for the postseason, where teams are reseeded based on points.

Reducing travel expenses and wear on players is motivating the teams pushing for realignment.

Every club complains about the grind of the 82-game schedule at some point during the season, but some have more justifiable gripes than others.

The Wild traveled 58,160 miles in 2010-11, including an 8,800-mile round trip to Finland to open the season. Dallas traveled 48,280 miles, Detroit 50,020 and Nashville 42,379.

By comparison, the New Jersey Devils traveled only 27,152 miles. Eastern Conference teams did have the burden of playing an average of 17 back-to-back games last season compared with 14-1/2 for Western teams.

Still, clubs such as the Devils, Rangers and Islanders need only battle rush-hour traffic to play each other, and they often take short bus or train trips to Philadelphia and Washington. That's 11 games without a hotel stay.

The Wild crisscrossed 19 time zones last season, more than any other Western Conference team, according to Nashville writer Dirk Hoag, who compiled NHL travel data on his blog, ontheforecheck.com.

"In the Northwest, we don't have anybody in our time zone, and we're losing a ton of hours," said Minnesota assistant general manager Jim Mill.

The Wild's closest divisional rival is the Colorado Avalanche 685 miles away in Denver. And with 20 games in the Mountain and Pacific time zones - almost one-quarter of their schedule - the Wild force fans to tune in for 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. faceoffs that can leave them nodding off before the second intermission.

For Wild players and coaches, flying home immediately after a game in Vancouver means touching down at 5:30 a.m. Clearing Canadian customs also poses challenges.

Agents based in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver do not necessarily harass the Wild, but neither do they process the Minnesota traveling party with deliberate speed to get ready to play the hometown team.

"There is gamesmanship going on with customs agents when American teams arrive early in the morning knowing they're playing the next day," Leipold said.

AGE OF INSTABILITY

Atlanta's upheaval represents the NHL's first reconfiguration since 2000, ending the most stable period in the league since it doubled from six to 12 teams in 1967.

The league rearranged its standings no fewer than 17 times during a nomadic 33-year period of expansion and relocations that fanned teams across the continent from Vancouver to Miami, Ottawa to Anaheim, often with no regard for geography.

To preserve the Original Six rivalries and ensure that an expansion team would reach the Stanley Cup Finals, the six new clubs of 1967-68, including Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, were bunched in the West Division.

The Canucks joined the East Division in 1970 while the Atlanta Flames were placed in the West in 1972. The Norris Division of 1974-79 looked like a blindfolded stoner threw darts at a map: Montreal, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Washington and Detroit. Today, those teams are in five different divisions.

"Time zones and geography didn't mean a thing for a long time," said NHL historian Dan Diamond.

Order was briefly restored in 1982-83.

The Campbell Conference became Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota, St. Louis and Toronto in the Norris Division while the Smythe was composed of Edmonton, Calgary, Los Angeles, Vancouver and Winnipeg.

Rounding out the Wales Conference were Boston, Buffalo, Hartford, Montreal and Quebec in the Adams Division and a Patrick Division lineup of New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington, the New York Rangers and New York Islanders.

The current Northeast and Atlantic divisions generally resemble the old Wales Conference setup, although the Western Conference was totally scrambled during 1990s expansion.

Lurking over this round of realignment talks is the uncertainty in Phoenix, where the Coyotes are operating on a one-year arena lease with the city of Glendale, Ariz., fueling speculation they could be on the move in a year.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly recently mentioned Seattle as a city in play for a relocation. Others include Kansas City, Houston, Portland, Ore., and Quebec City, which lost the Nordiques to Colorado in 1995.

Hockey fans would be wise to keep their maps handy.

Bring back the Norris, only with Winnipeg. That would be cool. I never thought about how late many of our games are televised since it wasn't issue for me until it now soon will be.

 

[STDiva]

I use to love Detroit/Minnesota games, but Detroit belongs in the East. I wouldn't complain seeing them go up against Toronto, Boston and Montreal every year.

 

[lurkingdirk]

I use to love Detroit/Minnesota games, but Detroit belongs in the East. I wouldn't complain seeing them go up against Toronto, Boston and Montreal every year.

That would be seriously sweet. Throw Ottawa and the Rangers in there, too.

 

[rodfarva]

Claude Noel to coach the new Winnipeg hockey team:

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news...ShgM6?slug=capress-hkn_winnipeg_coach-7234789

 

[Mauser98k]

Done deal, and it's a blockbuster. Phi trades captain Mike Richards to LA for Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds.

also

Philly trades Jeff Carter to Columbus for Jakub Voracek, a 1st, and a 3rd.