CFN – Mikhail Grabowski allegedly put the BITE on Max Pacioretty in Toronto’s 6-0 romp over Montreal. If the Leafs could pay the Habs every game they’d set some Toronto records. I have no idea why Toronto seems to be such a Monkey for Montreal? Heck even Dion Phaneuf scored?
The Habs were even out fought. What was Gallagher thinking?
Or Gorges? I get it, defending your team mate, Tomas Plekanec, but Frazer McLaren? Rene Bouque going down in one punch from Colton Orr wasn’t pretty either.
Brandon Prust lost too.
Not sure what was worse, losing 6-0 or getting whupped physically the way Montreal did, and by Toronto!
Ottawa lost 1-0 to Winnipeg, a game surely showing the loss of Jason Spezza. It should be interesting to see how long the Sens go before making a move for some offensive help as they already were in need of another scorer.
Vancouvers 1st Round Pick in 2009, Jordon Schroeder notched 2 in the Canucks 5-1 romp over Calgary. Cory Schneider was in net for Vancouver. Devils 3 Pittsburgh 1; Philly edged Kirk Muller’s Canes 4-3 in OT; Detroit nipped Edmonton 2-1; Phoenix 1-0 in the Shoot Out in San Jose; Tomas Vanek scored again as Buffalo defeated the Islander 3-2; and Washington blew out Florida 5-0 with Alex Ovechkin scoring a goal.
Montreal is now 31-30 in the goals department and is in 7th place. Is it me or has this team’s performance slid in the first week of PK Subban being back? They are 2-3 with 13 goals for and 15 against. What’s up with that Mr. Therien?
With the season about a quarter of the way done there are some teams that are starting to fall out of the race hard. While anything can happen and some could fight there way back some clearly will not.
Washington looks to be meat this year. Ovi not being Ovi and the loss of Semin ( I swear that just typed out that way 🙂 ) seem to be having an impact. The D is just a hot mess with Roman Hamrlik spending time upstairs. Does he have anything left in the gas tank? Their goal tending numbers are pretty gruesome too, but is that the goalies or week defensive team play?
Florida: Another team that’s just too soft to have an impact. Bring back Alex Kovalev? Discount move and I’m sure Dale Tallon, who I’d come of retirement to play Rotiserie Hockey against, will get a draft pick for when he swaps him soon, is looking at his roster and wondering where to trim and build. The problem is he doesn’t have much to trade other than some older depth players. Versteeg who is a most likely to be sent packing is one potential and Tomas Fleischmann, but can the Panthers afford to trade their LW who is on contract still for a few more seasons?
New York Islanders: Has there been a worse Franchise in the NHL since Mr. Wang bought the team? What is Garth Snow thinking as a GM each year? How can I top the DiPietro contract? This team has been toilet drafting for over five years now and seems no closer to being a contender. They are notching some early season wins thanks to some lock out goals, but as the season ages their inner craptitude is coming out. Mark Streit is in his contract year, as is Nabakov. The Isles just traded for Tim Thomas. Visnovsky is floating somewhere in space….such an odd team…. At least they should be able to get DiPietro and Yashin off the books with their two buy outs.
Carolina: The Canes are in the top eight right now thanks to they fielding a better team, but their D is not there. The Staal’s and Skinner will keep them competitive. Semin is 2-5 over 10 games and has recorded nearly 3.8 shots per game. He’s also their biggest trade asset. I expect Jim Rutherford, being the smart money GM that he is to help his talent base by trading the Russian for some assets at some point this season. There are too many teams that need Offensive help that are D heavy.
Toronto: They are actually winning without Lupul. They are a deep gritty team and seem determined to find out what their younguns can do this season which so far seems to be working out for them. They have some bad contracts to trade and there is always the Kessel buzz. James Reimer, when not concussed is a starting NHL goalie. He may not be Roberto Luongo, but he doesn’t have Roberto’s incredibly retarded contract or history of choking in the play offs. What’s really interesting about Toronto (who I secretly root for some times as I love their jersey) is that they are in the mix right now at the one quarter mark without their key guys really playing all that well other than JVR. That’s interesting.
Columbus: Yeah, that Nash deal has really worked out so far, right? Actually the sum of Columbus accumulated player value is far more than the way this team is constructed. IE some of these guys on some other teams would be doing a whole lot better. There are n’t too many players that are untouchable on this team. It all depends what the GM wants to build and your guess is as good as anyone’s with this hot mess. The one area I know they need most is goal tender.
Calgary: The Flames are a perfect example of a badly run bubble team. They acquire bad contracts like Cammalleri and miss out on trading players at their top value. At the end of this year will it have made sense to have held onto Kiprusoff and Iginla?
Kipper is now hurt which will impact his trade value greatly and does Jarome want to end his career on this team? Would he give the Flames a big time home team discount? That question needs to be answered pronto so the Flames can trade him before he gets hurt too.
Jay Bouwmeester has been in trade buzz since after his first season in Calgary. Flame ownership are not cheap. This is no bottom level salaried team. Just a badly constructed one that needs a real rebuild with a vision. Not just grabbing the best of whatever free agent is available. Hudler and Cervanka? Calgary is a hot mess. It’s future goalie issue needs to be met and it’s D needs to be shored up. And then they have to work on their offense which is missing some key ingredients as well.
Phoenix: Is one of those teams with a wealth of D men and a O corps that needs upgrading. Mike Smith is off to a rocky start in net as well and while the team has scored over 30 goals they have also given up over 30 goals. The trick is what can they get for Keith Yandle who seems to be the D man to be traded with his $5M contract.
What do you think hockey fans? You can post your comment below.
Toronto – Ottawa – Montreal
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What? No comments from Les Habs fans? I’m sorry but I just can’t let this go by without saying something….Go Leafs Go.
This season may not mean much but it’s always good to see the Boys in Blue lay a beating on Les Habs, on the scoreboard and on the ice.