2013 NHL Official Hockey Thread

[joelcairo]

Happy Birthday to Mr. Hockey

Happy 85th to the great and incomparable Gordie Howe, probably the most remarkable athlete who ever lived.

The man's achievements are truly staggering - even if you ignore the 6 Art Ross Trophies, the 6 Hart Trophies, the 4 Stanley Cups, the 23 appearances in the All Star game, the 21 times he was named to the first or second All Star team - and even if you ignore that he is STILL # 2 in all-time NHL goals and # 3 in all-time NHL points (nearly all scored, by the way, in an era when the stats were not heavily inflated like they started to be in the 70's and have continued since then), which of course doesn't even count his 508 (!) WHA points (which would put him # 2 in all-time NHL/WHA points total) including 174 WHA goals (which would put him # 1 in all-time NHL/WHA goals total). BTW all those WHA points were scored when Gordie was in his 40s and 50s!

You might also consider that until Gretzky broke the All Time NHL goal record on March 23, 1994, Gordie had held it since November 10, 1963 - over 30 years! Gordie also held the All Time NHL assist record for three decades ( from the 57-58 season until Gretz rboke it in the 87-88 season) and the All Time NHL points record for almost three decades (from January 16, 1960 until Wayne broke it on October 15, 1989).

Howe was the third player to score over 100 points in a season. He scored 103 in 1968-1969, coming third in the scoring race behind Espo with 126 and Bobby Hull with 107. When Gordie did this, he was 41 (!!!!) years old...and oh yeah, in that same season at 41 (!!!!) years old, he scored 44 (!) goals.

Gordie played his final season at 52 years of age (!!!) ...and played all 82 games (!!!) that season.

He was in the TOP FIVE in NHL scoring for an astonishing 20 consecutive years!

Oh and by the way in addition to all that, he was the toughest player in the league and the best two-way player ever.

There has NEVER been such an amazing athlete in any sport anywhere.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Congratulations to Taylor Hall for breaking the Oilers record for fastest hat trick 7:53

 

[Doc Holliday]

Happy 85th birthday, Gordie Howe..........

Too bad you had to witness in person your crummy team's lost to the Chicago Blackhawks by a score of 7-1 on home ice.

Maybe today's awful loss at the hands of the Blackhawks on national tv might lead to Mr. Howe wondering if he shouldn't lace 'em up once again!

 

[joelcairo]

Maybe today's awful loss at the hands of the Blackhawks on national tv might lead to Mr. Howe wondering if he shouldn't lace 'em up once again!

Deroit could have used Gordie today. They also could have used Terry Sawchuk, since they outshot the Hawks but still lost. I guess it was too stressful for their goalies to play on this special day celebrating the remarkable Gordie Howe. Thank goodness the Wings are a truly classy organization and still # 2 in the Central Divison!

 

[Doc Holliday]

The lowly Detroit Red Wings are hanging by the skin o' their teeth in 7th place, only 3 points from being out of the playoffs, and 9th place St-Louis has 2 games in hand.

What an embarrassment to a once 'very good' NHL franchise!!!

Question: Is it finally time to blow up this sad-sack team once and for all? Is it finally time to start over and rebuild?

 

[joelcairo]

Question: Is it finally time to blow up this sad-sack team once and for all? Is it finally time to start over and rebuild?

I thought they were trying to do that by getting rid of Burke.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Recent trades:

-Sabres shipped defenceman Robyn Regehr to LA for two 2nd-rounders.

-Calgary managed to ship defenceman Jay Bouwmeester to St-Louis for two prospects & a 1st-rounder.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Excellent! Someone like a detroit could of really used either one of those 2 guys and word was that they were interested.

On another note the Flames have granted permission for the Leafs to talk with Mikka Kiprusoff's agent.

Recent trades:

-Sabres shipped defenceman Robyn Regehr to LA for two 2nd-rounders.

-Calgary managed to ship defenceman Jay Bouwmeester to St-Louis for two prospects & a 1st-rounder.

 

[joelcairo]

Detroit wouldn't want Calgary's has-been d-men. They've seen another team burned by trading for a young overrated has-been d-man and they've learned from that team's horrible mistake.

No, YOUTH is the answer for the Detroit d - and they're well on their way to jumpstarting the league's NEXT Nick Lidstrom.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Wrong again, dEtroit was definately in on Jbo and nice to see they missed out on him, btw he is not old and only has one yr left on his deal, he would have been perfect for the wings in the playoffs (if they make it) These days it is more the oppostie, not many players on dEtroit that teams want aside from a couple guys. My oh my how times are a changing, eh cairo?

 

[joelcairo]

Maybe you should wait till times DO change before spouting off. We've been hearing the same tune for 5 years and nothing HAS changed.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Why wait til they DO change when they already ARE changing? It is called being a fan of the team you root for and a fan of the game itself, nothing more nothing less. Good luck with the rest of the season my friend, cheers and have a nice day :thumb:

 

[Doc Holliday]

On another note the Flames have granted permission for the Leafs to talk with Mikka Kiprusoff's agent.

Oh great!!

He's old, he's been absolutely brutal all season long, his mind isn't much on hockey these days, and the two young guys the Leafs have cost twice as less & they're better than this old goat!

Plus, his cap hit next year will be $6 million a year!!!!!! Holy smokes, Batman!!!

 

[lgna69xxx]

Just reporting what i hear my man. I think it is more for Mike Gillis than anything else, Nonis is trying to drive the Luongo price down. As much as i am fine with Reimer/Scrivens, not sure going into the playoffs with 2 goalies who have NEVER played a NHL Playoff game in their lives is a good idea. Maybe we could get Jiggy out of Colorado cheap?

 

[Doc Holliday]

I wouldn't mind Giguere over the other two. Even Clemensen would be a better fit for the short term. Too bad the Isles are in the hunt since i wouldn't have minded Nabokov.

But Luongo's contract is an albatross for any team & i wouldn't even want him for nothing in return. By the way, we learned yesterday that Toronto & Vancouver had a deal during the off-season, but Luongo killed it thinking he could be heading to Florida. I don't want a goalie who's mind is set on NOT playing in Toronto. Especially for the next 10 years on one of the worse contracts ever in professional hockey.

As for Kiprusoff, his cap hit next year is crazy & there's no way any cap-conscious team of sound mind will want to take on a 37-year goalie with eroding skills who has a $6 million cap hit, especially if you consider the two guys they currently have are doing the job & actually have played much better than the old Finn.

In Reimer & Scrivens I Trust. :thumb:

p.s. My guess is that the Leafs will make a couple of minor deals by tomorrow afternoon, possibly for a veteran defenceman (maybe Stephane Robidas) and a veteran forward. It's anyone's guess if they'll pick up a veteran goalie to back-up Reimer & Scrivens in case of an emergency prior to the playoffs.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Trade deadline day

Not much happening today until the past 30 minutes:

-Ottawa has shipped promising goalie Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay for rookie Corey Conacher & a draft pick.
-Philadelphia has obtained goalie Steve Mason from Columbus for a draft pick.
-Carolina sent Jussi Jokinen to Pittsburgh for a pick.
-Buffalo has shipped captain Jason Pominville to Minnesota for two young players.
-NY Rangers have shipped Marian Gaborik to Columbus as long as he'll waive his NTC. I just heard he did. He must really hate playing for Tortorella if he prefers Columbus over Manhattan.

In other news:

Rumors are heating up about the Leafs obtaining Roberto Luongo after a deal between the Leafs & Calgary for Kiprusoff fell through. The deal was supposedly on the table, but Kiprusoff's personal issues prevented him from agreeing to any move. I was told the only team he was seriously considering moving to was Toronto. But he wanted an extension & it couldn't have been made until July. We're also not certain the Leafs would even have wanted to tend him an offer.

Update #1:

-Marion Gaborik has indeed waived his NTC. He goes to Columbus in return for Brassard, Moore, Dorsett and 6th Round Pick.

Update #2:

-TSN reports that Roberto Luongo has just been pulled from the ice at practice. This was reported with just over 5 minutes left to go to the deadline.

-Calgary has traded Blake Comeau to Columbus for a 5th-round pick.

-NHL-owned Phoenix Coyotes ship Raffi Torres to SJ for a 3rd-round pick.

Update #3:

-The trade deadline has since passed & Roberto Luongo is still a Canuck. Speculation is that he's disappointed he wasn't traded since he likely won't see much playing time until the rest of the season. But the asking price for him was still deemed too high by teams interested in his services.

-The Leafs have obtained Ryan O'Byrne from Colorado for a 4th-round pick.

-Boston has obtained Wade Redden from the Blues for a draft pick.

Update #4:

-Roberto Luongo is currently holding a press conference. He seems extremely disappointed that he wasn't traded. When asked why he still hadn't been traded, he was honest & stated that his contract sucks. In other words, he's got an untradeable contract right now & he's quite aware of it. He added later that if he could, he'd scrap his contract right now. The man looks demoralized!

-NHL-owned Phoenix Coyotes have sent Steve Sullivan back to New Jersey for a 7th-round pick.

-Montreal was interested in obtaining Raffi Torres, but felt the asking price was too high.

-NHL-owned Phoenix Coyotes have shipped Mathew Lombardi to the Ducks for Brandon McMillan.

Final update:

-In one late trade, Nashville sent Martin Erat & Michael Latta to the Caps for top prospect Filip Forsberg.

 

[man77777]

During the regular season, the best team is the one that has the more points/matches. So for the moment, Montreal is by far a best team. Quite easy to understand, isnt it ? :eyebrows:

The way you overcelebrate just shows how difficult it should have been to support a team that havent reached playoffs for ages... 9 years OMG... So I understand why every single victory is like a Stanley Cup for a Leaf's fan...

 

[lgna69xxx]

Why did the Leafs dominate the habs tonight?

Simple, they are a better team, but here are some other facts.......... They out HIT, had better skill and better goaltending. Look at this scoresheet

http://www.nhl.com/ice/boxscore.htm?id=2012020612

have you ever seen so many hits from all but one player? That one player gets a pass as he was the star offensive player in the game, as usual, thanks #81, but LOOK at the HITS!

It is easy to dominate a small team when you are a big tough yet skilled team. :thumb:

 

[EagerBeaver]

Has a team ever given up 4 goals on the 1st 5 shots before?

At least PK Subban is still leading all NHL defensemen in scoring, although Letang is back now and he is the only defensemen scoring a point a game with Subban getting blanked last night:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.h...=nav-sts-indiv

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Back to the west coast. For sure all is lost for my Oilers in a playoff spot after the loss to the Flames last night ( 5 in a row ). Hopefully Katz is pissed enough to fire the complete coaching staff and management. As for the #1 picks the Oilers have ( 4 ), why were you picked #1? Can not see why many nights. GO ESKS GO ! OK, back to the east rivalry.